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this web
information is provided by Pistol Australia Inc. as a service
to its members NRC Service
Pistol – 3rd
August 2010
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All Service Pistol Shooters, Officials and
Competition Organisers should read the information at Holster
Accreditation>>
o Recognition of other Organisations' Holster
Accreditation
o Definition of ‘Muzzle’ for PA 25 Yards Service
Pistol
o Revised PA Range Officer Guides
o 25 Yd Service Pistol –
Shooting Vests
o
Other resources for the PA Service
Events
There would appear to
be some confusion in the minds of a few shooters as to the definition of the
word ‘muzzle’; particularly when it comes to some strange and/or optimistic
interpretation of the applicable rules in these events.
The word ‘muzzle’ has
a long and specific application in relation events with ‘production’ category
rules. The accepted (and reasonable)
definition of the muzzle is ‘The muzzle of a firearm is the end of the barrel from
which the projectile will exit’; further, ‘end of the barrel’ stands up well
even when considering barrels that have a deep crowning, or been counter-bored
(for whatever reason).
Any extension to the
frame, slide or barrel is an extension and not the muzzle.
If a shooter or
gunsmith disputes the ‘end of the barrel’ definition, ask which part of the
pistol or revolver would be affected if the muzzle was re-crowned?
The short (and complete) answer is... NO OTHER ORGANISATION'S HOLSTER ACCREDITATION IS
RECOGNISED FOR PA COMPETITIONS!
·
The acceptance of the IPSC
(Australia) Holster card has been long removed from the Service Pistol
rules/regulations. If you have not already done so, remove the reference
to IPSC in the second dot point in Note $4 of your
Service Pistol rulebook.
·
for Australian residents, a current
PA Holster Accreditation is required for the PA 'holster' events (PA Service
Pistol, International 1920 match and WA1500)
·
the only exception to the
mandatory PA Holster Accreditation is for overseas competitors - Temporary
Holster Accreditation may be granted by the NRC to non-residents of Australia
who are training for and competing in a PA sanctioned competition – this option
is a/ only available to non-residents of Australia and b/ may be granted by the
NRC Jury only
About the PA Service events
There are
three PA ‘Service’ events:
·
The PA
Service Pistol event is the original 90-shot event fired at distances from
50 yards to 7 yards.
o pistols and revolvers of calibre 9 – 9.65mm
o minimum trigger weight of 1360g
o The pistol must fit in a box 300x150x50mm
o All ammunition used by a competitor must be identical throughout the
event, and have a minimum power factor of 120 000 (weight in grains x velocity
in fps)
o Only ‘open’ sights are allowed
This
event is a ‘holster’ event and shooters must have a current PA Holster
Accreditation.
·
The PA
Service Pistol Unrestricted event uses the same course of fire and targets
as the PA Service Pistol event
o pistols and revolvers of calibre 7.62 – 9.65mm
o minimum trigger weight of 1360g
o Only ‘open’ sights are allowed
This
event is ‘unrestricted’ in that there is no limit on ammunition power, or
requirements on size of the pistol or revolver
·
The PA
25 Yards Service Pistol event is a 65-shot event fired at distances from 25
yards to 7 yards.
o
The current rulebook for
all three PA Service events is the Feb 2005 Edition 1st Printing,
with corrections and interpretations as per the information on this webpage
Artificial
Support
An
explanation and some illustrations can be found at Artificial
Support
At the
October 2006 Executive / Management Meeting was resolved that:
·
“the NRA rule changes with respect to grip
safety be enforced as of 1 January 2007.” and
as the PA Service rules for holster have
followed the NRA Action Pistol / International 1920 Match rules
·
“’all standard features of guns must operate properly’ be applied to all
PA Service, Service Unrestricted, Service 25 Yard matches and the WA1500 Match
as at 1 July 2007.”
For the PA Service matches this specifically
relates to Note 02 – Safety Mechanisms which previously provided “Where a grip
safety is the secondary safety, it may be disabled by pinning.”
From 1 January 2007
this will change to:
Equipment Control, Rules 2.3, S/ 4.2.6.1, S/ 4.2.6.5, 10:
The
proper functioning of all safety mechanisms applicable to the type, make and
model of pistol are to be checked at Equipment Control, e.g.
• transfer
bars as fitted to revolvers,
• a grip safety may not be
disabled.
The type of holster/belt combination is to be inspected at Equipment
Control.
Following the completion of this event at
Belmont, a ‘shooters meeting’ was held to discuss the match and some
interpretations of its rules. This
meeting was well attended and a few points are noteworthy:
Shooting Vests for 25 Yards Service:
While not
all shooters at the nationals used ‘shooting vests’ for this event, there was
seemingly unanimous agreement that they should be allowed within the intent of
the 25 Yards Service Pistol rules, provided:
·
The vest did not provide artificial
support, and
·
The pocket used for carrying the
ammunition for each series was ‘normal’.
I hope that we do not get into a process of defining ‘normal’ (some
attempts at reinforcing and shaping the top of the pocket to facilitate
loading, and sub-pocket sections to hold five-rounds ready for the next series
have already been detected).
Many
shooters (myself included) typically shoot the PA Service events in a pair of
jeans and a knit-weave polo top, neither of which are all that conducive to
carrying 25 rounds in a pocket. A
shooting vest is a convenient solution - the use of vests is there for the
convenience of the shooters, not to provide an advantage by fudging the intent…
S25/
4.2.8.6 All
ammunition necessary for a stage must be carried loose in a pocket (one pocket
only) at the beginning of the stage…
Again,
there was unanimous agreement that carrying ALL ammunition for a stage in one
pocket was the way to go. Although there
is no real advantage to a shooter in loading the first five shots other than
from a packet (e.g. an ammunition tray), this rule keeps it ‘simple’.
These guides
have been prepared by the NRC of Pistol Australia for the use by range
officials at PA affiliated pistol clubs, and are copyright. Their use by any other organisation,
or for any other purpose is prohibited unless expressly granted in writing.
These are
available as .pdf file downloads, simply right-click over each required guide
and ‘save target as’.
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Need a
copy of Adobe Acrobat Reader? Available
as a free download for windows, or for Macintosh
One important observation that came from
the rules revision related to the procedures for loading for the 45.70 stage
for Service Pistol and Service Pistol Unrestricted. The ‘old’ rules covering this aspect were
written in the context of PA National Championships, i.e. the two matches were
not conducted concurrently.
The reality of most club-level shooting
has both Service Pistol and Service Pistol Unrestricted shooters side-by-side
at the firing line – often there could be SPU shooters at the firing line to
load while SP shooters could be back 2m to load the pistol. Even allowing for the separation between
‘service’ shooting bays, this was not a ‘good thing’.
To ensure that all shooters on the 45.70m line are not
only safe, but also ‘appear to be safe’, all loading for 45.70m is at the
firing line:
·
For
Service Pistol, LOAD, and HOLSTER at the firing line, then retire the 2m. If for
any reason the shooter needs to remove the pistol from the holster before the
command “START” this may only be done at the firing line.
·
For
Service Pistol Unrestricted, LOAD at the firing line and place the
pistol on the ground, then retire the 2m.
If this procedure is followed there will be no other
shooter forward of them while they are loading a pistol.
For Service Pistol:
At
45.70m: After the completion of preparation time the Range Officer calls
"165 SECONDS LOAD".
The shooters stand at the firing line and,
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Load their pistols,
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Ensure that their pistols are in
the appropriate safe condition for their type,
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Holster the pistols,
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Retire approximately 2m behind the firing
line, and
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Assume the start position.
Copyright © 2010, Pistol Australia
Inc.