HeadHunter
New member
Thank you.
NRA Defensive Pistol Qualification
- Thread starter HeadHunter
- Start date
Thank you.
With that kind of time a three inch circle would be more of a challenge.
That is a very low standard IMO. Fundamentals are being destroyed not broken if one can't hit a 12 inch circle at 7 yards with that time between shots.
Personally I get better results from my students since having added an in depth explanation of just how important shooting fundamentals are. How a single deviation from proper fundamentals will result in a miss. I tell them that it is that big of a deal. Even for seasoned shooters a miss will result from improper attention to the details. Likewise a hit will result from proper attention to details.
My case in point was an 11 year old girl. Taking my class with her father. She never held a firearm before much less shot one. I did my usual speech about the importance of the fundamentals as mentioned above. This little girl was paying attention to those details. She put all her shots into a tiny cluster easily covered with a quarter many touching. Her father, lets just say not so much LOL. Hard headed men LOL.
Since making that slight change stressing the importance of the fundamentals my students shooting has improved dramatically.
That is a very low standard IMO. Fundamentals are being destroyed not broken if one can't hit a 12 inch circle at 7 yards with that time between shots.
Personally I get better results from my students since having added an in depth explanation of just how important shooting fundamentals are. How a single deviation from proper fundamentals will result in a miss. I tell them that it is that big of a deal. Even for seasoned shooters a miss will result from improper attention to the details. Likewise a hit will result from proper attention to details.
My case in point was an 11 year old girl. Taking my class with her father. She never held a firearm before much less shot one. I did my usual speech about the importance of the fundamentals as mentioned above. This little girl was paying attention to those details. She put all her shots into a tiny cluster easily covered with a quarter many touching. Her father, lets just say not so much LOL. Hard headed men LOL.
Since making that slight change stressing the importance of the fundamentals my students shooting has improved dramatically.
At the risk of offending someone -- if you can't get 100% hits in a 12" circle at that distance under those time constraints, you need to give some serious thought as to whether you should be carrying in public.
In our society, collateral damage can be expensive -- in terms of prison sentences and financial ruin. None of us can afford to hit an innocent bystander while shooting at a BG.
I regularly have students who come in for a private lesson who have never fired a handgun in his/her life. Without exception they can, at the end of the lesson, put every shot in a 3" circle at distances of 15-20 feet (using a 9mm Glock). I tell every one of them (before their lesson) that if they can't shoot 3" groups by the time we finish (usually ~3 hours), there will be no charge for the lesson. I've yet to give a refund.
Shooting a handgun is incredibly simple, if one is taught some fundamentals. The majority of males who take my CCW classes, without first taking a lesson, are "self-taught", or were apparently "born knowing how to shoot"
rolleyes. Their targets reflect this.Sadly, a lot of folks are happy//comfortable//satisfied just to get all their shots on a 24" x 36" piece of paper when shooting at 20 feet..
3.Shot.Group.
Moderator
I'm not going to say hitting a 12" target 20 for 20 at 7 yards is child's play, it does require some level of skill with a handgun.
I will say, 7 yards on a 12" target is easy, but only if you take each shot seriously.
I will say, 7 yards on a 12" target is easy, but only if you take each shot seriously.
I'll start by saying that I'm no pistolero. I shoot fair bit, but I've never competed, and I've only been to a public (as in not someone's back field) range once. While I've gotten a fair share of instruction from various experienced friends/family I've never really had the opportunity to take any formal training.
So, I'd think I'd be a decent base line.
I had intended to get home early enough to do things right, but my pregnant wife wanted fried pickles, so by the time I found those and made it home the light was fading.
Because I was pressed for time I only did 3 sets. I used a glock 19 - stock except for the greatly appreciated trijicons.
I wasn't rushing, but I was shooting about as fast as I could get off aimed shots (so, no timing breaths, or readjusting my grip), and averaged about 8 seconds on the first two strings, and a little faster on the third. I didn't have time to find my shot timer, so I just used a stopwatch which wasn't ideal, but good enough to let me know I was well under the 15sec mark.
