How is your USPSA Multigun rules knowledge? Have you kept up on the recent updates? If you haven’t, you probably got this Question of the Month incorrect. Let’s take a look at the question and the results.
In a USPSA Multigun match, a competitor carefully sets his loaded rifle down on the ground with the safety engaged, draws his handgun and engages three targets while standing next to the rifle, safely re-holsters the handgun, and then picks up his rifle and resumes engaging rifle targets. Is this allowed?
Well, this one was fairly close. Before the multigun rules update in February 2022, the competitor’s actions would have been allowed. But since the update, this action is not allowed. The last sentence of rule 10.5.3.1 in the USPSA Rifle, Shotgun, and Multigun Rules was added in February 2022.
10.5.3 deals with the DQ for a dropped firearm. The 10.5.3.1 sub-rule explains the exception to this: “A competitor who for any reason during a course of fire safely and intentionally places the firearm on the ground or other stable object will not be disqualified provided the competitor maintains constant physical contact with the firearm until it is placed firmly and in a safe direction, securely on the ground or another stable object, and remains within 1 yard of the firearm at all times. While a firearm has been placed in this manner, a competitor may not fire another firearm.”
I have added emphasis to the sentence that was added in the rule update. Why did we update this? Because competitors were occasionally using the old rule to circumvent the intended movement challenges of multigun stages. The rule change does not prevent competitors from intentionally setting a firearm down, it just prevents the firing of another firearm during that time.
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