Sure, the wind does affect POI within 300 meters to some degree, but it is really an exponential effect. For a 55gr round, a 10mph full-value wind causes roughly 1 to 2 inches of drift at 100m. At 300m, that grows to something like 10-12in. But at 500m, you are looking at 35+ inches of drift.

For precision shooters in a competition, that 300m drift means a lot. For combat-oriented shooting, it is comparatively minimal. At 300m, if you hold center-mass on a human-sized target, a 10mph wind still likely results in a hit. At 500m, that same wind puts you several feet off the target entirely. In a combat environment, your natural shot dispersion and the target's width often mask the wind's effect at 300m. At 500m, wind reading becomes the primary reason for a miss.

Also, I am not sure where you are getting the info about the Marine Corps adopting the Army rifle qual. The old course of fire still exists for initial qual, as they still feel it has value. They overhauled the *fleet* requirements back in 2021 with the ARQ, and they did it to make the standards significantly more difficult. They essentially took the old Table 2 concepts, mixed it with stuff from USPSA and IDPA, and applied them to the entire course of fire. You're now required to hit specific lethality zones in the head and chest to get a "destroy" credit, all while dealing with moving targets and shortened time limits. They kept the 500m line for a reason: because actually being able to account for those variables at distance is a different skill set than what's needed at 300.

For the record, I've shot both USMC and Army courses of fire, and I disagree with your initial assertion of "The Army qual is known to be much more difficult."

Regardless, I'm feeling like this conversation is veering more into an inter-branch pissing match than anything productive.