Here in Iowa the rules vary by county and the sheriff sets them. If you put down ‘self defense’ as your reason on the application our sheriff will not give you one. However ‘often carry at least 500 in cash’ is a good enough reason. Such a nice warm fuzzy to know our lives are worth exactly 500 in cash. He also has the testing requirements set overly high. The test for my Florida permit was not nearly that bad. 10 or 15 yards and I aced it pretty easily even timed.
25 is not impossible as you know but they only defensive caliber handguns we have that Jen likes to shoot are really short barrel. I should be fine with my 1911s but it gave us a good excuse to get here a 5” 9mm. I was going to just wait until the election (local sheriff election is this year) since the guy is retiring and his replacements look much better. But the guy at the gun store I trust pointed out there will be a big rush in the fall after that so we should just get one now and have it updated then. The ones that he issues now have a restriction to only be valid if you have that 500 on you. But the word is the presumptive new guy will swap out permits with that restriction.
I have an SLR101 and even with a poorly sighted in scope I can hit within an inch or two at 100 yards. I don't pay much more attention than that. Without a spotting scope all I shoot at that range are sticks and clays that people leave out on the berm. So all I have to go from for accuracy is the puffs of dirt. I need to get a nice spotting scope before I can do much to tune up my long range skills.
Be sure to have a hugh wad of cash on you when you go for your interview.
Michigan had a permit system that became, by misuse, a "may issue" system. The small counties were generally good on issuing "general" CCWs, but the big counties only issued "restricted" CCWs unless you hit the right political buttons with the sheriff or chief of police.
About ten years ago, the state constitution was amended to say that "shall issue" really means shall issue.
Now the politicians are trying to add hair-splitting conditions to deny licenses, including being charged (but not convicted) of misdemeanor breach of peace.