USMS: A Little Practice Makes Perfect?

[KeithG]

I was researching a deal offered by SGAmmo and came across this from the US Marshalls Service: Authorized Ammunition Purchases. What caught my eye was this, "Each DUSM is entitled to 500 rounds / annually for practice."

Can the average Deputy US Marshall maintain/improve his or her handgun proficiency by firing ten (10) rounds per week?

If you were the one in charge of training a large cadre of shooters, how many rounds would you allocate to maintain the status quo?

Somehow I don't think the order I placed will be a two-year supply.

[Low-Pressure]

The 500 round count limit might be, when they are using the government issued card.

[meaty-btz]

Maybe not 10 rounds. But my proficiency increased significantly when I would go shooting more often for less rounds. Sometimes I would only shoot 20 rounds and be "done" rarely more than 50. I was shooting two to three times per week.

It isn't round count, it is not quantity it is quality. You gain little if you are totally exhausted and your brain is gone into blur mode and you can't concentrate any longer no matter how many rounds you blaze away with at a time.

[ZombieTactics]

The idea that law enforcement is especially well trained is something of an "urban myth". It's been a result of waaaay too many TV cop shows where there are shooting incidents every week, and way too many "training montages of awesomeness" in various movies and TV programs.

It's also somewhat advanced by the anti-gun crowd, who latch onto the "only LE should have guns" notion, using their mythical "high level of training" as an argument.

Most LE departments have extremely minimal standards in this regard, requiring officers to only qualify one a year or so, in what many would consider extremely easy courses of fire. Most departments provide ZERO budget for training ammo or range time outside of qualifications. The US Marshal allotment is pretty generous in comparison to most LE depts.

Some officers - and thank God for them - take things seriously and train often on their own dime. The vast majority do not.

[KeithG]

Maybe not 10 rounds. But my proficiency increased significantly when I would go shooting more often for less rounds. Sometimes I would only shoot 20 rounds and be "done" rarely more than 50. I was shooting two to three times per week.

It isn't round count, it is not quantity it is quality. You gain little if you are totally exhausted and your brain is gone into blur mode and you can't concentrate any longer no matter how many rounds you blaze away with at a time.

Sounds good to me. Using my fifty-weeks-per-year math, twice a week X twenty rounds = 2,000 rounds per year. Even 1,000 rounds per year could be argued. I just don't understand the reasoning behind 500/yr. Maybe that's the budgeting number and only 25% of the deputies practice.

[meaty-btz]

I am with zombie, the concept of "exceptionally trained" is a myth. Individual officers may be, but not as a blanket rule are they. I know of some who only shoot once before qualifying per year. The weapon does not even get cleaned the rest of the time.

For me, at least, exceptionally trained means your responses are all muscle memory. That is, you can shoot equally well at a given stationary target blindfolded or not. Or being able to shoot accurately on the move on a short clock.

Both may sound like "tricks" -especially the first one- but they represent a rock solid skill component. In a fight muscle memory becomes king if your aiming and firing patterns are down so good that you just know when you are in the right position you will shoot a ton better under stress. Same goes for run-n-gun.

[KeithG]

I asked our resident LEOs to comment here http://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/s...d.php?t=531320

It seems 500 is above the norm. I'm flabbergasted. I know budgets are tight, but how can our public servants be expected to be safe and effective without sufficient resources?

I don't like depending on each individual to spend their own money to meet what should be a high standard, but I know many do. Hopefully all of the others will stay out of trouble.

Keep your fingers crossed.

Sent from my SGH-T989 using Tapatalk

[RRichie09]

I was researching a deal offered by SGAmmo and came across this from the US Marshalls Service: Authorized Ammunition Purchases. What caught my eye was this, "Each DUSM is entitled to 500 rounds / annually for practice."

Can the average Deputy US Marshall maintain/improve his or her handgun proficiency by firing ten (10) rounds per week?

If you were the one in charge of training a large cadre of shooters, how many rounds would you allocate to maintain the status quo?

Somehow I don't think the order I placed will be a two-year supply.

10 rounds per week? I bet some of them blast away the required 500 rounds in one session so they get it out of the away.

I have a buddy who was in the Navy and he told me that the Navy MADE them shoot a certain amount and a lot of the people he worked with treated it like a chore and some even made the lower ranks shoot their rounds. He also went on to say that the Navy did this because if they didn't use it, they would lose funding in the future. I'm not wording this correctly but it was basically due to bureaucratic BS. The funniest thing was when he told me they would disassemble grenades and set off the primer? and then throw the meat of the grenade in a bucket.

If my Navy buddy was FOS then let me know. I won't be offended. It sounded silly to me, but I wouldn't be shocked if it were true.