How common is it to load a telltale round at the end of your rifle magazine?

[Begle1]

My club does a lot of dump targets or alternating targets that make it hard to count your rifle shots.

Old timer said he loads a special round into his rifle first... So when you get to the one that has significantly higher recoil or smokes like black powder, then you know you're empty.

How common a practice is this? What's the best way to make a first-in, last-out telltale load?

My first thought is to load it ~300 fps faster than the other rounds. Recoil management doesn't matter for the last shot, right? But shooting a 250 grain bullet at 1200 is getting up there.

[Abilene]

In 25 years I've never seen nor heard of anyone doing that.  If you really can't count how many shots you made on that last target, then you would probably be going so fast that levering it one more time with the click on the empty chamber only takes a fraction of a second.  IMO.

[Coffinmaker]

   Well Heck 

I've only been playing the game for 30 years.  In all my time Playing the game, I have never heard of someone loading "tell tale" rounds.  Seems to me, you should be able to count to TEN easily enough.  If you have trouble counting ten with yer rifle, I would suggest you NOT try shooting Gunfighter   

[Jeremiah Jones]

I count when I pull he trigger, not by the number of holes in targets.  So I don't understand OP's post.

[River City John]

If you are unaware of how many rounds you've expended during a stage then you should be considered an unsafe shooter.

[St. George]

Any shoot is a serious event - they're not a Clint Eastwood line - 'I know what you're thinkin' - did he shoot six rounds or only five...'

How hard can it be to pay attention to a deadly weapon?

Other shooters expect you to know what you're doing - if you can't do that - you need to unload and hang up your guns until you can shoot safely around others on the line.

Scouts Out!

[Coffinmaker]

  Oh gimme a BREAK 

Some of you judgmental clowns sound like you belong over on the SASS Wire Saloon.  Unless your stage times are actually recorded with a sundial, there can be errors.  When shooting Quickly, or Fast as it twer, it is actually quite easy to momentarily loose focus on the number of rounds fired.

It is NOT a question of IF you're going to lose count, It's WHEN.  Iffin you've "never" lost count, you simply haven't been trying hard enough.  GET OVER YOURSELF

[Begle1]

I do appreciate everybody's answers, as they clearly demonstrate that no, having a special round in the end of the magazine is not a common thing at all.

In my small, isolated club we often drop hammers on empty chambers, and I commonly do it myself.

The "shoot these five targets left to right" stages are easy to keep track of. But when we get more creative and do things like try to clear off Texas Stars while sitting on a rocking horse, or shoot garden hose snakes out of a ring on the ground, or any other reactive targets where we're scoring based on time/ success rather than misses/ hits, it's easy to lose count of whether you've shot 8 times or 10 times.


On the typical drag race stage, I do doubt that having a telltale 10th round would be that useful, because I'll probably have dropped the hammer on an empty chamber anyways by the time my brain registers the extra loud boom or smoke or whatever. But on slower stages with more challenging shots it would seem nice to have. Not a big thing by any means, but a "that's neat" type of slight advantage.

[Coffinmaker]

   Not to long ago, one of "our" more skilled and experienced shooters (decades of experience) managed to holster a cocked pistol (Gunfighter) which ruined his score for a Three Day Match.  It's not "If" you might lose count.  It's "when."  Doesn't mean your an "unsafe shooter" it just means your Human!! 

[Joe Lafives]

First I've heard of this.  Interesting idea but I don't believe it to be necessary. Following the procedure for the stage will tell you you're done if you're focused.  For dump stages (which is a really lazy way to play) Again focus.

[Griff]

In my 40 years I've never heard of such.  Loosin' count happens... an extra lever & trigger pull ain't a sign of being unsafe, just cautious.