Practice Line(s) At A Match

[Skywalker]

Reading some posts in the forums, I understand that there are matches where you are allowed to practice live-fire before the match begins (maybe at the beginning of each match day?).

I'm interested in knowing how this goes on, how it is handled by the MD and/or RM, and how common is this practice.

Here in italy we are not allowed to warm-up with live-fire shooting on the match range. For this reason I would like to know what's the current trend in other IPSC countries.

All contributions welcome.

[Vince Pinto]

Hello My Young Jedi,

Yes, some matches set-up a Practice Bay where competitors can live-fire their guns, and these are most commonly used to calibrate sights, test ejection, test firing pins or to test the general operation of a gun and so on.

The area should be manned by an RO, who generally only allows one competitor to shoot a limited number of rounds (e.g. one magazine), and some ranges even charge a nominal fee per magazine. Often the Practice Bay is at or near the Chrono stage.

Obviously all safety rules apply but it's important to declare whether a safety infraction ocurring at the Practice Bay affects the match (it shouldn't, but occasionally it might).

[Flexmoney]

I don't see it very often.

Some matches...if there is a space/bay available...will have a practice area (with RO). Or, they will have a all steel "side match" for a dollar or two per run.

[Matthew_Mink]

Every time I have needed to function fire at a major match, I just go see the Chronoman. He's always been very accomodating. He'll let me fire as much as I want to if he's not busy at the moment. I still do everything under his range commands, LAMR, show clear, etc... Pretty convenient.