Share your most embarrassing moment at a registered match

[Shuz]

Well, Here's mine.............Last Saturday I went to a CBA match In Spokane with my Savage Model 16 chambered for .250 Sav. I've shot this rifle many times in the past, and have done well, with my load of 14.3g of Reloder 7 and a Saeco 25-100 cast from 10:1 alloy,air cooled and sized to .2594. The OAL is 2.450" I went to the match with 2 boxes of 50 rounds each of this same load. Imagine my surprise when none of the rounds in the one box would chamber in the rifle! Luckily, the rounds from the second box did.
I began the match knowing that I had to fire the 40 rounds for record with only 10 rounds for sighters and "foulers". I made it thru the score match, but ran out of ammo during the 10 round group match. Boy was I embarrassed! I am so meticulous when it comes to loading for the CBA matches, that some would consider me anal. I weigh every charge and weigh and sort boolits etc.

When I got home, I discovered that even tho both boxes were loaded to an OAL of 2.450", the one box where the ammo didn't fit, had a neck dimension of .291" instead of the usual .287". I noticed that each box was loaded on a different date, and I have determined that on the latest dated box, I didn't have the seating die far enuf down to adequately remove the slight bell from the "M" die.

Now, what's your story?

[Old colt]

I shot out of turn at the Grand American trapshoot. Didn't even know it until the scorer stopped the group.

Sent from my XT1055 using Tapatalk

[bigdog454]

grabed the wrong box of 45ACP had 2 squibs, (at camp perry).
BD

[buckshotshoey]

07 Camp Perry National Matches. Was doing fine at 200 and 300. When at 600, I couldn't hit the target. But with help from my spotter (a U.S. Army sniper) I got it dialed in. Then half way through the string, I cross fired on someone else's target....two targets to the right! Boy! Even with the giant number boards beneath the target! Those big boards look awful small at 600!

But I felt better after my Army partner did the same thing! Do you think he was just trying to make me feel like less of a fool?

[N21911S]

National Pistol Matches Camp Perry Ohio 1979. .45 Timed Fire Match, cross fired 5 rounds on the next left target. Four 10's and a 9, sure could have used them on MY target.

[Tatume]

Well, that's easy. At the Regional High Power Match at Quantico one year, the fellow I was scoring for missed the target on his first shot. He then proceeded to shoot the 10 shot string, and asked me to ignore the errant shot. I said "no" and later the Marine RO asked me how many shots he fired. I said "11." I'm not sure what happened after that, but I was royally embarrassed to be sucked into such a dishonorable situation. The Marine came to me later and thanked me for being a stand up guy, which helped.

[Tatume]

Another time at the National Match at Camp Perry, I was scoring for a young soldier on the U.S. Army Service Rifle Team. He got flustered and started putting in his windage corrections the opposite of what he should have. I was watching and saw what was happening, but I’m not supposed to coach the shooter. As he got flustered I couldn’t help myself, and told him what he had done. The Team Coach (I can’t think of his name right now) heard this, and proceeded to yell at me, and then the young Captain. I’ll never offer advice on the line again, and the young man probably won’t forget again which way his sights go. By the way, the Team Coach was also watching, and had seen what the shooter was doing as well.

[2wheelDuke]

I had a squib in my local NRA "Combat" match. I had what I believe to be a squib lodge just forward of the chamber, preventing the next round from chambering. I came in dead last because I only got a few shots off on that string. I suppose it's good that it prevented the next round from chambering. That's less embarrassing than having my gun explode during the match.

[Larry Gibson]

Washington State HP match.....200 yard standing, I was shooting SR, loaded round in my M1A, settled in, rock solid, good shot....a 10X, almost a "pin wheel"......just on the next target to the right......:roll:

I lost the 10 points and by all rights that shooter could have claimed the 10X. However, he was honest and told the scorer to disregard....then shot his own 10X.....

Since I had dropped 10 points I figured I was basically out of the running so no longer concerned I shot the best I had ever shot across the rest of the course. I ended up winning the state SR HP match.......

[country gent]

ORPA regional match in the 80s. Was my 4th or 5th match I shot in ( new shooter) Line was on block time and I inadvertently fired a round in the prep period thinking the line was hot. I was penalized the shot on the string. Later that summer during the nationals a AMU shooter did the same during the 2 day of the NRA matches and was disqualified for it.

