Need a little practice

Along with in-service training, there are a few other things that the
department requires of officers during their birth month. One of
them is to renew extra job permits. They have made this really easy.
All you have to do is log onto the intranet, pull up your permits, and
there is a button to renew. Very easy. In the past you had to refill
out the entire form even though the department already had all of
the information from the previous year. In this case, technology has
been implemented in a useful manner.

The other major thing that must be accomplished during the birth
month is firearms qualification. Amazingly the department only
requires us to qualify once a year. I have read that some other major
departments require every six months or even once a quarter. Not us. Once a year.

Crazy. Even worse, I have done what I said I would never do.
Tonight was the night I decided to head out to the outdoor range to
qualify. The outdoor range is a little different from the indoor
range. Outside the targets turn slower. Outside there are no
barricades between firing lines. Outside, you move back instead of
the targets moving back. The lack of barricades is the biggest
change. Without the barricades, the brass shell casings that the
pistols discharge arc through the air to the right and sometimes hit
the next shooter. The brass is very hot right after it comes out of the
pistol. It can be very distracting and uncomfortable if the brass hits
you in the face.

The qualification course is 60 rounds from 4 different distances. 12
rounds from 2 yards from the hip. 6 rounds with each hand from 5
yards. 12 rounds two hand grip from 7 yards. 12 rounds two hand grip
from 15 yards and 12 rounds two hand grip half from left and half
from right side of the barricade. You must draw from the holster and
reload where appropriate. The targets turn to face you and then turn
away. The time they face you gets a little longer as the distance
increases. During most target facings 2 rounds should be fired. The
target has concentric ovals. The middle oval is worth 10 points, the
next 9 and so on.

There is a total of 600 possible points. Seventy percent is passing. A
score of 570 earns you an Expert badge and a score of 594 earns the
Distinguished Expert Badge. During the academy, I shot a perfect 600
once. It was not during qualification so I did not get the
Distinguished Expert Badge. However, I still have the target. It is
hanging in the garage. Every year since the academy I have shot in
the Expert range. Not this year. What I said I would never do was to
shoot only once a year during qualifying. That is what I did this year.
I almost got away with it. I was in position to shoot Expert again
until the last line, the barricade. From the left side I made a nice
small group with my six shots, but they were all in the target's right
elbow earning 0 points. Suck. All six from the right side of the
barricade were in the 10 ring, where they should be. I am actually
glad that I missed those shots. Shooting is a finite skill. That will
encourage me to shoot more this year so that I do not have a
repeat next year.