1. General Conduct & Dispute Resolution

Eye protection is mandatory for participants, spectators & officials at the event site.

Ear protection is mandatory for participants, spectators & officials while on or near a stage.

No participants or spectators shall consume or be under the influence of alcohol or non-prescription drugs at the event site. Any participant found to be impaired as a result of legitimate prescription drugs may be directed to stop shooting and leave the event site.

Participants may be subject to event disqualification for safety or conduct violations.

Disqualification will result in complete disqualification from the event, and the participant will not be allowed to continue.

Participants and spectators are expected to always conduct themselves in a courteous and sportsman-like manner. Any person who violates this rule may be ejected from the event site at the Match Director’s discretion. A participant shall be disqualified for unsportsmanlike conduct, including (but not limited to) cheating, making threats, assault, disruptive or distracting behavior, and willful disregard of Event Official instructions.

All disqualifications and re-shoots are subject to approval by the Match Director.

The challenge of practical shooting includes adapting to prevailing conditions. Participants will not be permitted to defer due to lighting or weather conditions, except when the Match Director determines that a stage attempt would (i) start outside the published hours for sunrise to sunset, or (ii) put participant or Event Official safety in immediate jeopardy.

Any aspect not expressly covered in this document will be resolved with a ruling by the Match Director. Any ruling by the Match Director will be final and will serve as a precedent for the duration of the event. If rules overlap, fully or partially, this document will take precedence.

2. Safety

All events will be run on cold ranges.

Eye protection is mandatory for participants, spectators & officials at the event site.

Ear protection is mandatory for participants, spectators & officials while on or near a stage.

Participants’ firearms must remain unloaded at the event site except under the direction and immediate supervision of an Event Official.

Firearms may only be handled and/or displayed in a designated safety area.

No firearm may be loaded in a safety area.

No ammunition (including dummy ammunition, snap caps or ammunition feeding devices) may be handled in a safety area.

Firearms may be transported to, from and between stages only in the following conditions:

• Handguns must be cased or holstered, de-cocked, and with the magazine removed.
• The use of chamber flags for long guns is mandatory.
• Rifles must be cased, or secured muzzle up or down in a stable gun cart/caddy, or carried in the hands or on sling with the muzzle up or down. The chamber must be empty and detachable magazine removed.

A participant who commits a safety violation will be stopped by an Event Official as soon as possible, and shall be disqualified.

Examples of safety violations include:

An accidental discharge, defined as follows:

• A shot, which travels over a backstop, a berm or in any other direction specified in the stage briefing as being unsafe. Note that a participant who legitimately fires a shot at a target, which then travels in an unsafe direction, will not be disqualified.
• A shot which strikes the ground within 10 feet of the participant, except when shooting at a target closer than 10 feet. Also, a shot which strikes a prop where the bullet is deflected or does not continue to strike the ground, if the Event Official determines that the bullet would have struck the ground within 10 feet of the participant had it not been deflected or stopped by the prop.
• A shot which occurs while loading, preloading, reloading or unloading a firearm.
• A shot which occurs during remedial action in the case of a malfunction.
• A shot which occurs while transferring a firearm between hands or shoulders.
• A shot which occurs during movement, except while actually shooting at targets.

Unsafe gun handling, including (but not limited to):

