Handlighting shells

Had a request to explain how I setup racks for safe handlighing…
There are a couple different ways depending on factors such as how much space you have, how many shells you have to fire, how many positions you are firing from etc.

The picture below shows two scenarios.

On the left, is a single column of racks. The person handlighting starts closest to the finale racks and works their way forward. This is for safety purposes. The finale is going to be the last thing to be efired. So we want that person to be farthest away from the finale when it kicks off. This also ensures that the person has the shortest distance to go to get back to the shooter’s table.

In the second scenario on the right, this is for handlighing more shells from a single position. So the person lighting will start at the inside-bottom, and then work their way up & around, then come back down the outside.

Regarding the configuration of the racks themselves, they are offset to allow each kickboard to support the rack attached to it. The racks need to be offset for the obvious purpose of being able to screw the kickboards to the racks on both sides of the board.