For Comstock and Virginia Count scoring, time ends with the last shot. But in Fixed Time scoring, the time ends on the second beep. But what if the competitor doesn’t hear the second beep? What if the RO doesn’t hear it either?
[Read more…] about That second beepBooger hook off the boom switch
Keeping with the theme of recent rule changes, we wanted to see if everyone noticed the additions to the rules concerning remedial action in this Question of the Month. During a course of fire, a PCC competitor adjusts the length of his stock with his finger in the trigger guard. What is your call as RO?
[Read more…] about Booger hook off the boom switchEnforcing the start position
Range Officers are not supposed to give the “Are you ready?” range command until the competitor is in the proper start position. But what if the competitor isn’t in the start position? Does the RO say something? Stand there in silence? What is the proper course of action?
[Read more…] about Enforcing the start positionVertical equity
Everyone talks about competitive equity when it comes to things like moving targets, the angle of the sun, or even the weather (stupid rain bags). The first one is something range staff can manage and hopefully prevent. The last two, well most of us shoot outdoors and have to deal with the weather variation. When designing and building stages there is one thing that occasionally gets forgotten and that is we have quite the range of competitor heights in our sport and we need to make sure to keep that in mind.
[Read more…] about Vertical equityDon’t Panic!
This Question of the Month was based on an incident that happened at Nationals years ago, but that story had multiple rules that applied, so we simplified the question. A competitor arrives at the bays for a match and realizes he is still wearing his loaded concealed carry pistol. There is no unloading station at this range. What should the competitor do?
[Read more…] about Don’t Panic!Using the correct rule matters
We often get questions related to certification and renewal exams or even about calls made at matches and why a certain rule applies versus another. Or why one can’t cite a general section of the rulebook and use that to support the penalty or scoring call being made. The short answer is that you need to use the best rule to address the situation. The long answer is all the reasons below.
[Read more…] about Using the correct rule mattersUnloaded starts and Production 15
In the RO seminar we stress counting shots during Virginia Count and Fixed Time scored stages, and for divisions with limited capacity, especially on unloaded starts. Even though Production has changed from 10 rounds in the magazine after the start signal to 15 rounds, you still need to count! Let’s discuss why in this Question of the Month.
[Read more…] about Unloaded starts and Production 15Layered targets in Virginia Count and Fixed Time
The 2024 rulebooks release today (February 29th) and that means we have new rules to discuss! If you look at the USPSA Competition Rules you will see a new rule about not overlapping scoring targets directly on top of each other. Let’s look at the new rule, discuss why it was added, and some example target layouts.
[Read more…] about Layered targets in Virginia Count and Fixed Time