Shot an informal sporting clays tournament yesterday. It was busy and backed up. I was last up in my group on station 3, and when my turn finally came around my gun wasn't on the rack. An unaccounted for citori was on the rack. Hmm? Go down to station 4 figuring someone inadvertently grabbed my gun. As I walked up a guy was shooting his last pair with my superposed (pretty well, he broke 8/10). Different models, different length barrels, his barrels were ported -mine aren't. I had a magnetic glowing hi-viz front bead on, he had a standard bead. He shot 5 pairs and didn't notice! WTF? This lack of awareness kind of seems like how accidents happen.

Anyway, was this some sort of foul? It messed up my rhythm and mindset. He could have put covid snot on my gun.

Ryan,

Around here the term for what you describe is, "Trading Up". I was shooting on a Saturday and at the end of the day, there was an 870 left in the rack and a K-80 missing. Someone happened to see the K-80 headed for a car and yelled out, Hey Wrong Gun. The young man said oops, my mistake. Swapped back and was gone quickly. We were too slow to think in was on purpose at the time. But hindsight...

Or, it was an innocent mistake. I've been to charity events where non-gun people were shooting borrowed/rental guns. They didn't know a Beretta SO5 from the Beretta 686 they were using, until the SO5 owner saw his gun in our squadmate's hands.

Or,, the Saturday after Christmas at the range. Some college students and their dates rented guns for clays. The ladies rented Beretta 20s, the men Beretta 12s. One lady grabbed a 12 instead of her 20, dropped 2 shells in, then click. The men checked the first barrel, pulled out a 20. They didn't check BOTH barrels and reloaded her with 12s. The first shot was fine, the second found the other 20 in the way. No one was hurt, but they bought a gun.

All Best,

Joe in Charlotte

FITSC Rules
https://www.fitasc.com/upload/images/Rglts_PCH_01012017_ENG.pdf

7.2 Other shooters’ guns must not be touched without their permission.

Penalties
13.2 For a first breach of an article of the rules, the referee or jury will issue a warning.
That's it.

NSCA Rules
http://nsca.nssa-nsca.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2021/03/2021-NSCA-Rule-Book.pdf

II Safety and IV Rules of Conduct did not mention handling another competitors gun without permission.


I agree this was either stunning lack of awareness or intentional.

Mistakes happen. Sounds like yours was really a mistake. Also, you were shooting an informal event. FITASC is a whole 'nuther ball game. There is no "foul" you can call and get a do over. Watch your gun closely. I usually leave mine on the cart until just before I shoot. If someone takes my gun off my cart it's no accident. And, there will be "consequences and repercussions".

It happened to me once. Shooting trap with other shooters who were knowledgeable, someone was putting my Browning Golden Clays Citori in their case as I happened to notice, leaving their Browning Ultra behind. Apparently he had just shot a round very well with it without noticing it. Being a regular shooter, I just thought it a mistake. Shooting sporting clays, the Churchill resides in the crook of my arm! At big sxs shoots I imagine that mix ups happen, but I try to prevent it.
Outright theft is an entirely different matter!
Karl

My solution to this problem cropping up is to shoot a hammer gun.

____________________________
Touch my stuff, I’ll kill ya.

Unbelievable!!!!!!

Swichblades or jump rOpes Sanford ?

you should have grabbed the kid that tried switching an 870 for a K 80, that was no mistake.

Yeah- and kicked his sorry thieving ass from here to Eternity-RWTF

Come on, guys. Theivin"? If he had wanted to steal the gun he wouldn't have moved up and shot the next station with it, giving the owner ample time to find it, but would have beat it back to his ride and got the h--- out of there afap. As to how someone could make such a stupid mistake I have no answer, except for a byline of someone on this site (whom I can't recall) that says "Nothing is foolproof for a sufficiently talented fool".

Beg to differ, Stan. Howinthehell can anybody mistake a pumpgun for a stacked barrel doublegun? Back when I shot registered trap (16 yard and 23 yd. handicap) My M12 had the then popular printed out on some kinda tape gizmo- my name, which was on my shotgun on the forearm, near the tip. We had a suspected gun thief around the clubs back then- he was clever, but not too clever. He carried an older Flues Ithaca "Victory" SBT, and tried walking off the line and the gun racks with a friend's Parker SBT-- he tried, but was caught red-handed. Somehow, he seemed to disappear from the trap circuit-hummm??RWTF

Maybe I misunderstood the original post, Francis, but I believe the case of "mistaken identity" involved two Browning O/Us, a Citori and a Superposed.

tWo lost souls...

I suppose it really isn't at all surprising to hear that a shooter grabbed the wrong Browning shotgun out of a gun rack, even though they had very different features.

It isn't even surprising to hear about another shooter "mistaking" an 870 pump for a K 80 over/under. Hell, right here we have a number of guys who were blind and dumb enough to think that a life-long career anti-gun Democrat like Joe Biden would not be a threat to our 2nd Amendment gun rights. Stuff like that really does make a strong case for intelligence testing for voters...