Start positions specified in written stage briefings usually specify locations for hands and range officials need to make sure that the competitor has his or her hands in the proper position before proceeding with the “Are you ready?” range command. Why? Because if the competitor is not in the proper position, a reshoot is required. Let’s look at some common hand positions used in written stage briefings.
[Read more…] about Show me your handsNon-scoring borders
Scoring targets properly is one of the key jobs of all range officials, however occasionally there is a target array setup that makes the RO overthink and results in the incorrect call. For the September Question of the Month, we took a picture of a target setup that is often miscalled and asked, “How do you score these targets?”
[Read more…] about Non-scoring bordersDo you DVC?
Do you know what DVC is? Have you noticed those letters on the bottom corner of the USPSA logo? Do you understand what they mean in relation to our sport?
[Read more…] about Do you DVC?Handling dropped guns
Regardless if a gun is dropped during the course of fire, or outside a course of fire, it is the job of a Range Officer to oversee its retrieval and return to a safe condition (see 10.5.14). But how should a RO go about this?
[Read more…] about Handling dropped gunsGun swap Q & A
The recent post about getting RM approval to swap a broken or unreliable firearm brought up a few follow-up questions. Let’s look at those questions and answers.
[Read more…] about Gun swap Q & ASchrodinger’s PCC Flag
We have received multiple questions about whether a PCC that is transported between stages in a case and is only out of the case during the COF needs to be flagged. So, for the July Question of the Month we posed the following question: A PCC competitor comes to the line with a cased PCC. After you give the Make Ready command, he opens the case and you see a PCC with the bolt locked back and no chamber flag inserted. What do you do?
[Read more…] about Schrodinger’s PCC FlagWhen the gun breaks, the RM must be called
If you shoot enough matches, eventually you will have a situation where your gun breaks and becomes unreliable or nonfunctional. But what to do now? Do I just get my backup gun and carry on? Do I need to notify anyone? What is the proper way to handle this per the rules?
[Read more…] about When the gun breaks, the RM must be calledTending your fault lines
No, this is not a foot faulting post, at least not directly. One of the things I see at major matches are stage crews not maintaining the fault lines. As hundreds of competitors go through the course of fire, certain corners are getting buried by dirt and gravel that is kicked up as people stop in prime shooting positions. Is this an issue? If a competitor earns an unfair foot fault, it sure is!
[Read more…] about Tending your fault lines