NRA marksmanship program?

[fishnbeer]

Anyone here ever do the nra marksmanship qualification program?

There are rankings and awards and stuff. I am not so much interested in a merit badge or whatever, but i do like the idea of a structured program for skill building. Going to the range and punching paper is fun but i like the idea of using that time to work on certain skills

I flipped through the booklet and i can knock out a few levels no problem. The higher levels of discipline would require some more range time

Anyone bother with it?

[wilit]

Instructor here for Scouts. It's a cool program that I'm working on trying to re-introduce into our council. For scouts, it's a different deal, but the NRA program itself I believe can be self administered and is honor system for reporting and awarding. Honestly I don't know that I've ever seen the badges outside of scouting.

[Wlee]

I believe its all self reported/administered except for the Distinguished expert test. That one requires a witness(NRA instructor/member) and the results are sent into the NRA for verification/record keeping. I did the pistol course a while back, it was a lot of fun since you can use the costco pizza plates as targets(perfect size). Had Dan McMonigle as my witness since he was running the Burbank Firing Line meetups at the time. I did find that it helps with younger shooters or new shooters as the badges and certificates have a positive reinforcement effect on them. Added together the awards packets costs under $50 total, so its a small cost to give someone who may be hesitant or unsure of themselves a more competitive outlook and motivation to go to the range regularly.

[Snoopy47]

I started getting into the NRA program.

It's kind of antiquated and dated.

I think the CMP (civilian marksmanship program) and Swiss Rifle matches are more prestigious. They are common enough to participate in and go beyond the honor system.

They are pretty antiquated like the NRA courses of fire as well. Purely marksmanship.

Now, much easier to participate in are USPSA practical shooting and Steel Challenge matches. Thousands of registered matches across the country, and easy to get started in via Practiscore.com. Your scores are uploaded once a week, and you are classified based on score/times, and those classifications are based on a continuously updated database of competitors.

So one who is a Grandmaster is in the top 5% of competitive shooters in their database EVER.

Yes, it's a different game, but easier to participate in than NRA, CMP, Swiss, etc.....

[Gun Kraft]

I've held several NRA Marksmanship events (.22LR rifle) for local Civil Air Patrol cadets as an NRA certified rifle instructor. The main benefit to the program is it gives beginning shooters specific goals to meet in progressively increasing levels of difficulty for a wide variety of shooting sports. The drawback is while it gives you objectives to meet it doesn't teach you the skills necessary to meet them. Self-learning can be trial and error.

[IVC]

It's a good program with measurable performance benchmarks. Much better than punching paper randomly. Are there other, different performance measures such as USPSA classifiers? Of course! But for marksmanship (not movement and alike) the NRA program is both good and fun. Our local range has instructors running MQP regularly, even though it's an honor system until the last stage. Shooting in groups is an extra motivation and good experience for basic gun handling.

[Mayor McRifle]

So one who is a Grandmaster is in the top 5% of competitive shooters in their database EVER.

No, the average of 6 out of their last 8 scores is 95% or higher of the top scores recorded for those same six classifiers. It doesn’t necessarily mean that they are in the top 5% of USPSA shooters.

IMG_6020.jpg

https://uspsa.org/pages/about/classification

[Mayor McRifle]

Anyone here ever do the nra marksmanship qualification program?

There are rankings and awards and stuff. I am not so much interested in a merit badge or whatever, but i do like the idea of a structured program for skill building. Going to the range and punching paper is fun but i like the idea of using that time to work on certain skills

I flipped through the booklet and i can knock out a few levels no problem. The higher levels of discipline would require some more range time

Anyone bother with it?

It actually looks pretty cool.

https://mqp.nra.org/media/8333/mqp-guide-book.pdf#page=6

I might do it!

[Zenderfall]

I actually run NRA MQP for the club I'm in, rimfire rifle, standard pistol, and conventional (bullseye) pistol. Been doing it for years at ASR. So far, there's four distinguished experts in the club, which tells you how difficult it is to become one. Took me six years to make it. One guy made it in about three years, but he shot really well to begin with, so getting him tuned in didn't take long.

NRA only recognizes the final rank, Distinguished Expert, and only about 200 make that every year. You get a certificate, pin, medal, and rocker patch. Similar to how RWVA only recognizes one rank, Rifleman. I'm going to make it to the next RWVA event next time it comes around to SoCal, as I want to see how I would fare in that one, and to compare the programs similarities/differences.

As I also compete and SO in IDPA, I can agree that there are differences in action shooting and marksmanship shooting. The thing is, I don't think its a great idea to take brand new people out into action shooting right away, before they nail down the absolute basics of marksmanship. It's been stated before "How does one expect to hit something on the move, if they can't do it standing still?" that can't be stressed enough.

