Target Sports

TARGET RIFLE BASICS: SAFETY FIRST

Created on 26th May 2009

CHRIS WHITE reminds us of the importance of safety, with a few cautionary tales, for the start of the season

For those TR shooters who spend the winter months hibernating, it's now time to make plans for the new shooting season, which is almost here. So let's sharpen the grey matter up ready for a great season ahead.

First of all, how did you do with the sightreading exercise last month? You will recall that I left you with some homework. Here we must offer an apology for the exercise being made rather trickier than intended, due to a technical hiccup. A gremlin seems to have spirited away the drawings that related to the ‘Fig 1, 2, 3, 4' in the text in February's issue, rendering the task impossible: we now print them in a block (see right). The Figs relate to the sight pictures which did appear last issue, being the actual ‘homework' exercise initially intended. These, therefore, must be read in conjunction with February's TR Basics article.

Fig 1: the No. 4 rearsight. If you could not read this then you haven't come to terms with the basics of vernier reading and need to re-read the last two articles and probably get some help from someone who can. The sight is set on 15 minutes.

Fig 2: the Higginbottom sight is a bit more fiddly to read. It's clear that the zero line is between 15 and 20 and that the third line of the vernier lines up with the elevation scale to give us 18 minutes.

Fig 3: the Match Rifle rearsight is actually set at one degree and 17 minutes.

Fig 4: the windage on the No.4 sight is set at two minutes right. Note that the zero line on the vernier scale is to the right of the zero line on the windage scale.

Fig 5: the BSA sight shown last issue (page 69, top) is not that easy to read and you probably do need a magnifying glass. It is actually set on 6½ minutes, something that you should recognise after the last article.

Fig 6: (shown above, and on page 69 of last issue) if you struggled with this one don't be upset - so did I! The windage scale has two zero lines and no numbers. This is because smallbore shooters are not expected to read windage in absolute values like TR shooters (we are a bit ahead of ourselves here, but we will come to aspect in more detail eventually) and the purpose is to allow the shooter to have a true zero (a concept which is lost on many smallbore shooters) and be able to return to it quickly. The zero lines on the vernier are to the right of the zero lines on the windage scale, therefore there is right wind set on the gun. In fact it is actually set to 4¼.

Safety review

Most of us had safety hammered into to us at the outset of our shooting careers, and as a consequence of this our sport is undeniably ultra-safe. However, it never hurts to remind ourselves of some of the obvious points. Rule number one: in the words of ‘A Father's Advice to his Son': "Never, never let your gun, pointed be at anyone, that it may unloaded be matters not the least to me!"

When engaged in target shooting the firearm should not be loaded until it is on the firing point and the RCO has given the order to commence fire; likewise, a loaded firearm should never be brought off a firing point. In the case of a percussion rifle or pistol, it is deemed to be unloaded until capped, therefore caps should only be applied on the firing point. Flintlocks and matchlocks should only be primed on the firing point. Any muzzle loading weapon that has failed to fire should be re-capped or re-primed on the firing point and only when the RCO is satisfied that there is no risk of a ‘hang fire'.

In the heat of battle, as it were, we may become totally focused on winning the competition but we must never, never fail to put safety first. Never bring a muzzle-loading firearm off the firing point to re-cap it or re-prime it if it has failed to fire. This must be done on the firing point with the firearm pointing down range.

One would think that in the case of bolt action rifles NRA rules would have this pretty much stitched up. Basically, except whilst actually on the firing point ready to shoot, the bolt should be out or a breech flag inserted. Seems pretty foolproof. In a well-conducted shoot someone, usually the register keeper, will check that the rifle is clear before the shooter leaves the firing point. But here are some actual scenarios:

Shooter A is shooting in a casual club shoot with a 7.62 Target Rifle built on a P'14 action. So that the extractor picks up the live round he clips it into the top of the magazine. All OK so far. He closes the bolt for his last shot and releases the trigger. The rifle goes ‘click' just as the cease-fire hooter goes. He opens the bolt and inserts a breech flag, assuming that he has forgotten to load a live round, walks off the firing point, removes the breech flag, closes the bolt and ‘eases the spring' by pulling the trigger. Bang!

Because the magazine was designed for a much longer round, the live round ran forward and the bolt overrode it when he closed it to fire his last shot. The shooter was negligent and so was his RO. In this case a hawk-eyed bystander saw the live round as he removed the breech flag and a potentially serious incident was averted. Always visually check your rifle and make sure that someone else clears it before you leave the firing point.

Here's another. Shooter B was testing ammunition without an RO and probably his attention was focused on his note-taking. Again the cease-fire hooter went and he removed his bolt, cased his rifle and drove off. He returned to his caravan, replaced the bolt and eased the spring. Bang! In this instance a breech flag would have prevented the incident since he would not have been able to get the flag in with the live round in the chamber.

Shooter C is shooting ‘blow off' shots prior to a match rifle shoot. The RO calls cease-fire, he picks his rifle up and turns to face the back of the firing point with the bolt closed, to a fusillade of screams from everyone at the back of the firing point. He then grabs the bolt handle and opens the bolt. Out comes a live round!

The last scenario is less obviously negligent. Shooter D, during an open meeting, with issued commercial (not RG) ammunition, releases his trigger (Steyr SSG) and the rifle goes click. "Funny," he says, "I was sure I'd loaded a live round." He opens the bolt and out flies an empty case. He reloads, puts the rifle back into his shoulder and settles into the aim, at which point something goes click in the brain of his partner, who happened to be yours truly. He had not forgotten to reload. The live round had no powder in it but the primer had pushed the bullet about an inch into the barrel, allowing another round to be chambered. If he had let that one go I might not be sitting here typing this article!

None of this is fiction. With one exception I witnessed all of these incidents. Always think safety.

Next time we'll get onto zeroing.

TARGET RIFLE BASICS: SAFETY FIRST

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TARGET RIFLE BASICS: SAFETY FIRST

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