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General Discussion To Gateway To Airguns => Back Room => : nmmike July 28, 2006, 09:51:54 AM

: Re: Law enforcement 'stuff'
: nmmike July 28, 2006, 09:51:54 AM
Hey J.P. whats this I hear about you being a Cop. Did that myself for awhile but wasn't near the shot you were (not that it's often an option). We carried S&W 645's & I could qualify expert but that was about it. I made up for it by carrying a M-3 in the trunk. As you can tell, the Chief had a strong belief in stuff that started with a .4  :) .
Just wanted to give you a little gas, notice I didn't say a thing about 'wimpy 9,s'  8) .
73,s
Mike
: Re: Law enforcement 'stuff'
: July 28, 2006, 12:57:48 PM
Mike:


Qualifying Expert with an S&W 645 is no small feat, my friend!  I don't know how yours worked, but here's how our scores broke down for the L.A. County Sheriff's Office, where I did my qualification.

Distinguished Expert "X" class 300 with 10+ X's out of 300 for three CONSECUTIVE relays.
Distinguished Expert 290+ out of 300, for three CONSECUTIVE relays.
Expert 280+ out of 300
Sharpshooter 270-280 out of 300
Marksman 260-270 out of 300

LASO Minimum Qualification 220 out of 300

Most of our people shot in the 240-260 range.  We had a few that faced unemployment every three months because they had trouble shooting over 219.  I stopped feeling sorry for them because if I had that problem, I wouldn't be waiting until the last day of the qualification quarter to solve it.  I'd be living at the Biscaluz Center Jail (where the range was) when 10-7 and barring that, I'd be following the LASO mobile range truck to every S.O. substation it stopped at.

Even as good as I was, there were some in the county who were better shots, at least once, than I ever was, because I never shot a perfect 300 score a single time, let alone 3 in a row.  Those few who did got a medal like the 27 or 28 I've got laying around -a spiffy 10K gold medallion, but they get a little diamond in their bullseye and a couple of bucks more pro-pay bounus than I got.  The best I could manage was 299.  I shot plenty of 299's.  299, however, is not 300.

Our course of fire was 6 rounds in 60 seconds, 12 rounds in 45 seconds,12 rounds in 30 seconds, fired from 25 yards on a B-25 Silhouette.  It was the same in the moble range, except the distance was only something like 7 yards or so, and the target was reduced in size to simulate the 25 yard B-25 sight picture.  I didn't shoot much in the trailers, as the scores would count toward qualifying but not toward "DX".

Under our system, if you shot one relay at 299, went out for a chili dog, returned, shot 295 or whatever, left to go get fitted for new uniform shirts, and then came back and put all 30 shots in the "X" ring, that didn't meet the LASO definition of "consecutive relays" and it certainly didn't if you didn't wear their uniform, as was the case with me.  You had to literally stand there at the firing line and do three 290+ relays in a row.

They had a deal with lead pollution once and would only let non-S.O. officers shoot a max of two relays in a row.  I threw more than a few temper tantrums over that, and they always wound up letting me shoot the third, sometimes refusing to grant me my DX pin because the time I spent arguing with the range staff over allowing my thrid round made the thrid round not consecutive with the other two.  More argumentation and threats would eventually get them to cough up my medal and certify me DX on my qual. card.

Ah........The joy of politics and attitude!  I have to say that I don't miss that at all.

And the wimpy 9 wasn't my idea.  I was pretty happy with my M-66 Smith and Wesson wheelgun, becuase, like a pumper air rifle, you could tune the power to meet the need, an if things got really dramatic, you had the option of genuine .357 Magnum power.  When we went semi-auto, I lobbied to make the department standard the .45 ACP, but I didn't win the argument, so the "nine" it was.  I could have carried something else at my expense, as I did when I used the M-66 instead of the issued M-15 Smith revolver, but I was an instructor by then, and would have felt a little stupid trying to inspire confidence in the 92F when I myself wouldn't use one.

One thing is for sure......  I couldn't fault the 92 for accuracy.

-JP
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