Also, since my standing platform is set up at 10 yards and I couldn't find a tape measure to measure out 7, I shot from 10 yards. Plus, I don't like getting a whole lot closer than that to the steels.
I'm not entirely sure why there are 6 marks on the last target. Either I missed a spot when I repainted after round 2, or the wet paint did something weird.
So, it certainly seems doable.
So, I'd think I'd be a decent base line.
I had intended to get home early enough to do things right, but my pregnant wife wanted fried pickles, so by the time I found those and made it home the light was fading.
Because I was pressed for time I only did 3 sets. I used a glock 19 - stock except for the greatly appreciated trijicons.
I wasn't rushing, but I was shooting about as fast as I could get off aimed shots (so, no timing breaths, or readjusting my grip), and averaged about 8 seconds on the first two strings, and a little faster on the third. I didn't have time to find my shot timer, so I just used a stopwatch which wasn't ideal, but good enough to let me know I was well under the 15sec mark.
Also, since my standing platform is set up at 10 yards and I couldn't find a tape measure to measure out 7, I shot from 10 yards. Plus, I don't like getting a whole lot closer than that to the steels.
I'm not entirely sure why there are 6 marks on the last target. Either I missed a spot when I repainted after round 2, or the wet paint did something weird.
So, it certainly seems doable.
Al Thompson
Staff Alumnus
Looks good. Grats!
3.Shot.Group.
Moderator
I got around to doing the drill this morning.
I fired these targets by setting 2 of them up on cardboard, loading a 7 rounder into the gun, firing 5 rounds into the 1st target and 1 into the 2nd target leaving one in the chamber, doing a mag change, then 4 more into the 2nd target, leaving 4 rounds in the gun I flipped the thumb safety on and went down range to change out the fired targets with 2 fresh ones, then I fired 3 rounds into the 3rd target, leaving 1 in the gun I loaded a mag with 6 rounds and fired 2 more rounds into the 3rd target and 5 rounds into the remaining target.
From Top Left to Bottom Right just like reading these lines. I my range is about 200 yards behind the house, up a steep hill, and around a pound, then back down a bit of a hill, so I was breathing kind of hard and my heart rate was up, which shows in the first couple of targets, and you can see how my groups settled down as I caught my breath and my heart rate returned to normal.
Looks like I still need to drift that rear sight to the right just a fuzz.
Pistol: Springfield Armory Mil. Spec. .45 ACP
Ammo: Winchester White Box 230gr FMJ
Targets: 12" EZE-Scorer Targets from WalMart
Range: Rough, uneven rip rap/sand bar behind the pond behind the house.
It has a good hill behind it that rises about 1000 ft at about 35/40 degrees, with nothing behind it for miles.
I fired these targets by setting 2 of them up on cardboard, loading a 7 rounder into the gun, firing 5 rounds into the 1st target and 1 into the 2nd target leaving one in the chamber, doing a mag change, then 4 more into the 2nd target, leaving 4 rounds in the gun I flipped the thumb safety on and went down range to change out the fired targets with 2 fresh ones, then I fired 3 rounds into the 3rd target, leaving 1 in the gun I loaded a mag with 6 rounds and fired 2 more rounds into the 3rd target and 5 rounds into the remaining target.
From Top Left to Bottom Right just like reading these lines. I my range is about 200 yards behind the house, up a steep hill, and around a pound, then back down a bit of a hill, so I was breathing kind of hard and my heart rate was up, which shows in the first couple of targets, and you can see how my groups settled down as I caught my breath and my heart rate returned to normal.
Looks like I still need to drift that rear sight to the right just a fuzz.
Pistol: Springfield Armory Mil. Spec. .45 ACP
Ammo: Winchester White Box 230gr FMJ
Targets: 12" EZE-Scorer Targets from WalMart
Range: Rough, uneven rip rap/sand bar behind the pond behind the house.
It has a good hill behind it that rises about 1000 ft at about 35/40 degrees, with nothing behind it for miles.
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