Standards at a glance
Course of fire
| Stage | Position / name | Distance | Rounds | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 25 yards, strong side, kneeling | 25 yd | 4 | Start standing 2 yards behind barricade. Move forward and fire 4 rounds from the strong side of cover kneeling. Remain behind cover in a ready position with visual focus towards the threat area. 30 seconds |
| 2 | 25 yards, over top of cover | 25 yd | 3 | Fire 3 rounds over the top of cover. Remain behind cover in a ready position with visual focus towards the threat area. 25 seconds |
| 3 | 25 yards, support side cover, standing or kneeling | 25 yd | 3 | Fire 4 rounds with the strong hand (supported is recommended) from the support side of cover kneeling or standing. 25 seconds |
| 4 | 15 yards, standing | 15 yd | 3 | Draw, fire 3 rounds standing in 5 seconds |
| 5 | 15 yards, standing to kneeling | 15 yd | 7 | Draw, fire 3 rounds standing, assume a kneeling position and fire 4 rounds kneeling in 25 seconds |
| 6 | 10 yards, standing | 10 yd | 6 | From ready position, on each command, fire 2 rounds in 3 seconds. x3 |
| 7 | 7 yards, standing | 7 yd | 3 | Draw, fire 3 rounds in 4 seconds |
| 8 | 7 yards, standing, magazine change | 7 yd | 6 | Draw, fire 3 rounds, make a magazine change, fire 3 more rounds in 15 seconds. |
| 9 | 7 yards, standing | 7 yd | 3 | Draw, fire 3 rounds in 4 seconds |
| 10 | 5 yards, strong hand only | 5 yd | 4 | Draw, fire 2 rounds one-handed with the strong hand in 4 seconds. x2 |
| 11 | 5 yards, support hand only | 5 yd | 4 | Ready position, support hand only, fire 2 rounds with the support hand only on each command in 3 seconds. x2 |
| 12 | 1 yard, retention | 1 yd | 4 | Assume interview stance position. Draw and fire 2 rounds from the weapon retention position in 2 seconds. x2 |
| Total | 50 | 12 stages, pass standard 80% | ||
Course of fire as modelled in BrassOps. Confirm stage details against the current Attorney General firearms qualification standards before use.
What a defensible record of this course contains
A qualification score on its own proves very little. When a RPO Day (HQC-2) record is pulled for an internal inquiry, a discovery request or a civil suit, the questions are about what the number is attached to. A record that survives that scrutiny contains:
- The officer. Name and badge or ID number, so the record cannot be confused with another officer of the same surname.
- The weapon, by serial number. Make, model, caliber and serial of the handgun the officer actually fired, not the one on the assignment sheet. If the officer qualified on a loaner, the record says so.
- The date and the instructor. When the course was fired and which instructor ran the line and signed the score, with that instructor's certification current on that date.
- The score against the standard in force that day. Hits, rounds fired and the resulting percentage, judged against the pass standard that applied when the course was fired (80% here as modelled). If the agency later raises or lowers the standard, the old record keeps the standard it was judged by; it is never re-scored.
- Pass or fail, and what followed a fail. A failed attempt is a record too. It stays in the file alongside the remedial training that followed it and the date of the successful re-fire, so the chain from failure to remediation to qualification is visible on its own page.
- The lighting condition. Even on a day course, record the condition the course was fired under. It separates this attempt from the officer's night qualification on the same weapon and keeps the two records from being confused.
Every field above is something an instructor already knows on the day. The failure mode is not ignorance; it is a paper scorecard or a spreadsheet that never asked for the serial number, the lighting condition or the standard in force, and cannot produce them two years later.
The documentation checklist. What the Attorney General's Standards require in the file for every course on this page, as a tick list with the section cited for each item: courses and scores, the Firearms Record fields, what to keep when an officer fails, instructor records, the annual report. Get the NJ qualification checklist (PDF).
Track this course in BrassOps
RPO Day (HQC-2) is already in the BrassOps library. Log every officer against it, with the serial number, the instructor, the lighting condition and the standard in force, and pull the record in seconds when someone asks.
Book a demo Or take the two-minute records assessment