"A Competitive Shooting Sport with Real-Life Applications"

You run a "cold range". What is that?

A "cold" range means that your firearm must be unloaded with the hammer down, magazine out, and properly secured in your holster at all times. The only time you may load up and "go hot" is on the firing line underneath the direct supervision of a Safety Officer (SO). There will be an area set aside called a "safe table" where you may handle an unloaded weapon for inspection, dry-firing practice, or to remove it from it's carrying case and insert it into your holster. It is acceptable to play show-and-tell at our safe table as long as it is done with care. Remember, always treat every weapon as if it was loaded at all times. NO AMMO OR MAGAZINES may be handled at the safe table! If you are conducting dry fire practice or need to drop your hammer at the safe table, please point your weapon into the berm.

Ammo and magazines may be handled anywhere except at the safe table.

If you are a CCW permit holder and wish to use your carry piece for competition, please unload safely and discreetly in your car before entering the range.

You will hear these commands from the Safety Officer (SO). Be familiar with them!

  • “Does the shooter understand the course of fire?” - This gives the shooter a chance to ask any last minute questions about the course of fire.
  • “Facing down range, load and make ready” - At this time, the shooter will un-holster his/her firearm, load and make ready (insert a magazine, charge the chamber, and place on safe), then re-holster.
  • “Is the shooter ready?” - The SO will wait for a positive response.
  • “Standby” - This means the start signal is about to sound. At the sound of the buzzer, you may un-holster your weapon and engage the targets.

    "STOP!" - means exactly that! Keep your firearm pointed in a safe direction, keep your finger off the trigger, and wait for further instruction from the SO. A stop command may be issued to you even if you haven't committed a safety violation - perhaps a target blew down or wasn't reset and you need to start the stage over.

    "Muzzle!" - If you hear the SO yell "muzzle" at you, it means that the muzzle of your firearm is pointing in an unsafe direction. Always keep you muzzle pointed between the ends of the berm and not above horizontal with the ground. Be cautious of your muzzle position especially while running to a new shooting position or while reloading - it can easily get pointed in a bad direction! Multiple or major muzzle violations will result in a match disqualification.

  • "Finger!" - If the SO yells "finger" at you, it means that your finger has slipped inside the trigger guard when you are not actively engaging a target. When you are moving to a new shooting position, reloading, or pretty much doing anything other than putting holes in a bad guy, your finger must not be inside the trigger guard. Multiple or major finger violations will result in a match disqualification.
  • "Cover!" - If you hear the SO yell "cover" at you, it means that you are leaving too much of your body exposed to a threat target. You must seek a more tactically sound position. Multiple violations will result in procedural penalties (time penalties that negatively affect your score for the match).

    When you are finished shooting, simply keep your gun pointed downrange and wait for the safety officer to ask you if you are, indeed, finished with the scenario.

    "Unload and show clear” - The shooter will remove the magazine and clear the chamber, and will keep the slide open for a visual inspection by the Safety Officer, who will then instruct the shooter to release the slide forward, squeeze the trigger on an empty chamber to drop the hammer (while pointing downrange), and re-holster the firearm

    “Range is safe” - At this time any safety issues are discussed, the shooter's time is recorded, and targets are scored.

    HEAD SAFETY OFFICER

     Linn County IDPA's lead safety officer is John Innis. He can answer any question you have regarding safety issues, and he is also a resource for SO training. We always could use more SO's - if you are energetic, safety oriented, have a positive attitude, and want to learn more on becoming an IDPA qualified SO, please contact John.