for newbs that need a good starting point.

tahunua001

New member
yesterday I got bored so I decided to leaf through the Naval small arms qualification publication or OPNAVINST3591.1F. here is the course of fire for the M9 pistol and M16 rifle, though it will work with just about any semi auto pistol and any semi auto rifle with detachable magazines.
rifle uses navy rifle target while pistol uses homeland security LTRII target, both available from LEtargets.com(I've got tons of them in my closet).

M9/pistol 1st course of fire.
starting at the 3 yard line(or range minimum if greater than 3) load 2 magazines with 6 rounds each:
1. with one magazine inserted and gun on safe, draw and fire 2 shots in 4 seconds, return to safe and reholster.
2. draw and fire 2 rounds in 4 seconds, return to safe and reholster.
3. draw weapon fire 2 rounds, reload with 2nd magazine and fire 2 more rounds in 10 seconds, make safe and holster.
4. draw, fire 2 rounds with your strong hand supported, switch to weak hand supported and fire 2 more rounds in 8 seconds, make safe and holster.

2nd course of fire standing at 7 yard line with 2 magazines loaded with 6 rounds each:
1. with one magazine inserted and gun on safe, draw and fire 2 shots in 4 seconds, return to safe and reholster.
2. draw and fire 2 rounds in 4 seconds, return to safe and reholster.
3. draw weapon fire 2 rounds, reload with 2nd magazine and fire 2 more rounds in 10 seconds, make safe and holster.
4. draw, fire 2 rounds with your strong hand supported, switch to weak hand supported and fire 2 more rounds in 8 seconds, make safe and holster.

3rd course of fire, with 2 magazines loaded with 12 rounds each(if you are using a compact handgun or magazines with less than 12 round capacity, reload after each battery as necessary with each magazine to give a total of 12 rounds per magazine).
standing at 15 yards with magazine inserted and safety on:
1. draw and fire 2 rounds in 4 seconds, make safe and holster.
2. draw and fire 2 rounds in 4 seconds, make safe and holster.
3. draw and fire 4 rounds in 8 seconds, make safe and holster.
4. draw and fire 4 rounds, change magazine and fire 4 rounds in 20 seconds, make safe and holster.
5. drop to kneeling position, draw and fire 8 rounds in 20 seconds, show clear and holster.

scoring:
For
scoring, use “K” values on the B-21 target or the regular
printed values on the transition targets II. If the grease mark
of the bullet (not the tear caused by the bullet) is located in
the scoring areas of the target, or touches the outside of a
higher scoring ring, the higher value shall be counted.
Marksmanship awards, qualification, and record entries shall be
based on the following

total possible is 240 points.
228-240-expert
204-227-sharpshooter
180-203-marksman
less than 180 does not qualify.
this is a great course of fire for people new to firearms and looking to find a standardized method of measuring progress as their marksmanship improves.

now for rifle.
all batteries fired at 25 yards.
first ten rounds on an unscored target are for sight adjustment. make any changes you need in 10 rounds or less.
1. with rifle in condition 3 from the prone position, magazine with 5 rounds. fire 5 shots in 5 minutes, take all the time you need to make a good bullseye, these are' gimme rounds'.
2. load 2 magazines with 5 rounds each. with weapon in condition 3 standing, drop to prone position, fire 5 rounds, change magazine and fire 5 more rounds in 70 seconds.
3. with rifle in condition 3 from the kneeling position, magazine with 5 rounds. fire 5 shots in 5 minutes, take all the time you need to make a good bullseye, these are' gimme rounds'.
4. load 2 magazines with 5 rounds each. with weapon in condition 3 standing, drop to kneeling position, fire 5 rounds, change magazine and fire 5 more rounds in 70 seconds.
5. with single magazine loaded with 10 rounds from the standing position in condition 3, fire 10 rounds in 10 minutes, take all the time you need, dont rush your shots, this is where your score dips the most.

For the “A”
target, hits on the paper (within the target border) and outside
the “4” ring are three points. Bullseyes are 5 points. If the grease mark of the bullet
(not the tear caused by the bullet) is located in two scoring
areas of the target, or touches the outside of a higher scoring
ring, the higher value shall be counted. Marksmanship awards,
qualification, and record entries shall be based on the
following:
200 perfect score.
170-200-expert
160-169-sharpshooter
140-159-marksman
less than 140, does not qualify.
this is a fun one and looking on paper it makes me a little ashamed that I only qualified marksman with rifle but I plan on taking my AR out this weekend and seeing if anythings improved since my navy days.

if you have any questions go ahead and ask away, I look forward to seeing people post up some scores.
 
Note that the rifle target is printed on 8-1/2" by 11" paper. That makes it *really* easy to just make more in a copier.

In fact, Enclosure (7) of the OPNAV you linked to in your first post has the rifle targets. I'm not sure if they'll come out the right size if you just print them directly from the PDF, though - they might come out a bit small.
 
Well, you might be able to crop the image out of the PDF and enlarge it a little bit in whatever program you're using to print it. Or just order a few from LETargets and then make copies.
 
the LE targets is probably the cheapest course of action, 58 cents for one copy and then probably less than $1 for each additional copy...
hard to argue with a bargain.
 
shot a rifle qual today...

...with my 9mm as it's my only semi auto that doesn't have a magnifying optic on it. I was using very questionable quality re manufactured ammo and I probably should have taken my sighters a little slower but I scored 172. I just missed sharpshooter when I qualified on active duty so this has me pretty happy.
ignore the final score on the right, I started at 240 instead of 200 for my point deductions
100_1527_zpsf8a9b03f.jpg

100_1526_zps42fe553d.jpg

at 25 yards.... that's a lot of dead squirrels :D
 
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today my younger brother brought out a good friend that was interested in shooting so I put both of them through both the navy pistol and rifle quals with my XDM 45 compact and 9mm AR15. the friend needed quite a bit of instruction with the AR as it was his first time handling it and he is a lefty but was able to score marksman in both rifle and pistol. younger brother scored marksman in pistol and sharpshooter in rifle. I scored expert in rifle and didn't feel like wasting another box of pistol ammo to see what pistol scores so I don't know how I fared but like to think that I could have scored expert as well.
 
tahunua001,

That's some intriguing furniture on that AR-pattern rifle. Thanks for posting the course manual. This is something I can easily do at my friend's back yard (he loves shooting, the more tactically inclined, the better!).
 
MR James,
thanks for the compliment, it's a now discontinued wood stock from Rock River Arms.

you're very welcome for the info, be sure to post scores:D

globe master,
I never have shot with the Airforce to I can't really vouch for how or possibly why they are different. I guess Marines M9 qualifications are close enough that they can take a Navy Qualification and submit the score card to their command where they don't have access to a range with Marines qualification course. soon after I qualified on active duty a friend in my work center wanted to go and I went with him for moral support as he failed his qualification in boot camp and was nervous around guns. when he was shooting there were 2 uniformed marines in his group so I'm guessing that their qualifications are similar enough to substitute one for the other...
 
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hello all, for anyone that has read this thread I did a little expiriment the other day. the navy 1000 inch A targets CAN be replicated just by running them through a copy machine.
 
as it was his first time handling it and he is a lefty but was able to score marksman in both rifle and pistol.

if you have an ambidextrous friend, he could give a few good pointers for lefty shooters. also give you a few pointer to pass on to lefty shooters, which could broaden the amount of people you could do introduce to this style of shooting.
 
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