• Holstering a loaded weapon without the Range Officers approval .
• Handling a firearm at any time except when in a designated safety area, or when under the supervision of, and in response to a direct command issued by, an Event Official. This does not apply to the carrying of rifles between and to stages.
• If at any time during the course of fire, a participant allows the muzzle of their loaded firearm to point rearwards (i.e. further than 90 degrees from the median intercept of the backstop, or in the case of no backstop, allows the muzzle to point up-range). This does not apply to RO verified unloaded rifles and unloaded pistols.
• If at any time during the course of fire, or while loading, reloading or unloading, a participant drops his LOADED firearm or causes it to fall.
• Dropping an RO verified unloaded rifle or pistol is +60 seconds per instance.
• Allowing the muzzle to point at any part of the participant’s body during a course of fire (except for sweeping of the lower extremities while drawing or re-holstering a handgun, provided that the participant’s fingers are clearly outside the trigger guard).
• While facing downrange, allowing the muzzle of a loaded handgun to point up-range beyond a radius of 3 feet from the participant’s feet while drawing or re-holstering.
• Having more than one handgun and one rifle at any point in time during a course of fire (except for stage guns).
• Failure to keep the finger outside the trigger guard while clearing a malfunction where the participant clearly moves the firearm away from aiming at targets.
• Failure to keep the finger outside the trigger guard during loading, reloading, or unloading (except when de-cocking a handgun).
• Failure to keep the finger outside the trigger guard during movement (except when engaging a target).
• Holstering a loaded single-action self-loading handgun with the safety not applied, or a double-action handgun with the hammer cocked and the safety not applied, or a revolver with the hammer cocked.
• Handling live or dummy ammunition, loaded magazines, or loaded speed loading devices in a Safety Area.
• Having a loaded firearm other than when specifically ordered to by an Event Official.
• Retrieving a dropped firearm. Dropped firearms must always be retrieved by an Event Official who will, after checking and/or clearing the firearm, place it directly into the participant’s gun case, gun bag or holster.
• Drawing a handgun while facing up-range or while prone.
• Firing a shot at a metal target from a distance of less than 15 Yards with a handgun or 50  yards with a rifle. The distance is measured from the face of the target to the nearest part of the participant’s body in contact with the ground.
• Possession of any prohibited ammunition as defined in this document.
• Unsafe abandonment of any firearm. Firearms may only be abandoned as stipulated in the stage briefing and in one of the following safe conditions:
  • Rifle loaded with safety/selector fully in the “safe” position and placed securely inside a barrel or grounded on a table AS PER STAGE DESCRIPTION. Muzzle pointed in the designated safe direction (e.g. pointing down into the receptacle).
  • Completely unloaded (no live ammunition anywhere inside the firearm) as verified by an Event Official.
• Unloading any firearm in an unsafe manner.
• Firing a shot while not legitimately engaging a target.
• Pointing a firearm, whether loaded or unloaded, in any direction deemed by Event Officials to be unsafe.
• Posing or gesturing with firearms that are not flagged OR have not been cleared and verified safe by event officials.

3. Ammunition

• No Armor Piercing ammunition.
• No Incendiary or Tracer ammunition.
• Rimfire ammunition is prohibited
• Rifle Calibers are limited to .223, .300BLK, 5.56, 5.45×39mm, 7.62x39mm due to target wear and distance. (Eventually .308, 30-06, 7.62×51, and .243 will be allowed when we have targets past 100 yards)
• .380 is prohibited
• Outside of prohibited ammunition, minimum rifle caliber is 5.45x39mm
• Outside of prohibited ammunition, minimum pistol caliber is 9x18mm
• Pistol Caliber Targets shall be calibrated to fall or activate with 9mm 115 Grain ammunition. (multiple rounds may be required)
• Rifle Caliber Targets shall be calibrated to fall or activate with 5.56mm 55 grain ammunition (multiple rounds may be required)
• Ammunition containing tracer, incendiary, explosive, armor piercing, bare steel jacket or steel/tungsten/penetrator core projectiles is unsafe and prohibited.

4. Firearms

All firearms used by participants must be serviceable and safe. Event Officials may inspect a participant’s firearms at any time to check they are functioning safely. If any firearm is declared unserviceable or unsafe by an Event Official, it must be withdrawn from the event until it is repaired to the satisfaction of the Match Director.

Participants must use the same firearms (handgun and rifle) for the entire event (see ‘mulligans’ in the next section).

If a participant’s firearm becomes unserviceable, that participant may repair their firearm with directly equivalent replacement parts. If replacement parts result in a significant change to the firearm configuration, then the repair must be approved by the Match Director.

Unless otherwise stipulated in the stage briefing, the participant’s equipment will start the stage in the following conditions:

• Handgun loaded to division start capacity and holstered as follows: Single-action autoloaders must have a manual safety catch fully set to the “safe” position.
• Double-action autoloaders must be decocked.
• Safe action pistols must have all safety systems in place and functional.
• Revolver must have the hammer down. The chamber must be empty if there is no modern firing pin block.
• Long Gun loaded to division start capacity and held in the low ready position (i.e. oriented with sights uppermost, buttstock in strong-side shoulder, hands in normal firing hold with finger outside trigger guard, muzzle at belt level), safety catch set to the “safe” position.

