NEW! - Jeffersonian

I feel that this has come about because
the entire program can carry right on
through into their daily work. Although
they may not always use the same revolvers
they use in their daily, precarious
activities, the positions and the training
used in the program help considerably,
and they get accustomed to handling their
weapons until it becomes second nature to
them.
When this type of shooting first began
after World War II, the U.S. Border Patrol
team was a new breed ofbullseye shooters,
all firing well over 2600 aggregates. They
took to this new silhouette shooting like it
had been fashioned for their sole enjoyment.
They won the National Team
Championship two or three times; but by
then, the fad had spread throughou t the
country, and law enforcement shooters
were getting the hang of it and learning
that quick sight alignment and doubleaction
trigger squeeze was the answer to
winning matches.
It is now, by far, the most popular type of
competition for law enforcement officers
in the country. I went to Yuma, Arizona, in
April for the NRA Regional Police Revolver
Championships, to see how things
were progressing..
It was held at the beautiful Adair Park
Range, where there are excellent ranges
for bullseye shooting (both rifle and
pistol), trap and skeet, black powder and
police silhouette firing. The range is
named for the famous old Yuma pistol
shooter, Norman Adair. Border Patrolman
Bill Hilden acquired the property for
Yuma County from the Bureau of Land
Management for a nominal sum. With his
supervision, Yuma County built the range,
which was opened in 1974.
The championships were sponsored by
the Cholla Gun Club of Yuma, in conjunction
with the NRA. One of the many dedicated
workers at the match was Border Patrolman
Modesto Cartagena, an extremely
likable Puerto Rican and one of the top
police handgunners in the nation.
Five individual matches were fired in
the Regional. Match One was from a
crouch position; two stages of 12 shots
each, fired double-action from 7 and 15
yards. The time was 25 seconds per stage,
starting with a loaded gun in the holster.
Reloading time was included in the 25
seconds.
All the shooters use speed loaders. Most
of them fired Smith and Wesson MIO revolvers
with six-inch bull barrels, although
I did see a few Colts and Dan Wessons on
the line. The double-action pull is so
smooth that they feel, to an old bullseye
shooter, like easing off a three-pound trigger,
single-action.
In Match One, I learned that there were
124 people tied for the record with a possible,
both in lOs and Xs. All fired 240 with
24 Xs. At the Yuma match, two more
shooters got into the act with all Xs: John
Pride of the Los Angeles Police Department,
and Joe Cordova, a Border Patrol-
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