IBS Changes the Flag Rule

pbike

pbike

New member
We just got home from the Annual Winter meeting. The only real rule change that was an agenda Item was concerning flags and where they can be placed and when the can be moved or taken down.

In the final draft that was voted on and approved by a large margin these four major items were discussed and approved, which should ease the tensions concerning flag placement.

A) Your Flags must be placed in your shooting lane which is defined as the center of the area between your bench and the neighboring bench downrange to the center of the arear between your target and the neighboring target.

That was to correct problems of another shooters flags venturing into your shooting lane

B) The height of your flags is to set at a maximum height of the line that is viewed between the highest point of your bench to the bottom of your target.

This is to correct problems incured from bullets line of flight verbage, not all competitors have same line of flight.

C) Flags may be placed in the areas left and right of the extreme firing points by any competitor.

Not sure how that was written before but it sounds logical.

D) If a flag is to be adjusted by a competitor it has to be done before the first shot of the first warmup match for the first relay of the aggregate. And after that point can only be lowered or dropped by a referee with the approval of the Range Officer.

This ruling fixes problems of when a competitor can be down range adjusting flags, also fixes the problems that could be brought up if a target crew member is asked to adjust a flag and prohibits the range officer from leaving the firing line to change a flag that is deemed too high or out of the shooting lane.

This one agenda item took a long time to address, but in the end I believe the membership present at the meeting came up with a ruling that can be lived with by all and is a fair rule for all competitors. Also one major change to this rule was the hight issue that now brings more unificacation of the different rules between the IBS and NBRSA.

Paul
 
Paul thanks for posting this info. For those not familiar with the process, the flag rule change was initiated by an agenda item written by a shooter who got 25+ signatures to put on the agenda early in 2009. Maybe not the most efficient system, but one that is driven by the competitors and approved by the competitors.

Jeff
 
Ibs flag change

Please explain how this will work when you have a lefthand shooter sitting next to a righthand shooter as both will be using the same center line.
 
Bill - works the same. The intent is for shooters to keep their flags generally in front of them so that they are not in FRONT of other shooters. From what I heard there was a shooter or shooters that like to spread their flags at angles far afield from the rough lane in front of him. That resulted in some, er...conflicts. Like many rules-this one was promulgated to deal with the anomaly. Virtually all shooters keep their flags in a straight line from bench to target, OR with a shallow angle, BUT not so much to interfere with their neighbor. If a left-handed shooter puts their flags at an angle against a neighbor that is right-handed AND he uses the angle then the mid-point gets crowded. Just hang around the Super Shoot at flag setting and you might see the beginning of a MMA match :D.

Short version - don't invade your neighbors' space. It doesn't affect how 99.97% of shooters lay out their flags, but keeps a fellow 2-3-4 benches away from putting one in front of you - simple as that.

jks
 
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If this is what I read it to be, it won't hinder me a bit. I like to set my flags, starting just a bit left of the LH corner of my bench, and run to just right of center of my target.....trying NOT to encroach on my fellow shooters. I'm right handed. Would this be accurate?---Mike Ezell
 
Mike - YEP (that is exactly how I like to set them too). No one should get too excited about this...it is not intended to change a whit how virtually all shooters set their flags.

The rule is just intended to have a way to stop a shooter that insists on placing a flag a couple of benches away and screwing up your line of flags. It is too bad we had to deal with it. A simple case of sportsmanship. A public flogging might have been better than a rule clarification. :D
 
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Ibs flag change

Thanks Jeff for explanation. I really had no idea that someone in benchrest would be so rude as to set a flag in front of another competitors bench. But then times change.
 
The Flag Rule

Any Body that has been around Benchrest for a while knows why this rule was passed.

There are several well known shooters who believe that they own the range. Other shooters tried to be polite, not complain, and hope that the term "gentlemen" would prevail. It did not.

So, the IBS solved the problem. The NBRSA has done the same..........jackie
 
“Your Flags must be placed in your shooting lane which is defined as the center of the area between your bench and the neighboring bench downrange to the center of the arear between your target and the neighboring target.”


Can someone official clarify the rule incase it comes up at a match. If I were a match director I could read and enforce this rule three ways, maybe more.

With typical bench spacing of 6 foot center to center.

1: A 3 foot 1 inch tail, on a post that is on your lanes (benches) centerline, is against the rules because it infringes on your neighbors lane by one inch when fully extended in the wind.

2: As long as the post and pivot point of the flag is on your side of the centerline between the lanes, its ok. Mechanical vanes and tails don’t count unless they block a neighbors direct firing line.

3: The entire mechanical vane must be inside your lane, tails must not enter your neighbors direct line of fire.

