There are valid safety reasons why we limit or deny drawing from any holster or concealment on Range 1:

1. Range Construction.. Range 1 is a covered shooting house with a concrete floor (pad). The concrete will cause any negligent discharge or round strike to ricochet and possibly hit and severely injure or kill other shooters. This is a primary safety concern for the Range Safety Officers (RSOs) and a situation easily controlled / prevented to ensure the safety of the shooters, their families and guests.

2. Task Saturation.Our RSOs determine the course of fire and tempo for "their" range while overseeing operations. At any given time, there could be 20 - 35 shooters and guests on the line who are firing a variety of firearms from high-power rifle to black powder and rimfire. You could have a person shooting a plate rack at 7 yards and next to them an AR15 shooter doing mag dumps. The sheer variety of arms and volume of fire presents a constant safety challenge for the RSOs. Adding additional dynamics complicates the safety environment and introduces less controllable variables. Recently, we had a shooter practicing "up" drills with their AR15 on R1. Usually the drills present no issue as the shooter goes from low rifle (which would be pointed at the dirt in front of shoot house) to shoulder firing. However, this shooter was starting his drills facing the back wall, and turning towards the firing line while shouldering his weapon. So, he was flagging the firing line with his loaded weapon each time he did a drill - definite safety no-no, but just one of the many situations our RSOs handle daily.      

3. Shooter Proficiency. With the explosive growth of shooting sports bringing in new shooters, RSOs are continually evaluating skills to try and determine which shooters may need additional supervision or coaching. We've had a marked increase in shooters who are not familiar with weapons, their lethality or range procedures. As one example, a shooter with both a pistol and rifle, at the command to cease fire so the range could be made cold for people to check targets downrange, grounded his weapons with the ejection ports down. When the RSO turned the weapons over, he found the magazines still inserted and a round in each chamber.    

4. RSO Discretion. RSOs have the authority to operate "their" ranges within the confines of the Marine SOPs, but also as they deem fit to maintain a safe shooting environment. As such, the RSO determines the course of fire, pace of the range and what activities they will allow. The QSC BOD supports our RSOs and the safety decisions they exercise.

If you feel you need to draw from a holster, QSC suggests you go to Ironman (formerly Range 305) as many times the RSOs will allow holster draws at that range.A better option would to become an RSO so you could then open the Small Arms Tactical bays where you can practice your draw in those 35y bays.

R/

The QSC BOD