AAR, Milwaukee COPS and 10-32 Solutions

[Kevin]

Milwaukee Community Outreach Partners and 10-32 Solutions partnered up again for two great days of training, last weekend, October 25th & 26th.

First of all, a big “THANK YOU” goes out to all of our students. Without you guys, we wouldn’t be here. Another to Jerry, without him Sunday would have been rough. Finally, Mike from Appalachian Training. Thanks, guys!

I’ll touch only briefly on the weather as it couldn’t have been much better, especially for late October on Lake Michigan. Saturday was beautiful, mostly sunny and in the mid 60’s to low 70’s, but very windy. So windy, that our targets stands were blowing over. Once we staked them down…1x2’s started to snap and backers began to fly away. It wasn’t a big deal as we always have extra supplies, but it is just another reminder to bring more than what you think you might need. While this goes to show that you can’t beat Mother Nature, we can expand this to all of our class prep to include food and drinks, but especially outerwear and tools. With the wind, had there been precipitation or colder temps we would have found out quickly who heeded my advice to be prepared for any weather. The bottom line…bring more than you think might need!

Sunday was mostly sunny and cooler, but no wind; a good thing because Chad worked our students back to the 400 yard line. Had we had crazy winds like Saturday, it likely would have had a serious negative impact on training.

Now, I know some of you out there are thinking “windy conditions exist in the real world, so you should train like you might have to fight…” While that’s true, and we do preach that we should train in as close conditions as possible to how we may have to fight; in the beginning stages of that training, friendlier conditions will make for safer and more thorough understanding of what we want to teach, and less frustration.

Many of our students had not shot much beyond 100 yards. By the end of Sunday, everybody was hitting consistently out to 400, mostly with 16” barreled AR’s and red-dot type sights. That’s no small feat and is a testament to both good students who pay attention, and Chad’s ability to instruct.

Except for the above, my AAR won’t touch on Sunday/Carbine Zero-400. I underestimated the amount of work it would take in the pits to keep the class running smoothly, so the decision was made and I spent most of Sunday working the target carriers with Jerry. I have, however, read both Chad’s and Mike’s AAR’s, and they are spot-on.

Our prior classes have focused mainly on shooting. With this class, I wanted to shift focus a bit to concentrate more on mindset and continuing training.

Saturday began with the obligatory med and safety brief; then we moved right into the Dry Training discussion. I am a huge proponent of dry training, which is essentially “going through the motions, with a purpose and a focus.” The purpose of dry training is for us to become extremely familiar with our weapons, and to build that muscle memory that allows us to simply react to a stimulus from our gear, instead of having to think about it. Most of the drills we perform live in class can be duplicated dry. While there’s more to this story, in a nutshell, we can fine tune our grip, draw and trigger control. Reloads and malfunction clearances can become very smooth, and by definition, faster.

It’s pretty easy to develop dry drills for yourself, remember to keep a journal and track your progress. 10-15 minutes a day, at least three times a week will make a noticeable difference within a month or two.

There are, however, several caveats to dry training:
** You must triple check your weapon and any associated magazines, to ensure they are all empty or contain only dummy rounds.
** You must only train in a location that will stop a bullet
** Read the above again
** Never simulate recoil
** You must know what you’re looking for; for instance, proper sight focus…front sight for a pistol, target focus while using an RDS.
** You must be brutally honest with yourself
** Focus on being “smooth”
** Shot timers are hugely beneficial
** As the season and temperature changes, consider dry training with lighter or heavier clothing

We moved into a mindset lecture, and my own quick “mindset motivational quote”
"the absolute belief, that you are right, and that you will DOMINATE!"

We develop that absolute belief through experience and training. And we don’t fight to win, we fight to dominate. Winning is not enough, we must come through unscathed, and keep on going, even if severely injured. Several recent case studies were presented in which both good guys and bad guys soaked up a lot of rounds and kept on going, including a local incident in which a very non-stereotypical victim was shot over a dozen times and kept on going. Barring that instantaneous killing shot, much of what happens in the 10-30 seconds after you are injured…is up to you. You can give up, or keep going and dominate.

We also talked about being prepared and how that relates to locking doors even when you’re home, seatbelts and fire extinguishers. Do you have a “duty to intervene” and how does that change as your situation changes…are you with your child or another armed adult, for instance. Additionally we discussed how the aftermath of dominating a deadly force situation may affect you and your loved ones down the road.

