What is it that makes shooters test themselves against a standard?
All it takes is some
nationally known shooter to propose a test, and people line up to take it. I’ve shot the LFI level one and two
qualifiers more than I can remember.
It’s a performance against time standard.
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| Three rounds at 10 feet in 6 seconds |
Dot Torture is an open-ended performance standard that has no time limited associated with it. You can increase the difficulty by increasing the distance. https://pistol-training.com/drills/dot-torture.
Other test are training course pre-qualifiers, an understandable requirement, even if it does suggest some level of arrogance. MDFI (Michigan Defensive Firearm Institute) uses this as a tool to ensure students have the skill set to get the most out of a class.
Other shooters like Dave
Spaulding’s 2 x 2 x 2 drill. The CoF
involves shooting 2 rounds in 2 seconds at 20 feet from the holster on a 3 x 5
card. Many people use it as a quick
check of skill retention.
And of course, don’t you
want to know if you can shoot as well as the FBI or local police?
None of the tests and
qualifiers I could find required super human levels of skill and marksmanship. Few had any tactical requirements or aspects. Even so they are fun to shoot and give you sense
of your skill level and place in the universe.
I had a chance to
participate in a non-official OPOTA carbine qualifier. You can find a copy of the Ohio Peace Officer
Training Academy CoF at: https://www.ohioattorneygeneral.gov/Files/Law-Enforcement/Ohio-Peace-Officer-Training-Academy/OPOTA-news/Police-Rifle-Carbine-Qual-Course-of-Fire-Eff-1-1-2.
The CoF was modified slightly. The range used IDPA targets and considered the Zero and -1 area equivalent to OPOTA’s “target preferred area.”
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| Prone with three three rounds at the long distance |
Every one who shot it passed. Most fired the rounds before the specified par time was up. That included going prone and engaging the target at the far distance. Everyone passed, to a man, with 16 out of 20 in the target preferred area.
This brings up two
questions. “Why was it so easy? Why don’t the police shoot better in an
actual gunfire exchange?”
The first question is the
easy one. Most of our participants shoot
weekly, some several times a week. Many
police officers do not go into service because they enjoy shooting or like
guns, but because it’s a civil service job, has a good pension plan, or a good
medical, early retirement or a genuine desire to help people. Shooting is just one small portion of the job
requirement. Frankly, qualifications are
really about demonstrating you have mastered basic skills required for that
position.
Too many articles have been
written about what happens under stress for me to address that here.
http://tactical-talk.blogspot.com/2020/03/vaccine.html
I will say that in the
confusion of the moment and knowing that your targets are shooting back, the
police do better than I think most people would.
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