Shooting qualifications

[Indy]

I'm right handed - I rarely did much with my left hand in the past, but try to make use of it on a regular basis so it's not completely useless and weak. Thinking about this today prompted this question...

Did you have to qualify shooting with both hands? If you didn't, do you feel officers should have to in case their primary shooting hand is somehow injured while in a fight and is absolutely useless to them?

Even if you weren't required to qualify shooting with the other hand, do you practice with it to make sure you're capable of hitting your target?

[katiemh]

As part of the qualification course, we have to shoot several rounds one handed with our dominant hand and with our non-dominant hand.

[Virginian]

It was a part of our qualifying, but not a separate test. If you totally missed the target on those few shots, you'd still qualify if you were decent with the rest. We also practiced clearing failure to fires with our weak hand only, reloading and drawing with our weak hand. It's like a lot of other things - your life could depend on it, so choosing not to is like gambling. Some people accept less risk to their lives than others, and choose to practice more. I know some guys who only fire their weapons at the required qualifications, and probably clean them just as often.

[Dudleydoright]

We qualify also using the weak hand during the course of fire.

[TXCharlie]

I know some guys who only fire their weapons at the required qualifications, and probably clean them just as often.

That's comforting... But I've personally out-shot 4 or 5 deputities, a detective and at least one or two street officers who have shown up for our pistol matches over the last few years, and I'm only a fair to average shooter by match standards - so I believe it.

Some officers who frequent the matches are EXCELLENT and there's no way in hell I could beat them - So I tend to agree, it depends on practice as much as technique.

Speaking of that, I haven't shot one-handed in about a year so practice not what I do but what I preach

[Virginian]

Yeah, any time I offer to go to the range with an officer friend of mine, or even mention guns, his eyes glaze over. I keep pushing it though, could save his life one day.

[TXCharlie]

I've tried to get some officers from my town to shoot with us, but I had the same reaction. I'm not sure why, except that it can be expensive and the Town doesn't have an unlimited ammo budget, so it'd probably have to come out of their little under-paid pockets.

[26Trainer]

We try and get officer to use both hands in the event your strong arm is out of commission and the off hand shooting does go towards your qualification score.

[FishTail]

Have a look at your State POST website. I know Colorado posts the full shooting qualification requirements (both hands).

[lesta311]

We do a combination of dominant, weak hand, single, and both hand shooting. I don't have any problems since i'm amphibious.

[tapout]

That's comforting... But I've personally out-shot 4 or 5 deputities, a detective and at least one or two street officers who have shown up for our pistol matches over the last few years, and I'm only a fair to average shooter by match standards - so I believe it.

Some officers who frequent the matches are EXCELLENT and there's no way in hell I could beat them - So I tend to agree, it depends on practice as much as technique.

Speaking of that, I haven't shot one-handed in about a year so practice not what I do but what I preach

dont take this negatively, cause i think its great that you are a competetive shooter, and i wish more people in law enforcement would take the time to practice and train with their weapons whenever the option is offered to them, however...

you know that target shooting and being involved in a shootout are not comparable right? most police involved shootings and shootings in general take place on average from about 6 feet away and last all of 2 to 3 seconds. its nice that you may be able to put 50 rounds inside a nickel from 25 yards away, but thats not gonna mean dick on the street when it's "process threat, draw weapon, fire center mass while moving and looking for cover so not to get hit, move to cover, keep firing, dodge bullets, call for backup...you get the drift"

we dont need to be perfect shots, we just need to survive.

[Iron Man]

We do a combination of dominant, weak hand, single, and both hand shooting. I don't have any problems since i'm amphibious.

HAHAHA So you can operate on both land and in water



ambidextrous you mean.

[TXCharlie]

dont take this negatively, cause i think its great that you are a competetive shooter, and i wish more people in law enforcement would take the time to practice and train with their weapons whenever the option is offered to them, however...

Yeah, I do steel target shooting which I guess is a little bit like y'all do.

We don't do a lot of running & gunning like you do, but we have to hit multiple targets (usually 5 targets) in a single draw, as fast as we can from the holster, with the targets in 3 dimensions, spaced at sometimes wildly varying distances, horizontal spacing, and height (usually the distance is 7-20 yards, but sometimes up to 40 yards). The targets are various shapes and sizes, ranging from torso-size to 6 inches in diameter, but most of them are 10" or 12" round plates. Sometimes we also have to double-tap each one and stuff like that, and sometimes we set them up so it's a 2 to the chest, one to the head type deal - It's always different each match.

It's a timed event, so at the buzzer, you come from surrender position, draw, and engage all 5 targets. If you miss one you either have to go back and hit it, or you'll get a 5-second penality for every one you miss. In a single match, you have 30 draws and 150 rounds (if you miss nothing).

The top shooters can engage the 1st target in like .8 seconds, and all 5 targets in less than 2 seconds, including draw time... But me, I usually take from 3-6 seconds because I seem to always have a miss or two (or 3 ) that I have to make up, plus my arms don't move fast enough so my 1st-hit time is like 1.3 seconds

What you do is a more like IDPA, USPSA or IPSC, I would guess... My knee has kept me from trying IDPA or IPSC, but now that I think I got it fixed, maybe I can take that up later.

[Virginian]

HAHAHA So you can operate on both land and in water



ambidextrous you mean.

It's a joke

"Left hand, right hand, it doesn't matter. I'm amphibious." -Charles Shackleford of the NCSU basketball team

[lesta311]

HAHAHA So you can operate on both land and in water



ambidextrous you mean.

No, I meant i'm proficient on land and water. My department has a very difficult course of fire.

[TXCharlie]

It must be kinda hard to aim with the boat bobbing up & down, unless the targets are also on the boat. Sounds like a very interesting shooting range.

Or maybe that's just an excuse to go fish-shooting

[Terminator]

We do a combination of dominant, weak hand, single, and both hand shooting. I don't have any problems since i'm amphibious.

Amphibious: Living or able to live both on land and in water.

Ambidextrous: Able to use both hands with equal facility.



I also have a difficult course of fire, which requires shooting in water and on land.

[lesta311]

How do you not know i'm in my secret underwater fortress right now? I'm having trouble understanding what the problem is with everyone.

[Terminator]

How do you not know i'm in my secret underwater fortress right now? I'm having trouble understanding what the problem is with everyone.

The eagle has landed, the eagle has landed!!!!!!!!

[Virginian]

That you Les??