Nik Habicht

I'm thinking he didn't parse his words because he wanted to point out that 10.5.6 exists; not make a ruling in his answer....

Better read the "three foot rule" before suggesting Troy was wrong -- he was clearly talking about gun handling during the course of fire: So yeah -- that could be a problem if you bend at the waist while drawing or reholstering, or if you draw/reholster while seated. That's really nothing new. As far as the cart set-up issue -- I'd write the rule to allow muzzle down on a cart -- as the gun isn't being carried, and is chamber-flagged, that should be inert enough, almost like a holstered handgun. Then it's just incumbent on the competitor to pull the cart up to a suitable berm when removing the rifle, reversing the direction to muzzle up. Speaking of which -- I'm really not wild about muzzle up carry for a couple of reasons: Feet are low, heads are high -- catching an AD with either one could prove fatal, but I suspect the odds go way up for impact to the head/torso. Also -- AD over the berm becomes a concern, if the gun wasn't properly cleared, with muzzle up carry.

There's no rule preventing you from shooting major in production. Your non-alpha hits however won't be scored any higher than usual..... You have choices -- you may not believe that one is viable, but..... ....there are people who shoot Lim/L10 and even Open using minor pf ammo. Some of them even do ok locally.....

So, you were there, you heard all of the same facts that DNROI did, were privy to all conversations, and are educated to the RMI level with ~ 20 years experience officiating in this sport at all levels?

How do you know he did? (In other words how do you know that the ruling questioned applied to situation at hand?)

An email with an opinion from DNROI is not binding on an RM. An interpretation published on the website however, is a horse of a different color...... (And for the record, I would subject a DNROI opinion email to strict scrutiny of applicability to the situation at hand, and if applicable would give it fairly heavy weight in making a determination -- so an email wouldn't be worthless)

Honestly -- if you need to load a large quantity of one caliber -- it's time for a 1050 dedicated to that caliber.....

Of course you're right -- there was a rule change; but also wrong -- if you're stating that there's no difference in advantage....

OK -- but I'm not sure that justifying a rule change with "it would sure be easier on the ROs" is a winning argument. If a competitor disagrees with a call, reach out to the RM. The RM has the time to explain it.... :-)

I'm ok with that -- call made differently at different matches, or at different stages -- as long as it's made consistently for every competitor at the match/stage in question..... Both feet out on a 20 foot target is different than both feet out on a fifty yard target (assuming 2-3 feet closer to the target in each case.)

To my mind -- per shot is pretty harsh. It should be reserved for the scenarios where a competitor really is getting a significant advantage. On the other hand, one per occurrence may be too light a penalty for some situations. I think we need both, to equitably score the infraction. But then I'm generally not in favor of lowest common denominator thinking -- I'd rather improve the quality of our officiating than simplify the rules.

Not if they've all done a proper walkthrough of the stage with an RM who knows what he's doing..... Then the penalties were decided upon before the first shot was ever fired.... ETA: Kevin -- didn't mean to pile on; replied to your post without having read past that point. :-)

I have my FFL ship to the other FFL -- that way I can ensure the sale is entered in their records at the time the gun leaves my hands..... ....and if a question were to come up, there'd be someone local to verify with. My local FFL stopped accepting firearms from non-FFLs, due to the number of idiots who just shipped him a gun without any instructions/way to contact the buyer and most importantly without any copy of an ID that he could use to log the gun into his books..... His policy now is to just refuse delivery, and then the gun gets returned at owner's expense.....

I don't know -- mine passes at least four gas stations every day on its way to work. Usually I fill up once a week, and that's with a 20 mile one way commute....

Check rule 1.1.6 -- paying special attention to the second sentence: If a competitor can't see a target because a wall or port is too tall, or a fault line is too tight given their height -- that's a problem that needs to be addressed in some way. Boxes are legal for short statured shooters. I've shot a couple of stages at an area match that had you placing your hands flat on hands painted on a wall -- shooters under 5'6" got a lower set of "palms" to put their hands on, than shooters who were taller.

Well, I was recruited...... ....and unlike most USPSA shooters I'm not thrown by shooting during retrograde movement, or weakhand -- though it took me a while to remember how to shoot more than 9 paper on a stage without missing any.....

Can't have it both ways -- if we're scoring it a hit when the popper stays up, then, you the shooter have not activated the mechanism for the mover, hence no reshoot.... Otherwise we have no problem with must fall to score..... Afterall -- the only rounds we know make power factor are the rounds we fire over the chrono. The others we give good faith credit for, with occasional verification by steel.... (And for the record, I detest use of steel to activate other targets....)

Wilderness Tactical or a solid Leather gun belt can also be your only choice -- I started with Wilderness Tactical when I first came over from IDPA; I know of a couple of people still rocking Leather (single, not inner and outer) gunbelts.... Inner/Outer helps, because your equipment can be set to not move on the outer belt, and as long as you hit your index when joining it to the inner belt, your gear winds up in the exact position you're used to....

I'm with Rhett. We've shot matches in some of the same places, and I shot some outlaw 3-gun matches where the basic safety rules for between stage gunhandling were "don't point your muzzle at anyone, and don't handle guns and ammo at the same time." That worked largely because everyone invited to the match knew what they were doing on the range already -- they'd been vetted. USPSA attracts new shooters, and now potentially experienced pistol shooters who are trying a new platform -- PCC. There'll be some things that will need to be tweaked to maintain USPSA's reputation for a solid safety ruleset. I'm confident we can make that happen....

Short answer -- if you're hand carrying and the rifle is reasonably vertical -- I'm not likely to care. Now, swing it down off your shoulder and muzzle someone -- I care a great deal..... Bottom line -- don't point guns at other people. It's a terrific way to not get invited back to play.....

There's also this to consider: as well as: So -- sweep peoples feet with a slung carbine -- might not be a DQ. Sweep people's feet while having a hand on said carbine -- well, 10.5.1 could apply. Do I care a whole lot about where the muzzle of a flagged carbine points, when the carbine is in a case or cart, or is reasonable vertically slung? Not that much..... Do I care a great deal if said carbine is in your hands? Yep.....

Well, yes -- but here's the alternative: If you tell me "Unload and Show Clear" and the expectation is that I'm not allowed to fire after that point, I'll be able to get a reshoot all day long. The alternative leaves us with a competitive equity problem. Sure -- someone can rush the procedure, and have an unplanned shot break. But -- we do have other rules that would come into play at that point: Was the competitor still unloading the gun, with a finger on the trigger? Where did the round hit -- ground within ten feet, or over the berm or other unsafe direction? Where was the muzzle pointed? If the shooter fires at that point, and the round safely impacts the back berm, or passes through a target on the way to a berm -- is it really different from a round that was fired earlier in the stage?

So you'd be good with "one alpha on steel, two mikes and an FTE on the swinger, due to the shooter's inability to knock down the popper" as the call? Careful what you wish for.....

That's probably something that should be fixed -- I agree, no Dq under current SC rules..... In general, my take is that the safety rules should be as consistent as possible, across USPSA handgun, steel challenge, USPSA 3-gun and USPSA Multigun, allowing for only those deviations that are necessary due to a particular sport's or firearm's unique requirements.

Back in the day, when I owned both G34s and G35s, I always made sure the .40 cal guns were visually distinctive -- either via paintjob, or magwell, or stainless Bar-Sto barrels. Maybe try for different grips, or replace the small parts -- slide lock, safetys, hammers with something unique?