The possibles club is a long standing award that the FBI gives to agents who have shot a perfect score on the old Tactical Revolver Course. Today, we shoot it with our current duty weapons, but as of now, red dots are not allowed. Here is an article that explains the concept of the course.
I first attempted it while at new agent training. We had one chance, and unfortunately, my G22 at the time was incapable of the accuracy needed. Not that the guns were inherently that way, mine was very accurate when it was first issued. After 300 rounds of sandpaper, I mean frangible ammo, the gun lost all ability to group. 5″ at 25 yards was the best I could do, so while a theoretical 10″ group at 50 yards could work, it just doesn’t leave any room for error.
I then shot it some years later with some SWAT teammates, and we didn’t set ourselves up well for it. After an attempt or two, we abandoned the idea and never got around to setting it up again. As soon as I was issued a red dot G19, I shot the course again. Cleaned it immediately, but the score was thrown out by Quantico as they felt that using the red dot did not count. I understand where they were coming from, but the red dot does not fix your left hand only shooting at 50 yards. Really, that is the only part of the course that is challenging.
Then in 2023, while TDY to Quantico to help teach new agents, I was fortunate to work with a couple of other instructors who went out of their way to make time for me to shoot the course. My 1911 was about to be taken off the list of approved guns, so I shot it and cleaned the course on the day before the gun was removed from service.
That gun was perfectly reliable for its entire service life, and accompanied me on most of the SWAT operations I undertook, along with everything else I did for many years. When it came time to shoot the possibles course, the gun started malfunctioning. Under the rules, you can restart the course if your weapon malfunctions, but I chose to clear the malfunction and drive on. The problem with that is, you are only allowed to carry the 60 rounds needed for the course, so that meant I had to pick the round up off the ground, eject the mag, replace the round in the mag, reload the gun, and then continue some pretty accurate shooting, all within time. This happened 2 or 3 times during the course! Nonetheless, I managed to squeek a possible score out, as you can see from the target. It is not pretty, but it did the job, and under some trying conditions.
The reward for shooting a possible is your name on the wall at Quantico, as well as a nice little sterling silver award and certificate. Unfortunately, there are fewer and fewer agents every year who are capable of shooting a possible, and the course itself has not done much to excite the agent population into training more, which was one of its original goals. With the widespread adoption of red dots, I fear the possible course will go the way of the Dodo in the not too distant future.
