Brain Phart From Heck

A funny thing happened to me at the TCGC IPSC match today.

We were on the last stage, which was a truly ODD stage requiring us to haul The Tazmanian Devil Monster uprange on a green garden cart, when I experienced The Brain Phart From Heck.

You know how it goes when you finish a stage. The official range commands are:

If Clear, Hammer Down, Holster. This comes AFTER you are obviously finished shooting and the Range Officer has give the official range command "If You Are Finished, Unload and Show Clear".

I had done that. The Range Officer glanced at the gun (as did I), didn't see any brass showing, decided the gun was unloaded and said the next official range command "If Clear, Hammer Down, Holster".

I did that.

I returned the STI Race Gun in the black Dillon pistol bag, zipped it up, and the Range Officer said the final phrase of the litany: "Range is Clear". At that point, he moved downrange to score the targets. I had stored my first magazine in my magazine carrier rather than to dump it on the ground (don't ask, it was a weird range and I wanted to keep the partially expended magazine because I didn't trust my backup magazine), so nobody had to pick up any magazines from the ground on this 24-round stage.

I was holding the round I had ejected from my 2nd magazine, and grabbed for that magazine from my belt, where I usually place magazines during the "Unload And Show Clear" process.

It wasn't there. I couldn't find it.

Huh?

Did I dump it on the ground? I usually don't do that. No, it wasn't on the ground.

Funny, I didn't remember removing the magazine. That's the first thing I ALWAYS do when I Unload and Show Clear.

Always.

As the light slowly dawned on me, I partially unzipped my range bag to check the gun (you can do that, you just can't touch the bagged gun.)

Oh oh.

I took a deep breath, zipped the pistol bag up again, and shouted out:

"Oh, Mister Range Officer! Mister Range Officer! Excuse me, we need to talk."

The RO was confused, as he had already scored the first target and was starting to score the second target. I said: "We need to get everyone back behind us, and you need to check my gun."

So the RO stopped what he was doing (scoring targets), pushed everyone back, and asked what was wrong.

"You and I have just experienced a Major Brain Phart. We need to get this sorted out before we can do anything else."

He came over to where I was standing, said "WHAT!" I handed him the round I had unloaded, and watched as I move downrange and unzipped the bag.


The magazine was still in the gun.

This time it was HIS turn for a sharp intake of breath. Then he walked me through the entire UNLOAD AND SHOW CLEAR regimen, we got the (empty) magazine out of the gun and into my magazine carrier. I zipped up he bag, he declared RANGE IS CLEAR again, and handed my my last round which I carefully placed into the just-now recovered last magazine.

What had happened was: I shot the first four targets with my first magazine, then placed it in my belt magazine carrier in case I ran out of ammo later, and replaced it with an 18-round magazine.

I engaged six steel targets and one IPSC target, grabbed the prop (a garden card carrying a HUGE stuffed doll representing the Tazmanian Devil Monster), and started dragging it uprange while shooting at IPSC targets 'strong hand only'.

It was a tough stage, because it included features not normally included in IPSC stages. The most difficulty was provided by the need to pull a wheeled cart uprange while engaging targets which could not be engaged until you had moved uprange of them. You couldn't point at the targets until you were uprange of them because that would require breaking the 180 degree line, which would lead to Match Disqualification. And you couldn't wait too long, because there were vision barriers (barrels) which would obscure the targets if you were situated past the point were you could see the target. Finally, you couldn't STOP the cart, because of inertia and the lack of brakes, so you had to keep moving all the time.

I solved this by shooting extra shots at the targets, and thus (thankfully) expending most of the remaining shots in the loaded magazine.

When I finished shooting at the last target, I had only one round left in the magazine. This was according to my cheesy plan. When I unloaded, I dumped my last round, leaving the magazine empty.

Because of this, we (the RO and I) didn't notice that I had somehow failed to remove the magazine. We only noted that there were no bright brass-colored thingies left showing, and assumed that the gun was empty.

Well, it was . . . except for the magazine with it's dull-black finish.

So when I dropped the hammer, there was no KerBANG, and I didn't get DQ'd.

The RO didn't notice that the magazine was still in the gun. The Assistant RO ( the scorekeeper) didn't notice. Even I didn't realize that I hadn't dropped the magazine.

And everybody in the squad just assumed that I had correctly unloaded the gun, even though I hadn't.

I have NEVER failed to drop the magazine at the end of the stage. After all these years, I had assumed that it was impossible that I would NOT do so. This is the kind of routine that you do without even thinking about it . . . it's a matter of training and experience. Right?

Wrong.

I suppose I could have just kept my mouth shut. After all, it was the last stage of the match and the gun was on its way to the car. If I hadn't said anything, nobody would ever have known. Of course I would have known when I got home and found the magazine still in the gun, but I didn't have to say anything.

The funny thing is, earlier in that stage I was the RO, and the guy who was RO-ing me (PacMan), was the shooter.

After I gave the "Load and Make Ready" command, he inserted a magazine in his XP and took a sight picture.

I said: "Excuse me, but according to the current version of the rule book you're not allowed to take a sight picture with a loaded gun."

He turned his head and looked at me, and said "I haven't chambered a round; the gun isn't loaded."

I replied: "I'm sorry; but if there's a magazine in the gun, it's loaded. It's not me, it's the rule book. Look it up."

(N.B.: Yes, that's true: 10.5.13 defines a 'loaded gun' as "... having a live round in a magazine inserted in a firearm.)

I got The Look (as if he was thinking "Jeez, what kind of Range Nazi am I dealing with here?") and I'm wondering if it wasn't justified.

The rule against taking a sight picture with a Loaded Gun is Rule 8.7.1.
This is superseded by US 8.7.1
"Not Applicable".

I'm wondering if I should have mentioned it to the PacMan?

So here are the two questions I have:

1. Should I have mentioned the cautionary note against taking a sight picture with a 'loaded firearm'?
2. Should I have been DQ'd either because I didn't remove the empty magazine from my firearm at UNLOAD AND SHOW CLEAR, or because I partially unzipped my range bag to look for my missing (unloaded) magazine?
3. Should I have been DQ'd for failing to remove my (unloaded) magazine?

I know what I think.

What do YOU think?

UPDATE:
The Unofficial IPSC List kindly points out that those were THREE questions, not TWO.

Dammit Jim, I'm a Geek, not a mathematician!

As for rule 8.7.1, 'Earthworm' (who hates to be called that, but it's the only nickname I have for him and I have a policy against identifying people by name without their permission) points out that there is little justification for distracting a competitor by mentioning an inapplicable rule. Point well taken. Perhaps it wasn't 'legally' wrong, but it wasn't the right thing to do.