tamabrand
04-03-12, 21:40
Sunday, April 1st, beautiful day for shooting. Quick background: Civvie and civvie brother, took basic NRA pistol classes for CHP pre-req (and the VSM Handgun class the day before the carbine class). Two other students were Scott (Chris named him Barry unofficially) and Matt. We were able to get on the range around 1000 and start setting up. Chris did his intro and safety brief of course and we set off to zero. After zeroing we started at about 25 yards or so with some drills, biggest thing for me was getting used to the hold-over but damn if it wasn't satisfying to put holes in that index card somewhat consistently at that short range. Moving back some we started shooting at a steel target (I think it was 12x12) and I felt like I couldn't hit it to save my life, which was more than likely because I was snatching the trigger. We had 1 or 2 double feeds from the same rifle which was a valuable training point (LOCK THE BOLT TO THE REAR) but other than that I don't recall any other malfunctions.
We worked thru the afternoon doing drills both timed and not, reload drills (case in point where I smoked my brother :D). The 10-2 drill would have killed me if we did it on the timer. Really drove it home that I need to not get ahead of myself and just pull the target thru the sights. We fired on the 12x12 until it finally decided it was done and broke. We still had the 8inch plates so it wasn't a huge deal, and for some reason I think I did better shooting at the 8inch plates than the 12x12 plate, maybe because I took more time to aim (and in some cases, I took an eternity to shoot). We also worked on transitioning the weapon to the support hand which wasn't too terribly awkward except Chris pointed out I still had the footing for shooting right handed, whoops.
Near the end of the day I did feel like I had started to do a little better, and it's really reinforced the fact that I need to not just go blasting when I shoot. I also have to give huge props to Chris for working with my brother since he's wrong eye dominant and right handed and really appreciate that he hooked him up with a sling (plus the holster the day before) so he could shoot left. I was nervous my brother wouldn't enjoy the classes too much but after the handgun class the day before, the dude was hooked and I have to say it's due to Chris being a fantastic instructor and very very approachable. From the class I know I need to work on my not-snatching the trigger, controlling my breathing and not sitting there all day waiting for the sights to line up, along with things like scan and assess, checking my work through my sights/dogshit+1. That said, I know I'll come back to a class by Chris, more than likely again this year to see how I've improved along with picking up anything I missed the first time around and maybe picking up on anything Chris has learned since the previous class. Definite recommend to all in the VA area, was well worth the drive.
Quick gearlist: BCM 16"mid/CharlesDaly lower, Aimpoint PRO; Colt6920 w/ BCM bcg/BCM lower, EoTech xps2-0; pmags with IMI m193, froglube. Everyone in the class had Vickers slings. Not sure what Scott and Matt and ran.
We worked thru the afternoon doing drills both timed and not, reload drills (case in point where I smoked my brother :D). The 10-2 drill would have killed me if we did it on the timer. Really drove it home that I need to not get ahead of myself and just pull the target thru the sights. We fired on the 12x12 until it finally decided it was done and broke. We still had the 8inch plates so it wasn't a huge deal, and for some reason I think I did better shooting at the 8inch plates than the 12x12 plate, maybe because I took more time to aim (and in some cases, I took an eternity to shoot). We also worked on transitioning the weapon to the support hand which wasn't too terribly awkward except Chris pointed out I still had the footing for shooting right handed, whoops.
Near the end of the day I did feel like I had started to do a little better, and it's really reinforced the fact that I need to not just go blasting when I shoot. I also have to give huge props to Chris for working with my brother since he's wrong eye dominant and right handed and really appreciate that he hooked him up with a sling (plus the holster the day before) so he could shoot left. I was nervous my brother wouldn't enjoy the classes too much but after the handgun class the day before, the dude was hooked and I have to say it's due to Chris being a fantastic instructor and very very approachable. From the class I know I need to work on my not-snatching the trigger, controlling my breathing and not sitting there all day waiting for the sights to line up, along with things like scan and assess, checking my work through my sights/dogshit+1. That said, I know I'll come back to a class by Chris, more than likely again this year to see how I've improved along with picking up anything I missed the first time around and maybe picking up on anything Chris has learned since the previous class. Definite recommend to all in the VA area, was well worth the drive.
Quick gearlist: BCM 16"mid/CharlesDaly lower, Aimpoint PRO; Colt6920 w/ BCM bcg/BCM lower, EoTech xps2-0; pmags with IMI m193, froglube. Everyone in the class had Vickers slings. Not sure what Scott and Matt and ran.