Jammer Six
member
I'll tell you what the range officer at our plate league taught me.
The sequence is:
What was taught to me is that dropping the slide and dry firing are double-checks.
Once you show the range officer that the chamber is clear, in theory, the weapon should be clear, and shouldn't have a round available to fire.
However...
You drop the slide at full speed so that if there's a magazine in the weapon, (remember, this is a double-check. There's not supposed to be a magazine in the well at this point.) the round will chamber. If you ease it forward, there could be a magazine in the weapon, and the round could fail to chamber, leaving the weapon with a magazine in it and a round trying to load. As far as the league is concerned, that condition is "NOT CLEAR".
If you then dry fire, and the weapon doesn't fire, there is no magazine in the weapon, and there is no round in the chamber.
The weapon is clear.
That all said, it's their rules, and I want to shoot plates, so I follow them.
As I wrote this, I realized that if there was an empty magazine in the weapon, this procedure wouldn't catch it- no round would chamber, and the weapon wouldn't fire. It would pass, unless someone spotted the magazine.
However, thinking about it, it's pretty unlikely that you could leave the line with a weapon with a magazine in it. There's too many eyes watching from too many angles.
Anyway, that's the drill, and that's what you have to do in our plate league. I think that when they designed the drill, they were more concerned with designing a drill that could be used rapidly and efficiently for large numbers of shooters and guns with varying degrees of skill, that would make absolutely sure that every single weapon is clear when it leaves the line. I also think they were (and are) more concerned with a drill that works, every time, for everyone, than with the slight damage that is done to any one weapon.
I also suppose that if it bothers you, you don't want to shoot in our plate league. I'm not saying you're right or wrong, I'm saying that our plate league isn't a good league for someone who would be bothered by this drill, because the drill isn't optional.
That all said, I'd buy a beater that I didn't mind having beat to dust by the safety drill before I'd stop shooting plates. The plate league is fun.
The sequence is:
- Take your finger off the trigger.
- Drop the magazine.
- Rack the slide, ejecting any live round.
- Open the slide, and either hold it all the way open or lock it back.
- Show the range officer that the chamber is empty.
- Drop the slide at full speed. (I learned all this because I eased the slide forward.)
- Point the weapon downrange, and pull the trigger. Based on what I've witnessed, it's a really good idea to do this part as if there's a round in the chamber, because sometimes, there is. I now believe in the bullet fairy.
What was taught to me is that dropping the slide and dry firing are double-checks.
Once you show the range officer that the chamber is clear, in theory, the weapon should be clear, and shouldn't have a round available to fire.
However...
You drop the slide at full speed so that if there's a magazine in the weapon, (remember, this is a double-check. There's not supposed to be a magazine in the well at this point.) the round will chamber. If you ease it forward, there could be a magazine in the weapon, and the round could fail to chamber, leaving the weapon with a magazine in it and a round trying to load. As far as the league is concerned, that condition is "NOT CLEAR".
If you then dry fire, and the weapon doesn't fire, there is no magazine in the weapon, and there is no round in the chamber.
The weapon is clear.
That all said, it's their rules, and I want to shoot plates, so I follow them.
As I wrote this, I realized that if there was an empty magazine in the weapon, this procedure wouldn't catch it- no round would chamber, and the weapon wouldn't fire. It would pass, unless someone spotted the magazine.
However, thinking about it, it's pretty unlikely that you could leave the line with a weapon with a magazine in it. There's too many eyes watching from too many angles.
Anyway, that's the drill, and that's what you have to do in our plate league. I think that when they designed the drill, they were more concerned with designing a drill that could be used rapidly and efficiently for large numbers of shooters and guns with varying degrees of skill, that would make absolutely sure that every single weapon is clear when it leaves the line. I also think they were (and are) more concerned with a drill that works, every time, for everyone, than with the slight damage that is done to any one weapon.
I also suppose that if it bothers you, you don't want to shoot in our plate league. I'm not saying you're right or wrong, I'm saying that our plate league isn't a good league for someone who would be bothered by this drill, because the drill isn't optional.
That all said, I'd buy a beater that I didn't mind having beat to dust by the safety drill before I'd stop shooting plates. The plate league is fun.