The participant may not touch or hold any firearm loading device or ammunition after the “Standby” command and before the start signal (except for unavoidable touching with the lower arms).

All equipment must start the stage secured on the participant’s person or firearms (i.e. equipment may not be otherwise pre-positioned on the stage). Belts, holsters, ammunition carriers and other equipment worn or carried by the participant may be changed, repositioned or reconfigured between stages.

PCCs are allowed to be used in place of rifles.

Full Auto firearms in full auto mode are not allowed at the match but can be used if it is only in semi mode.
Binary triggers and bump stocks are not allowed to be used at the match.

5. Mulligans

In the event of a catastrophic failure in which the gun becomes unsafe or not able to be repaired, (IE: Stock breaks off, bolt breaks, etc), the shooter may swap out the firearm for another that still conforms to their division requirements – once. If no gun that conforms to their division is available, they may use another one and move into Outlaw division.

This can include borrowing an alternative gun from another competitor or using a spare.

This mulligan rule can be used only once in the entire match and only if a weapon (rifle or pistol) truly becomes unserviceable.

Shooter may reshoot 1, and only 1 stage, in the event of an unresolvable malfunction or firearm failure. This “1 mulligan” rule does not apply to re-shoots based on stage or match equipment failures outside of the competitor’s control; those events are always afforded the opportunity for a re-shoot. This reshoot rule does not apply to anyone quitting intentionally.

Nothing in these mulligan rules should imply that it’s acceptable to not clear malfunctions “on the clock”, even if there are multiple of them during a stage. This rule does not apply to instances in which the RO stops the shooter for a safety related issue, such as a squib.

These mulligan rules apply only in the event of a truly catastrophic failure which could not be repaired safely or reasonably during the stage.

This does not apply to normal malfunctions: double feeds, failure to feed, bad magazines, un-zeroed optics – this is truly only to be used in the event of an unrecoverable situation such as: a broken firearm, stuck case that could not be cleared after multiple attempts to do so, case head separation, etc.

DO NOT USE THIS ARBITRARILY:

Communicating with your RO before calling a mulligan is advisable. These situations should be obvious.

If you call mulligan and your RO does not agree with your decision, the decision will be escalated to the Match Director(s) who will have the FINAL WORD.

If your mulligan is denied, you will be provided the par time + all remaining penalties for that stage.

6. Scoring & Penalties

Stage time will be based on time to complete the stage plus applicable penalties.

Each stage will have a written stage briefing:

The stage briefing will stipulate the number and type of targets, the manner in which they must be engaged, and the hits required to neutralize them.

The stage briefing will stipulate a time limit (“par time”) for completing the stage, if applicable.

The participant must complete the stage as stipulated within the time limit, if applicable.

All targets in a stage must be attempted with an ‘honest try’ (left up to the discretion of the RO) before moving on as long as par time has not been reached.

Event Officials may prompt the participant on engagement of targets, and this will not be deemed to be interference.

If an event official calls a target neutralized in error, causing the shooter to move on, it is not the fault of the shooter and a penalty does not apply.

If a shooter intentionally quits a stage before completing the course of fire before par time for any reason, they will receive the par time for the stage plus penalties. If there is no par time on the stage, 180 seconds will be applied.

Paper “shoot” targets must be neutralized:

Only holes made by bullets will count for score/penalty. Evidence that the bullet made the hole must be present on the target (i.e. crown or grease ring/mark). Holes made by shrapnel, fragments or flying debris will not count for score/penalty. A perfect “Keyhole” round will count for score.

Paper scoring is 1 A-zone hit, or 2 hits anywhere to neutralize. Missed or Non- Neutralized Targets are +60 Seconds, unless otherwise described in the stage briefing. Any hit created by a bullet on an index card target counts.

