"Range Is Clear"

[ChuckS]

http://www.multibriefs.com/briefs/uspsa/man-down.pdf

[Poppa Bear]

Thanks for the link Chuck.   

[JAFO]

Per the article, there was no scoring going on.  But I can't believe an RO would go downrange to check a popper while the shooter was still on the stage!!!  Aside from the chance the shooter would come back for it, App C.6.c. states it's an automatic reshoot if a stage official touches it.

[9x45]

That's why the command is "The Range is Clear". It's never safe.....

[IHAVEGAS]

8 hours ago, 9x45 said:

That's why the command is "The Range is Clear". It's never safe.....

 

Unless it is clear.

[Nik Habicht]

On 4/6/2017 at 1:40 AM, Beef15 said:

No sir, it refers to the scoring process, which implies multiple activities necessary for scoring without defining or limiting what those might be.

 

Clearly there was some very poor judgment here by the individual way down range, and the other group being completely oblivious and deeper than prudent, not defending the individual/group decisions.

 

What's the solution? Set a line across the rear of the bay, nobody but the shooter and timer move forward of it until ULSC? Sounds good, but will slow things, not always insignificantly, when partial scoring of many stages can be done safely prior to ULSC.

 

Even if you did stop scoring, the timer could still end up down range, I'm slow and I've outrun the timer RO before, and/or moved in a manner they didn't expect and ended up with them downrange, so shall we institute absolutely no uprange movement by the shooter? Where do we draw the line?

 

Maybe mandate someone accompany the scorer and delegate that does nothing but watch the shooter and alert the scoring party if scoring is to commence prior to ULSC?

 

This whole episode is a lesson in complacency, thankfully the consequences were not physical. A discussion of the events is necessary, I'm not convinced that further regulating stage activities is.

I'd rather have fewer people downrange, not more.  Scoring during the run doesn't save as much time as anyone thinks.  Even at Nationals on the huge range at Barry -- where they typically had multiple ROs scoring their sector, they waited until the range was clear.

[Poppa Bear]

I worked a stage with two other RO's for a total of 3.  One ran the clipboard the other two did the scoring.  We had left side, right side and the end of the range.  We started on the end with RO 1 (timer RO).   We then moved to the up-range RO (RO 2) for the targets on the right side while RO 1 moved to the left side of the stage.  This way things moved quickly and the squads all had designated areas that they taped and reset steel on.   Generally speaking the taping and resetting was done before the scoring RO (RO 3) finished with the paperwork and signatures.  So we would not have saved any time scoring prior to the last shot being fired.  

 

If you make a plan and communicate it to the shooters as part of the stage briefing things do not need to get bogged down, and the scoring RO was down range until the last shot was fired so scoring could and should not have started until the "Range is Clear" Command was given anyways.

[Ming the Merciless]

On ‎4‎/‎5‎/‎2017 at 6:36 PM, motosapiens said:

You think? you think a uspsa shooter, even one dumb enough to spend 5 seconds running back for a popper is going to just go all freakout and shoot someone? I dunno. I think it's likely to just end in a reshoot.

 

But there are some lessons to be learned, without a doubt.

  Seriously????  And if the RO was not visible to the shooter because there was a SHOOT target between them? 

[tanks]

On 4/5/2017 at 6:36 PM, motosapiens said:

You think? you think a uspsa shooter, even one dumb enough to spend 5 seconds running back for a popper is going to just go all freakout and shoot someone? I dunno. I think it's likely to just end in a reshoot.

 

But there are some lessons to be learned, without a doubt.

 

No, but it is very possible to have tunnel vision on the popper and not even notice the taper. And he might miss the popper again and hit the taper.

Edited April 9, 2017 by tanks