Nor are there recorded instances where an officer required a reload in close combat. The ability to shoot targets at 25 yards using sights sadly seems to provide little or no advantage in close combat. The 1988 US Army training manual for pistols and revolvers, in apparent recognition of the disconnect between sighted shooting at the range and the ability to score hits in short distance combat, wisely calls for point shoot training at distances of less than fifteen feet. Almost unbelievably, some NYPD figures show 62% of shots fired at a distance of less than six feet were complete misses.

The mean score for NYPD police officers (1990-2000) for all shootings is fifteen hits per 100 shots fired, which is almost the identical hit ratio seen among Miami officers ~ who in the years 1990-2001 fired some 1300 rounds at suspects while recording fewer than 200 hits. The NYPD statistics showed no correlation between an officer’s range scores and his ability to hit a suspect at close range. In the remaining 20% of the cases, officers recollected using some form of visual aid to line up the target ~ which could be the sights themselves or just the barrel. If shot placement is so important, why no sights?Īn exhaustive NYPD report (NYPD SOP 9) revealed that in 70% of recorded police shootings (the majority under poor lighting conditions) officers did not use sights while 10% of the time officers didn’t remember whether sights were used.

Seecamp serial number chart