Les Baer Premier II - uspsa

ic
If you are finished, unload
and show clear."
How many times have we
heard this command? Have
we gotten so familiar with
this command, and the one
that follows it, "Gun clear,
Hammer down, Holster," that
we sometimes anticipate
these commands on our own
and go through the motions
without the Range Officer
even saying a word?
For safety's sake, let me expound
on these two range
commands. Under rule 8.05,
"If you are finished, unload
and show clear" means that
when the competitor is finished,
the firearm is unloaded
and held ready for inspection
by the Range Officer. It is sensible
to then assume that selfloaders
would have the
magazine removed and the
slide locked back, and revolvers
would have the cylinder
swung out and empty. "Gun
clear, hammer down, holster"
means the Range Officer
must visually inspect the
chamber of each handgun and
instruct the competitor, with
his command, to holster in
the following condition: selfloaders
— slide forward, hammer
down and the magazine
well empty; revolvers — cylinder
empty and closed with
hammer down.
How many times, while
working as an RO, have you
had to ask the competitor to
draw his/her handgun and go
through the procedures
again? The discipline that we
use to practice and to compete
needs to be used une
more time by waiting for the
INSIDE NROI
John Amidon, Vice President
RO to give us commands.
RO's work hard so the competitors
can have a good time
and enjoy the match day
safely. Let's not spoil that
safety by anticipating the commands
and possibly putting
ourselves into an unsafe situation.
You're probably saying to
yourself, "What is he talking
about?" or "How can this be?"
Let me explain. You have just
made a good run on a stage,
and in your excited state, you
unload your handgun, drop
the slide, but instead of pulling
the trigger to drop the
hammer, you release the trigger
and let the hammer down
slowly with your fingers, then
holster, thinking all the
while, "I know I pulled the
trigger on that last shot, but
the gun must have run dry because
it did not go off." Meanwhile,
the RO comes up and,
because he has shot with you
and knows your experience,
does not question you. (He is
not a certified RO.) Instead of
making you go through the
procedures again, he just congratulates
you on a good run.
Now you are at the next
stage and you are the first
competitor up. You have not
had time to calm down from
your first run, so you want a
sight picture to help you settle
down. It is granted by the
RO (he is a certified RO). You
draw your handgun, cock the
hammer and sight in. To get
the timing down, you pull the
trigger and, to everyone's surprise,
the gun goes off. Yep,
that last shot on the last
stage wasn't the gun going
dry, it was a case with a high
primer that you had just
seated. It would go off the
next time the hammer fell on
it. 12.02(i) WRONGFUL DIS-
CHARGE DQ.
US Rule 8.05 (page 21) explains
the Hammer Down procedure
in USPSA, which is to
drop the hammer by means of
the trigger. I have had competitors
come up to me at the
Nationals and complain about
an RO that made them remove
their handgun from
their holster and drop the
hammer by pulling the trigger.
When I told them I
would have done the same
thing, they thought we both
had lost it.
The scenario I painted is a
possible reality, so let the RO
do his job to keep us and everyone
on the range as safe as
possible. The next time you
have an opportunity to jump
the gun, so to speak, don't anticipate
— cooperate.
May/June 1994
s"--)
Pale 9 s-t2..,