Paul Howe/CSAT held a Tactical Rifle class this weekend at the CSAT range in Nacogdoches, TX. This was my first class to attend, and thus this is my first AAR (so don’t expect much)
Paul has a great range facility. It is actually several ranges…a couple of 100 yard ranges, a 25 yard (or more?) pistol range, a shoot house, a 300+ yard range, and some areas for barricade work, door breaching, etc. He also has a classroom/gym/bunkhouse facility with a separate weapons cleaning shed. Nice setup IMHO. You can see some of this on his web site, but it doesn't do the place justice.
First off, I should point out that the tactical rifle 2-day class dovetailed with a tactical rifle instructor course, so there were really 2 classes going on at once. The instructor course attendees became assistant instructors/coaches for my class, under Paul’s tutelage. Most of the instructor class attendees were TX SWAT officers, but there was also a Blackwater guy, an Aimpoint sales rep, and some others. They were all nice guys, easy going, and very helpful. I was initially thrown off a bit by this concept, but later embraced it because it meant I had one dedicated coach the entire weekend.
Day one was mainly fundamentals, like Paul’s version of how to do things…his concept is one technique that can be carried across numerous scenarios. For instance, for loading the AR he teaches you to insert mag, pull on mag to ensure it is seated, pull back on charging handle to load, check to make sure round is chambered (some call it a press check), and 2 taps to forward assist. Why? Because that is the same procedure he teaches for remedial action (pull trigger, no bang). Ok, so back to the fundamentals, like proper trigger squeeze, shooting stance, positions…i.e., prone, kneeling and standing, etc. He also teaches to “lollipop” the target so you have good contrast between your sight and your point of aim. We spent the first part of the day on fundamentals and positions, and zeroed at 100 yards. I had a 50 yard zero when I came to class. He wants 100 yard zero because if you aim at upper chest with 100 yard zero, anywhere from 7 to 300 yards you’ll get hits on the torso (assuming a 16 inch barrel among other things). Again, his concept is to learn one thing for multiple applications.
Once we got all that down we got timed on his “standards” which put into practice all we’d been taught. Standards were:
5 shots from 100 yds, (starting from standing position) prone 20 sec
5 shots from 75 yds, (starting from standing position) kneeling 20 sec
5 shots from 50 yds, (starting from standing position) kneeling 20 sec
5 shots from 25 yds, standing 8 sec
1 shot from 7 yds, standing 1 sec
2 shots from 7 yds, standing 1.5 sec
5 to the body, 1 to the head, 7 yds, standing 3 sec
2 shots on one target, 2 shots on target to left or right, 7 yds, standing 3 sec
The targets were his CSAT targets which are like regular humanoid targets but have a box down the mid-section maybe 5 inches across, but fairly tall. Hits must be in the box to count.
I will say that at lunch on day 1 I was not sure I liked what I was doing. I wanted to run around barrels and be “tactical” and stuff. But, it “clicked” in the afternoon that Paul’s concepts of weapon deployment are centered around accuracy and simplicity. So first we had to ensure we could shoot accurately, and could get into proper shooting stances depending on distance/situation. He was giving us a good foundation upon which we could a) deploy our rifles in a variety of situations, and b) build upon.
I was also not sure about having these SWAT guys there at first, but my coach was very helpful and I ended up thankful that I had a one-on-one coach right there helping me out the whole time. Plus he was a really cool guy, as were pretty much all the other guys out there.
Day 2 we started with shooting standards, but this time the targets were wearing shirts. Then we learned how to come out from behind cover to shoot, like down a hallway. Then we did some “surgical shooting” where we had to shoot a bad guy in the head, but his head was right next to a hostage. There were 5 targets per target board, and each one showed less of the bad guy…that is, less “target” was visible. There were 5 of these boards, so 25 total shots. We did this at 7 yards, and had to walk around instructors while moving down the line. We only had time to do this once. I would have liked to do it a few times. Then we moved to the 300 yard range and did some 200 and 300 yard shooting. We did a few rounds of that then did the “scrambler” which at first glance looked easy but turned out to be quite challenging, but very fun. It was a 2-man team, 5 shots per station shooting at steel targets. You got 5 shots (each man) to hit the target and if you missed you moved on. It started with a 300 yd shot, then you ran down the hill to the next position, on and on. For each position the student had to determine on their own how to engage, from standing, kneeling or prone. For many targets there was vegetation obscuring your position, or the target, so you had to get creative. Shots ranged from 300 to about 100 yards. There were about 4 positions to engage steel with your pistol, the first of which was 100 yards!It was a 5x6, or maybe 6x8 inch plate. I was all around it, but missed. I did hit the other steel with pistol, the longest of which was maybe around 40 yards…? Anyway, the scrambler was 200 yds down the hill, about 100 yds across, then 200 yds back up hill and ended with a 300 yd shot. My partner and I clocked about 9 min 30 sec time, one of the best times. Plus we had many 1st shot hits. I was very surprised we did so well, and I credit Paul’s training techniques and my coach with my performance.
We finished the day with one more run of the standards, then Paul gave a class on weapon cleaning and lubrication. Then he took questions on weapons, calibers, etc. Then it was all over.
It was a great class, especially for someone like me who was taking their first class. I highly recommend it. I would even go back to the same class again, as I’m sure I would get more out of it the second time.
By the way, I shot my M&P15 with Prvi Partizan 55 gr M193 ammo out of Pmags. No problems. I used my Aimpoint Micro most of the time, but did work in my iron sights from time to time to make sure I was dialed in with them too.
Did I leave out anything important? If so, let me know. (Other than pictures…sorry, I didn’t have a camera. Plus I was too busy shooting anyway.)
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Originally Posted by Blinking Dog
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