Upon moving to live fire, we sighted in as a group at 50 yards. Our reasoning for a 50 yard zero had been discussed in the classroom. Students sighted in from prone while resting the magazine on the deck, and believe it or not there were no malfunctions. That old wives tale has been shown many, many times to be just that. Zero confirmation is always a slow spot in the day, and it’s the reason my range classes are nine hours.

I understand that many people may not have access to a rifle range. (A good reason to join RCLRC!) There’s a pretty easy kitchen-table method to bore sight any AR-based rifle, shoot Chad or I an email and we can explain it quickly.

For the remainder of the day, we split the class into two relays. This allows us to shrink the instructor to student ratio and gives students time to reload magazines and grab a snack.

Inevitably, something will come up in one relay that did not in the other. For that reason, the non-shooting relay is not only welcome, but encouraged to come to the line to watch and listen. This has a two-fold benefit that increases training value. First, (see above,) something will always come up that otherwise would have been missed by the other relay. This could be a funky gear malfunction or simply outstanding shooting, or anything in between. Second, students will get the equivalent of several more repetitions by watching and listening.

As this was meant to be a refresher/continuing education class, we briefly discussed and demo’d various malfunctions. Gear selection was talked about briefly, but most students were returnees, which enabled us to save a few minutes. We had a few individual teaching points as gear and placement issues popped up.

Offset drills and optic down drills were shot by the class. These are always eye-openers and some teaching points were discussed.
I really like “changing gears” drills and they can be run in any number of different ways. The basics…big targets close up and smaller targets farther away. Know when you can speed up and have a not-quite-perfect sight picture; likewise know when you need to slow down. Chad got into this a little more with his first-best sight picture lecture.

Another one of my favorites are multiple target drills. The important thing to remember when running these yourself, especially in dry training, is to ensure your eyes move in front of your gun. We have to remember to break that sight picture, find the target, then re-establish your sight picture. It will be faster than maintaining a sight picture while searching for another target.

As Chad mentioned, we had several .22’s in class. I am a big proponent of consistency in training, and as such a big proponent of .22’s that have the same manual of arms as your full size guns. Several manufacturers make 22LR versions of their full sized guns, and these are generally worth looking into.

Mike from Appalachian Training came up for these classes, and he is an absolute stand-up guy. It was a pleasure to meet him and spend some time with him, and his insights into these classes will be incorporated in all future training. If you are looking for body armor, look him up and he will take good care of you!

Again, I want to thank all of the students that came out to shoot with us. Jerry, (a.k.a Dusty Varmint,) a student, friend, helper and all-around good guy. You’re a natural at this and I appreciate your input and hard work. Mike, thanks for your insight into our training, thought provoking AAR’s, and good discussion around the kitchen table! It was great to meet and spend time with you, and I hope to do it again.

[BC520]

10-32 Solutions and Milwaukee COPS collaborated again on a pair of carbine classes at the Racine County Line Rifle Club. T1 was points of instruction and a course of fire set up as continuing education for shooters that have been through previous defensive carbine instruction, and T2 was a new format called Carbine Zero-400 that would challenge shooters to apply marksmanship fundamentals in drills set up at close range fighting distances that make up the majority of deadly force applications or competition stages, as well as at various distances out to 400 yards with common red dot optics, open sights, or low power variable optics. The goal was to become proficient with the setup of a single firearm. We lucked out on several aspects of the weather, as late October on the shores of Lake Michigan can make for drastic and opposite weather changes in a matter of minutes.

Weather on T1 was sunny starting in the 50's and finishing in the low 70's. The afternoon turned very windy, and target stands were anchored. Eleven shooters used a variety of firearms, with one older 5.45x39 SAR-2, a few M4 pattern 5.56's, and five .22 rimfire carbines, with four being M4 conversions or replicas and one a Ruger 10/22.

Rimfires have always been welcome at our courses, as they can serve a training purpose. Before the ammunition shortage of recent years, .22 LR was an economical alternative to getting some trigger time, but is unfortunately less so now. I've done a lot with .22's in my life, and I think I am going to re-structure some drills to try and address some of the areas where they can create bad habits. There were a lot of times when those with .22's had it too easy, and I found I was changing things up to challenge them. The M&P15/22 worked flawlessly, and two of the various CMMG's functioned well. However, one didn't even get to fire a single shot. When one shooter, who is a long-time High Power competitor, tried to chamber rounds, they stopped at an angle with about 1/8-1/4 inch of brass showing. He had invested a lot in that gun, and it was as clean as it was if new. I noticed a tiny indentation above the chamber where the firing pin appeared to be contacting it. It is unknown if that was the cause or, not, but the shooter had to use a spare from Colt/Umarex another shooter brought.