I know it's supposed to be a "self run" program, but I don't know anyone who can actually do it all by themselves. The reason why I don't think it's a good self-paced thing is that there's objectives, but without anyone around showing you "why" you're not making it will, get frustrating. It's a lot easier when you have help, and even better when its a group of people all trying to do it together, regularly, as a scheduled event. Best, of course, is to have the club pay for the targets and awards, which is what happens here. Even I went through it in grade school, where it was taught for 7th and 8th grade (and not by myself). Yes, shooting, as a subject in grade school, in California, imagine that!

Which programs were you interested in doing?

I've attached the scoresheets we use in the club for rimfire rifle and pistol as a bonus, should you decide to try it. They're immensely helpful, as they list the requirements on the sheet itself. There's multiple scorecards per sheet. Participants only need one score card each. Notice they're called the NEW NRA, the program changed in 2019 and got slightly easier.

[hambam105]

Zenderfall asks,

" "How does one expect to hit something on the move, if they can't do it standing still?" that can't be stressed enough.""

The answer is easy. Get closer. And keep shooting until you hit the target or run out of ammo.

[Zenderfall]

Zenderfall asks,
The answer is easy. Get closer

Easier said than done, especially when you're getting shot at.

[hambam105]

Getting shot at? What kind of NRA or IDPA competition targets shoot back?

[ORNGXTC]

I actually run NRA MQP for the club I'm in, rimfire rifle, standard pistol, and conventional (bullseye) pistol. Been doing it for years at ASR. So far, there's four distinguished experts in the club, which tells you how difficult it is to become one. Took me six years to make it. One guy made it in about three years, but he shot really well to begin with, so getting him tuned in didn't take long.

NRA only recognizes the final rank, Distinguished Expert, and only about 200 make that every year. You get a certificate, pin, medal, and rocker patch. Similar to how RWVA only recognizes one rank, Rifleman. I'm going to make it to the next RWVA event next time it comes around to SoCal, as I want to see how I would fare in that one, and to compare the programs similarities/differences.

As I also compete and SO in IDPA, I can agree that there are differences in action shooting and marksmanship shooting. The thing is, I don't think its a great idea to take brand new people out into action shooting right away, before they nail down the absolute basics of marksmanship. It's been stated before "How does one expect to hit something on the move, if they can't do it standing still?" that can't be stressed enough.

I know it's supposed to be a "self run" program, but I don't know anyone who can actually do it all by themselves. The reason why I don't think it's a good self-paced thing is that there's objectives, but without anyone around showing you "why" you're not making it will, get frustrating. It's a lot easier when you have help, and even better when its a group of people all trying to do it together, regularly, as a scheduled event. Best, of course, is to have the club pay for the targets and awards, which is what happens here. Even I went through it in grade school, where it was taught for 7th and 8th grade (and not by myself). Yes, shooting, as a subject in grade school, in California, imagine that!

Which programs were you interested in doing?

I've attached the scoresheets we use in the club for rimfire rifle and pistol as a bonus, should you decide to try it. They're immensely helpful, as they list the requirements on the sheet itself. There's multiple scorecards per sheet. Participants only need one score card each. Notice they're called the NEW NRA, the program changed in 2019 and got slightly easier.

Zenderfall keep up your participation in the shooting sports. Without people like you contributing your time in coaching and teaching others will never learn.
My 13 year old daughter started shooting small bore a few years ago in a junior program out of the club I belong to. Do to Covid the junior program she shoots for was shut down till this past season.Their season runs concurrent with the school year shooting only on Monday nights. She completed her offhand credential by mid season and started on her Distinguished Expert. She was invited to shoot on an adult league that completes against two other Bay Area clubs. Her team won. She is having the time of her life. By the end of the season she was knocking out a completed DE credential every week. She finished 5 out of the 10 needed. Her coaches say they have never seen a kid her age with so much skill and determination.
I have now started to look at getting my coaching credential to assist with the junior program she shoots under. Great sport and even better when kids are having fun doing it.
And learning something at the same time.

[russ69]

The NRA awards program is a great program. You can learn and advance without being under the pressure of shooting a registered match. As you move through the awards program you might get interested in competitive shooting and improve your skills even more.

[russ69]

...They are pretty antiquated like the NRA courses of fire as well. Purely marksmanship...

There is nothing antiquated about extreme marksmanship. Maybe not as action filled as run and gun matches but if you shoot at the high levels of an NRA program, you'll be a very highly skilled marksman.