This Question of the Month was based on a situation that came up at one of our local matches. A competitor engages, and knocks over, a mini-popper from underneath a wall where there is no designated port. As the RO, what is your call?
During setup, while making adjustments to the stage, we did not notice that a mini-popper ended up being visible, and could be shot, under the bottom of a wall. I did see it after shooting started but said to myself those fateful words: “no one will do that”. As anyone that has setup a match or worked as a Range Master knows, as soon as you say that, it is going to happen. Call it Murphy’s Law of match setup. And, sure enough, someone saw the popper under the wall and shot it. It was entirely my fault for not fixing it sooner, but what is the result of such an action?
Here is an example of what it looked like:
There are two main rules that come into play in this situation. Rule 2.2.3.2 discusses construction of props and states that walls at least 5’-9” or taller go from the ground to infinity unless specified otherwise in the Written Stage Briefing. That means that the popper was not technically available under the wall since the wall is assumed to go all the way to the ground. The other applicable rule describes what happens: 9.1.6.2 states that if a bullet passes entirely through hard cover, such as a wall or barrel, and strikes a popper causing it to fall, it is considered range equipment failure and a reshoot is required once the stage is reset. The correct answer to the question is that the RO should stop the competitor and order a reshoot.
If the target in question had been a low cardboard target, such as a lay-down target visible under the bottom of the wall, rule 9.1.6.1 states that any shot that passed under the wall would not count for score and would be scored as a miss (again because the wall is considered hardcover that goes all the way to the ground). In this scenario if a cardboard target was shot under the wall with two rounds and was not reengaged elsewhere, it would be scored as two misses. If the competitor shot it under the wall and then shot it again elsewhere, we would have to try to determine which shots were which and if we could determine the correct score. If so, we can score it as shot but if not, we would require a reshoot for not being able to determine an accurate score.
What about the failure to shoot at penalty? The target wasn’t legally available so it couldn’t be engaged, right? Rule 10.2.7 discusses the penalty for failing to shoot at a scoring target with at least one round but does not include a statement about target availability or visibility. If there are holes in the target, and we know the target was reset after the previous competitor, it is hard to say that the current competitor did not shoot at it and so a failure to shoot at penalty is not appropriate.
While the correct answer to the question is that the competitor should be stopped and a reshoot required, the larger point of this question is to watch for things like this during setup. It is much easier to fix things before shooting starts than it is afterward. If a target, either paper or steel, is available under a wall, find something to hide it with to save yourself some later headaches. A banner works well, or a piece of wall mesh can be temporarily put in place. A strategically placed barrel can also work to hide a target (this was my solution at this match). Finding potential scoring problems and fixing them early makes for a much smoother match with fewer scoring calls and reshoots.
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