TargetTalk

I think you guys are making more of this, than it's worth.
This is a World Cup final.
A little leeway can be tolerated.
There was no extreme unsafe act as I saw it.
I think if you were to film every event, almost every shooter will point his pistol where he shouldn't, at some point. In this event every shooter pointed his pistol to the sky, way above the target area.

Without knowing was was down range of the finals hall I can't judge whether pointing in the air was unsafe or not.

3 miles of woods. The Finals hall is at the end of the 50 yard building, which is next to
Pool Hall, the air pistol/rifle hall. Aerial photos don't show the building yet.

Yes, there was a lot of "fishing", but these guys don't seem to the the ones to waste ten points at their level.

I have shot a lot of matches at the Phillips Range, which is next to the International Range.
I never looked over the range wall, but the range to the right of us were firing M16's.
We were never given instructions about keeping pistols below the back wall.

Sa-tevo wrote:3 miles of woods. The Finals hall is at the end of the 50 yard building, which is next to
Pool Hall, the air pistol/rifle hall. Aerial photos don't show the building yet.

Thanks.

That's what I was wondering. In that case, the act of raising the pistol above the wall was not unsafe since it was in the safety fan of the range. If it is also not disallowed by the range, there is not an issue.

On the airgun side, I don't see it as an issue at all, unless the range, the rules or the match program disallow the practice.

I shoot on some ranges that are set up as safety ranges with baffles to prevent rounds from exiting the property. On others the safety fan is such that they do not need baffles or require one to keep the firearm or airgun below the backstop.

Trooperjake wrote:A little leeway can be tolerated.

Where is the space for leeway when it comes to safety?

It gives a very bad impression to the average club shooter, and they're bad enough already in my experience, they don't need encouragement.

The answer to that depends on whether we are really talking safety or not. With a 3 mile range fan, from the end of the range, there was no danger from pointing any .22 up. If you were in a different location, there might or might not be. I shoot on one range, which requires that no barrel go above the berm (safe directions are down and down range). Therefore we raise no barrel above the berm. When I shoot on certain military ranges, my barrel could be above the berm as I settle into position.

At Camp Perry, the impact area is Lake Erie. And the patrol area for range boats extends to a picket 3 or more miles out. There is no back berm and we can raise rifles (highpower) as far as we choose.

JamesH
This is a World Cup match, not a club match.
Unless you enjoy seeing Olympic Medalists getting carded.
In over 50 years of competing and running matches, I have never seen an accident.
Sometimes someone forgets to put a flag in his gun, but that does not make him an
Unsafe shooter. We have had shooters that were asked to leave the range because of
Unsafe acts, like not opening the action after shooting, swinging a gun toward others
during firing, loading before the commands, etc.
Every range, and match has specific rules, so unless you were present for the safety meeting,
You are just guessing what is safe and what is not.

Trooperjake wrote: This is a World Cup match, not a club match.
Unless you enjoy seeing Olympic Medalists getting carded.

So, if you are an Olympic medallist, you can have special treatment and not have to comply to what's written in the official ISSF rules?

Are there any other rules you would like to ignore for certain people or certain ranges?

What is the SPECIFIC ISSF rule that is being broken?

The closest rule that I can find is:

"6.2.2.3 While athletes are on their firing points, their guns must always be pointed in safe directions. The action or breech must not be closed until the gun is pointing downrange in a safe direction toward the
target area."

If there is a three mile safety fan beyond the wall, the guns are pointed in a safe direction as long as they are pointed down range (regardless of elevation).

The rules also make it clear that participants must be notified of Range Specific rules at the athletes meeting.

One of my favorite photos of Maria Grozdeva and Munki. I actually like how Munki cradles her Walther with her non shooting hand and the muzzle is pointing towards the ground. Grozdeva has her finger off trigger, but still is pointing her Pardini at Munki.

Slides locked back, mags out, fingers off triggers.Pretty safe.

We should remember that ECI's are a relatively recent invention. They are not a substitute for actually checking the chamber.

Me and my favorite Pardini.
And no one was shot.

Trooperjake wrote:Me and my favorite Pardini.
And no one was shot.

Are you the one on the left with the slide closed?

Next to him with my slide open......

jmdavis wrote:What is the SPECIFIC ISSF rule that is being broken?

Looking at the OP, I'd say pointing a gun at the spectators is a serious infringement of various rules, not to mention being dangerous.
Our local Olympian has shot himself twice, someone else once, and his neighbours house. These things do happen, and old and complacent is a poor combination.

Tropperjake wrote:And no one was shot.

Then I'd say you're complacent.
There should generally be 5+ procedural barriers between carelessness and an incident. People waving guns around with the slide closed away from the range is three of those barriers gone and a recipe for trouble.

The first time a spectator is shot at a WC or Olympics will be the last time shooting is included - with all the consequences for all of us.

Well I guess my nightly dryfire in the house with the SP and the 1911 with dotter is absolutely out. Then again, my house, my rules.

"

Our local Olympian has shot himself twice, someone else once, and his neighbours house. These things do happen, and old and complacent is a poor combination."

Maybe it's time for your country to pull this shooters permits, and guns.
Olympian or not.
I do not know of a single incident of a competitor shooting a spectator.
I ran a junior rifle club for over 30 years without a single accident.
The safest place for me to be, is at a shooting event.

And no we are not being complacent, we made sure the guns were unloaded
before the photo was taken.....it was actually taken before the match was started.

Our local Olympian has shot himself twice, someone else once, and his neighbours house. These things do happen, and old and complacent is a poor combination."

Is this true ?....If so I could not imagine any reason for the individual not to have had his/her shooting privileges permanently revoked..( did someone mention setting bad examples )....surely this comment must contain artistic license.