I recently had the honor (?) to observe one of out nations finest during her practice/qualification shoot on a range. The gun in use appeared to be a standard 92FS which looked too big for her, all the other cops I saw had the same weapon but I later saw some in the same Department carrying other makes, weird how they choose their weapons, you get the 92FS for free or pay for a different choice. Anyways, to the range shoot, this is what I saw and it left me horrified and confused, but mostly horrified.
Said lady shooter stepped upto the line with the 92 ready to go in her duty rig. She unholstered, took aim, and when the cardboard bad guy turned she gave a tug on the trigger which didn't move, she turned the gun towards her a little, noticed the safety was on and clicked it off, by now cardboard man was side on i.e. he had shot her. On the second attempt she clicked on an empty chamber, now for the confusing part, she did a short rack of the slide by placing the thumb of her right dominant hand on the back of the grip, placed her 2 forefingers in front of the rear sight and pulled the slide back (it only looked like part way), this cocked the hammer into single action which she then dropped onto either a dud round or another empty chamber. At this point she gave up, shrugged her shoulders, made safe (didn't see if a live round was ejected when she locked the slide back) and wandered off in search of someone who knew which end the bang came out of.
Can you cock a Beretta like that ?, the PT-99 copy I've shot certainly didn't seem to, also has anyone seen a cocking technique like that used before on any gun, opinions invited.
P.S.
I think she would have done a standard failure to fire drill and drawn her OC spray as backup, but I think it was loaded with hairspray which is ineffective beyond 2 yards BTW if my wife reads this you won't be hearing from me for a while.
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Mike H
[This message has been edited by Mike H (edited January 08, 2000).]
Said lady shooter stepped upto the line with the 92 ready to go in her duty rig. She unholstered, took aim, and when the cardboard bad guy turned she gave a tug on the trigger which didn't move, she turned the gun towards her a little, noticed the safety was on and clicked it off, by now cardboard man was side on i.e. he had shot her. On the second attempt she clicked on an empty chamber, now for the confusing part, she did a short rack of the slide by placing the thumb of her right dominant hand on the back of the grip, placed her 2 forefingers in front of the rear sight and pulled the slide back (it only looked like part way), this cocked the hammer into single action which she then dropped onto either a dud round or another empty chamber. At this point she gave up, shrugged her shoulders, made safe (didn't see if a live round was ejected when she locked the slide back) and wandered off in search of someone who knew which end the bang came out of.
Can you cock a Beretta like that ?, the PT-99 copy I've shot certainly didn't seem to, also has anyone seen a cocking technique like that used before on any gun, opinions invited.
P.S.
I think she would have done a standard failure to fire drill and drawn her OC spray as backup, but I think it was loaded with hairspray which is ineffective beyond 2 yards BTW if my wife reads this you won't be hearing from me for a while.
------------------
Mike H
[This message has been edited by Mike H (edited January 08, 2000).]