Establishing Handgun Time Constraints

[John Hearne]

Random Thoughts:

I'm away from home right now, but there was an article in SWAT that looked shooting standards using a mathematical formula to keep time/distance/accuracy standards the same. IIRC, he had a ratio of MOA to time or something like that.

I attended Mike Panone's lecture about training standards. One comment he made was that the your qual course is the minimal acceptable standard for shooting. Sounds simple until you realize that if your people are meeting the standard, you have to leave them alone and can't ask for anything else.

I think you need to ask yourself what the purpose of the qual is. 90% of the time, a qual course is just an indemnification for an agency. They don't care whether their people are trained to a realistic standard. They just want a course to keep the lawyers off of them whether its relevant or not.

When it comes to performance under stress, psychologist like to use the term "overlearned" skills. The problem is that the standard for most qual course is competency at a mere "learned" level. Ideally, a qual course should require a level of performance indicative of some overlearning.

I had my people shoot the course below at one of our annual refreshers after working with them for about 8 hours. Most could pass it, even though it is harder than what they were used to. A lot of it is just saying "this is the standard" and holding them to it.



Regarding draw time, I've worked with a lot of our people, many just out of the academy. It is uncommon to see anybody getting the gun out in anything near 1.5. Most of them take 2 seconds and just rush the rest of the shots. Of course, IIRC the FLETC standard course is one round at 7 yards in 3 seconds - the idea that you can go faster is just foreign to them.

[John Hearne]

Corrected version of our qual course:
3 yds - draw and fire 3 rds in 3 sec. (x2)
7 yds - draw and fire 2 rds in 3 sec. (x2)
7 yds - support hand only, weapon already in hand, 2 rds in 3 sec. (x2)
7 yds - draw, fire 2 rds, tac reload, 2 rds in 12 sec. (x1)
15 yds - draw, move to low cover, fire 3 rds in 6 sec. (x1)
15 yds - aimed in, from low cover, 3 rds in 4 sec. (x1)
25 yds - draw, move to strong side barricade , fire 3 rds in 8 sec. (x1)
25 yds - from ready on support side of barricade, 2 rds in 5 sec. (x1)
25 yds - from strong side low cover, 1 rd in 3 sec.(x1)

Target is FLETC Transtar - 4 or 5 ring scored as a hit, 21/30 to pass.

[167]

This is what everyone who carries a gun in an official capacity has to shoot in Arkansas. Target is a B27 with scores doubled. For example, everything inside the 8 ring is worth 10 points instead of 5.

Handgun Speed & Accuracy COF

Distance Commands Rounds Time
25yd From Holster 2rds 6 sec
25yd From Ready 2rds 5 sec
25yd From Ready 2rds 5 sec

LOAD ADDITIONAL 5 ROUNDS

Distance Commands Rounds Time
15yd From Holster 3rds 5 sec
15yd From Ready 3rds 4 sec
15yd From Holster 2rds 4 sec
15yd From Ready 1rd 2 sec
15yd From Holster 2rds 4 sec
15yd From Ready 1rd 2 sec

Distance Commands Rounds Time
7yd From Holster 5rds 15 sec (R)
7yd From Holster 3rds 4 sec
7yd From Ready 3rds 3 sec
7yd From Ready 3rds 3 sec

Distance Commands Rounds Time
3yd From Holster 6rds 12 sec (R)
3yd WHO From Holster 2rds 3 sec
3yd WHO From Ready 2rds 2 sec
3yd WHO From Ready 2rds 2 sec
3yd SHO From Holster 2rds 3 sec
3yd SHO From Ready 2rds 2 sec
3yd SHO From Ready 2rds 2 sec

Scoring: Maximum score 500, minimum score 400 (80%).

Percentage Calculation: (Actual Score/500) x 100 = Percentage
Example: Actual Score = 491
491/500 = 0.982
0.982 x 100 = 98.2

Based on the few guys that I know of who have to shoot it on a regular basis, it is frequently passed but rarely maxed. I have shot it before, it isn't hard to max, I am not that good compared to some guys on here.

My personal opinion (which is worth zero) is that qualifications should be like tests, and should motivate people to "study". With that in mind, I think they should be difficult. Certainly more difficult than they usually are.

[167]

***double post***