IDPA Rules Question

[thatguy]

I am asking to clarify an IDPA rule on moving before the buzzer. I have watched some matches and noticed it appears the shooter starting his move for his gun (but not touching the gun) right after the "stand by" command but before the buzzer sounds. My IDPA rule book says the hands must be at the sides until buzzer. Whats the case and how do you stop it, or even address the issue with shooters?

Brian

[WildBill]

I would suggest going over that rule before the match starts and tell them that there is a penalty if you move before the buzzer.

[gringop]

Creeping is a procedural penalty. It's in the rule book.

If I notice it before I press the button, I'll warn the shooter and restart the commands. If I the buzzer goes off and they have crept, 3 seconds added to their time.

Gringop

[Skiprr]

Brian, I’m not sure if you’re asking as an SO or a competitor.

If as an SO, gringop is spot on. The relevant rules are:

C 7. The competitor’s physical position may not be changed before the firing signal once the shooter’s ready position is assumed and the “Stand-By” command has been given, unless specified by the CoF.

PP 1. Procedural Error; Examples, h. The competitor prematurely starts. An example of this would be moving the shooting hand toward the gun between the standby command and the start signal.

If the SO notices the infraction before pressing the buzzer, common courtesy is to warn the shooter, and start over. After a warning, or if the SO didn’t notice the movement quickly enough before the buzzer sounded, if the shooter changes his physical position—hands, feet, body angle—between “stand by” and the buzzer, it’s a PE.

You almost never get to the point where repeated infractions of this rule might become a candidate for a FTDR, if the PEs are enforced, because a three-second penalty before the gun ever comes out of the holster is never a “gamesmanship” improvement of scores. So it will never be an intentional action by an experienced shooter. First-time competitors should be cut some slack here, IMHO, but they definitely should be warned and the rule explained.

If your question is coming as a fellow shooter or spectator, you probably want to play it by ear. If you know the shooter personally, you may want to mention it while taping or on a CoF changeover as a piece of friendly advice to help prevent him from getting a PE for the habit. If you don’t know the shooter, I think I’d leave the rule enforcement up to the SOs.

If it’s a match with different SOs covering different CoFs, odds are the infraction will be spotted sooner rather than later by one of them. SOs will typically stand behind and off to the gun-hand side of the shooter, and their focus at the start is 98% gun. It’s possible that a given SO watching a given shooter may not notice a subtle hand movement after the “stand by” signal. But different SOs watching the same shooter will almost invariably catch it.

Correcting an SO isn’t verboten, but IMHO it should be approached gingerly. If you think you see a pattern with an SO not recognizing movement after “stand by,” when it’s you turn at the starting line you may want to simply ask something like, “Am I correct that I can’t move at all after you say “stand by” until I hear the buzzer?”

He or she will answer the question and, trust me, when asked about a point-of-rule, that rule then sneaks up closer to the front of consciousness. I’ll bet you that SO, for the remainder of the day, will see any shooter’s premature movement as if it had a big, red, telestrator circle around it.