For our September Question of the Month we asked: During a Level I USPSA Competition Rules match, where a competitor is shooting a handgun division and PCC, is it legal for the competitor to wear the handgun while shooting the stage with a PCC?
Here are the results:
| Answer | Votes |
| No, it’s a DQ | 432 (66.46%) |
| Yes, unless handgun falls out of holster while shooting PCC | 130 (20.00%) |
| Yes, it’s legal | 88 (13.54%) |
Thankfully most folks got this one correct. Rule 5.1.9 – A competitor must never use or wear more than one firearm during a course of fire (see Rule 10.5.7) applies here. Note it says “use OR wear”. So, wearing a handgun while using a PCC would violate this rule. This rule has been around a long, long time and lots of folks have been sent home because of it. Before PCC it was usually for having a carry gun on while shooting a match with a match gun. That’s a DQ and one which I’ve had to hand out more than once. I’ve had some “discussions” with competitors over this one over the years but it is always the same. One gun at a time.
The process is simple. Go to the safety area, remove, bag and stow your handgun. You can then retrieve your PCC and shoot the stage with PCC. Reverse to restore to handgun mode. This isn’t picking on PCC shooters. As noted earlier this rule has been around a long time. Those that choose to shoot multiple handgun divisions that don’t share compatible equipment have been doing it safely and sanely for decades. For instance, my Limited/Open rig is not compatible with my CO/Production rig so if I am going to shoot multiple divisions in a Classifier Special and I need both rigs I have to change over between runs/guns. Not a big deal and thousands of us have done it many times.
Now, where this can become an issue is if the MD allows multiple shooters to run multiple guns and squads by the number of guns not the number of people. So say four shooters run three divisions each; suddenly you have four people on a 12 gun squad. The converse can also happen and that 12 man squad suddenly has 36 guns and takes forever to shoot each stage while the other squads back up and get frustrated. That can get messy; so don’t do that. Generally, it is best if shooters are limited to say two divisions each and you build squads of say 10 people. Some clubs will run multiple flights a day, say a 10 AM start and a 1 PM start. That allows those that want to shoot many divisions for the classifier match to do so without causing undue delays. Your match may vary so do what works for you.
For those that insist that this should be legal, stop, it is for your own good. It is very common in Multigun to see the butt stock of a long gun knock the handgun out of the holster during movement. This is often because folks are using holsters in Multigun which aren’t really suited for that game; not a great idea, but that is not always the case. In the end, it all ends up the same; a trip home via the DQ.
Be safe and sane out there folks and we will see you on the ranges!