Avoiding the Malfunctions That Can Ruin Your Match

by Tracy Barnes

Insufficient Maintenance

I've always been someone who takes meticulous care of her firearms. I have been a sponsored shooter for Otis Technology for over fifteen years. I make full use of every product they sell.

In biathlon, a clean rifle might mean avoiding the penalty loop from a missed target. When you shoot in temperatures well below zero, your groups will spread if your rifle isn't clean and your bolt won't function if it freezes. So, I took the habits I learned from biathlon with me to 3-Gun.

3-Gun is hard on equipment—really hard.

Of course, this is the girl who would compete in freezing rain with her biathlon rifle. Still, like some people who start this sport, I was awestruck by the reality. You take a perfectly good magazine and drop it in the dirt. Then, you take a well-zeroed and tuned rifle, shotgun, or pistol and "dump" it in a barrel or box as you run by.

That being said, you need to take even more care of your firearms than you think. Otherwise, you'll join a long list of people—including myself, as you'll see—who have a catastrophic match because of equipment malfunctions.

Here's what happened.

Stage 10 of the SMMG required you to shoot an array of close-range paper with your pistol then dump it. You then shoot four clays with birdshot and four with slugs before dumping the shotgun. Finally, with your rifle, you shoot two small plate racks and three mid-range rifle knockdown targets.

I had just finished watching Lanny shoot. After her first shot with the rifle, she squeezed the trigger and nothing happened. She racked the bolt but still nothing. She tried a few more things, and after manipulating the safety on and off, she was finally able to fire the rifle.

She kept flicking the safety between shots until after about six rounds the rifle started functioning properly. She finished the stage, and a few of people from our squad took a look at her rifle. They couldn't find anything wrong with it.

I was up next. I wasn't having a great match, but things were starting to pick up. I flew through the pistol and got all the shotgun slugs one-for-one. I grabbed my rifle, took my first shot at the plate rack, and then nothing. A round had chambered, but the rifle wouldn't fire.

Like Lanny, I tried manipulating the safety, but it was stuck on fire and wouldn't go. Keeping my finger off the trigger I dropped the mag, racked the bolt and still nothing. I tried a different mag and racked the bolt with several more rounds.

I looked hopelessly at the remaining eight targets that I hadn't engaged. My heart sank knowing what the penalties would mean. But I'd exhausted my options, trying everything I could think of to get the rifle to fire. I had to call it and take the penalties.

This was a first for me. I had never not finished a stage before. I'd seen it happen to other people and knew how costly it was.

Lanny and I took our rifles down to the gunsmith who made a quick assessment. He found rocks—yes rocks!—jammed up underneath our safeties and triggers.

Like I said, I clean my rifle meticulously but obviously not well enough. I have no idea how the pebbles got in there. With all the dust and rocks around, though, it wasn't impossible for something like that to happen.

The funny thing was that we'd had the same problem on the same stage. As twins, we tend to share things like injuries, clothes, and apparently rifle malfunctions. With our tails between our legs, we walked to the next stage where our rifles now worked flawlessly.

Prevention

Thoroughly clean and care for your firearm and don't get rocks in your trigger. Take the time even between stages if you can.

Again, super easy, right?

Reaction

If your firearm goes down during a stage, do what you can to safely get it up and running again. Make sure that you are pointing the muzzle in a safe direction while trying to fix it. Keep your finger off the trigger, and put on the safety if you have one.

Easy enough to remember, but during the heat of the battle, that adrenaline hits and you start frantically doing whatever you can. Avoid a DQ, and do what you can in a safe manner. If you've done everything but cannot get it to fire, then either move on to the next firearm, or call the stage.

No one likes to have to forfeit unengaged targets, but at some point in your 3-Gun career, you may have to—it happens. Just safely deal with it and move on. Fix the problem if you can and get back to shooting!

JP BULLETin

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