I shot in March with my semi-auto pistol for my annual Law Enforcement Officers' Safety Act (LEOSA) qualification. I got a perfect score which is actually pretty easy. Since I did not have anything but a revolver in 22 LR, I did not also qualify with a revolver. Since then I purchased a Ruger Redhawk in 44 Remington magnum. Yesterday, I qualified with it for LEOSA. To say it was a learning experience is an understatement; you can read my post from yesterday to see what I learned and how I learned it.
Anyway, I figured I would post my target from yesterday and show you how I did with The Beast (my pet name for the Redhawk). I think I shot okay with it but certainly far from very good and further from excellent; although I shot better than most of the other shooters on the line at the same time as me. That is not bragging, that is just fact. Anyway, as I just said it was okay, at least for now and I am petty sure I will get better with it once I have fired a higher number of rounds through it and get used to the recoil. Speaking of the number of rounds fired through it, the total after the LEOSA qualification now is only 116 rounds to date. On our first range trip with it, Brendan fired 36 rounds and I fired 30. I quit shooting when the skin in the web of my hand between thumb and forefinger tore on the 30th shot. Brendan fired six more shots and also called it quits, he had had enough of its thumping recoil.
The LEOSA qualification that I fired yesterday consisted of 50 rounds. That's not many shots at all when shooting 22 LR, 32 ACP, 38 Special, 357 magnum, 9mm Luger, 40 S&W or 45 ACP, all calibers I have shot regularly at one time or another. When shooting the 300 grain semi-jacketed flat point 44 magnum ammo that I was shooting for the LEOSA qual, it was painful. Regardless of the pain, I was determined to complete the qualification despite my hand actually becoming numb for a few seconds and then going right back to painful after shaking off he numbness and regardless of me having to reswet my grip several times during the course of fire. I don't recall how manyshots we fired from each yard line but we started with 6 rounds at 3 yards (or maybe it was 7 yards) and moved out to 25 yards where we finished with 6 rounds. Another 38 rounds were fired at distances in between those two.
At 3 (or 7) yards (and I am pretty sure it was 3 yards), my first shot was just about dead center. My second shot was way off to the right, on paper but off target. In actuality, had it been an adversary at whom I was shooting, the second shot probably would have also been just about dead center but something half expected happened and I fired without regard to it. Immediately after the first shot, the bottom of my target blew up and twisted around some and as I fired the second shot the paper was still up in the air and convoluted; thus the shot off low and to the right like that. The third shot was the lowest shot on the paper but pretty much centered left to right because that time when the target flew up from the muzzle blast it did so evenly instead of twisting around like it did after the first shot. In all, three shots went low due to the bottom of the target blowing up from muzzle blast, I circled them before taking the photo. If you look closely you can see those three holes are somewhat oblong, almost appearing like double hits making one hole but the shape was caused by the paper blowing up in the air and not being perpendicular to the bullet path. I waited for the target to come back down after the first four shots and got closer to the center. I also think the range officer moved my target out a bit as I was firing, it seemed a bit further away all of a sudden. Once there were several holes in it and the target was somewhat ventilated it did not jump around like that again. Anyway, it was soon moved out to the 7 yard line where it only was effected a little bit by the muzzle blast.
As you can see, a few other shots went low, a few went high, and some went to the left or right of center more than I would have liked but they likely would have put a hurting on a bad guy. One shot went off target but on paper to the right, that was just a lousy shot on my part at 25 yards. One shot went high and to the left a bit and would have been a head or neck shot. That is because I fired it before completely coming back down from the recoil. I knew when I shot that one that there would be a high shot on the target.
