The Soapbox carbine qualification is a quick test of a number of useful carbine skills.

Start all stages from a proper low or high ready. If you need rules beyond your own personal code of honor, your low ready should be at least thirty degrees down. Targets are IPSC steel or cardboard unless otherwise stated.

The times given here are our first estimates. (We’ll update this post after we’ve shot the qualification ourselves and evaluated how good our guesses were.)

Stage 1: Short-range transitions
Round count: 6
Par time: 4 seconds

Ten yards away from the firing line, place one target five yards left of the stage center line, and one target five yards right of the stage center line. At the buzzer, engage the left target with two rounds, engage the right target with two rounds, and finish by engaging the left target with two rounds.

Stage 2: Cover
Round count: 6
Par time: 4.5 seconds

Find some object to represent cover. (This may be a target stand, a support post, or even a mark on the ground.) The stage center line is the line drawn downrange from the right edge of the cover. At ten yards, place a target five yards left of the center line. At 20 yards, place a target five yards right of the center line. Start at low ready, positioned so that no part of your body is past the right edge of the cover. At the buzzer, come around the cover, engaging the twenty-yard target first, followed by the ten-yard target, both with three rounds each.

Left-handed shooters should reverse the stage: the center line and the 20-yard target go left of the edge of the cover, the ten-yard target goes to the right, and the shooter must start behind the left edge of the cover.

Stage 3: Snapshot
Round count: 2
Par time: 1.5 seconds

Place a target at 25 yards. At the buzzer, engage the target with two rounds as quickly as possible.

Stage 4: Midrange reload
Round count: 6
Par time: 4 seconds (+1 second for closed pouches)

Load three rounds in one magazine and three rounds in another. Place a target at 50 yards. At the buzzer, engage the target with three rounds, reload, and engage the target with a further three rounds.

Stage 5: Long-range speed
Round count: 6
Par time: 4 seconds

Place a target at 100 yards. At the buzzer, engage the target with six rounds.

Stage 6: Long-range precision
Round count: 4
Par time: 8 seconds

Place a paper plate or 8″ steel at 100 yards. Start in your firing position of choice, carbine at low ready (for all positions except prone), or laying on the ground (for prone). At the buzzer, engage the target with four rounds.

Scoring
Score one point for every hit under par time. Passing score is 20.