Well, 5.56 ammo shortages pose a problem, my Standard Products is an answer

[WarPig1976]

Where's the old guy??... All I see is a Lean,Mean,Fightin Machine....
Stay safe.....

[Sarge1998]

I'm going to state something I undoubtedly will take a beating for, won't be the first...or the last, how much practice do you need? As Maple Leaf Eh said, it's your hide, take the best for the job, your previous posts had you picking the AR for a reason, nothing changed that reason but a shortage of .556. Why not practice with .22 or whatever else you have plenty of reserve, and if you normally practice with say 100 rds, practice with (10), I doubt you'll get that rusty. It's a fact I don't agree with but my department ( and others) used to qualify every 3 months, (50) rds a session. After 9/11 our SRT was shooting up a much greater portion of department ammo and that forced us to qualify twice a year, now it's down to once a year and only (30) rounds a session! Doesn't give me as much confidence in the officer responding to an in-progress life threatening position, how about you? Update: I just spoke with a fellow Sgt. who is still working, he says they have increased to 3-4 times a year, but ammo is very hard to find in bulk, in fact they can't get sufficient quantities of .380 at this time.

My department won't provide a rifle but if you choose to carry one it must be AR based and an approved model, I have a RRA LAR-15 . We re-qualified once a year and it involved about (75) rounds (I can't remember exact number), but the department at least provided the ammo. And we always qualified with iron sights, even if you used optical (various) it was always about Murphy's Law. At least the 2-day course for patrol rifle initial qualification was both informative and shall I say fun, the RSO estimates 700-900 rounds are fired depending on a few factors, that wore me out a bit in my late 50's, but it was great training.

I used the 20 rd mag first, reloads were 30's, put down (3) deer in two years ( hit by cars), worked as well as the shotgun in my opinion.

[JimF4M1s (Deceased)]

There is practice to keep up your skills. And there is shooting just for the enjoyment. Some times they blend together. Round counts for each will vary. Factors could be availability, expense, time, a place to shoot.
Me, I just like to shoot, it's not job related. I buy in bulk whenever I can. Keep X amount of each caliber I shoot on hand, always leaving some for a back up. If I get down to the minimum I have set as a back up and can't find more, then I change to another caliber until more is available. I save the brass and reload when I can (now primers are an issue) to supplement the expense.
Unless you are on the job, it's all fun.

[Bill Hollinger]

Jim is right on with this. One of the best ways to hone skills during training is to make it fun and memorable. Muscle memory is paramount! In my opinion, and we have hashed this over more than a few time, it's all about sight alignment and trigger control once you have the ergonomics of muscle memory down. One of the .22 AR platform rifles or .22 conversions will give you all of that. The AR would be a much better system for any kind of security work.

Realizing ammo costs are way up that is so true but use what is best and the most accurate and reliable. When I worked for Kern County the only "tactical rifle" authorized was the AR rifle or carbine version. Same as Sarge stated the certification course was two days long and anywhere from 700 to 1000 rounds were required. It was the same for the Glock course but it was three days long. The county supplied the rifle but if you had your own it could be used so long as it met all the departmental guidelines.

There was a time when every deputy had a different type weapon. That all changed when a massive shootout took place with a guy named Robert Courtney happened. Deputies were running out of ammo (due to very poor equipment standards and lack of proper training). Have fun, be safe!

[imarangemaster]

I agree the AR platform is better than an M1 Carbine. Anything I carry, I shoot often and regularly, especially since I work out in the woods. Last time I shot the M4gery, though, I cringed at $1 a round replacement cost (tax or shipping included) and I quit after 20 rounds since I can't reload it at the moment. The carbine I just did 100 rounds tonight shooting off hand at ranges of 25 to 75 yards, with some at 100 yards.

Speaking of reloading and primers...see my new post!

[imarangemaster]

Where's the old guy??... All I see is a Lean,Mean,Fightin Machine....
Stay safe.....

Hahaha! Well, if I was like "filet mingon" when I was a young buck cop back in the day, I guess I am now that I am longer in the tooth, I am like "jerky" - tougher and more seasoned! I read a book once where the protagonist was an older retired cop, and he was telling a young street tough "Don't mess with old men, son! They are too old and getting to the point where they don't care about "correct" They'll just shoot you and get it over with!"

[WarPig1976]

Yup, My favorite,
A young bull and an old bull are on a ridge looking down on field of heffers.
The young bull says "Let's RUN down there and do us one of those heffers"
The old bull says "No lets WALK down and do'em all"

[JimF4M1s (Deceased)]

Changing the humorous parody back towards our subject, ammo today is getting harder to find. When will it ease up, no one knows. In the meantime we do what we can to still enjoy of hobby.

[imarangemaster]

Changing back to topic, it was a little weird driving around on duty with the M1 carbine and 1911, realizing that almost 70 years ago, my dad was driving a jeep on Iwo Jima with a 1911 and a carbine! The only thing that would have made it weirder would be if I had the un-messed with Inland instead of the Standard Products mix-master.

[jmoore]

...ammo today is getting harder to find. When will it ease up, no one knows...

I knows! Right now. Just came from the local shop. Shelves continue to fill. Prices moderating, too.