Knock-down targets (e.g. Pepper Poppers) must fall to score. Each falling target that does not fall will incur a +60 Penalty, unless called as neutralized by an Event Official

Reactive/ringing/steel targets must react/ring as prescribed in the stage briefing (Event Officials may call hits). Each reactive/ringing target that does not react/ring as prescribed will incur a +60 second penalty.

Scoring hits on each designated “No Shoot” target will incur a penalty. No shoot penalties are not aggregate per target. No Shoots are +60 second penalties

Penalties may be applied at the Match Director’s discretion if a participant fails to comply with prescribed stage procedures.

The stage briefing may stipulate a shooting area sequence. During such a stage, once a participant begins shooting from a shooting area, they may not return to any previous shooting area (violation will incur penalties per rule 6.1.7 on a per-shot basis).

Additional penalties may be applied as stipulated in the stage briefing.

Stage Not Fired (SNF) penalty is 1500 seconds per stage not fired.

A participant who, by negligent or willful act, causes damage to range equipment or targets will be required to pay for repair thereof.

Some stages may have scoring requirements that deviate from the ones specified here and that will be clearly stated in the stage description. It is up to the competitor to understand the scoring requirements per stage.

7. Match Time

Each participant’s Stage Times will be totaled to produce a Match Time. Match Times for all participants will be ranked in order, lowest to highest, to determine match placement. The participant with the lowest Match Time wins.

8. Equipment

Participants will declare one equipment division at the beginning of the event. Each division has Rifle and Pistol options. The shooter must pick one option and use that option for the entire event.

Failure to meet all of the equipment and ammunition requirements for the declared division shall result in the participant being moved to Outlaw Division.

A sling is required on long guns for the entirety of the match. Single point slings are allowed but must be worn on the shooter or installed on the rifle for the duration of the match..

SERPA type and “race” holsters are expressly forbidden. Retention is strongly advised, a loaded pistol falling out of a holster is an immediate disqualification. Unloaded pistol is a +60 Penalty.

Any holster that requires pointing the holster at any part of the shooter’s body during normal holstering procedures. Appendix or IWB holsters may be acceptable at the Match Director’s discretion if proper holstering procedures are followed.

Anything used to protect a firearm from the elements during the course of fire must be carried or worn for the duration of the match

9. Divisions

In every division, if you start with it on your rifle or pistol, you will shoot every stage like that. For example, if you have a bipod on your rifle, it will remain on the rifle the whole match.

Assault

• Required NIJ compliant rifle rated plates (front and back) OR plates (front and back) weighing at least 7lbs each
• No restrictions on attachments/accessories for firearms
• Bipods or other supporting devices must be attached to rifle or carried by shooter

Scout

No armor requirement

“Point buy” system – shooter has 3 points to spend:

• Pistol Optics: 1 point per optic

• Compensator on pistol: 1 point

• Pistol magazines over 17 rounds: 1 point (not per magazine, 1 point for any/all pistol magazines over 17 rounds – down-loading magazines is okay)

• Rifle magazines over 30 rounds:  1 point (not per magazine, 1 point for any/all rifle magazines over 30 rounds)

• Bipod:  1 point (bipod must remain on the rifle the whole match)

Classic

• Guns and accessories affixed to guns must be patterned/produced before 1950 (something like a railed 1911 is not acceptable  – only guns made before 1950 or exact clones – minor modifications such as nonstandard sights can be discussed with match director ahead of time)
• Everyone will like it if you dress up for the time period, but it’s not required.

Manual

• No armor requirement
• Manually operated rifles only
• 10 round maximum for pistols
• pistols must have been designed and produced before 1899 OR be completely manually operated
• Revolvers without modern firing pin block must start with hammer down on empty chamber
• No detachable magazines on rifles over 10 rounds
• Iron sights only

Outlaw

• No gear/firearm restrictions outside of safety requirements
• +60 second penalty (or 20s per stage, if there are not 3 stages) for the match – cannot be removed with bonus stages, etc
• Any competitors attempting to compete in a division without adhering to the requirements may be placed into Outlaw at the Match Director’s discretion (Outlaw may be entered intentionally, if desired by competitor)