Local Sheriff's office says they have no practice ammo

[MitchellCT]

Winchester® Ammunition Super Clean NT 140 grain .40S&W, which is non-toxic and lead-free to boot.

Eh.

OK.

I was wrong. They do make practice ammo for that weight...

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[Skygod]

I can find plenty of .40 Smith all day long.

If these officers want to train, what is holding them back from purchasing their own ammunition and actually placing their weapons training as a priority.

Would Tiger Woods quit swinging his club if he was out of golf balls ?

[Colin]

I'll bet for many police officers, qualification is the only training they are getting.

That is exactly the problem and since they qualify outdoors generally in the winter, most of them hate shooting.

However the cops that do take the time to train and practice are amazing shooters!!

[mlr1m]

I can find plenty of .40 Smith all day long.

If these officers want to train, what is holding them back from purchasing their own ammunition and actually placing their weapons training as a priority.

Would Tiger Woods quit swinging his club if he was out of golf balls ?

I have to agree with you. Although I do believe free ammo is a well deserved part of a benifit package, sometimes you have to chip in on your own.
I remember my father had to but his own ammo. They did at times all get together and make a bulk purchase through the dept. They used to get together and have sort of reloading parties. This is how I learned to reload. Bunch of cops sitting around watch a 6th grader loading their practice ammo. Thats probably against the law now.

Michael

[Skygod]

I have to agree with you. Although I do believe free ammo is a well deserved part of a benifit package, sometimes you have to chip in on your own.
I remember my father had to but his own ammo. They did at times all get together and make a bulk purchase through the dept. They used to get together and have sort of reloading parties. This is how I learned to reload. Bunch of cops sitting around watch a 6th grader loading their practice ammo. Thats probably against the law now.

Michael

My city PD is rather small, 7 officers including one female. I know them all by first name and last name. I've chatted with them over coffee many a morning at the local White Castle and this topic has come up several times. In fact one of the officers stated that they had never fired their new AR15 from DPMS. This is disturbing on many levels. If their going to carry a high powered carbine rifle in their cruiser with the intention of employing it under a high stress encounter shouldn't they at least be qualified to demonstrate a basic level of proficiency with the firearm ? Again, the excuse being the availability of .223 ammunition. I take it that this particular officer hasn't even zeroed his/her battle sights, since she/he has never fired it. For that matter, does he/she even know how to chamber a round, remediate a failure, execute a mag change or field strip the rifle ? Again, the issue of availability of .223 ammunition was the excuse.

If I can find .223 ammo, regardless of it's quality and fire every week at the range or at the back forty, then I'd expect them to do the same if their serious about being proficient with their issued weapons.

As I noted before, I can find .40 Smith all day long and I shoot weekly both 9mm Luger and .40 Smith. About 200 rounds per caliber each week. If I can do it so can they.

Again, if Tiger Woods runs out of golf balls is he going quit swinging the club ? Might he dig up balls in the shallow water hazards for range balls ? might he spend money on another basket full?