Shooting within the lines. Know your boundaries. There were so many options for a title. But let’s talk about fault lines in this Question of the Month.
In USPSA Competition matches, can the WSB require the competitor to stay within the fault lines for the entire stage?
This has been one of the big differences between the IPSC and USPSA rulesets for years. In USPSA, you are not required to stay within the fault lines while moving through a stage. We give penalties for firing shots while out of bounds, but the shortcut movement is not penalized. Whereas in IPSC, if you leave the shooting area to shortcut to another part of the stage, all shots after taking the shortcut are penalized.
However, USPSA made a change this year with the addition of 1.1.5.5: For Level I matches only, the Written Stage Briefing may specify that competitors must stay within the fault lines for the entire course of fire. Movement outside the fault lines will incur a per shot procedural penalty for any targets engaged after such movement. Drop steps are allowed, as are inadvertent steps outside the fault lines, as long as the competitor steps back into the fault lines in the same location.
This rule was added to help new clubs, who may be light on range props, to restrict competitor movement when building larger stages. And most of you have kept up with the rules changes and know this is only allowed at Level I matches. Higher level matches must use vision barriers and other props to control competitor movement.
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