Thanks
Jim
 
Great rule. Will help keep most lefties blood pressure down during flag setting. Should have gone even further and only allowed one set of flags per bench.
 
Being a lefty

I love how its the always the leftie that causes the problem and not the right handed shooter that interferes with the left handed shooter... I guess were not suppose to have flags?
 
There are no problems Steve. Since you and I share a bench most of the time anyway - if you ever put your flag in my shooting lane - I'll just shoot your pole until it falls over. Problem solved. No need to worry.

When you set your poles on the "other side" of the bench - well then that will be up to LaVern to shoot them down!!!!

Stanley
 
Who are you bashing Redrock? Your target is vague. Care to aim better?
 
JJ/IA and JDs,

When we discussed this rule at the IBS meeting Saturday, no mention was given to tails at all. This may very well be bacause in 99.9 % of the time the tail is below the flag, and not in another shooters (lane / line) of sight. I would veiw the ruling as written to pertain to the flag itself and not the tail for those reasons.

Paul
 
Paul,

pbike said:
JJ/IA and JDs,

When we discussed this rule at the IBS meeting Saturday, no mention was given to tails at all. This may very well be bacause in 99.9 % of the time the tail is below the flag, and not in another shooters (lane / line) of sight. I would veiw the ruling as written to pertain to the flag itself and not the tail for those reasons.

Paul
Click to expand...
imho the tail is part of the flag...so if the tail is wafting into the shooting lane of another shooter, that flag is going to get laid down if I'm a ref. That's what the IBS wants and that's what we should expect.

Now before you say, "that will never happen", it certainly did. Some shooters prefer VERY long tails. I had several one year at the bud set so close to the line next to my lane and the tails were so long that they were seen in my scope while aiming on my target when the wind blew just right. I had the tails cut. The one thing I've learned in this game is that there are a few who push the envelope to the Nth degree and revel in it.
 
Geez....here we go again. I am pretty tired of hearing "what the IBS wants" as if there is some "star chamber" that foists new rules on unsuspecting and defenseless competitors. This agenda item was promulgated by a shooter and he collected 25+ signatures from other shooters, AND the shooters at the meeting overwhelmingly passed it with only a couple of "nay" votes. It was written in response to a couple of isolated incidents.

The intent of the rule is crystal clear: to prevent a #$#$^&*^$# idiot who shoots a few benches away from putting his flag in front of you. Pretty simple. Let's not get into a bunch of semantics about the tails!

If someone's flag or tail that is covering any part of the target for the shooter next to him then the guy who can't see tells the range officer or referee who directs that the offending flag to be laid down. That has been practice for decades. The rule does NOT change that.

As I wrote earlier, there should not even be a need for such a rule. Unfortunately, many of benchrest's rules are written to deal with the 1% who are the offenders while the other 99% argue how many bullets can be balanced on the end of a decapping rod.

Jeff Stover
IBS President
 
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IF it gets down to that much "hair-splitting"

JJ-IA said:
“Your Flags must be placed in your shooting lane which is defined as the center of the area between your bench and the neighboring bench downrange to the center of the arear between your target and the neighboring target.”


Can someone official clarify the rule incase it comes up at a match. If I were a match director I could read and enforce this rule three ways, maybe more.

With typical bench spacing of 6 foot center to center.

1: A 3 foot 1 inch tail, on a post that is on your lanes (benches) centerline, is against the rules because it infringes on your neighbors lane by one inch when fully extended in the wind.

2: As long as the post and pivot point of the flag is on your side of the centerline between the lanes, its ok. Mechanical vanes and tails don’t count unless they block a neighbors direct firing line.

3: The entire mechanical vane must be inside your lane, tails must not enter your neighbors direct line of fire.

Thanks
Jim
Click to expand...

I would suggest you consider whether you really want to shoot that weekend. You lose sight of the fact that ANY rule also depends on reasonable people to decide the outcome. This new rule just gives the definitions for reasonable people to follow
 
pbike said:
JJ/IA and JDs,

When we discussed this rule at the IBS meeting Saturday, no mention was given to tails at all. This may very well be bacause in 99.9 % of the time the tail is below the flag, and not in another shooters (lane / line) of sight. I would veiw the ruling as written to pertain to the flag itself and not the tail for those reasons.

Paul
Click to expand...

Thanks Paul.

It looks like nothings really changed for people like myself that use the offset flag arrangement.
Jim
 
he has been around a long time

Bill Creasy
We had to deal with this individual and his friend along time ago and at Mainville--as years went on he persisted in thinking he owned the range and could do what ever he wanted to as long as the rule book did not specifically prevent it. In fact I think he enjoyed it.

It finally caught up to him.
 
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