jwfuhrman
05-09-14, 10:48
AAR of Costa Ludus Carbine Elements One @ Range Time Tactical - Lewis Indiana - 05/06-05/08
On Tuesday May 6, 2014, myself and training partner Nick arrived at 7:30 to Range Time Tactical in Lewis, Indiana. Now Range Time is home to the YouTubers Cory and Erika and I must say I am extremely impressed with what they have. Perfectly manicured grass range all the way out to 200 yards. Enough space on the berm for 25 of us to be far enough apart to not have to deal with brass in each others faces. Except my training partner seemed to like to keep getting closer and launch his brass down my neck or try to get it in my face.
We spent the first 30min loading mags and getting everything situated for the first day. Chris Costa arrived and had gave us a run down on how he would lay out a carbine, a little history of how things have progressed from 60 years of the M16/AR15 platform until present day. After that we all introduced ourselves and then hit the range.
First day was spent zeroing at 50 yards, then marksmanship and positions from 7 yards to 200 yards. Chris showed us techniques for standing, dynamic kneeling, kneeling supported, sitting and prone. Next up we started off doing Balance of Speed and Accuracy Drills. These consisted of keeping shots in a 6in vital zero out from 7 to 200 while learning at what shooting tempo we could most effectively achieve that balance between quick and accurate hits.
Having not really ever done much shooting outside of 50 yards with anything other than a 1-4 or 1-6 on a carbine, I was running my 14.5in Midlength BCM with 13in KMR and a Aimpoint 2MOA T1 on a ADM Co-Witness mount. I like the co-witness height vs 1/3 as it lets me get down on the rifle more like I want. That being said, just after the first day, I was 100% confident in my ability to get fast accurate hits in the 6in vital zone all the way to 200 yards.
2nd Day, we geared up and hit the line at 830 and started off with BSA and confirming zero's had not changed. Mine had not so I didn't need to make any adjustments. I found myself on the second day able to go quicker during the marksmanship phase of the day out to 200, usually being one of the first students done and still having all my hits in a nice little 6in circle.
After that we worked on BSA again and then moved on to transitions. The way Chris does things is a good way. He starts us off doing drills with just our handguns to get a feel for each individual shooters ability and whether the class can safely do transitions. He said that if we don't want to transition, just bag our pistols and not bring them out. Being that this was a Carbine course, I ended up bagging my handgun on the 3rd day and not using it anymore.
After lunch, which was provided by a Chuck Wagon(yea a real Chuck Wagon!) every day, we moved into more advanced positional shooting. We worked on various malfunctions like stove pipes, double feeds, bolt over rides and etc. Then worked on the various reloads, speed reloads, tac reloads and when to use each one.
We wrapped the day up around 4:30 with a culmination of everything we had learned thus far using Box Drills from 7 yards to 50 yards.
The 3rd and final day of the class we started around 8:30 again and like every day, we started with the general warm up of BSA, marksmanship and box drills. Chris then went into Urban prone and when and why we would employ such positions. After lunch we started into some moving drills. The RT instructors assisted Chris with this process to make sure everyone was moving with their muzzles depressed correctly, safeties on, fingers off the triggers. Once they were confident we could safely do this we did what Chris started what he calls "Relay Race".
We split up unto 3 groups of 7 and shot from 4 different distances with 2 rounds on each target at each position. This was a timed event and accuracy was key. Each hit OUTSIDE of the A zone of the target was an addition of 1 minute penalty to your teams time to complete the course. Sadly my group was 2nd place both rounds but not but much.
After the relay races Chris setup what I'm calling a "H Box" drill. The original 4 positions on each far side were still used, but then you turned and ran towards the middle but 15 yards back where there were 3 positions across the middle then you ran to the far side of the range and did the 4 positions straight back on that side. The thing about this drill was that it was you and another person running this drill at the same time. One started on the opposite side of the range as you did. Typically most shooters met at the very middle position, but I managed to be slightly quicker and made it to the far left middle position and waited so my self and my shooting partner at the time didn't collide in one giant thud.
Once everyone ran through this drill we finished up the class and helped to get Range Times range back to the original beauty it was when we arrived on Tuesday. We spent 30-45min picking up what seemed like a never ending amount of brass. Once we finished up, we did a debrief and received our certificates of course completion and the Costa Challenge Coins that are ONLY given to students who complete the course.
All in all this class was well worth every penny I spent to take it. I took 2400rds of 5.56x45 and came home with 120rds. I am now 100% MORE confident than in my ability to deploy my carbine than I was when I got to the class.
Being a 3gun shooter definitely helped to keep me ahead of the curve but its no where near enough to effectively employ a rifle or handgun in a real world fight.
I'm already looking at future courses with Chris, at some of Cory and Erika's up coming courses they put on and I will be attending the HSP Adaptive Carbine 2 course in September back at Range Time.
