Chronograph is the place where multiple things are checked. Bullet velocity is the primary duty of chrono, but other things such as magazine length and handgun weight are also checked. The chrono officer also has the opportunity to check primary safeties to ensure they are functioning properly. Let’s discuss why that is important in this Question of the Month.
You are the CRO at chronograph and performing a safety check on a selective action pistol with an external safety for a Carry Optics competitor. You observe that the hammer drops when the trigger is pulled while the safety is engaged. What is your call?
Yes, the correct answer is declaring the firearm an unsafe gun and calling the RM. The RM will then give the competitor a couple options. The first is to repair the firearm, demonstrate to the RM it’s fixed, and then proceed with the match. The second option is to switch to a different gun, with RM approval, and continue the match. The only time this would be a DQ for unsportsmanlike conduct is if a competitor proceeds to use the firearm after it was declared unsafe.
The rules that support this are 8.1.2.5 and 8.1.2.6. 8.1.2.5 defines what a primary safety is in relation to firearm ready conditions and 8.1.2.6 allows grip safeties to be disabled as long as the primary safety is functional. In Production and Carry Optics, grip safeties cannot be disabled, but it is common to see 1911 and 2011 firearms with pinned grip safeties in the other divisions because they all have primary safeties.
But Production and Carry Optics competitors don’t use their safety anyway because they start hammer down, so why require it for those divisions? Yes, the selective action pistols don’t normally use their safety, but they could use the safety if during the course of fire, after the start signal, they decided to reholster or place their firearm on the ground or other surface (see 10.5.3). But also see Appendix D4 and D7, 22.1 where it reinforces that firearm safeties must be functional at all times. And it also talks about trigger safeties in 22.1 – ‘For purposes of this clause, a “trigger safety” is externally visible, and must remain operable.’ If you put an aftermarket trigger in a striker fired pistol that has a trigger safety, the replacement needs to have the same function as the original, be visible, and testable.
I know some folks don’t think functional safeties are needed for our sport, but we are a sport that uses real firearms. It just takes a second for something to go wrong which could result in deadly consequences. That is why we enforce functional firearm safeties.
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