Welcome back to another installment of the Watercooler, RedState’s daily Open Thread! It’s that time of month again, the time when we challenge ourselves and the hardware we entrust our lives and those of our loved ones to with another Drill Of The Month.

Before The Party Gets Started…

I’d like to extend a word of appreciation to our new team member Elizabeth Vaughn for covering this column so I could move last weekend–even with no help from my mother, got our entire studio broken down, packed up and reassembled with two hours to spare. Couldn’t have done it without you having my back here, Elizabeth. Thanks. 🙂

WARNING: There is a certain amount of inherent danger in any firearms activity. Neither RedState nor the author assume any liability for any consequences of attempting these exercises.

Drill Of The Month – The “New” FBI Qualifier

This month, we’re taking a look at the “revised” FBI Qualifier, courtesy of Jim Barrett at The Truth About Guns.

• Target: FBI QIT-99 “Milk Bottle.”
• Scoring: Any hit inside or on the milk-bottle outline 1 point, outside zero. 60 points Possible; minimum passing 48 (80%) standard or 54 (90%) Instructor.
• Equipment: Sidearm, several spare magazines, concealment holster and cover-garment, shot timer, sixty rounds of ammo. Barricade tall enough to stand behind for Stage Five.

Course of Fire – All stages start with draw from concealment. All stages except Stage 1 are fired two-handed.

• Stage 1: 12 rounds, 3 yards. At timer beep, draw and fire three rounds strong-hand only in three seconds. Reset and repeat. Reset again, draw, fire three rounds strong-hand only, pass weapon to weak hand and fire three more in eight seconds.
• Stage 2: 12 rounds, 5 yards. At timer beep, draw and fire three rounds in three seconds. Reset and repeat, three more times.
• Stage 3: 16 rounds, 7 yards. At timer beep, draw and fire four rounds in four seconds. Reset and repeat. Prepare two magazines loaded with four rounds each, load one and chamber. On timer beep draw, shoot to slide-lock, reload and shoot to slide-lock again, all in eight seconds.
• Stage 4: 10 rounds, 15 yards. At timer beep, fire three rounds in six seconds. Reset and repeat. Reset again, then fire four rounds in eight seconds.
• Stage 5: 10 rounds, 25 yards, barricade. Start next to barricade; at beep move behind it, draw, fire three rounds, drop to kneel and fire two more, all in fifteen seconds. Reset and repeat.
• Suggestions for shooter convenience: If you can’t get the QIT-99, draw a line 1/5 of the way up from the bottom of a standard FBI Q-target. Consider shooting the stages in reverse order for easier scorekeeping.

Video of the Qualifier being performed:

For anybody out there in Reader Land who attempts this drill, please let us know how you did! 🙂

Last Week In History

• Sunday, 7/15: Pike Expedition sets out, 1806; Ford takes first car order, 1903; Nixon announces China trip, 1971
• Monday, 7/16: ‘Mad’ Anthony Wayne earns nickname, 1779; Trinity test, 1945; Amazon opens for business, 1995
• Tuesday, 7/17: Congress informed of ‘War of Words,’ 1776; Disneyland opens, 1955; Apollo-Soyuz orbital linkup, 1975
• Wednesday, 7/18: Rome burns, 64 BC; assault on Battery Wagner, 1863; FDR nominated for third term, 1940
• Thursday, 7/19: Rosetta Stone found, 1799; Doc Holliday’s first kill, 1879; George Washington Carver and Henry Ford team up, 1942
• Friday, 7/20: Wayne loses to NJ Tories, 1780; Sitting Bull surrenders, 1881; first lunar landing, 1969
• Saturday, 7/21: 1st Bull Run, 1861; Hickock’s first showdown, 1865; final Shuttle landing, 2011

This Week In History

• Sunday, 7/22: Battle of Minisink Ford (NY), 1779; Wiley Post soloes flying around the world, 1933; POW Jessica Lynch returns home, 2003
• Monday, 7/23: Halleck takes command of Union forces, 1862; Vanessa Williams decrowned as Miss America, 1984; 6 millionth N. America-built Honda Civic, 2007
• Tuesday, 7/24: Bonneville leads first wagons across South Pass, 1832; Mormons settle Salt Lake Valley, 1847; Bingham finds Macchu Picchu, 1911
• Wednesday, 7/25: Jack London heads for the Klondike, 1897; Truman hints about A-bomb to Stalin, 1945; Nixon Doctrine announced, 1969
• Thursday, 7/26: Franklin named first Postmaster General, 1775; AG Bonaparte stands-up forerunner of FBI, 1908; USS Indianapolis delivers A-bomb fissiles to Tinian, 1945
• Friday, 7/27: USN Gunboat #154 fires single deadliest cannon shot in USN history, 1816; Bugs Bunny debuts in A Wild Hare, 1940; Korean armistice, 1953
• Saturday, 7/28: USN commissions last all-sail warship, 1854; 14th Amendment certified, 1868; B-17 Flying Fortress’s maiden flight, 1935

Today’s Birthdays: Founding Father Henry Knox, 1750; airman Joseph P. Kennedy Jr., 1915; first “test-tube baby” Louise Brown, 1978.

Holidays Around the World: It’s Hillary Will NEVER Be President Day. That’s grounds enough for celebration, every day. It’s also Puerto Rico Constitution Day, National Day of Galicia, Republic Day in Tunisia and Guanacaste Day in Costa Rica.

This Week In History is compiled with assistance from History.com and Wikipedia. Something interesting not listed here? Please share in the Comments section–this is an Audience Participation Encouraged featurette.

Gratuitous Gun Giveaways

• *American Handgunner magazine, for a Glock 34 Gen 5, Olympic Arms KRP pistol (ends 7/31!) or S&W 500 Hi-Viz revolver (ends 8/1!) package: http://americanhandgunner.com/giveaway/
• *Guns Magazine, for a Savage MSR15 .224 Valkyrie or Kahr Snapshot .22LR rimfire rifle: http://gunsmagazine.com/giveaway/
• Davidson’s Gallery of Guns, for a Taurus Spectrum .380 pocket-pistol or Rossi RS22 .22LR rifle: https://ggg.galleryofguns.com/
• Aero Precision, for a custom “American Flag” AR15 pistol: http://gvwy.io/g4sjnme
• GrabAGun, for a Heckler & Koch VP9 9mm pistol (ends 7/31!): http://grabagun.com/giveaway
• Springfield Armory, for an assortment of XD pistols and gear (ends 7/31!): https://www.springfield-armory.com/giveaways/

*Note: FMG Publishing giveaways require you to provide an FFL dealer’s info at entry. Aero Precision giveaways give me one entry each per person who uses my referral link.

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Quote of the Day

To succeed in life you need three things: a wishbone, a backbone and a funny bone.–Reba McEntire

As always, the Watercooler is an Open Thread. And as so eloquently coined by ntrepid, “Thanks for the click! Your effort helps fund future posts of this nature.”

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