Until then, stay safe - Jon Fuhrman
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouu411oIQmw&list=UUYvlBEeEEoJE8uP7WWzPmnA&feature=share
On Tuesday May 6, 2014, myself and training partner Nick arrived at 7:30 to Range Time Tactical in Lewis, Indiana. Now Range Time is home to the YouTubers Cory and Erika and I must say I am extremely impressed with what they have. Perfectly manicured grass range all the way out to 200 yards. Enough space on the berm for 25 of us to be far enough apart to not have to deal with brass in each others faces. Except my training partner seemed to like to keep getting closer and launch his brass down my neck or try to get it in my face.
We spent the first 30min loading mags and getting everything situated for the first day. Chris Costa arrived and had gave us a run down on how he would lay out a carbine, a little history of how things have progressed from 60 years of the M16/AR15 platform until present day. After that we all introduced ourselves and then hit the range.
First day was spent zeroing at 50 yards, then marksmanship and positions from 7 yards to 200 yards. Chris showed us techniques for standing, dynamic kneeling, kneeling supported, sitting and prone. Next up we started off doing Balance of Speed and Accuracy Drills. These consisted of keeping shots in a 6in vital zero out from 7 to 200 while learning at what shooting tempo we could most effectively achieve that balance between quick and accurate hits.
Having not really ever done much shooting outside of 50 yards with anything other than a 1-4 or 1-6 on a carbine, I was running my 14.5in Midlength BCM with 13in KMR and a Aimpoint 2MOA T1 on a ADM Co-Witness mount. I like the co-witness height vs 1/3 as it lets me get down on the rifle more like I want. That being said, just after the first day, I was 100% confident in my ability to get fast accurate hits in the 6in vital zone all the way to 200 yards.
2nd Day, we geared up and hit the line at 830 and started off with BSA and confirming zero's had not changed. Mine had not so I didn't need to make any adjustments. I found myself on the second day able to go quicker during the marksmanship phase of the day out to 200, usually being one of the first students done and still having all my hits in a nice little 6in circle.
After that we worked on BSA again and then moved on to transitions. The way Chris does things is a good way. He starts us off doing drills with just our handguns to get a feel for each individual shooters ability and whether the class can safely do transitions. He said that if we don't want to transition, just bag our pistols and not bring them out. Being that this was a Carbine course, I ended up bagging my handgun on the 3rd day and not using it anymore.
After lunch, which was provided by a Chuck Wagon(yea a real Chuck Wagon!) every day, we moved into more advanced positional shooting. We worked on various malfunctions like stove pipes, double feeds, bolt over rides and etc. Then worked on the various reloads, speed reloads, tac reloads and when to use each one.
We wrapped the day up around 4:30 with a culmination of everything we had learned thus far using Box Drills from 7 yards to 50 yards.
The 3rd and final day of the class we started around 8:30 again and like every day, we started with the general warm up of BSA, marksmanship and box drills. Chris then went into Urban prone and when and why we would employ such positions. After lunch we started into some moving drills. The RT instructors assisted Chris with this process to make sure everyone was moving with their muzzles depressed correctly, safeties on, fingers off the triggers. Once they were confident we could safely do this we did what Chris started what he calls "Relay Race".
We split up unto 3 groups of 7 and shot from 4 different distances with 2 rounds on each target at each position. This was a timed event and accuracy was key. Each hit OUTSIDE of the A zone of the target was an addition of 1 minute penalty to your teams time to complete the course. Sadly my group was 2nd place both rounds but not but much.
After the relay races Chris setup what I'm calling a "H Box" drill. The original 4 positions on each far side were still used, but then you turned and ran towards the middle but 15 yards back where there were 3 positions across the middle then you ran to the far side of the range and did the 4 positions straight back on that side. The thing about this drill was that it was you and another person running this drill at the same time. One started on the opposite side of the range as you did. Typically most shooters met at the very middle position, but I managed to be slightly quicker and made it to the far left middle position and waited so my self and my shooting partner at the time didn't collide in one giant thud.
Once everyone ran through this drill we finished up the class and helped to get Range Times range back to the original beauty it was when we arrived on Tuesday. We spent 30-45min picking up what seemed like a never ending amount of brass. Once we finished up, we did a debrief and received our certificates of course completion and the Costa Challenge Coins that are ONLY given to students who complete the course.
All in all this class was well worth every penny I spent to take it. I took 2400rds of 5.56x45 and came home with 120rds. I am now 100% MORE confident than in my ability to deploy my carbine than I was when I got to the class.
Being a 3gun shooter definitely helped to keep me ahead of the curve but its no where near enough to effectively employ a rifle or handgun in a real world fight.
I'm already looking at future courses with Chris, at some of Cory and Erika's up coming courses they put on and I will be attending the HSP Adaptive Carbine 2 course in September back at Range Time.
Until then, stay safe - Jon Fuhrman
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouu411oIQmw&list=UUYvlBEeEEoJE8uP7WWzPmnA&feature=share