Polish Plate Rack

[bierman]

Encountered my first Polish Plate rack at a recent local match. Stage designer set it up where you had two options to shoot it. If you wanted to shoot it up close (7-8 yards) you had to hit a clamshell activator, attached to a stick on the left end of the rack, that would start it spinning before you shot. Other option was to shoot it from a bit farther away (12-15 yards), but it would be stationary. I was shooting Revo and the stage layout made the stationary option much more favorable as I would be able to engage 3 paper targets, reload and take the six plates on the rack before moving to the next position. Easy as pie. I shoot the 3 paper, make my reload and hit the first plate and the whole rack begins to spin. I locked up for a second or so, thinking "Hey, it ain't supposed to do that". Apparently the splatter from the 230 gr bullet hit the stick that was propping up that end of the plate rack. Needless to say, once I remembered I needed to keep shooting, I ran through two moonclips to finish the plate rack and completely wrecked the rest of my stage plan.

I guess the lesson I took from this is always be ready for the unexpected, especially with moving/spinning/falling range equipment. Have a plan, but be prepared for that plan to change.

Edited February 6, 2013 by bierman

[Kali]

Sounds like a range malfunction/reshoot to me.

[NoSteel]

Reshoot........

[Rick88]

once I remembered I needed to keep shooting

Nope, you should have stopped and let them reset the stage.

[GuildSF4]

The RO should have stopped it. If the activator was not shot then it was

was range equipment failure.

[bierman]

I wasn't going to stop unless I was told to stop.

[Jammer1911]

Range Equipment Failure = reshoot

[pskys2]

I wasn't going to stop unless I was told to stop.

And that's the correct way to approach it.

The RO should require you to reshoot if the prop activated prematurely, but never assume it to be so.

And those Polish Plate Racks are wild!!!

[bierman]

Wild would be a good word for it, although at the time "wild" was not the word that came to mind.

[Poppa Bear]

How was the stick attached that it kept the plate rack stationary? Or was the stick nothing but a prop stick that prevented the greater weight on the one side of the rack from dropping and allowing the rack to spin. If it was the latter I do not see how you can call it a REF unless splatter actually knocked the stick out from under the rack. It could just as easily been a case of the first plate changing the weight distribution enough to allow the stick to fall over when the weight of the rack was no longer resting on top of it.

[Rick88]

I wasn't going to stop unless I was told to stop.

And that's the correct way to approach it.

I disagree anytime there is range equipment failure you should stop and unload and show clear.

[OUshooter]

I wasn't going to stop unless I was told to stop.

And that's the correct way to approach it.

I disagree anytime there is range equipment failure you should stop and unload and show clear.

I need to look, but I think a REF can only be declared by the RO. Therefore, if the RO doesn't stop you then the COF should continue. If you stop voluntarily, for any reason, the COF will be scored/penalized as appropriate.

For this particular situation it sounds like the RO should have declared a Stop, and issued a reshoot. If the RO doesn't then you complete the COF and then state your position.

[lawboy]

I wasn't going to stop unless I was told to stop.

And that's the correct way to approach it.

I disagree anytime there is range equipment failure you should stop and unload and show clear.

I need to look, but I think a REF can only be declared by the RO. Therefore, if the RO doesn't stop you then the COF should continue. If you stop voluntarily, for any reason, the COF will be scored/penalized as appropriate.

For this particular situation it sounds like the RO should have declared a Stop, and issued a reshoot. If the RO doesn't then you complete the COF and then state your position.

That's how I learned it in RO class.

[bierman]

How was the stick attached that it kept the plate rack stationary? Or was the stick nothing but a prop stick that prevented the greater weight on the one side of the rack from dropping and allowing the rack to spin. If it was the latter I do not see how you can call it a REF unless splatter actually knocked the stick out from under the rack. It could just as easily been a case of the first plate changing the weight distribution enough to allow the stick to fall over when the weight of the rack was no longer resting on top of it.

The stick was just propping up one side of the rack. I shot the plate closest to the stick first and it appeared the stick was knocked away by splatter. I really don't know what actually happened as I was not looking at the stick, my eyes had already moved to the next plate when the whole gizmo began to spin.

[Kjdowning18]

I was not there and don't know what happened but if the stick was holding up one end to keep it from spinning..... In order to utilize the stick to the fullest advantage you would need to shoot the plates opposite the first keepin as my h weight on the stick as possible for as long as possible.... Shooting plates on stick side would cause the rack to lift off the stick and cause the spin