CCL qualification and the joys of .22lr

F

FScott

New member
I recently took my qualification test for the NC CCL. Basically 7 yards, 50 rounds, 40 of which must be inside the 7 ring on a B27 silhouette. Not too challenging for anyone who shoots regularly but you'd be surprised at some of the groups I saw...

Anyway, NC allows you to qualify with whatever pistol you care to use, so I took my Ruger Mk II 5.5 bull barrel. I don't claim to be even a great shot, but that pistol is so easy to shoot, especially at 7 yards. I hadn't shot it in awhile and I was reminded of how much fun and how inexpensive it is to shoot. I was reminded of why I have thrown a lot more lead downrange through the MK II than all my other pistols combined. If you don't have a .22 target pistol in your collection I think you're really missing out.

The rangemaster took a few of the new shooters and started working with them and a Mk II owned by the range, and it was evident that it is a really good way to introduce people to shooting - their confidence and ability moved up very quickly (good instruction certainly helps!).

Anyway, we talk a lot about defensive rounds, stopping power, expansion, etc... it's really easy to forget how much fun target shooting is and how much fun a day at the range with a brick of .22 can be. I've tried to explain to my wife that I enjoy shooting for a lot of reasons, self defense only being one of them. The discipline, practice and joy of accomplishment of hitting targets at increasing distances is as fun as hitting jump shots, draining that 15 foot putt, or hitting an ace, all of which I also enjoy.
 
Getting a MKII is near the top of my"need to buy" list. Just have not found any nice ones for a decent price yet :(
They do sound like fun, though. Good way to practice sight picture and trigger control, and cheap to feed. :)
 
I took the class about a two months ago. Our instructor specified that we point shoot and not use target aiming techniques. He also requested that we spread our shots around a bit on the target so it would be easier to verify we had hit the black enough times to qualify. Some folks did target shoot and they had great groups, some point shot (like me) and had good passable groups. The short distances we shot were a cake walk for me in any case, but I practice with some degree of frequency.

What was more funny was the fact that I took my SP-101 five shot revolver to the class (it's what I carry). Almost everyone else had semi-autos. The instructor gave me some good natured ribbing about how they would all have to wait on me to reload and finish the shooting sequences as they were broken up into different groups with their own distance and time requirements. I got a good laugh when I finished before half the semi-auto guys were done. I did not even bring any speedloaders as I'm not likely to be carrying one regularly. Seems a lot of people brought brand new pistols they'd never fired before and there were FTE's and stovepipes gallore.

Everytime I finished a sequence, I'd lean back and say, "The revolver guy is finished now!". ; ) It was fun. Don't get me wrong, I love semi-autos as well but I wanted to take what I carry to the course.
 
Arizona allows this, also.

Thing is, the instructor said that the state never used to record the make/model/cal. of gun used to complete the course. NOW, they do have the instructor record that info on a special form. It could come back to bite you if you were to have to use your larger, more powerful CCW gun someday, and they found out you were checked out on the .22LR. :eek: I just thought it may be something to think about for those who may be comtemplating the same thing when they take the course.
 
I did go back for my own edification and fired another 50 rounds with my Steyr M9 (my intended carry piece) under the same circumstances. The Steyr is the only pistol that I always practice with regardless of what else I'm doing at the range.

We had probably half revolvers and half semis. I was surprised how many new shooters were there, who'd literally never shot a pistol before that day. That would never occur to me to go with absolutely no prior experience. Trying to clear a jam, etc... would have been no fun without some prior experience. As it was I was firing some old ammo I had and encountered 3 misshaped bullets and the related jams. The rest of that lot is going the way of the dodo!

It did occur to me that I wasn't sure how the rangemaster was going to verify my qualifications with one ragged hole with a few smaller ones around it. I shoot there regularly, however, and have taken instruction from him so he knows my limitations pretty well.

Point shooting makes a lot of sense, in my opinion, I don't practice it often enough and it is probably better than aimed fire in such an environment. Interesting how the courses differ even in the same state under the same standard.
 
He also requested that we spread our shots around a bit on the target so it would be easier to verify we had hit the black enough times to qualify.
Click to expand...
I'd tell him, that if he is that worried about me qualifying, then he needs to put me up a fresh target every 5 to 10 rounds! :D
 
I used the same as FScott

I was not planning on it until I was told you had to use factory ammo for the course. When I found out I could shoot .22 lr I didn't hesitate to drag out my bull barrel Ruger MkII.

It seemed to me that the main points of the shooting "test" focused on safely loading, shooting, reloading and unloading. The short shooting distance was a surprise and I cracked the instructor up when I commented, "Gee, maybe I really didn't need to buy this laser sight for the course after all."

The classroom instruction seems to be emphasized much more than the shooting. I like to take as many additional classes as I can afford.
 
Moving about the country can really tweak your brain for ccw.

My first carry state originally required only one qualifying to carry anything in your collection. (Sure THAT'S changed now.)

My current state allows only two "qualified with" weapons.
Thankfully, next year it expands to ANY "qualified with" weapon.:D

Now THAT may put a dent in my budget.....:(
 
My most enjoyable times at the range are with my .22 pistol. And they are soooo easy to shoot well! Great confidence boosters.
 
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