NJ Cops | Page 77

RTSP PRESENTS TRAINING TIPS Dealing with the brass Shooters who reload their own ammunition often find that the hardest part of the process is not what they originally thought it would be – the actual reloading. Instead, they find that recovering their own brass after a day at the range surrounded by other shooters can be a daunting task. Recently, a retired police officer came to me at RTSP in Randolph for one of his two yearly qualifications. He asked if he could recover his own brass at the conclusion of the HQC, which is always acceptable. He then showed me how he marks his shells for quick recovery: When he opens a new box of ammunition, he takes a straight edge and a permanent marker. Placing the straight edge over the center of the primers of the rounds in the end rows, he proceeds to draw lines on the primer ends of the rounds. When it comes time to pick up his brass after shooting, they can easily be picked out by the lines. ~ Rich Nicoletti is true when your eyes see the wavering laser dot on the target. There are options a shooter must take into consideration: either only momentarily illuminate the target (less difficult), or program oneself to understand that this is not nervousness (more difficult). The most noteworthy fact to mention is that it is completely normal to see the dot moving; unlike what we see in the movies. A final common error that I see has to do with zeroing or sighting in the laser. The key to this is to not have the laser marking the target where the projectile is going to strike. Instead, you have to imagine that the projectile leaves the muzzle of the weapon on a straight line before other variables change its course. The laser also projects out at a straight line, therefore the laser and the projectile cannot mark the same spot on the target. Keeping this in mind, the laser dot should mark the target in direct correspondence to its position on the weapon in relation to the muzzle. For example, if the laser is mounted to the lower frame of the weapon, then it is likely that the laser will mark the target about