IDPA Rules Clarification Regarding Dropped/Dislodged Magazines

IDPA Safety Officers,

You are receiving this email because I have you on my list of active IDPA Safety Officers.

Dropped Magazine Refresher

After an incident with one of our SO's this weekend, I felt like everyone should be aware of how the dropped/dislodged magazine rules works. Here is the scenario:

On stage 7 of our last match, the shooter was at the final shooting position (after engaging T1-T4) and during his reload he accidentally dislodged his spare (#2) magazine on the ground. He saw this and picked it up before engaging the final 2 targets. Does he get a Procedural Error?

The answer is yes.

Anytime a magazine becomes dislodged and hits the ground it is a PE. Keep in mind that I'm NOT talking about dropping a magazine. I'm talking about the magazine coming out of a pouch when the shooter is not reloading that magazine. It is fairly common for the shooter to dislodge magazine #2 while extracting #1 for his reload. If this happens, it is a PE even if he picks it up and puts it back into his mag pouch.

[Fortunately, this is an uncommon problem -- and good thing, too, because my answer is no. Procedurals are performance penalties, and stopping to pick up a magazine dropped -- directly or indirectly -- during a bobbled reload is not improving the shooter's time/score; rather, it is simply good IDPA style to not leave live ammunition on the ground. As my S.O. instructor said, "Make sure they earn the procedural."]

Here are some other clarifications:

Dropping empty mag with a round in the chamber.

Another misconception is if a shooter dumps an empty mag with a round in the chamber, he will not get a PE if he racks the slide after inserting a fresh mag. WRONG! HQ has clarified this in no uncertain terms. If the shooter drops an empty mag with a round in the chamber, it is a PE. [Period. The rulebook is clear about this in Appendices 2 and 11.]

If the shooter picks up the empty mag, reinserts it into the gun and fires the last round (thus going to slide lock), there would be no PE.

Dropping a mag while reloading.

Here is another clarification regarding reloading with retention (RWR) or tactical reloads (TR). If the shooter drops the partial mag while stowing it he must pick it up and stow it before firing another shot. If he does not pick up the partial mag he gets a PE. Keep in mind that I'm only talking about the partial magazine that is coming out of the gun.

Now, if after stowing the partial magazine, the shooter drops the fresh magazine (call it #1) he can grab magazine #2 and engage targets without picking up #1, AS LONG AS HE DOES NOT LEAVE THAT POSITION. In this scenario, he would not get a PE.

[Fortunately, this is another uncommon problem -- and good thing, again, because I disagree. Procedurals are performance penalties, and the shooter has clearly failed to retain ammo in the performance of a regulation reload prior to firing the next shot. The source of that dropped ammo doesn't matter: It is not good IDPA style to leave live ammunition anywhere on the ground and continue shooting. The only exception to this, according to the rulebook, is malfunction clearing.]

Let's look at an example: Stage 3 of the classifier. On string 1, let's suppose the shooter drops his #1 mag after stowing his partial. He can simply grab #2 and finish the string. No PE would be issued in this situation. [False.]

Now consider string 2, where you head to the barrel after the RWR/TR. In this case he would need to pick up the dropped #1 mag before advancing to the barrel. If he leaves the ammo on the ground when he advances, he gets a PE. [True.]

I hope this clarifies how to handle dropped/dislodged magazines so that we are all interpreting the rules the same way.

[As you can see, there are different ways to interpret the rulebook. And that's a good thing because it allows Match Directors to stress what each one thinks is important: "The MD has the final say on ALL match issues and his decision is final. There is no arbitration." I think IDPA is a game with a style which is distinct from other pistol games, outlined and maintained by the rulebook, and defined by the skill set of the Classifier, scenario-based stages, and tactical sequence.]

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Last modified: 11/5/2009