Learn › Track 06 · Competing
Malfunctions & interruptions
You settle, press through the second stage, and the trigger releases. Click. No shot. The clock keeps running. Whether the rules help you now depends on one question: was it the pistol, or was it you?
Think first: Which of these causes counts as an allowable malfunction?
- The safety catch was on
- A pellet is lodged in the barrel
- The electronic trigger’s battery is flat
- The action wasn’t fully closed
Allowable or not
The rule draws a short list on one side and puts almost everything else on the other.
- Allowable — A pellet lodged in the barrel · The pistol fails to fire after the trigger has been released
- Non-allowable — The action was opened, or not closed · The safety was on · The pistol wasn’t loaded properly · A fault you could have fixed yourself · An electronic trigger with a flat battery
Even an allowable malfunction gets you less than you might expect. In qualification there is no extra time for any malfunction. After an allowable one, the Jury may allow extra sighters. In a final, each athlete gets one allowable malfunction, with at most one minute to fix it.
Allowable: pellet lodged in the barrel; pistol fails to fire after the trigger was released. Non-allowable: action opened, safety on, not loaded properly, a fault the athlete could correct, electronic trigger battery dead. No extra time in qualification; the Jury may allow extra sighters after an allowable malfunction. Finals: one allowable malfunction, max 1 minute to fix.
Think first: After a click with no shot, you find your electronic trigger’s battery is dead. You swap it in two minutes. What do you get?
- The two minutes added back to your time
- Extra sighters to check the pistol
- Nothing: keep shooting in the time you have left
- The shot is re-fired with no penalty and 2 minutes extra
Common practice: charge or replace electronic trigger batteries before every competition, carry a spare, and practise clearing a stuck pellet so you know how long it takes. Tell a Range Officer straight away when something goes wrong so it can be recorded.
Interruptions
Sometimes the whole range stops — a safety problem, a technical fault, something outside your firing point. If the interruption is not your fault, the rules give time back on a sliding scale.
| Interruption (not your fault) | What you get |
| 3 minutes or less | Nothing extra |
| Over 3 minutes | The time you lost, added back |
| Over 5 minutes | The time you lost, plus 5 minutes, plus unlimited sighters before you resume |
Think first: The Chief Range Officer stops the range for 8 minutes to deal with a safety issue. How many minutes are added to your remaining time?
One more case: if the Jury moves you to a different firing point at least 30 cm to the side, you get extra sighters and 2 extra minutes (RB 6.11.1.2). Electronic target failures have their own rules, covered in paper vs electronic targets.
Arriving late
The clock doesn't wait for anyone.
Think first: You oversleep and reach your firing point 10 minutes after match START. What happens?
- You start with the full 75 minutes
- You can shoot, but only in the time that is left
- You are disqualified
- You get 10 extra minutes but no sighters
Extra shots and cross shots
Two last mistakes, both about where and how often you fire.
Extra shots: fire more than the 60 allowed and each extra shot is annulled, with 2 points off for each (RB 6.11.5).
Cross shots: a match shot fired onto another athlete's target is scored as a miss for you. A sighter fired onto another athlete's match target costs you 2 points (RB 6.11.6).
Both are prevented by the same habit: before each shot, check the number on your firing point and the shot count on your monitor. Test yourself on all of these in You're the Range Officer.
- Allowable: pellet stuck in the barrel, or the pistol fails to fire after the trigger was released. Almost everything else is on you.
- Qualification gives no extra time for malfunctions; the Jury may allow sighters after an allowable one. Finals: one allowable, 1 minute to fix.
- Interruptions not your fault: over 3 min, time back; over 5 min, time back + 5 min + unlimited sighters.
- Late arrival: no extra time unless it was beyond your control.
- Extra shots: annulled, −2 each. Cross shots: a miss for you; a cross sighter costs 2 points.
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