M-9 and M-16 Weapon Qualification

Well, I successfully qualified (army style) on both of my weapons. We began on Tues with basic rifle marksmanship training for both weapons. This included how to assemble, disassemble and correct small malfunctions. That afternoon we went to a simulated range where we shot a laser from the M-16 to practice engaging pop- up targets. This was very depressing because I did not hit very many. My eyewear was fogged up (again due to my sweating all the time issue:) ) and I could not get situated very well with the body armor, helmet and other accessories. That night we went to the M-9 pistol range. This went much better. I was able to stand and engage popup targets which eliminated most of the issues from the previous day. We also did a night fire that was pretty easy. The next morning we arose at 0500 and went to breakfast in all our gear. We reported to the M-16 rifle range right after. The first task is to "zero" your weapon. You have to put 5 out of 6 consecutive rounds in a 2 in diameter circle. This requires a tight shot group of 3 rounds each time and making the proper sight adjustments. I was able to do this in 18 rounds - which is ok. The cool thing that I have this time is a scope with an infrared dot. After you zero your rifle, you align the dot in the scope. This sets the rifle up so that you do not have to use the sights, but simply put the red dot on the target. The qualification range consisted of 6 popup targets set at 50,100,150,200,250 and 300 meters. They would appear for a few seconds and then disappear. You had 20 rounds from the prone (laying down) supported ( you can use a foam block) position, then 10 rounds from the prone unsupported position and then 10 from the kneeling position. With all the gear, the kneeling was the most comfortable to me and I did the best there. You had to hit 23 out of 40 to qualify. I did - not by much, but I will take it. Then we had to return at night for night fire - which only consisted of hitting the 50 m target over and over - this was easy. The best thing was that I used the scope and the dot alone at the night fire and was able to shoot with both eyes open with confidence - that was cool. It was a long 2 days, but one more major training event concluded - yeah!! We are now gearing up for STX's which are situational training exercises on urban warfare and base defense. I will keep you posted - unfortunately, most of these range exercises are not conducive for picture taking :( Thanks, until next time......