NRA Marksmanship Qualification Course

Sparks134 · Post by **Sparks134** » Thu Aug 20, 2009 9:29 pm

Does anyone know the distances you shoot for the course? I'll be taking it on the 5th and 12th of September. I'll be shooting a modified Ruger and want to have my red dot sighted in. Thanks...........Ed

Post by **Bullseye** » Thu Aug 20, 2009 10:02 pm

Hi Ed,

Which discipline are you trying to qualify in Bullseye/Conventional Pistol, Basic Pistol, Air pistol, Air rifle, Light rifle, High power rifle, Silhouette rifle, Shotgun etc? It helps to know because these are all shot at different ranges and with specific targets.

I've completed a bunch of Rifle and Pistol disciplines as Distinguished Expert. These NRA quals were not really a big deal for me as I'm a CMP double Distinguished Marksman. About the only one I haven't tackled is the Shotgun qualification. The NRA sent me a nice certificate for being a double distinguished expert (pistol and rifle) and also sent along a letter encouraging me to complete the shotgun for a triple DE qual.

The basic pistol quals were at 15/30 feet, depending on the target you used. The Bullseye (Conventional) pistol was shot at either 50 feet or 25 yards. Light Rifle was 50 feet. American Rifleman (3 position) was 50feet, 50 yards, or 50 meters depending on the targets used.

So as you can see they all differ.

R,
Bullseye

You can down load a qual book from the NRA website in .pdf format that has all the different requirements listed in it. The booklet is 40 pages long. http://www.nrahq.org/education/training ... /index.asp

Sparks134 · Post by **Sparks134** » Fri Aug 21, 2009 9:17 am

Thanks Bullseye for your quick response. the coarse is basic pistol and was told a total of 450 rounds will be shot for qualification, that's why they say a .22 cal is reccomended. I've been working on a project gun since March and had finally finished her up. Started with a Ruger MKIII 2245 w a 4 1/2" slab side barrel. Added to that is:
TacSol 6" fluted barrel
TacSol pac-lite rail
Bushnell red dot sight
Volquartsen trigger,sear,extractor,disconnector and hammer
Sam's hammer bushing
TechTeach grips
It's quite a nice shooter, much better than I!
None of this work would have been done by myself if it wasn't for Bullseye and these websites, and I thank you all for that..........Ed

Post by **Bullseye** » Fri Aug 21, 2009 11:10 am

In the beginning you'll shoot onto standard 9" paper dinner plates at 15 feet. We took bingo markers and stamped 1" dots in the center of the plates to provide an additional aiming point for our shooters. The idea is to keep all five (later on 10) shots inside the plate and none of the hits within 1/2" of the outer diameter of the plate. So basically you have to shoot a group less than 8" in diameter on the plate. You use two hands but as you progress up the qualification scale you transition to shooting both strong and weak side in a timed string sequence. Shooting the weak side, two handed, is typically where folks lose points. Later you will transition to a silhouette style target for the last, scored, stages.

This is not a difficult qual to attain but it may be prudent to practice some weak handed shooting to maximize your scores. Working the trigger with the weak hand in a timed period is where the uncomfortable factor enters the picture and causes folks to jerk the trigger.

This course has been modified since I did it. Back when I qualled DE, we had to engage three targets from a fixed position, each in a certain sequence, in the same pre-defined time periods per stage. This made the pistol qual more challenging and also meant bullets would impact at different angles down range. That meant reducing the number of shooters on the line as to keep all impacts within the range boundaries.

Go and enjoy yourself! I remember it was a lot of fun when I finished.

R,
Bullseye

Sparks134 · Post by **Sparks134** » Sat Sep 05, 2009 7:16 pm

Just got back from the 1st half of the NRA pistol marksmanship Qualification coarse. We went 4 1/2 hours and 550 rounds of ammo. The scoring was very forgiving, looking for scores starting with 47 points out of 100 and going up. Today we finished up with the 20 second timed 5 shot strings with both strong and weak hand. the last 4 strings we shot one handed which the instructor told us would be cut to 10 seconds next week and we'll be shooting at 3 different target stands. All in all it was a good time had by the entire group...................Ed

Post by **Bullseye** » Sun Sep 06, 2009 11:28 am

The idea of that program is to start out slow and work your way up to the tighter limits. If I remember correctly the order of firing on the three target stands are right, left, then center. When I did it, you had to put two shots on each target within the six shot ten second string. You go through each of the hand variants two handed, one handed, strong hand, and weak hand.

This program is a great confidence builder based on the stage design. It does take time but it is worth it. Glad to hear you had a great time.

R,
Bullseye

Sparks134 · Post by **Sparks134** » Sat Sep 12, 2009 8:51 pm

Just completed the coarse and it was just as described by Bullseye. I was running a perfect score all the way until I had a squib during the 10 second weak hand shoot for the D E portion, then it happened again latter. That didn't lower my score enough to loose the D E recognition, but enough to just tick me off. I think I'll attack Pistol Bullseye next.

Post by **Bullseye** » Sun Sep 13, 2009 11:39 am

Congrats on your new qualification! Looking back, I'm sure you'll agree that qual course was a lot of fun.

R,
Bullseye