Yes I do. The matches I shoot require them. I usually lose them so I've started using zip-ties instead.

 

The matches I shoot require them.

:yeahthat:

 

Chamber flags

Matches and Appleseed shoots require them. If the range is busy with lots of trips to the target stands, I use them. I try to go when it is less busy.

Ripsaw

 

I use chamber flags and, as a NRA RSO, I appreciate when others do as well.

Chamber flags are required for our Rimfire Sporter matches but not our silhouette matches for some reason. Another range I shoot silhouette at does require them.

 

Eci

Empty Chamber Indicators are now mandatory at our club for all activities, indoors as well as outdoors (Canton McKinley R&P.) At a visit to the Airgun range at Camp Perry last summer, long flexible weedeater type line was required from muzzle to breech. This has taken quite a bit of shooter education to enforce, but in the present climate we cannot afford an easily preventable accident.

 

I've used them for years ... long before they were well known or mandatory. I've probably heard ten thousand times "what's that in yer gun buddy?"

Even though you can see a gun has an open action (on most action types) from a distance using a flag makes it that much easier, and not just for you but for all who are on the line. As an RO I always appreciate the ability to see the status of all guns, pretty much from any point on the line.

There is another reason I like "proper flags". By that I mean Empty Chamber Indicators, not Open Bolt Indicators.

Many years ago only OBI's were required when shooting NRA Highpower matches. That has changed but at that earlier time the NRA caved to a huge outcry of shooters who were convinced that placing a piece of polymer in their chambers would cause all sorts of ills, from rashes to guns blowing up. Okay that was sarcastic, but if you were around matches in those days you know of the belly aching I'm talking about.

On the day of which I'm thinking, a very seasoned High Master shooter was loading gear in his car after the day's match. He pulled the OBI out of his AR pattern service rifle, dropped the bolt and pulled the trigger so he could then case his rifle. The round that was fired hit the roof supports at the 300 yard range, where a number of us were standing. Several of us were hit with wood particles from the impact.

I know what many are already thinking ... yes he violated basic safety rules. He should have visualized the chamber. Yadda Yadda Yadda. (I'm not trying to minimize the safety rules or that he made a bone head blunder ... I'm trying to deflect that thinking because I have another point to make).

Here's the point ...

This guy had been shooing for decades without an accidental discharge. I had shot with him for years. He is a safe shooter, just like you or me. I continued to shoot with him after this mishap. He competed for another ten years or so and never had another problem.

It was just that one time.

One time where his attention slipped for a moment … over a lifetime of shooting.

But ... it only takes one time.

Had he been using an Empty Chamber Indicator this would never have happened because you can't insert the blasted thing unless you have ... yep ... an empty chamber!

So I'm sold on them. Even if it stops one AD that doesn't do anything more than embarrass the shooter and keep a few guys from jumping a few yards in the air from the fright, they are worth using. They are low cost, almost idiot proof and almost fool proof insurance.

Just my take on the issue.

 

...the NRA caved to a huge outcry of shooters who were convinced that placing a piece of polymer in their chambers would cause all sorts of ills, from rashes to guns blowing up.

Fact is, a few years ago there was a safety recall of a particular ECI due to its tendency to break leaving part of it in the barrel.

All in all I prefer their being used in a match.

Jim

 

Fluorescent green weed wacker line, can't get any cheaper than that and they work great.:bthumb:

 

yes

I never heard of or saw a chamber flag until I got involved in highpower rifle shooting.
Most ranges I go to do not require them, even for matches, and none of the public shooting ranges do either (of course most indoor public ranges have target carrier systems that bring each target to the firing line. No "cease fire" and going downrange to check and replace targets.

I think they're a good idea, and I DO use them, and ask others who come shooting with me to use them too.

But to require a long one that goes in the chamber and out the muzzle? That's excessive.

 

The weed-whacker line type of ECI came about in the airgun world. The loading ports on most of the match type of guns make it impossible to use a standard type of flag if it is to have a long enough stem to indicate that the chamber is in fact empty.

Trimmer line ECI's are catching on for rim and centerfire guns use too, as the material is cheap, available, and takes only a tiny bit of extra time to install or remove compared to a traditional flag. You can have enough "flag" material for a dozen guns easily wound up and stored in the bottom of your shooting kit.

If you are going to use line, it needs to be long enough to protrude out both ends of the barrel, otherwise you don't have a true indication of an empty chamber as one could be using a very short length.

I always have extra ECI's in my kit. I bought a case pack of 24 years ago and spread them around my different gear bags. I have dedicated flags for each of my match guns, and have drilled a small hole and attached a short length of surveyors tape to the flag. I've never has one "walk off" since doing this. I've loaned and given out many of these flags over the years and still have a good number rattling around in my kit.

They are cheap insurance, easy to use and I really do believe that add immensely to safety, because they force you to think about the status of the gun each and every time there is a transition (coming off the line, cease fire to change targets etc.). It's a lack of focus in the transitions where most accidents happen.

FWIW!

 

I always use chamber flags, with every rifle I use from .22 cal to .30 caliber.
They are my own personal safety check.

 

At my smallbore matches they don't require them, but it's polite to do so.

I have also used a orange weed-whacker string, cut to a length that it is visible at the chamber and muzzle end of my rifles. This is what we prefer for our athletes in the 4H Shooting Sports program. :t

 

Yes!

 

I have been useing them for several years. I mostly used them when shooting in matches. A few years ago I went to the safe to clean one of my 10/22s and got a shock when I found a round in the chamber. I know that every gun is loaded all the time and should always be treated as such, but I thought I always cleared ever gun I own when I put them away. Now every gun in my safe has one. The ones without a flag are home defense guns and are ready to go.

