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Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 39
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Sgt Tom Cunnally Now that you mention it I did qualify with the .45 and seemed prone to buck too many into the 7 o'clock zone. Also qualified with the venerable M1, M14 and M16 back when they had hard sites and not this fancy red-dot point and shoot system. Qualification first took one week on the snapping-in range where the Gunny spoke at length on sight alignment, aiming points, sight adjustment, breathing, trigger squeeze, proper positions, sling adjustment, zeroing ,battle sights, and lots of dry-firing. Nowadays I couldn't get into a proper sitting or kneeling position, and if I did certainly couldn't get up on my own without help. You may recall some of this yourself. Now police up all your brass and move back to the 300 yd line.
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MSG Thomas Currie
First firearm I ever fired was an M1918A2 BAR, followed by an M1 rifle and M1911 pistol all courtesy of Navy ROTC but without any opportunity to qualify with any of them. Then entered the Army where I qualified sharpshooter with the M14 Rifle in BCT, qualified expert with the M1911A1 in AIT, qualified expert with the M16 on the "autorifle" qualification course (which I found funny because that course of fire was developed for the old BAR) before being sent across the pond. Requalified expert with the M1911A1 more or less annually for the rest of my 17 years of service.
Never had an M1911 that didn't rattle like a maraca but never had any problem qualifying
Never had an M1911 that didn't rattle like a maraca but never had any problem qualifying
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SO many years ago I can barely remember. But I do remember the joke the Range safety Officer told....
We'll be putting you inside a 10 X 10 building and closing the door, you'll have 8 rounds, if you hit a wall you qualify....
We'll be putting you inside a 10 X 10 building and closing the door, you'll have 8 rounds, if you hit a wall you qualify....
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Sgt Tom Cunnally
I had all misses at 25 yards & the old Master Guns told me "Son you are so bad with this weapon maybe your best bet would be to throw it at the dam target"
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Capt Walter Miller
The sights were so out of alignment on our .45s' you had to mark your point of aim with target stickers. Some were off by 2 feet at 15 yards.
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MSG Thomas Currie
While I was in the Berlin Brigade, we had one young soldier who wouldn't have been able to qualify even by that standard. He literally put a round through the shed roof over the firing points on our pistol range.
Another NCO and I tried to teach him to shoot at least in the general direction of the targets, but I don't think he ever did hit even one target.
Fortunately the course of fire for the M1911A1 pistol at that time was all silhouette targets (no bullseye targets) and each string of fire had more rounds than targets. We arranged for him to be shooting on the middle lane with me on one side and his tank commander on the other side. For each string we would clear our own targets then use the extra rounds to clear his targets. We had to be careful to make sure we didn't kill too many of his targets because we needed him to qualify but not shoot expert.
I suppose in some ways that was dishonest, but considering that we were the only tank company in an infantry brigade and the entire brigade didn't have a rifle qualification course for over two years, I don't think one fudged pistol qualification had any real impact on our combat readiness.
Another NCO and I tried to teach him to shoot at least in the general direction of the targets, but I don't think he ever did hit even one target.
Fortunately the course of fire for the M1911A1 pistol at that time was all silhouette targets (no bullseye targets) and each string of fire had more rounds than targets. We arranged for him to be shooting on the middle lane with me on one side and his tank commander on the other side. For each string we would clear our own targets then use the extra rounds to clear his targets. We had to be careful to make sure we didn't kill too many of his targets because we needed him to qualify but not shoot expert.
I suppose in some ways that was dishonest, but considering that we were the only tank company in an infantry brigade and the entire brigade didn't have a rifle qualification course for over two years, I don't think one fudged pistol qualification had any real impact on our combat readiness.
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