Better And Better

If you don't draw yours, I won't draw mine. A police officer, working in the small town that he lives in, focusing on family and shooting and coffee, and occasionally putting some people in jail.

Monday, April 02, 2007

Measuring my abillity



I get off at 0700, then meet up with Dad. After we make a run in his pickup to move a load of my stuff to a storage unit (more on that some other time), we pick up ammo, and go practice a little with my duty rig.

Friends, I've ALWAYS hated to hear gun-toters brag that they don't ever shoot their carry guns except for qualifications. It should be a point of shame. But I see it in cops, all the time. When I got my Range Safety Officer qualification, I caught a lot of grief over how I had the audacity to make a course of fire harder than the state mandates [p. 35]. Guys would complain, and bargain. I gave them the course of fire a week or better ahead of time, but I still caught grief. "Practice!" I'd say. Nothing doing. They wanted to come shoot the straight course of fire with their duty load a couple of times a year, and never put another round downrange the rest of the year.

There's a certain fear, by some officers... men... uh people of confronting their actual abilities and inabilities. It's common at a deer camp to hear a guy refuse to check the zero on the rifle he's dragged across a thousand miles without shooting. "Aw, she's dead on-- you can be assured of that," they'll say. The truth is, they don't want to lay bare the possibility that they're not as good as they believe they are. I know that, off-hand, I can on demand put a bullet into a paper plate while standing at 100 yards with my rifles, and at 35 yards with my full-sized duty pistols. Every time.

That's not very impressive, is it? It's okay. You can say it. I'll be the first to agree that it's not very impressive. A 10 inch circle? That's gi-normous! Who could miss? Well, not me. At those ranges. Given plenty of time.

But that's my point: I know. I know. Can I do better? Probably. I don't know. But I do know that I can at least do that. I've proved it. And that puts me ahead of many of my mates.
* * *
But...

Well, here I am, almost 5 months into my newest gig, and I've shot this damned thing on exactly two occasions, both times for qualification. Shameful. SHAMEful!

So we're going to pick up some ammo (I don't reload .357 Sig), run out to a friend's private range (read: cow pasture with a berm), and do some quick drills with my issue Glock and AR. Then we hop back into the pickup, and head off to the match that a local larger deparment puts on once a month for peace officers.

A few years ago, I used to shoot this match fairly regularly, and even scored decently in it. Of course, back then, I carried my Kimber Stainless Classic 1911 .45 on duty, and it really kept me in the race, scoring very high in the accuracy stage of the match. This time, my duty gun is the Glock 31. Why? Because that's what they issued. We'll see how that goes. :rolleyes: I refuse to game it up by shooting the match with anything other than what I carry.

There's also a carbine version of the match, for a couple of bucks extra. I might as well get in some time with the AR, seeing as how I've had exactly ONE session with my PD carbine. Again, we'll see how that goes. I actually considered bringing my M1 Carbine, too. Maybe next time.

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4 Comments:

At Monday, April 02, 2007 6:54:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I never have understood why folks..LEO's, CCW'ers, and the like either never or 'seldom' go to the range, and if/when they do, never bother to practice with what they carry, opting for a new toy or a popgun.

I always shoot up the 'stale' carry loads I picked up last month that were riding around in the mag and shoot a box or two of ball, then reload with new fresh carry loads when I leave. That's not to say my current carry item isn't all I shoot at the range, but I make a HABIT of shooting it at every range opportunity.

As an adjunct, when I requalified on my CHL my instructor pushed and stressed me while shooting, as is his way. It made me get a better score...all except that damned very last shot when I lifted my head and nicked the left shoulder of the target. Ruined a perfect score. Dammit.

Regards,
Rabbit.

 
At Tuesday, April 03, 2007 10:59:00 AM, Blogger Tam said...

"This time, my duty gun is the Glock 31."

The sacrifices we make for our jobs...

(I, however, carried my bling-ed out Delta Elite at work the last few days. Just because I could. *Neener!*)

 
At Tuesday, April 03, 2007 1:25:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Ugh...like putting a rhinestone collar on a wolverine. It don't make it a French poodle.

That's a horrible way to treat 357sig. Too bad you weren't issued a P226/P229.

Regards,
Rabbit.

 
At Tuesday, April 03, 2007 10:14:00 PM, Blogger Matt G said...

Yeah, and to make matters worse, my BUG is usually plastic, too. Patrol carbine is made by Matel. 870 has a synthetic stock.

Need to start bringing along that Ruger M77, if only to get some wood and steel together on one gun in the car.

 

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