I am just back from the Factory Gun Nationals and what I thought was a single occurrence recently at another Sectional match raised its ugly head several times at Chronograph. I guess it is time to review one of those misunderstandings that sometimes arise from bad information.
While at chronograph you are taking part in one of the most controlled shooting environments at a match. As long as you do not handle your firearm before given the command “Make Ready” it is hard to get into trouble. Of course, you still need to be aware of the whole 180 issue, most chronographers prefer not to have guns pointed at them and can get a little growly if you point a firearm at them, duh!
Once the chronographer completes their duties and as long as everything is going fine the last thing that happens is once they clear the firearm, they will give you the following commands. “Unload and show clear”, you retrieve your firearm, check to make sure it is clear, after all you are responsible to make sure it is clear, “If clear, hammer down, holster or flag”.
And that is where it went weird. In several cases the competitors, mostly with selective action firearms, thumbed the hammer down and did not pull the trigger. They were very quick and obviously this was their normal method when given that command. I also had one de-cock their firearm. In all cases I made them cock the pistol and pull the trigger. Two of them stated but that dropping the hammer on an empty chamber will damage their firearms*. I then explained that pulling the trigger is our final test to make sure no live round leaves a stage while still chambered.
I also had one competitor, retrieve their firearm and just holster it. Of course, I had them draw and directed them to “Unload and Show Clear” to me and then “If clear, hammer down, and holster”. He then stated why should they have to make sure the gun is clear if I had already done so while he watched.
This all goes back to what I think is a simple mis-understanding and also violates one of the Cardinal Rules of Firearm Safety.
Our long-standing procedures for safe firearm handling are designed to prevent a live round from leaving any stage while still in the chamber. While it seems somewhat redundant to have the chronographer clear the firearm before handing it off and then require the competitor to clear the firearm again it is designed to prevent the worst-case scenario.
As I have said for many years for most competitors, “Unload and Show Clear” is pure muscle memory. Many competitors do not really check to see if their firearms are clear especially when they are more concerned with their time, score and other issues while on the stage.
Competitors and Range Officers must remember that firearms of any type are complex machines and things break. Several years ago, I had a competitor come back to chronograph after being DQ’ed on their next stage for having an empty case on the chamber. Upon inspection, it turned out the extractor had broken and failed to extract the round and both myself and the competitor missed it. I apologized to the competitor for my oversight, but it did not change his outcome. Under our rules they are responsible for their firearm and he also missed it.
This to me was a great lesson for all of us. I loaded three rounds, it fired three rounds, there were no more in the magazine, so the gun had to be clear right? Apparently not!
To go back to the issue of failing to pull the trigger at the “If Clear, Hammer Down, …” command. We have taught competitors and Range Officers to never allow a competitor to leave the stage unless they actually pull the trigger (Revolvers exempt).
If the firearm has a functioning magazine safety they still must demonstrate by inserting an empty magazine, dropping the hammer, and removing the magazine. Decocking or thumbing down the hammer is not allowed.
So, to bring this to a close, as a competitor or RO make sure when they “If Clear, Hammer Down, Holster/Flag” they actually pull the trigger. Even as ROs we sometimes get caught by the assumption that is what they are doing, but is it? If my experiences last week are any indication, maybe not.
* A steady diet of dry firing on an empty chamber during practice maybe discouraged. The limited number of times you will drop the hammer at the end of a stage outweighs any concerns of excessive wear in lieu of safety. Safety is always more important.