Today was range day. We got to the range around 9am this morning and didn't leave till 7pm tonight. Yeah, that's what you call a long day filled with gunpowder, lead, mosquitoes, gnats, flies, humidity and smelly people. Factor all that in together and it makes for a long day...trust me. When we got to the range today there were still 30 people in our training class. For several of the people, this was there second time coming through the training cause they failed the handgun qualification the first time through training and they were sent home. Not much changed this time around. By the end of the day, there were only 17 of us left in the class. One person was sent home within 15 minutes, one was injured and 11 others failed to qualify after 3 attempts.
This is my qualifying target for today...------------------------------------>>>>>>
All week so far the instructors have harped on safety, safety, safety. The #1 priority on the firing range or anywhere a weapon is present is safety. One person must not have gotten that memo. When we, the first group of 10 had our weapon and ammunition (50 rounds), we were told to stand at a certain spot, take the magazine from the pouch, insert it into the weapon and chamber a round. The most important thing they told us, which is common sense, is to never have your finger on the trigger until you are ready to shoot at the target. Well this particular individual forgot to keep their finger outside the trigger guard while loading the gun. When they loaded the magazine into the weapon, the released the slide to chamber a round, they had their finger on the trigger. When the slide slammed forward inserting a round, they flinched, pulling the trigger and discharging a unexpected round. Needless to say, there were several of us who had to check our pants...including the instructors. She was removed from the firing line immediately and sent home. They were not exaggerating at all when it comes to how serious they take safety on the range.
After all that got cleared up we got to fire our 50 familiarization rounds. After this I was somewhat disappointed because several of my rounds were not going where I was aiming...at all! I knew was I was doing, I just had to correct it during qualifying. So after that 50 rounds was wasted into the hill, we got 50 more to qualify with. Qualifying was a little stressful cause it was all timed. After the first magazine of 12 rounds was empty and we were reloading, I was counting the holes and somehow or another I lost a bullet. Either it went through another hole perfectly or it went so wide it didn't hit the paper. Either way I'm not sure. I finished up the qualifying and ended up with a 94/100. For the second time ever shooting a handgun, I'd say I did pretty well. After everyone had gone their first time, I had the highest score out of the entire group, minus the unsafe person. Several people (11) had to shoot a second and a third time to try and qualify. All of them ended up still not being able to qualify. Out of 4 of us from NCI, I'll be the only one continuing on. I hate it, but that's how it goes.
At the end of the day, almost 4000 rounds of ammunition was fired. Which meant that we had to walk the firing range and pick up all the brass that was left behind. That too 30 minutes on its own. All in all it was a great day. I'm way more confident in my shooting ability, and I know who NOT to stand beside at the firing range. On to the next day of training.
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