[Blackwater]

This wasn't a registered match, but when I was with Probation, we had our yearly conference at Jekyll Island, near the FLETC "shooting school" for the feds. They graciously invited us to hold our pistol match at their facility, and were VERY gracious hosts. We fired the match and I had speed loaders for the rapid fire stage. When I'd fired my first 6, I dropped the speedloader and it rolled way out in front, where I dared not go. Having no other option, I had to reload from loose rounds in my pocket. This I did as hurriedly as I could, and my last round was fired just as the turning targets swivelled around. My last round tore a hole in the K-5 silhouette target that was over 6" long, and the instructor there looked at that one for a long time. He finally said something to the effect, "A little slow on that last round, weren't you?" All I could do was just smile a sheepish smile. At least he said, "That's good shooting" before departing to the next target. That took some of the sting out. That last round was right through the center of the "X" and nearly centered on it. I forget the range, but it wasn't over 25 yds. I got ribbed about that shot from the guys who knew shooting, but .... I outshot them all, so they couldn't rib me TOO hard ..... thankfully!

[rintinglen]

In a Division match in 1974, I shot 5 rapid fire 300 meter rounds on the target to the left of mine.
Quick way to drop 50 points.

[sutherpride59]

IDK if it counts but my last USPSA match during my best stage I shot all A's and B's on all 20 paper targets in 26.34 seconds........except the one 2 feet in front of me on the ground behind the barrel.... the easiest target I totally forgot about.

[Tazza]

Club level match, so it didn't matter too much, but i arrived at said match with heaps of ammo and mags..... That is all...

Oddly enough, you need a boom stick to use said mags and ammo, who knew? :$

[Echo]

Well - I was a fairly new shooter, shooting in my second year of competition. I had already made Master class, and the match was at home (Shreveport), and I was doing quite well. I made the mistake of looking at the score board - and I was only a few points behind Jim Clark! Carrumba! The next stage was 22 TF - we bellied up to the line I concentrated, shot 5 good shots, and looked through the scope at my target - no holes whatsoever! Shifted my scope to the target next to me, and he has 10 hits, a little wad in the x-ring, and 5 more around it. I told him that I had crossfired, and thought if he was a gentleman, he would fire 5 on mine. He didn't. I got ate up with a case of the dumb-*** and fired 4 x's and a visible miss @ 12 O'clock for the next string! Score of 40 for that 22 TF string - and I fired an average (for me) composite score, about 2550! If I hadn't thrown away 60 points, I would have broken 2600! Carrumba...

[imashooter2]

I laid a loaded 1911 on the ground from a Safarland 011 at a USPSA match. Didn't have the muzzle on the shelf properly and when I "locked it in," it didn't. The DQ wasn't as painful as the RO clearing the gun and putting it back in my holster for me.

[LenH]

When I first started shooting Bullseye, the slow fire course for center fire was especially daunting for a new shooter. 50 yards with a 1911 and shooting iron sights.
I shot 2 x's, 3 9's & 3 8's all on someone else's target. The person next to me was a very sweet lady shooting a .32. This lady was shooting next to her husband and
I hear `DAVE!, there are .45 holes in my target!' Her husband Dave looked through her spotting scope and said `Hey Len, nice shootin but you need to move over one target.'
They called a range alibi and Elaine got to reshoot her string. I got to take the target with me that was on her stand.

I sure am glad that was just a local match.

[Scharfschuetze]

Cross fires at high power matches for me too. Sadly, like Larry and others above, I usually shoot a 10 or an X when I do that.

There's an old saying: "There are two kinds of high power shooters. Those that have cross fired and those that will."


Another time at the National Match at Camp Perry, I was scoring for a young soldier on the U.S. Army Service Rifle Team. He got flustered and started putting in his windage corrections the opposite of what he should have.

Regarding the comment on the young captain reversing his windage adjustments on a service rifle. The M1, the M14 and the M16 have opposite threads compared to the common civilian match sights like the Redfield International and Palma sights. I have more than once watched civilians used to making adjustments on their civilian match rifles confuse the two. They will invariably do the same as the young soldier mentioned and dial in left windage when they are trying to adjust to the right. It's hard to keep your mouth shut when you are scoring for them. No doubt that young captain shot primarily on the Army's international team where they use civilian equipment and he was chasing his service rifle Distinguished Badge.


This wasn't a registered match, but when I was with Probation, we had our yearly conference at Jekyll Island, near the FLETC "shooting school" for the feds.

Those are some fine ranges aren't they? I won the service revolver class there once at a Georgia State match. Great place to shoot.

[Taterhead]

At a long range tactical rifle match offsite in the hills, targets were from 2-1100 yards. Good site picture, good DOPE, good trigger pull (usually), then MISS! Spotter would call for corrections. MISS! I hardly hit anything! What the...?

