Occasionally stages require competitors to start completely outside the shooting area and require a step or two of movement to enter the shooting area. But sometimes The Neuralyzer (a.k.a. the timer beep) wipes any and all stage plans and competitors engage targets before entering the shooting area. For this Question of the Month we look at how to handle this situation as a RO.
Stage Info: 32 rounds, Comstock, 6 USPSA targets, 14 poppers (partial stage diagram shown). Best 3 per cardboard target score.
Start Position: Unloaded firearm on table, trigger guard centered over large X mark, all magazines on table. Standing behind table, hands on respective small X marks.
Stage Procedure: On audible start signal engage targets from within the shooting area.
What happened: After the start signal, a Single Stack competitor retrieves and loads his firearm and remains standing at the table (never enters the shooting area). He engages all the targets visible in the diagram except for T4. As the RO, what is your call?
A majority of you said 19 procedurals, is that correct? Well, let’s look at what the rulebook says! The relevant rule for this question is 10.2.1.3 which says if a competitor has started a stage completely outside the shooting area and never enters before firing shots, then the penalty is per occurrence (10.2.1) or per shot if there is a significant advantage (10.2.1.1).
We have had a previous QOTM that addressed targets being engaged before entering the shooting area and in that post we learned that occurrence equals the foot fault occurrence and is not related to the number of targets engaged. This means never entering the shooting area before engaging targets is one foot fault occurrence (also see the definition of occurrence in App. A3). For this question, the competitor never moved away from the table, so it is a single foot fault occurrence.
But now we need to determine if it was a significant advantage or not. Because if it was a significant advantage, it then turns to a per shot penalty up to the number of scoring hits on the targets shot (10.2.1.1 and 10.2.3). A majority of you believed it was a significant advantage and awarded 19 procedurals for the 19 available scoring hits on all those targets, and I have to agree. Look at all the movement saved by the competitor. The competitor would have needed to move to at least three different positions within the shooting area to engage all those targets engaged from the table. Not to mention that all magazines started on the table and the competitor also saved time by not having to pick up as many magazines and stow them before moving. He was able to shoot 19 of the 32 rounds from behind the table and if he did a reload before leaving the table, he only needed one additional mag to complete the stage. That is also a significant advantage.
To all of those that got it correct, good job! For those who answered 13 procedurals, remember it isn’t related to the number of targets. It’s the number of shots when significant advantage occurs. The folks who answered one procedural were on the right track of it being a single foot fault occurrence, but hopefully now see how it’s a significant advantage. And I think 10 procedurals was a random answer I made as an obvious wrong answer because I have no way of justifying it–quit guessing!
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