IDPA rules - kinda...

[Merlin Orr]

Shooting a Looong stage... No reloads in the open, retain all mags with ammo left etc.. basically IDPA rules except for a high round count.

Start of stage... Hot loaded rifle on safe. Also carries holstered cold and unloaded pistol. All mags on belt. 4 rifle positions with movement between each then pistol.

2nd rifle position is prone at distant poppers. Shooter engages poppers and hauls to the next shooting barricade...leaving cold unloaded pistol laying on the tarp where he just shot his rifle from prone position. The spotter/SO behind me (I was SO) picks up the pistol and hands it to me at the barricade where the shooter is mowing down paper men - still with the rifle. I take the pistol and place it in the shooters holster. He finishes the rifle part of the COF, slings the rifle and unholsters and loads his handgun - oblivious to the fact that he has dropped/left his pistol in a position behind him. I let him continue and finish the stage. I tell him what happened and that we will discuss and let him know if he is done for the day..or what.

I then meet with the other 3 guys putting on the match and discuss what the call should have been. 3 different opinions.

Gun is empty - SO picked it up. No harm - no foul. (discounting the fact that he would have had to run back and get the gun had not the SO brought it to him) saved time...

DQ.

Procedural...? I don't know where this came from

FDR just to show him we were displeased with him losing his gun...?

What would you have done and, if the rule book can be used to address such an occurrence - what do the rules state?

Sorry if I rambled...

[jmorris]

You can't drop a loaded gun that is an instant DQ. The book doesn't say anything about an unloaded gun so it is what ever the RO and MD come up with. Your not really playing IDPA but I don't know what I would give a PE for anyway. I would have said something to him before he left the position or once he realized he didn't have it he would have to go back. If the SO moved it from where he left it or you said "STOP" because of a safety reason, like the SO jacking with his gun in front of or behind the shooter and RO, then I'd let him reshoot.

Interesting question, we all know you get a PE for dropping a mag and moving but by the book you could get away with an unloaded pistol.

[Glock3422]

Using "IDPA" like rules, a DQ is not warranted since the gun wasn't loaded. I have DQed a shooter for dropping a loaded gun.

A PE is not sufficient to address a holster that is not able to retain a handgun.

An FTDR addresses the severity of "losing" an unloaded gun during a COF and offsets any advantage that may have been gained by not having to go back for it.

Just a thought.

[Jim Watson]

If it had been a real IDPA match instead of a fako ersatz, the rule reads:

S 2. Dropping an unloaded firearm may incur penalties at the

discretion of the SO and/or MD.

Since the SO took it upon himself to return the gun, I have to say he made the call that the shooter should continue and no penalty is warranted.

I'd have left it where it lay and let the shooter deal with it and applied whatever penalty he incurred in the process.