|
AAR: 1-Day Introductory Carbine Course JAN 21, 2012
Class: Tigerswan 1-day Introduction to carbine JAN 21, 2012
Instructor: Eddie, retired unit member. Great guy, very humble, excellent teacher.
Location: TSTCC
Gear: VTAC brokos belt with TT three mag shingle
Rifle: Kaiser Defense lower/ BCM middy upper w/ VTAC TRX 13” rail, Aimpoint H-1 on Larue, VTAC padded sling
Experience: Tigerswan 1-day Intro Pistol
The weather that day was pretty crappy having heavy rain right after the lunch break. But we all pushed on and completed a great day. The class was all AR15s with one FN SCAR 16s. The rain and wet sand started getting into our rifles and we saw quite a few stoppages with a couple of AR15s. I don’t remember the brands of the ARs that had problems. I personally had zero malfunctions the entire class, but I could feel a lot of grit in it when I charged it. I kept my rifle wet, constantly applying lube (Slip 2000). My buddy ran a brand new complete BCM carbine and ran into quite a few stoppages (FTFs, bolt not going into battery), but I’m pretty sure it was because it had not been broken in yet. Dropping mags into wet sand did not help with reliability issues as we inserted them back into the rifles after being dropped.
After intros and the safety brief were given we proceeded to zero our carbines at 100 yards on NRA B8 targets. We shot multiple 10 round groups to get our zeros and between each string Eddie explained to us a new skill to focus on. I do not remember the exact order he went but the strategy was good as it did not overflow us with information. It allowed us to add on each fundamental building on top of the other.
Once zeros were confirmed we started with a scored drill at 100 yards starting in the standing position. Once the buzzer goes off you go into the prone and proceed to fire a 10 shot group with one reload for score with a 60 second time limit. The purpose was to make sure we use the full 60 seconds given to us as many of us rushed the first time and threw some shots. We recorded the scores and shot it a couple more times, hopefully having a higher score the next time. Everything Tigerswan does is for score and the goal is to strive for an improvement in that score.
We next covered kneeling. Their method was to make sure the back leg was more than 90 degrees. After practicing a couple of times at 100 yards, we brought the timer back into play. It was run the same way, starting standing, go into kneeling and fire 10 rounds at an NRA B8 target. Once again every run was scored and we compared scores from previous runs to see if we were improving. We covered the kneeling into the lunch break.
While at lunch it started to downpour and from then on it was constant rain.
Once everyone was back we proceeded to start shooting at around 10 yards at IPSC cardboard targets. We first went over a fighting stance with a rifle. It was not a stance where one would purposely angle the plates towards the enemy. To put things simple it was just an aggressive boxing stance. This made it easier to engage targets that are around you without having to move your feet.
The first timed event we did was from the low ready (I don’t remember the term used but it was having the rifle at 45 degree angle). Once the buzzer sounded, put a round in the A-zone with a par time of .75 seconds. We ran this multiple times and then moved on to two rounds into the A-zone with a par time of 1.25 seconds. Running this addressed having to hold higher when close due to height over bore.
Once people were starting to run dry on their magazine, Eddie covered reloads and why he uses the method that he uses. He advocates the “beer can” grip (rounds facing back) and putting the rifle in a high ready position while reloading. The high ready position (stock tucked in armpit) allows you to put the mag well in-between your eyes and your target allowing you to keep alert; it also allows the shooter to control the rifle while moving. The beer can grip is used as when you are moving it is easier to insert as you have total control of the magazine. This grip also allows you to push pull easily to check if the magazine is fully inserted.
For the next drill we ran what they called tempo change, where you would engage the credit card. It was called tempo change as you had to slow down to get the hit in the credit card. We would do different variations of the tempo change on one target. After a couple of runs we went into engaging multiple targets and worked on transitioning. Eddie taught to grab as far as you can forward as this would help stabilizing the rifle during transitions. We did tempo changes on multiple targets as well (A-zone, credit card, A-zone). Doing transitions was when malfunctions started to creep up as we were doing more reloads in nonstop rain.
After transitions we moved into the last drill of the day, extreme transitions. It consisted of four IPSC targets being placed far apart making you have to really drive your rifle. It also taught us to make sure to see the target first to prevent sweeping past the target. After running this a couple of times, it was almost completely dark so we called it a day. I am sure none of us wanted it to end even though we were all soaking wet.
Eddie was an awesome instructor and cannot say enough good things about him and the Tigerswan crew. For $210, this is a bargain for the level of training you receive. I would not hesitate to take another Tigerswan class.
|
.gif){kind=logo}
Good read!
Linear Mode
