I am officially a Z3 marksman!

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It's official, on Friday I received my Z3 (Zombie Marksmanship - Level 3 Uprising) certification. The photo is of my exam target. Unfortunately the level 4 training is only available to military personnel or nationals here in the UAE as it involves a lot of fully automatic weapons and explosives, both of which expats aren't allowed to have.

The regs say that for Z3 level, you must be able to "place 14 rounds of calibre .32 or larger within a seven and one half inch diameter disc at head height while it is moving towards you at 2 feet per second".

It doesn't sound a lot, but 16 seconds to hit a target smaller than a head sized that starts off 12 metres away is trickier than you think. The test rules are nearly a century old, and are designed to mimic a ghoul coming for you.

But why 14 rounds hear you ask? Well, there are two stories. The popular one is that the magazine capacity of a Colt M1911 .45" ACP is seven, and this was used as a sales pitch. Being an automatic pistol is was much quicker to reload and could perform the task easier. The actual origin goes back a lot further to the cowboys who were dealing with pockets of the undead down by the Mexican border. They reasoned that if you unloaded both of your six-shooters into the problem and they were still coming for you, you'd only need two more bullets - one for your partner and one for yourself, hence the 14 bullet rule.

The gun I'd been training with is a bog standard K-Framed Smith & Wesson .38, finished in black with a rubber handle and a four inch barrel. It's a work horse of the gun world, standard issue to police forces for decades. It might not be pretty, but it will keep firing away all day long, come rain or shine. If you can do it with a revolver, you can waz it with a semi auto.

Naturally, it's not fumbling the reload that is the hard bit, and location of the last round, and I will admit that the last two shots are done at pretty close range. But a pass is a pass. Many thanks to those at the Jebel Ali Shooting Club, especially George, for all their help.

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Photos

14
That top one was only just in, but it still counts.

Comments

[Bob Evans]

Revolvers..!!
Good Grief they have only given the Ginger fool a gun..!! The word carnage springs to mind..!!

[helene]

em
Well that first comment is a tad harsh, but yeah i don't like the idea of al having a gun, but hey he can't help being a ginga!

[Al n Shez]

Shaky?
It was my shakiness that helped me reload so quickly.

[lee]

right weapon?
much prefer a machete myself, although more risky with your average ghoul, you can be certain of a "kill", and you also have a handy football for recreation after!!