03-17-2023, 06:28 PM
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Moderator
Join Date: Mar 2006
Posts: 66,563
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The U.S. Air Marshal Pistol Qual
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Liam Neeson makes some dumb movies these days. Ever since “Taken” and the creation of the geezer teaser, he’s become the face of old-man-does-action. I love these movies, and I’m excited to see Marlowe. Have you ever seen “Non-Stop”? Liam Neeson plays a Federal Air Marshal with an alcohol problem and a gun. After watching and enjoying this silly film, I wondered what Air Marshals do for a firearm’s qual.
They have a unique beat, and I don’t envy their work. I’m six-foot-five inches tall, and planes just aren’t for me. I imagine a Federal Air Marshal has to be pretty skilled. They are shooting a firearm inside a tube full of people. Their accuracy standards have to be high, and they have to be able to effectively take down a terrorist in just a few seconds. While I’m sure a lot of their job is dealing with unruly drunks, they still have to be trained for the worst situation possible.
Luckily, the Federal Air Marshal qual was plenty easy to find, and we shot it out.
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What You Need
First and foremost, you will not only need a gun and holster, but you will be shooting from concealment! You’ll need a concealment holster. The Air Marshals carry a Gen 5 Glock 19, and it seems like the famed P229s are still in service as well. Generally, any gun that’s in that compact realm is a good way to go.
Air marshal gear
A Concealment holster and a concealable mag pouch are necessary.
You need 30 rounds of ammo, so it’s not absurdly demanding in the ammo department. You’ll need at least two magazines and a concealable magazine carrier to make things happen. You’ll also need all the appropriate safety gear, including ears and eyes, as well as a shot timer to keep track of par times. Finally, you’ll be using the FBI QIT target, and you’ll need three of them.
Scoring
Scoring is simple. You get five points for hits inside the bottle of the Q target and two points for hits that touch the edge of the inner and out bottle and shots inside the outer bottle but on the target. The maximum possible score is 150 points, and the minimum qualifying score is 135 points.
There is also an interesting way they score the times. You’ll shoot most of the drills twice, and your times for each drill are combined, and they cannot exceed a specific time. For example, the first drill is shot twice, and your two times have to equal less than 3.3 seconds total. If you shoot one string in 1.3 seconds and the second in 2.0 seconds, you pass.
Shooting Like an Air Marshal
All right, let’s stop talking and start shooting. This is shot cold without a warm-up, with concealment being used twice. Prepare and ensure you can safely draw your firearm from concealment. I won’t make fun of you for going OWB for safety’s sake or to follow range rules. This qual is shot entirely at seven yards, which makes plenty of sense for an Air Marshal. Planes can be big, but even in a big plane, the lines of sight are fairly short.
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Rest of the article is here: https://gunmagwarehouse.com/blog/the...l-pistol-qual/
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"The truly dangerous man dresses inconspicuously and is soft- spoken. He walks away from most confrontations. The only time you learn that the truly dangerous man is mad at you is a split second before you die, for he never fights. He only kills. The truly dangerous man knows that fighting is what children do and killing is what men do." - Charley Reese 1986
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