How Are Points Scored for Marine Corps Expert Badges?
The Marine Corps has always put a premium on marksmanship. No Marine can graduate boot camp unless he qualifies as a "marksman" with his service rifle. The three levels of qualification are marksman, sharpshooter, and expert, expert being the highest.
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Long Gun, Short Gun
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The US Marine Corps conducts marksmanship qualification tests for all new Marines, and follows up with annual re-qualifications for junior enlisted personnel. Marines test on their service rifle, the M-4, and on the pistol, now a 9mm Beretta. Scoring systems are different, but the categories of marksman, sharpshooter, and expert apply to both.
Rifle Qualification Standards
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Entry-level rifle qualification is conducted on a known-distance range, a range with firing berms every 100 yards, up to 1,000 yards, and pit-operated cantilever targets. Shooters fire from a distance of 200 to 500 yards, from the standing, kneeling, and prone positions. Fifty rounds are fired during the qualification, with a maximum of five points for each round, depending on how close to the center of the target the round impacts. A total of 250 points is available. Shooters must score 190 to qualify as marksman, or to pass. 210 to 220 points is a sharpshooter qualification. 220 to 250 points earns the Expert Marksman badge.
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Pistol Qualification Standards
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Entry-level pistol marksmanship qualification involves four stages of shooting with the M9 Beretta, at ranges no greater than 50 yards. Stage one is slow fire, stage two is rapid single-shot, stage three is rapid double-shot, and stage four consists of two six-round strings of rapid fire. Fifty rounds are fired, each with a potential value of 5 points, for a maximum of 250. As with the rifle, 220-250 qualifies the shooter for the expert badge.
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