It wasn't until after the match that I realized that my scope rings were extremely loose. Scored dead last!

[Blackwater]

Those are some fine ranges aren't they? I won the service revolver class there once at a Georgia State match. Great place to shoot.

Yes they are. I didn't know him back then, but the guy who directed the facility is now a friend of mine. Those are one and all, really great guys. He also has a wealth of experience with various guns they'd get sent with request to evaluate them for service duty. He always said that if your hands would fit them, the early Ruger autos were probably one of the toughest, hardest to stop service autos out there. Every one of those guys had "been there and done that, including drug raids, etc., and they took their jobs VERY seriously. One woman who seemed to just not be able to manage to work the gun, was taken out on the range alone, and worked with until she finally was passable with the gun she carried. Patience was their big stock in trade with many who went through there for training! That was just one case. The worst were the guys with the big egos, who blamed all their bad shots on the instructors. Those kind'a got taken aside and had things "explained" to them in a manner they couldn't misunderstand, sometimes. They just did whatever worked, and weren't afraid to try something new. Some of the best of our federal dollars' usage there!

[Der Gebirgsjager]

O.K.--I guess I'll embarrass myself and also help someone else to avoid the situation. About 1984 I attended a match at the Saugus, CA, range to qualify to buy an M1 from DCM. There was virtually no restrictions on rifle or caliber, except that it had to be something larger than .22 LR. I took a 180-series Mini-14. I got slinged up and eased myself down into the prone position. Everyone could tell that I'd shot before, and the Range Master and a club official came over and stood right behind me to watch me clean the target. I started firing, heard comments of approval, but after about the 10th shot everyone left and were watching someone else. I qualified, but it was a close thing, and later my buddy said, "I don't know what happened. You were doing so good, and then you just walked off the target." Much later, at home cleaning the rifle, I discovered that the spring loaded pin that holds the elevation wheel in place was missing. Reading up on it I learned that it was a common bug of the 180-series, that the pin was too small in diameter to withstand too much recoil, and the bug had been worked out by substituting a pin out of one of the later series that was larger. Once the pin went bye-bye each subsequent shot caused the elevation wheel to advance one notch.
The fellow that won the match was using a Win. Mod. 94!

[runfiverun]

I will drop one.
I was at the grand American and had been working hard on shooting a shotgun and dialing in the poa/poi for a couple of weeks after getting the cheek piece cut on a new [to me] gun.

I got to the line and smoked the first bird then missed the next 4 by a good 4-5 feet.
as I was walking from station 5 to station 1 I tilted the butt stock down and the cheek piece fell off.
to get there on the airplane I had switched gun cases and needed to lower the cheek piece so it would fit in the new locking case properly.
when I got the gun out the night before to wipe everything down, check it for functioning, and such I had just set the cheek piece in place without putting the spacers in and tightening down the screws.
I ripped the flaps off my shell box, rolled them up, eyeballed the gap height, and pushed them under the wood to create a quick repair and finished the house.

every time someone asked about the scratches it brought back the moment.

[Artful]

After driving almost 3 hours to the match got my rifle out only to discover I had forgotten my loaded magazines at home (yes, picked up the wrong ammo can) so no ammo or feeding devices

[shoot-n-lead]

After driving almost 3 hours to the match got my rifle out only to discover I had forgotten my loaded magazines at home (yes, picked up the wrong ammo can) so no ammo or feeding devices

Ouch! [smilie=b:

[Geezer in NH]

1990's NH NRMLA Territorial, not sure what year.

Launched my Buff/light bench False muzzle with a fowling charge. Usual procedure for all of us was when range open was to fire a charge of powder only to foul/season the barrel to a 1 shot condition.

EVERYONE had a comment!! Learned it is a common problem unless you do not shoot much.

Was at the next registered shoot when a ball was shot through the roof in Saratoga NY by a 25 year competitor for the fouling shot. He however had left loaded from a shoot the week before.

Moral of the story is the same taught every hunter safety course WATCH THE MUZZLE!!

[goryshaw]

State M1 championship, after being 1 pt out of 2nd place after standing, and still 1 pt out after rapid sitting, I completely screwed up my site settings and shot a good 9-10 ring size group, in the 5 and 6 ring at 1 o'clock in rapid prone. Ended with 51 rather than the 95+ I usually manage with a Garand in practice. Compounded that by trying to adjust sites from there rather than running them to the bottom and counting up. By the time I got through chasing the spotter I ended up with a 148 instead of 190 or so. Ended up 1 spot from the bottom, if I had just left the sites alone and got another 85 pts I would have been in the running for 1st.