Should an RO notice a squib?

[Andyk]

Had a squib in Steel Challange match.  No damage.  Question is, RO is supposed to watch hits or misses, shouldn't he notice a squib?   Not his responsibility I know but you would think he would notice it and stop you.  Luckily gun locked up so had to stop.

[dansedgli]

A good RO will notice most of the time but if he is trying to watch for hits on steel then maybe not. 

 

Some squibs are hard to recognise too, especially if you are double plugged. I'm not going to risk my hearing by not double plugging on the off chance a shooter is a poor reloader. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Smithcity]

If they notice a squib, they most certainly should stop you as a matter of range safety. They should be focused on YOU, not on the targets outside catching any failures to engage / range malfunctions. Tough to do in a larger match, but if a shooter thinks they have a squib they aught to stop and hope for a re-shoot. 

[jkrispies]

Would the RO notice?  Possibly.  The problem is that if you’re tearing through the targets with .25 or less splits, you’re going to either stop yourself or have a blown up gun before the RO will have time to get the word “stop” out of his mouth, much less you having time to process the order and obey it. IMHO, squibs are on the shooter and nobody else.  If the RO confirms that he heard a squib too, then thank him and start figuring out a way to clear your gun.  

[EEH]

9 hours ago, Andyk said:

Had a squib in Steel Challange match.  No damage.  Question is, RO is supposed to watch hits or misses, shouldn't he notice a squib?   Not his responsibility I know but you would think he would notice it and stop you.  Luckily gun locked up so had to stop.

Personally I watch your gun more  than I watch your hits, I can check your hits after range is cold . I have called squib on some but most of the time the shooter will notice it first .

[Hi-Power Jack]

10 hours ago, jkrispies said:

you’re tearing with .25 splits, you’re going to stop or have a blown up gun before the RO can say “STOP”  

 

^^^^^^^^^^^   This     ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

 

The trick, boys and girls, is to actually SEE the powder in each and every case

BEFORE you seat the bullet - every time.  Or, you have to get lucky     

[jkrispies]

Another issue I've fond which makes RO'ing difficult in this regard is guys who mix various loads together in an effort to "clean out the closet" of the ammo they no longer use.  This is especially prevalent with USPSA shooters who shoot some Steel Challenge for practice purposes only, so they don't especially care about their overall times.  I once RO'd a guy shooting a .40 that had a comically loud major load, and in the same bucket he'd randomly mixed in a bunch of minor (or at least way quieter) .40's all loaded with the same bullet heads... so he couldn't tell what was what.  Roll the dice with every shot, and one would shoot high, one would shoot low.  Four shots of super louds followed by a "quiet" round sounded like a squib.  He told me not to worry about it, so I didn't.  Anyway, I've had plenty of instances where shooters will have an odd sounding load that still functioned fine, and they'll say, "Did you hear that?  Doggone it, I must have had an XYZ mixed in there!'  I'll just shrug and move on with my life.  I'll sometimes have a similar issue happen myself if I don't bring along quite enough rounds and have to dip into a backup bucket of ammo to make it through the last stage, but I always know which rounds are what, and they're close enough in power to each other that nobody will notice the difference except me.

[SlvrDragon50]

11 hours ago, jkrispies said:

Another issue I've fond which makes RO'ing difficult in this regard is guys who mix various loads together in an effort to "clean out the closet" of the ammo they no longer use.  This is especially prevalent with USPSA shooters who shoot some Steel Challenge for practice purposes only, so they don't especially care about their overall times.  I once RO'd a guy shooting a .40 that had a comically loud major load, and in the same bucket he'd randomly mixed in a bunch of minor (or at least way quieter) .40's all loaded with the same bullet heads... so he couldn't tell what was what.  Roll the dice with every shot, and one would shoot high, one would shoot low.  Four shots of super louds followed by a "quiet" round sounded like a squib.  He told me not to worry about it, so I didn't.  Anyway, I've had plenty of instances where shooters will have an odd sounding load that still functioned fine, and they'll say, "Did you hear that?  Doggone it, I must have had an XYZ mixed in there!'  I'll just shrug and move on with my life.  I'll sometimes have a similar issue happen myself if I don't bring along quite enough rounds and have to dip into a backup bucket of ammo to make it through the last stage, but I always know which rounds are what, and they're close enough in power to each other that nobody will notice the difference except me.

Oh geez, why would anyone do that??? Sounds like a terrible idea mixing loads.

 

Regarding OP, I agree with the others. I don't think anyone will be able to react fast enough to tell the shooter to stop before they're able to fire the next shot.

[Stuey]

The RO job is safety for the shooter and those around him. He should look out for squids, but if someone is doing splits of less than a second, he can not react that fast. I have had a few pop up when I managed a couple of stages, but the shooter caught them before I said STOP.


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[Sarge]

Squib rules can suck. If I see the bullet hit dirt right in front of the shooter I’m not supposed to say anything. That really hoses the shooter if I don’t stop him and he stops anyway.

  I think the rule should just say stop the shooter if a suspected squib occurs. Period.

[Sarge]

1 hour ago, SlvrDragon50 said:

Oh geez, why would anyone do that??? Sounds like a terrible idea mixing loads.

One word. Cops! LOL They mix duty ammo with mous fart reloads occasionally.

[jkrispies]

18 hours ago, Sarge said:

One word. Cops! LOL They mix duty ammo with mous fart reloads occasionally.

LMAO!  I didn’t think of that actually, but my example shooter was in fact law enforcement!!!

[BoyGlock]

Squibs are on the shooter. In ipsc if an ro suspects a squib and stops you and turns out its true you will be scored as shot. If it turned out its not, you will have the right to reshoot. If you voluntarily stopped w/o ro command, squib or not you will be scored as shot. No reshoot. 

[Boudreaux78]

I agree with Sarg, the rule needs to be changed to say if a squib is suspected, then the shooter is stopped and a reshoot is awarded. It’s too dangerous to the shooter and the RO not to stop shooting. 

 

On a a side note, even if the shooter stops themselves because they recognized it first, the RO should say stop. If the RO doesn’t stop the shooter and there is no squib, then the shooter would not be elligible for a reshoot because they stopped themselves. It’s a courtesy to the shooter and again, the shooter didn’t blow you up! Lol