 

...got a shock when I found a round in the chamber...

I think I know how you feel. A few years ago I was showing one of my boys an old match .22 that had sat in the back of the safe for years.

I pulled the rifle out, and opened the action to hand to him. I think my heart stopped a beat or two when a casing came flying out!

It was an empty casing I had used as a snap cap, and for whatever reason did not remove from the gun upon storage.

It drove home the message of proper handling in a way simply reciting the rules will never do! It was good for my boy to see too ... as he was chafing under the "rules" I was preaching as he handled firearms. Never again has he showed any resistance to the verbal reminders of safety.

I don't have flags in my locked up guns ... but I now triple check the chamber upon storage, just as I do before a dry-fire training session. I never want to feel that feeling in my chest again! I like my heart to be beating!

 

Flags are required at my range, regardless. Any time a cease fire is called all firearms will be unloaded, flagged, and placed in a rack behind the shooters. NO weapons will be on the firing line at any time during a cease fire. These rules apply to all the ranges on the property, outside and indoors.

 

You can never be careful enough.

 

Nope. I've only seen one person using a flag on the pistol range. It was in the chamber when he took it out of the case. The guy never used it again until the pistol went back in the case and he left.

 

You want to be careful.....more information

You want to be careful when you use Weed whacker line or zip ties....

I call a lot of bullseye matches where flags are required and a lot of shooters use weed whacker line and zip ties.

We have had a couple of instances where the shooter shoved a mag in a firearm without removing the flag and jammed the gun. Generally it jams up between the mag and the mag well.

REgards,
Cranky

 

I use orange weed-whacker line with a chunk cut off a red swim noodle attached to one end. Solves the visibility problem. Poke the line through the foam and attach by tieing a knot in the line, heating it and pulling tight. Or bend the line into a loop and clamp it with a short piece of stiff copper wire. There are lots of other ways, depending on what's within reach on the workbench.

 

Matches

Matches in which I've shot (not many) have always been shot with bolt guns. They require the bolt to be removed from the gun until it is on the bench and the range officer instructs you to insert the bolt. You must remove the bolt and show it to the RO when he calls cease fire. They had an AR15 class this year for the first time. Flags were required for the ARs. Everybody who didn't have one was issued a piece of trimmer line.

 

I think shooting flags are a good idea.

However, I just went looking on-line to see if I could find any to buy. TAPCO wants $6.99 EACH plus shipping!!!

That is a little crazy for a piece of molded plastic!!!

Guess I'll go cut off a piece of week whacker string..............GEEZZZZ

 

WOW. CMP has them for $4.99 for 12 of them!

http://estore.thecmp.org/store/cata...A&desc=&udc=&mct=&vndr=&ba=&pmin=&pmax=&note1=&note2=&note3=&note4=&note5=&max=

Gary

 

They are mandatory on our range. All firearms on the bench will have a Chamber Safety Indicator flag installed when the range is cold, or when you are away from your firearm. Firearms in the rack, or in the case do not need CSIFs, but must have the action opened. Usually, we request that there be a flag in it anyway.

While the ranges are cold, we have a red line painted behind the benches, and no one is allowed forward of that line unless you are going downrange to post or retrieve a target. There is absolutely no handling of any firearm, ammunition or any other items on the bench while a cold range condition exists. Anyone violating that rule will be told once, given a warning. If they do it again, they are asked to leave the range. If they are public guests, they have forfeited their range fees for the day. Every new shooter to the range is given a safety briefing and made to read our well posted rules before being allowed to sign the book or pay their money.

I usually don't have any problems, but we all slip up sometimes, and circumstances are considered in 'the lecture.'

Gary

 

ECI is only half of necessary range safety

While the ranges are cold, we have a red line painted behind the benches, and no one is allowed forward of that line unless you are going downrange to post or retrieve a target. There is absolutely no handling of any firearm, ammunition or any other items on the bench while a cold range condition exists. Anyone violating that rule will be told once, given a warning. If they do it again, they are asked to leave the range. If they are public guests, they have forfeited their range fees for the day.

T H I S

Amen! Amen! Amen!

I was brought up to observe the rules about "empty the firearm, lock the action open, lay it on the bench, use a chamber flag, step back from the bench, don't touch anything on the bench" when the range has been declared safe.

Only problem with this is that few public ranges have rangemasters calling instructions, and there are Joe-Bobs who are loose out there (with no supervision) who do not know how to behave on the firing line.

 

Easing the bolt forward............

Easing the bolt forward is NOT the procedure used by the AR target shooters with whom I am familiar. Why? Because it can potentially lead to a different head space on every shot not to mention malfunctions. The gun is designed and intended to have the bolt slam home. :AR15firin

 

Perhaps, but if you are closing the bolt on an Empty Chamber Indicator (ECI) it's probably not a good idea to let it slam home.... unless you want to replace the ECI often.

 

My club has a new range, host of new rules also, Chamber flags is one of them. Can't argue with safety.

 

You can find them more elegant than this, but not more visible, inexpensive, or easily handled:

Weed-whacker line, any handy foam, line melted on the end or folded over & clamped with a scrap of copper wire.

 

Yes if the bolt cannot be removed, no if the bold is removed.

 

Yes for autoloaders. However, at our matches you don't insert your bolt until directed to do so by the match director. No one shoots an autoloader. When the match is over you remove your bolt from the action. You dare not leave your bench without removing your bolt. No need for a chamber flag unless you wear suspenders and a belt at the same time.