Army Handgun Training

And old film about handgun training from the Army.

The Captain says it is from WWII, and he may be right, but I remember seeing a similar film at Knox in 1976 when I went though the Basic Course.  And yeah, to answer your question, I was taught to shoot the 1911 one-handed long before the Army taught me to shoot it two-handed.



Years later, when I was instructing the 1911, I conducted a basic qualification course for a bunch of REMF officers.  Over the course of a day, my senior NCO and I put about 150 officers, from 01 through 05 through the course.  About three months later, an irate Lieutenant Colonel called me on the phone.

"Captain" says he, "I was looking at these records, I believe you pencil-whipped my qualification."

"Really, sir?" I responded, "How so?"

"I'm looking at my card, and you say I got 22 hits on the target.  That makes me an expert with the .45."  He sounded exasperated. "I've never been an expert."

"Look at your round-count, Colonel."

"What?"

"Look on the right column of the score card, Colonel.  I gave you five, seven round magazines.  You had 35 rounds to hit those targets."  I paused. "Did you turn in any ammo?"

The phone was silent, I could hear him breathing softly as he studied the score card.  "I see," he said.  "I suck with the .45, don't I?"

"You said it, Colonel.  I didn't."