Early Fired Shot What's The General Rule

[Mass Shooter]

Course Of Fire: 50' indoor Gallery Course .22 rimfire

The last range command given "Ready On The Firing Line" and all of a sudden a shot sounds out a couple seconds before the buzzer sounds to start the relay. ....

Questions:

1) Can / should the range officer stop the relay at that point?

2) If yes, to question #1 I presume the line is asked who fired the shot? What if nobody admits, can the range officer be allowed to give the commands for shooters to empty magazines, slides back, make the firearms safe and set down onto table top, and then ask for targets to be reeled back for a shot count on everyone's target?

In the case of a range with automated turning targets I presume it's a no brainer, but in the case of fixed targets on a cable reel system.

Curious to know how these situations are handled.

Thanks,

M.S.

[randy1952]

Course Of Fire: 50' indoor Gallery Course .22 rimfire

The last range command given "Ready On The Firing Line" and all of a sudden a shot sounds out a couple seconds before the buzzer sounds to start the relay. ....

Questions:

1) Can / should the range officer stop the relay at that point?

2) If yes, to question #1 I presume the line is asked who fired the shot? What if nobody admits, can the range officer be allowed to give the commands for shooters to empty magazines, slides back, make the firearms safe and set down onto table top, and then ask for targets to be reeled back for a shot count on everyone's target?

In the case of a range with automated turning targets I presume it's a no brainer, but in the case of fixed targets on a cable reel system.

Curious to know how these situations are handled.

Thanks,

M.S.

Yes to all the questions, but you can vary this by looking at the NRA rule book as it spells out what is allowed.

[Kirmdog]

Course Of Fire: 50' indoor Gallery Course .22 rimfire

The last range command given "Ready On The Firing Line" and all of a sudden a shot sounds out a couple seconds before the buzzer sounds to start the relay. ....

Questions:

1) Can / should the range officer stop the relay at that point?

2) If yes, to question #1 I presume the line is asked who fired the shot? What if nobody admits, can the range officer be allowed to give the commands for shooters to empty magazines, slides back, make the firearms safe and set down onto table top, and then ask for targets to be reeled back for a shot count on everyone's target?

In the case of a range with automated turning targets I presume it's a no brainer, but in the case of fixed targets on a cable reel system.

Curious to know how these situations are handled.

Thanks,

M.S.

Yes to all the questions, but you can vary this by looking at the NRA rule book as it spells out what is allowed.

So what is the penilty? Is the person with the early shot allowed to put a fresh magazine in and then givven an 11 shot Alibi ? Or some other penilty ?

This is a good question and this happens all the time in the league I shoot in. Dependent on who's calling the line different things are done and all of them different that what's asked hear.

Kirmdog

[randy1952]

Course Of Fire: 50' indoor Gallery Course .22 rimfire

The last range command given "Ready On The Firing Line" and all of a sudden a shot sounds out a couple seconds before the buzzer sounds to start the relay. ....

.........

So what is the penilty? Is the person with the early shot allowed to put a fresh magazine in and then givven an 11 shot Alibi ? Or some other penilty ?

This is a good question and this happens all the time in the league I shoot in. Dependent on who's calling the line different things are done and all of them different that what's asked hear.

Kirmdog

I did a quick check of the conventional rulebook and it is largely silence on early shot penalties, except by the rule shown in the next paragraph, which you can apply if you can identify the shooter who fired early. If you can't identify the shooter then their isn't much you can do, which in your case you talked about bringing the targets back and seeing who fired, but suppose the shooter misses the target. However, in this case if the shooter has missed the target then as long as the shooter has no chance to reload it will be scored a miss anyway even if does fail to step forward.

14.5 Early or Late Shots - When a shot is fired early or late, that is, before or after the signal to commence or
cease fire, when the required number of hits are visible on the face of the target, the value of the highest hit will be
scored a miss. When fewer than the required number of hits are visible on the target, the competitor will be scored
a miss for each shot not on the target, and those visible on the target will be scored in the normal manner.

[Isabel1130]

no alabi. An early shot is the same as a missed shot. A lot of time this is a result of someone taking up too much slack in the trigger. I have seen master class shooters do it. Depending on how they come down or up on the target the shot is often either high or in the floor. No need to worry about it. Once you find out who did it and where the shot is, you just score the last nine.

[Chris]

This is not in the rule books but for local league matches for ranges when we do not have turning targets we use the first shot starts the clock rule.

If a shot goes off early then the time starts for all and then everyone starts shooting. Most of the time that first shot starts at the same time as the whistle or what ever other signal is being used so then nobody else will hear the signal. It seems to work and nobody complains at all.

No scores go to the NRA so it does not matter a lot.