The class started with some time in the clubhouse discussing some of the mindsets and principles of defensive shooting we want instilled in our students, similar to how Law Enforcement Instructors commonly go over policy and Use of Force guidelines to make sure they are understood. In the future, we are going to fine tune the classroom portions so it isn’t bunched up in the morning as much, as we want to get pulling triggers earlier as well.


Zeroing had some issues, and it took probably 3-4 times as long as we budgeted for time for. We try and make sure that people zero before class so that we can quickly confirm and tweak a zero if need be instead of sighting in something from the start. However, I also know that range access to get zeroed can be difficult for people, especially in the Chicago and SE WI areas. I have an idea that will help us accelerate the process and be able to accommodate those that are confirming versus those who need to establish a basic zero.


Most of the class was returning students, and there were a few fresh faces. The drills we focused on for this day involved largely the ability to address multiple targets with techniques like Look-Shoot and trigger manipulations taught. We set up two relays for more personal instruction, and students not on the line appreciated the chance to take a step back and learn by observing other things going on with the students on the line. It offset the “Drinking from the Firehose” effect that happens frequently, and several students commented it helped them learn as well.


Students used different gear configurations, and tips such as mag placement and orientation were given to some to increase their efficiency. Many students used the same gear the had in previous classes so they were used to it. I enjoy seeing Pat and Matt, who I’ve trained alongside before in addition to the courses they attend from us, because their setups do not change and have been the same for nearly a decade if not longer. Experience shows do not mess with what works sometimes.


However, sometimes someone will introduce a new piece of equipment with the intention of shaking it out. I strongly encourage this, but with the caveat that some of that shakedown is accomplished BEFORE class during Dry practice. That would have saved one student from a series of errors on T2 that kept compounding and snowballing that provided a laugh and an excellent teaching point. The student is an excellent student, and is usually is one we know will give us a teaching point because of his personality and enthusiastic approach to our methods. Because he tries to learn, he makes mistakes, and what makes him a good student is when a mistake occurs he is completely receptive to follow-up instruction and corrections. He applies them, does make the same mistake again, and thus his skills grow.


I feel comfortable sharing this students mistakes because of his ability to learn from them. This is the second failure I have seen with a Magpul magazine coupler. Both failures were from operator error in setting up the required drop of the reload magazine, and would be discovered with a few minutes of dry practice. This student conducted a reload with his mag coupler. The magazine was set high enough that it completely blocked the ejection port, and caused an immediate and rare classic stovepipe stoppage. Student released the magazines and tried to pull out the stoppage instead of using Push/Pull-Roll-Rack. I stopped him and reminded him what he needed to do, and he put in a fresh magazine to do the proper malfunction clearance. He did not push/pull, and the magazine fell out as he tried to finish the drill-twice. Sometime in this, he created an induced double feed, and he was running out of magazines. To his credit, he finally got ahead of the snowballing issues and worked through the problems instead of locking up. Which is what we ask.


We have an approach when it comes to various uses of gear or accessories. We ask why that student uses something a certain way to justify it, and ask follow up questions to get the gears turning. Students know us well enough that if we dislike something, we have reasons, but we leave it up to the student if it’s not totally messed up. Most of the time, the offending item is removed or placement is changed. I noticed a Grip Pod disappeared after a student found out for himself it wasn’t the best use of space. Sometimes, people have to learn for themselves.


T2 started out sunny and brisk in the 40’s until the sun could clear the berm and warm up. The rest of the day topped out in the low 60’s, with winds of about 5-7 mph. I appreciated not having an extreme variable to deal with in the 300-400 range. We started out with a lecture that was intended to bring about some of the mindsets of the rifleman and citizen and LE use of rifles and carbines through the ages. We discussed various incidents that nationally and locally that help give perspective and that have helped lend acceptance to modern carbine use. We discussed advantages and disadvantages of some of the more common zeros, including a brief mention on the Tactical 49 yard zero, and the merits of the Canadian 50 Yard zero versus the 50 Meter zero.


Carbines were all 5.56 variants, although a couple of .308’s were broken out towards the end of the day. Optics were largely Aimpoints with 2 MOA and 4 MOA dots, some EoTech’s, the Vortex 1-6 Razor, and a Burris 1-4. Students were to use the same carbine they started with.


