Clay Target Nation, June 2019

JUNE 2019 CLAY TARGET NATION 29 WHATS YOUR CALL BY RULES AND CLASSIFICATION COMMITTEE Most Asked Questions T here are two areas that seem to garner the most questions to referees among squadmates and to the Rules Committee Can you name them Well they are questions about doubles and questions about ammunition versus gun malfunctions Is that what you thought Here is the first situation At a shoot early this year a shooter missed the low house when shooting a double on station 1 The shooter was ahead of me so I did not hear what the referee said but the low house target was lost The shooter set up for the high bird and no one noticed or said anything When the referee pulled a low house target it startled the shooter so he did not pull the trigger and lowered the gun The referee explained the option was for the low house and had the shooter repeat the shot Whats Your Call Was this answer correct and why This is one of those cases that could be argued in favor of or against the shooter It could be said that the shooter balked by not shooting at the low house target III C 3 ONE LOST TARGET SHALL BE SCORED ON a A balk or failure of gun to fire due to fault of shooter Should this include both targets of a regular double it shall be scored as first target lost and a proof double shall be thrown to determine the result of the second shot only If a balk should occur or his her gun fail to fire because of the shooters fault when a proof double is thrown and the result of the first shot has already been scored the second target shall be scored as lost It did not appear that the shooter balked but may have been confused and the referee made the right call This referee may have been inexperienced and did not notice until it was too late that the shooter had set up to shoot the wrong target An experienced referee may have noticed and called no bird and clarified the option with the shooter The referee isnt there to take targets away especially since the shooter did not fire at the target and he made the correct call So if you said the referee made the correct call you were right Our second situation for you to think about happened to a young man at a regional 4 H shoot While shooting his competition he had two different occurrences of pulling the trigger and the gun did not fire Each time the referee checked the shells and in both cases found that the primer had been dented but the shell did not fire He called it a gun malfunction Whats Your Call For clarity lets look at the wording for both a gun malfunction and an ammunition malfunction As defined by the Rule Book a gun malfunction means the gun did not fire but in this case the trigger was pulled and the primer was dented so this rule would not apply III A 11 MALFUNCTION OF GUN Failure of gun to operate or function through no fault of the shooter The definition of an ammunition malfunction says that the gun fired and dented the primer but the shell did not fire III A 12 DEFECTIVE AMMUNITION a Defective Ammunition will be defined as 1 Failure to fire provided firing pin indentation is clearly noticeable In this case by the rules it should have been called an ammunition malfunction Hope you called that one right The last inquiry has to do with doubles Heres the situation A shooter was shooting doubles on station 6 but when he pulled the trigger for the low house target the gun doublefired The referee did not call a malfunction but had the shooter repeat the pair Was this correct Whats Your Call In this case the referee made the correct call of nothing established proof doubles to determine the results of both birds but he should have ruled a malfunction However if the first bird had been missed the proof doubles would have been to establish the second target only III D 10 FAN FIRE If a gun doubles or fan fires while shooting singles or doubles the referee shall rule a malfunction and during a regular round or a doubles event if the first target was a dead bird nothing established then a proof single or double shall be fired upon to determine the results However if the first target was lost it shall be so established and a proof double shot to establish the second shot result Just remember rules can be updated more than once a year Go to mynssa com and make sure you have the latest update u If you have a rules question a question about a call or an interesting situation at your shoot you can email the Rules Committee directly at NSSA RULES@ NSSA NSCA com