The rest of them are all pretty much in there - not in there for competitive sport shooting but in there for bad guy in your face self-defense shooting. Heck, there are some days when I shoot like that with my Glock 26 in 9mm (sort of mediocre days for me with the Glock), so I am none too disappointed in how I did while shooting 300 grain, fairly hot, 44 Magnum rounds. Considering it was only the second time I have fired this revolver and the first time in many years that I have fired a revolver for a qualification, I really okay with the result. The only other revolver I own, and have owned for years, has been my Smith & Wesson Model 17-8 in 22 LR and that is a world apart from the Ruger Redhawk. So, for now, I am satisfied with how I shot the Redhawk. If I have to use it to defend us against a Brown Bear charge when we are in Alaska later this month, at least I know I can put he first shot where I want it to go and one shot is all tat I would be likely to get in a bear attack.
Now if only my hand would stop hurting everything would be just ducky.
All the best,
Glenn B
Anyway, I figured I would post my target from yesterday and show you how I did with The Beast (my pet name for the Redhawk). I think I shot okay with it but certainly far from very good and further from excellent; although I shot better than most of the other shooters on the line at the same time as me. That is not bragging, that is just fact. Anyway, as I just said it was okay, at least for now and I am petty sure I will get better with it once I have fired a higher number of rounds through it and get used to the recoil. Speaking of the number of rounds fired through it, the total after the LEOSA qualification now is only 116 rounds to date. On our first range trip with it, Brendan fired 36 rounds and I fired 30. I quit shooting when the skin in the web of my hand between thumb and forefinger tore on the 30th shot. Brendan fired six more shots and also called it quits, he had had enough of its thumping recoil.
The LEOSA qualification that I fired yesterday consisted of 50 rounds. That's not many shots at all when shooting 22 LR, 32 ACP, 38 Special, 357 magnum, 9mm Luger, 40 S&W or 45 ACP, all calibers I have shot regularly at one time or another. When shooting the 300 grain semi-jacketed flat point 44 magnum ammo that I was shooting for the LEOSA qual, it was painful. Regardless of the pain, I was determined to complete the qualification despite my hand actually becoming numb for a few seconds and then going right back to painful after shaking off he numbness and regardless of me having to reswet my grip several times during the course of fire. I don't recall how manyshots we fired from each yard line but we started with 6 rounds at 3 yards (or maybe it was 7 yards) and moved out to 25 yards where we finished with 6 rounds. Another 38 rounds were fired at distances in between those two.
At 3 (or 7) yards (and I am pretty sure it was 3 yards), my first shot was just about dead center. My second shot was way off to the right, on paper but off target. In actuality, had it been an adversary at whom I was shooting, the second shot probably would have also been just about dead center but something half expected happened and I fired without regard to it. Immediately after the first shot, the bottom of my target blew up and twisted around some and as I fired the second shot the paper was still up in the air and convoluted; thus the shot off low and to the right like that. The third shot was the lowest shot on the paper but pretty much centered left to right because that time when the target flew up from the muzzle blast it did so evenly instead of twisting around like it did after the first shot. In all, three shots went low due to the bottom of the target blowing up from muzzle blast, I circled them before taking the photo. If you look closely you can see those three holes are somewhat oblong, almost appearing like double hits making one hole but the shape was caused by the paper blowing up in the air and not being perpendicular to the bullet path. I waited for the target to come back down after the first four shots and got closer to the center. I also think the range officer moved my target out a bit as I was firing, it seemed a bit further away all of a sudden. Once there were several holes in it and the target was somewhat ventilated it did not jump around like that again. Anyway, it was soon moved out to the 7 yard line where it only was effected a little bit by the muzzle blast.
As you can see, a few other shots went low, a few went high, and some went to the left or right of center more than I would have liked but they likely would have put a hurting on a bad guy. One shot went off target but on paper to the right, that was just a lousy shot on my part at 25 yards. One shot went high and to the left a bit and would have been a head or neck shot. That is because I fired it before completely coming back down from the recoil. I knew when I shot that one that there would be a high shot on the target.
Now if only my hand would stop hurting everything would be just ducky.
All the best,
Glenn B
No comments:
Post a Comment