Can one "qualify" with a pistol in 30 days with no previous experience?

August 14, 2020 6:41 PM

What is involved in a standard LEO handgun "qualification", in general terms? (My assumption is hitting a target correctly at a predetermined distance...) Is it possible to qualify like this in 30 days, with no prior serious shooting experience? What would it take?
posted by OmieWise to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (3 answers total)

Best answer: My wife easily passed the requirement as someone who never pulled a trigger before. She took the safe handling class required for CCL, took maybe an hour on the range to get the practical exercise/practice, and easily passed the requirement.

LEO handgun is a little harder, but easily done in a few hours of practice. It really depends on where the requirement exists.

This is the Dallas PD qualification requirement, and it's all pretty easy for a novice shooter up to Stage IV. And you can probably do Stage IV with a little extra trigger time.

Stage I – 3 yards: From holster, draw and fire five rounds strong hand only in 10 seconds; transfer weapon to support hand and remain at low ready. When targets turn fire five rounds in 10 seconds, support hand only. (10 total rounds this stage)

Stage II – 7 yards: From holster, fire five rounds in 10 seconds; targets turn away; remain at low ready. When targets turn, fire five rounds in 10 seconds and return to low ready. Targets turn again and again, fire five rounds in 10 seconds. (15 total rounds this stage)

Stage IIa – 7 yards: Set up pistol with five total rounds on board and two five round magazines in pouch. When targets face, draw and fire five rounds; slide lock reload; fire five more rounds, execute a second slide locked reload and then fire five more rounds in 30 seconds total. (15 total rounds in this stage)

Stage III – 15 yards: Draw and fire five rounds in 15 seconds. (5 total rounds this stage)

Stage IV – 25 yards: Shooter starts one step right and one step behind barricade. When targets face, move to cover, draw and fire five rounds in 30 seconds. (5 total rounds this stage)

https://blog.krtraining.com/ shooting-the-dallas-pd-qualification -course-of-fire/
posted by Master Gunner at 7:14 PM on August 14, 2020 [4 favorites]

Best answer: The eponymously named Master Gunner knows of what they speaks. I would add only that my daughter passed after one class training her about gun safety and then proper shooting technique. She is so not a gun person nor is she particularly coordinated in a hand eye way.

A few lessons and practice will be sufficient. I do think it important to get/have/use the proper gun. Proper in terms of weight and size. Needs to fit the hand and not be too heavy.
posted by AugustWest at 10:23 PM on August 14, 2020 [2 favorites]

Best answer: I’ve been shooting all my life — though less in the last 15 years — and I’ll echo all this. Learning to shoot a pistol competently is not very hard. It’s a mechanical skill, like any other, and you have to take it seriously, but it’s not doing surgery. My own opinion is that developing a consistent tennis serve (for example) is much, much harder.

Learning to shoot a rifle at distance (> 50y) is much harder. Getting competent on a sporting clays course is, too. But short range pistol shooting? Yeah, spend several hours a week (and a bunch of money on ammo) over the course of a week, and you can pass these requirements.
posted by uberchet at 5:28 PM on August 16, 2020