Captain’s Report for April

The April shoot went very well considering the weather and muddy ground.  We had the largest turnout ever for a regular shoot, 35 shooters.  We were glad to see each and every one and hope to see them all back at our next shoot.  With this number of shooters I did see some things which we are going to have to change to make things runs smoother.

First off, the hand-cuff scenario is fun, but it takes awhile to get everyone through it.  We need to make the scenarios a bit simpler, especially if we plan on having six stages.  We could have made the handcuff scenario easier by simply having the shooters remove only one cuff before continuing.  Even so, it would still be a long scenario to run.

Second, we need to have a set of fall-back scenarios for bad weather.  All the scenarios we chose for this shoot were for use in the town/down range.  They would have been fast for a crowd to shoot through but weren’t adaptable for use where we had to shoot.  That forced us to pick our stages the morning of the shoot and quick picking didn’t help.  I accept full responsibility for that problem as I chose both sets of scenarios.   Lesson learned.

Third, we need to change the way we handle clearing malfunctions.  Always before we have had the shooters try to clear a malfunction themselves, on the firing line.  We did this for what we felt were two good reasons.  One:  No one knows your firearm better than yourself and, Two:  You could continue with the shooting string once the jam was clear.  This was for the benefit of those who were more interested in shooting clean, than their time.  With the small number of shooters we’ve had in the past it was no big deal.  With a larger number of shooters, it will be better to follow the SASS rule, give the shooter a set amount of time to clear the jam and if not, stage the weapon and move on with the scenario.

This brings up a question asked of me during the shoot.  What is the proper procedure for a squib fire?  First thing is to prevent the shooter from trying to fire the weapon a second time.  Next, make the weapon safe.  Stage it or hand it off to the RO.  (I prefer the latter as it gets a potentially dangerous weapon off the line.)  Always keep the weapon pointed down range or muzzle up.  If it is handed off to the RO he should immediately remove it to the unloading table.  This does not constitute a safety violation as the SASS Handbook clearly states that “(b)roken guns still containing rounds will not warrant penalties so long as the malfunction is declared and the gun made safe.”  Live rounds will be removed at the unloading table and any barrel obstruction may be cleared after that.

That’s the way I see things, let me know your thoughts.  We still have a few range improvements to do.  Hopefully we’ll get them caught up soon.  It was great having so many new faces at the shoot.  I’ve never met finer people than CAS shooters.  Hope to see you all again real soon.

                                                                        Regards,

                                                                        Capt. Jim Spears, Ohio River Rangers