Zero confirmations were smooth, and everyone chose the 50 yard zero for the intermediate distance use. The main focus of this class was accuracy, and proper application of marksmanship fundamentals and returning to a Rifleman mentality allowed for increased efficiency at all distances. We went over trigger control, grip and stance, various shooting positions, and we made sure to separate the competition mentality from the fighting one. We discussed 1st Best Sight Picture, easily one of the best techniques I have been taught to get me faster and more accurate hits as distance to a threat increases.


We warmed up with some trigger drills that I incorporated various features on our target to accomplish. I moved everyone back to the 50 to work on positional shooting, and then worked on trigger manipulation, target discrimination, and close range shooting stances and mindsets. Once students had the chance to warm up, we switched to a 500 yard KD range.


We used a large, 45”x35” B-20 National Silhouette Target. This target is manila-colored paper with a black, true to life-size humanoid silhouette on it. It provides a very stark contrast and is easily visible at distance, even with old eyes. Centered about diaphragm level is a sub 3.5” white bullseye with B-27 type rings around it. Use of this target allowed students to train on range finding and learn the downward sides of their trajectory. Using an oversize target allowed students to still see the target past 200 yards and develop confidence in aiming points for human threats.


We confirmed bullet impacts at 100, 300, and 400 and confirmed and tweaked 50 yard zeros at 200. While not much tweaking was involved usually, most everyone required a small bit of adjustment to center their groups at 200. If you use the 50/200, it is imperative your zero has been verified at 200 if you’re pulling the trigger in defense. Too much liability is at stake not to.


Drills at the 100 involved working with various barricade options, and kneeling or prone positions. It is important to get as stable as possible as the distance to ones target increases. This can be accomplished by utilizing some form of a rest or by getting lower to the ground, ideally in a form of prone. However, terrain or the threat might not allow you to use prone, hence the need to also work with kneeling. Students progressively gained confidence, and by the end of the day, groups at 400 yards were the same as groups shot earlier at 100 yards.


One student broke out a LaRue OBR at 400 due to a stigmatism that changed his EoTech dot to an oblong shape that changed shapes. His accuracy limit as such was reached at 300 yards. It was interesting to note that his groups at 400 with the OBR was about five-inches in size. Another student changed from his Sig 5.56mm carbine to a SCAR 17 at the 200 yard line for his own reasons. Groups were impressive at the 300 line, but his groups became inconsistent. I noted his trigger finger placement was rubbing on the side of the lower receiver, and while that may have caused some of the inconsistency, his groups were off to the right and adjustments to the optic didn’t seem to help. He said at the end of the day he discovered his mount had loosened up. A good point to take away is to check your equipment prior to class. That student lost a prime opportunity to see his capabilities at a rare chance for him of 400 yards, all because of his equipment.


Overall, it was a good experience, both from feelings of the instructors, as well as student feedback. I wish to publically thank Jerry, a RCLRC club member. He gave his time to assist in setup and tear down, and pit duty. Without his assistance, we would not have gotten the amounts of shooting in that we did. Jerry’s help and performing needed tasks before we even thought to ask him was essential to Kevin and I being able to stay on track. Thank you Jerry.

BC520

[Appalachian]

AAR Milwaukee COPS (Kevin) and 10-32 Solutions (BC520)
Defensive Carbine - TD1, zero400 Carbine - TD2
25-26 OCT 14
Milwaukee, WI

12 students TD1, 8 on TD2 (courses could be taken independently). Students were all civilian, some with prior military experience. Most were local to WI and northern IL, one traveled from KY.
Firearms. There were other variants, but generally TD1 was a mix of AR/M4, AR style .22s, and a single AK. On TD2 the .22s disappeared as we progressed to extended shooting ranges out to 400 yards. RDS optics included Aimpoint and EoTechs with a few magnifiers attached, magnified optics were few. Weapon malfunctions (that I saw from my end of the line) were induced by the usual suspects -magazines or the loose nut behind the gun.
Range was KEV149's club range, fully capable of supporting the course POI.
I intentionally participated in the course sans my usual carbine load carriage (other than typical CCW setup) since that would probably be my particular set of conditions if I were to employ a carbine for defense. Weapon system was BCM with a 14.5 permed A2X, EXPS and keymod rail. Backup was another BCM with a T1, however the primary remained FMC for the duration.

Instructors were the owners of 10-32 Solutions (Chad) and Milwaukee COPS (Kevin), both are current LE officers.

