Sunday, we shot the FBI PQC-09 qualifier for keepsies. I’m happy because my practice sessions earlier in the week paid off with a 100% score today. The target looked a little rougher than I would prefer, so I’m going to keep working on my distant shots.

It’s a little rough, but that’s a 100% score on the FBI PQC-09 qual. The two shots in the upper right happened at 15 yards, and both were the result of me looking up and over the top of my gun rather than following through with my eye on the front sight. I should learn not to do that. As you can tell from the picture, it was pouring down rain.

By the way, despite my creative excuses after one practice session last week, I did find one honestly not-me problem that made a difference at 25 yards: the rear sight on my gun had drifted a little. I was surprised when I realized what was going on, because I truly thought the entire problem was … me. (Turned out I was only about 75% of the problem!) Having a trusted friend shoot my gun at the same distance helped me figure out that there was an equipment problem we could fix.

The rest of my problems somehow fixed themselves when I concentrated on the front sight and pressed the trigger smoothly. Funny how that works.

Here’s the course of fire, with all shots fired from concealment.

3 yards: Draw and fire 3 rounds dominant hand only, switch hands, and fire 3 rounds non-dominant hand only. 8 seconds.

5 yards: Draw and fire 3 rounds in 3 seconds. Repeat 3 times.

7 yards: Draw and fire 4 rounds in 4 seconds. Repeat 2 times.

7 yards: Start with 1 round in chamber, empty magazine in place. Draw and fire 1 round, emergency reload, and fire 5 additional rounds, all in 8 seconds.

15 yards: Start at the ready. On signal, fire 3 rounds in 5 seconds. Repeat 3 times.

25 yards: Draw and fire 4 rounds standing barricade, fire 4 rounds kneeling barricade, and fire 4 rounds prone. Regardless of capacity, you must reload once during this string of fire. 50 seconds.

50 rounds total, with 2 points per hit for 100 possible points.

It’s a good qual — deceptively simple, with snug but achievable par times.