Version 03.50
Safety
First:
Eye protection and Ear protection must be
worn at all times on all the Steel Plate Ranges by all shooters and all spectators
while firearms are being discharged during a Steel Plate Shoot.
Firearm Handling
All firearms must
be UNLOADED and safely bagged, boxed or properly holstered at all times. Slides are to be closed and hammer/striker
forward/decocked. A firearm may be
handled ONLY in the designated firearm handling area (aka “SAFE TABLE”). NO AMMO may be handled on the Safe Table. Firearms may NOT be loaded or unloaded while
at the Safe table.
A firearm may be
handled at the firing line ONLY after a Safety Officer (S.O.) has cleared the range and instructed the shooter(s) to
handle their firearm or “Make Ready”. Only
the current shooter(s) may handle a firearm at the firing line after the S.O.’s
command.
Shooters may only
have one (1) active firearm. This means
one (1) firearm readily available either in a holster or in a bag/box. All other firearms are to be stowed away in
an unloaded and safe condition.
Shoot Safety and Range Meeting
All shooters must participate in the meeting immediately
prior to the start of the shooting where the shoot, range and safety will be
reviewed and questions answered. Clearance
area and distances – Only the current shooter(s) and S.O.s may be at the firing
line, all other shooters and spectators must remain behind the firing line in the
stage designated safe area.
Firearms and ammunition
must be in safe operating condition. An S.O. at his/her discretion may
disqualify any firearm or ammunition from the shoot if in an S.O.’s opinion it
is unsafe. Shooters using firearms and
ammunition having 2 major malfunctions (ie squib loads) will be disqualified.
Any violation of
safety rules or other shoot rules may result in disqualification and
permanently being banned from HFS shoots.
Safety Disqualifications may include, but
are not limited too:
♦
Having a loaded firearm outside of the shooting
box, or handling or loading a firearm at the shooting position before
instructed to “Make Ready”.
♦
Pointing firearm muzzle uprange (towards
spectators), or at any person, or breaking the 180 degree (or other) frontal
plane of the shooting box while in the box.
♦
Discharging a firearm when reloading with a
finger inside the trigger housing.
♦
Firearm handling (loaded or unloaded) while any
person is forward of the firing line, or when not a a “SAFE TABLE” or other club
approved “SAFE FIREARM HANDLING AREA”.
♦
Handling ammunition while at club approved firearm
handling area.
♦
Dropping or throwing a firearm, loaded or not,
accidentally or intentionally.
♦
Accidental discharge, where a shot strikes the
ground 10 feet or less from the shooting box, or is fired in an unsafe
direction (Note: A premature discharge, where the firearm fires before the
shooter expects it to but towards the general direction of a target, will not
be considered unsafe firearm handling, but will elicit a caution from an S.O.
who may disqualify the shooter if it reoccurs.
♦
Failure to obey S.O. commands regarding safety,
sportsmanship, or rules.
♦
Failure to wear both eye and ear protection at
stage/relay while firing is in progress.
♦
Shooters using firearm/ammunition having 2 major
squib loads.
Ammunition:
All ammunition must be center fire
and single projectile. Calibers between .355 & .452 are allowed (primarily
9mm, 38 Special, 38 Super, 40 S&W and 45 ACP). Lead or Copper Jacketed bullets are allowed. Steel jacketed, steel core, & magnum loads
are forbidden. You may use a magnum
firearm but not magnum loads, for
example you may use 38 Special in a 357 Mag revolver. NO
NECKED Pistol Cartridges are permitted, such as .357SIG, FN 5.7 and
others. The maximum velocity of any
projectile is 1300 fps. Any shooter
found to be using improper ammunition will be disqualified.
Firing Line Commands and Course of Fire:
For all courses of
fire shooters have a maximum limit of 10
rounds per magazine. Regardless
of their capacity, no magazine may be loaded
with more than 10 rounds. All starts
will be with a firearm loaded with NO MORE THAN 10 rounds.
When called, the
shooter is to approach the shooting box/firing line with their firearm safely holstered
or bagged/boxed and unloaded. Firearms
worn in a holster must be completely unloaded with action closed with
hammer/striker forward and NO MAGAZINE inserted. Firearms boxed/bagged must be completely
unloaded with NO MAGAZINE inserted & must have the action closed with
hammer/striker forward OR the action open AND an Empty Chamber indicator
inserted. Shooters may not handle their
firearm until an S.O. clears them to do so.
After a check down
range by everyone, the S.O. on the firing line will ask, “Range Safe/Clear?” all other
S.O.s are to announce if it is not. The
S.O. on the firing line will ask “Shooter - do
you understand the course of fire?” Once confirmed the S.O. on the
firing line will command “Going Hot. Shooter - Make
ready.” Only after this
command may the shooter handle their firearm, their preparation may include dry
firing, etc and then load - at that point the shooter is to assume the start
position.
All shooting
starts from the position of Low Ready - firearm in hand(s), with
muzzle/forward end of the firearm touching table. Safety may be engaged at the shooter’s
discretion, fingers must be outside of the trigger guard. Once the shooter is in position, the S.O. on
the firing line will ask; “Is the Shooter Ready?” The shooter will
state “Yes” and nod if they are ready (if the shooter is “not ready” they must
state so loudly and clearly). The S.O. will announce “Standby” followed shortly by
the start BUZZER
of the shot timer which is the signal to engage targets. The Shooter must
now engage the targets in any order they desire.
The shooter must
knock down all steel targets. A relay
may be repeated if, in the opinion of an S.O. there is a timer malfunction,
targets were not properly restored to designated position prior to the start or
targets fail during the shooter’s turn, the shooter is interfered with, or
other valid reason(s). In such cases, an
S.O. will take appropriate action, including any corrections to score sheets.
If a jam occurs
the shooter must be able to safely clear the jam and complete the stage/relay.
The timer will not be stopped or restarted for jams. If a firearm malfunction
can not be safely cleared then the stage/relay will be ended and the relay will
be disqualified or given maximum score.
After the relay is
complete the S.O. may ask “Is the Shooter finished?” to confirm if
the shooter is. The S.O. on the firing
line will command “Shooter - Unload
& show clear.” at which
time the shooter must remove the magazine or open the cylinder and remove all
ammunition from the firearm. The shooter must show the empty chamber or
cylinder to the S.O. An S.O. will give
the command to bag or holster the firearm once they agree it is clear. Once
bagged or holstered and the shooter believes it is safe, the S.O. on the firing
line will state “Range is clear.” After that and any/all S.O. agree, they
reset the range.
Range Assistance:
All
shooters will take turns resetting/maintaining targets in order to keep the
flow moving quickly between shooters.
Brass pick-up may be permitted but only if time allows after reset
& it does not interfere with safety or shooting.
Damaged Target:
If a target is damaged and deemed
not useable by a S.O. and there is a replacement available the replacement will
be used. The replacement does not have to be an exact replacement of the
original target but it should be placed in approximately the same location as
the original target as long as it is deemed safe for that type of target. If a
replacement is not available then the shoot will continue without the
replacement target and any shooter shooting the course with the one less target
will have 1 second added to their score. Alternatively, at the discretion of an
S.O. a1 second can be subtracted from the time of any shooter who completed the
stage with the original extra target instead.
Rule Changes:
These Rules are subject to change
at any time without notice. Rule Changes will be made by HFS when deemed
necessary for safety, fairness or for any other reason.