Brief Course Overview:
TD1. Defensive Carbine I focused on the fundamentals of operating a carbine and target engagement. Class included a short lecture on safety, mindset, external ballistics as related to the carbine zero, and shot placement in order to stop a threat. Students then confirmed zero (or zeroed in some cases) and then conducted various drills inside the 25 yard line for the remainder of the class.
TD2. Carbine Zero-400. Course included a short discussion on the range focused on the use of the carbine as a defensive firearm and the advantages/disadvantages as compared to shotgun or handgun. Students fired a series of drills from 50 yards and in, then progressed to KD range out to 400 yards. We conducted several iterations at 100, 200, 300 and finally 400 yards on life size silhouette targets.

In addition to Kevin and Chad’s base AAR above, highlights from my perspective attending as a student:
Per SOP, some students had issues with gear setups and firearms during execution. Among these (no mal intent or negligence, just education and experience) mistakes I saw were:

Mag couplers. A bad idea to start with, even more so when put together improperly as to become an on-board malfunction inducing device.
Mag pouches / belts improperly setup. Mags were carried improperly for efficient reloads
Wearing too much kit. I see this often, civilian shooters typically carry way too much "stuff". Students carrying far too many primary mags, gear they may be unprepared to use or has no use, or sacrifice carrying something useful to make room for an unneeded item.
Single point bungee type slings and Grip pods. No discussion necessary.

The good news story is the students would quickly discover for themselves that something was not set up properly for them. Chad and Kevin would talk them through with leading questions and et them arrive at their own conclusions and resolutions.

My takeaways from the course:
A 14.5 in carbine with XM193 ammo will achieve acceptable center mass hits at 400 yards and in when the proper holdovers are applied.
First best sight picture was reinforced throughout the course. Bad news and sight pictures don’t get better with age. The instructors’ emphasis on this helped maintain focus and shooter performance later in the day as fatigue set in and the tendency is to chase sight pictures.

Brakes on 5.56 carbines. My opinion remains that a defensive carbine (mine anyway) should not have a brake unless a suppressor is moounted. For the life of me I can’t think of any civilian defensive situation I would be in where an exposed brake would be an advantage for me over a standard flash suppressor. Mitigation of the light recoil of the 5.56/M4 combination can be achieved without mounting the fratricide flash-bang (restrictive state laws notwithstanding, understand that it may be the ONLY option for some). I think civilian shooters need to come to terms with brake use and apply reality. If the carbine is a class / competition / range item only then have at it, but on a defensive carbine an exposed brake (no suppressor) is a non-starter. It sucks bad enough shooting next to braked carbines out in the open with earpro…firing inside a building (in this case home defense applications) is awful at best. Adding family or team mates in close proximity will further complicate the issue.

4 MOA RDS past 200 yards. This was demonstrated clearly when I saw an outstanding shooter that was getting center hits at 200 with a 4MOA T1 that had difficulty at 3 and 400 yards. The ~16 inch red dot at 400 was doing him no favors. This was one of those rare times in class when you know there is a shooter that can perform better than what his equipment will support. That experience convinced him to change his setup post-class.

General comments.
One of Chad and Kevin’s approaches is know why you are doing / using something and be able to articulate the logic behind the choice. They did an outstanding job getting their teaching points across without belittling students or riding them to the point where they shut down. The leading / Socratic questions and application of both their experiences were invaluable to the students.

Sometimes when there is a partner teach there is natural tension that can become unhealthy and distracting to the students in execution. This was not the case with the joint 10-32 Solutions / MilwaukeeCOPS course. I found it to be quite an advantage for the students to hear opposing instructor views expressed in front of the class as these were never presented in terms of “right and wrong” or argumentative. This was definitely a strength these two gentlemen have developed over the years working together.
This is a high-value course, the student really gets a lot more than what they pay for. Training days were long, but in execution they seemed like they were over all too quickly. The instructors managed the tempo and content delivery to keep the students engaged, but not to the point of grinding them down to the point of shooter fatigue and mental checkout.

It was an 8 hour drive for me to attend, I will gladly do it again in the future. The students there are a blast and some of the nicest folks around. Special thanks to Kevin for hosting me (what is the joke about having dudes stay at your house and you only know them by their screen name?) and BC520 for the invitation to come up and train with them. Annnnddd...for driving home the fact that there is scotch and then there is GOOD Scotch. Thanks Brothers for all you did to make that one of the most enjoyable classes of the year for me.