NRA Basic Pistol Course

The RSC is proud to offer a new 8-hours NRA Basic Pistol Course (BoPS); the course is held by an NRA Certified Instructor and consists of classroom hours, NRA BoPS student materials as well as a live-fire exercise on the range.

After completing the course and passing the standard NRA test, participants will be certified as basic pistol shooter by the NRA.  Certifying courses are important to benchmark the progress of beginning shooters, as well as mandatory in some states to apply for weapons carrying cards, or to purchase firearms at all.

NRA courses are among the most universally accepted standards of training for firearms handling, marksmanship, and safety.  During the classroom portion, the following five NRA lessons – followed by a NRA standard test that must be passed - are covered:

• Lesson I: Pistol Knowledge & Safe Gun Handling
• Lesson II: Ammunition Knowledge & The Fundamentals of Pistol Shooting
• Lesson III: Shooting Positions & Shooting Qualification
• Lesson IV: Scoring Targets & Selecting Your Pistol
• Lesson IV: Continued Opportunities for Skill Development

Following the classroom hours and passing the NRA standard test, a live-fire exercise will be completed to ensure students learned the fundamentals of marksmanship and safety.  Students start the live-fire exercise with instructed warm-up drills.

The pistol qualification live-fire exercise on NRA standard targets consists of the following:

• For Level 1 Qualification:  From a bench rest position, students will place 5 shots within a 4-inch target placed 10 feet from the front of the bench.
• For Level 2 Qualification:  From a bench rest position, students will place 5 shots within a 4-inch target placed 15 feet from the front of the bench.
• For Level 3 Qualification:  From a bench rest position, students will place 5 shots within a 4-inch target placed 20 feet from the front of the bench.

Once completed, each student who qualified on their live-fire exercise, will be certified as a basic pistol shooter by the NRA and receive their official NRA certificate of completion.

The course also covers parts of MCoE Regulation Number 190-11 (Physical Security of Privately Owned Arms, Ammunition, and Explosives), with focus on the registration of Privately Owned Firearms (POFs), requirements for storage, and requirements for transporting POFs on the installation.

This course ensures soldiers, dependents, retirees, and members of the general public that all requirements laid out in 190-11 are fulfilled.  The course fee is $140 per participant and includes the following:

1. National Rifle Association Basic Pistol Course student materials
2. Pistol rental
3. Ammunition
4. NRA standard target
5. Ear & Eye protection (mandatory to wear while completing life-fire exercise on range)