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rob_s
02-26-09, 07:21
Link to scores, pics, and videos (http://tacticalyellowvisor.net/2594/89621.html)

090224 SFDCC

Tropical Sport Shooting Association (http://tssaidpa.us/wordpress/) again held the monthly South Florida Defensive Carbine (http://tssaidpa.us/wordpress/?page_id=7) match on the 4th Tuesday, the 24th of February, 2009 at the Markham Park Target Range (http://www.broward.org/parks/range.htm) in western Broward County, Florida. Set up began at approximately 18:00, with sign-in beginning at 18:15 and shots fired by 19:00. All shooters were complete and props and targets off the range by 21:00.

Stage One

Course Description

Stage One consisted of two barrels placed approximately 10 yards apart, with two arrays of 5 targets each. Each array was placed in two lines parallel to the line of the barrels. Shooters began with 10 rounds loaded in the carbine and a second, fully loaded, magazine on the second barrel. At the signal shooters engaged the first array of 5 targets and then moved to the second barrel to retrieve the reload and engage the second array. There were no non-threat targets in this stage.

Intent

Since the first array could not be re-engaged after the reload, the intent was to require shooters to ensure that they got good hits with only two rounds per target. Additionally I was interested to see if shooters chose to stand still and engage the entire first array or if they would shoot on the move to the second barrel.

Gaming

Virtually everyone shot the first array from the starting position. Many shooters then took their sweet-ass time getting to the second barrel and the reload. Moving to the second barrel quickly was key to having a good time on the stage. Many shooters also chose to fire hammers at the first array and wound up missing and having Failures to Neutralize on at least one target. Controlled pairs were only incrementally slower but ensured good hits.

Personal Lessons

Tactically speaking, I think I should have shot on the move from the first to second barrel. Standing still and shooting left a long period of time (relatively speaking) with the carbine empty and no shots heading down range. In reality I think that if you knew your only reload was 10 yards away you would shoot on the move and simply try to get shots some hits on each threat.

Admin Lessons

We ran a similar stage before where we had three barrels but the shooters had enough ammunition to engage each target with three rounds each. I think this encouraged a more "real world" approach in that shooters were more inclined to shoot on the move. We'll do this again with three barrels, enough ammunition in each magazine to engage each target with three rounds, and some non-threat targets interspersed.


Stage Two

Course Description

Stage Two consisted of 5 targets in a row with the firing line 5 yards away. The firing line was delineated by two barrels with a rope stretched between them. Shooters could engage the targets from any point behind the line and between the barrels. Each target had one 3"x5" Post-It note horizontally on the head, and one vertically on the chest. Shooters began with 10 rounds in the carbine and a spare 10 round magazine somewhere on them. The course description required two shots on each Post-It, for a total of 10 potential Failures to Neutralize. There were no non-threat targets in this stage.

Intent

Accuracy at close range. We find that many of our shooters do not truly know holdover. Many know it exists but have not worked with it enough to really get a feel for their POA vs. POI at various distances. This is something we have been working into virtually all of our drills sessions and this stage was intended as a "test" of sorts to see who has been paying attention.

Gaming

Since the course description did not specify a starting or ending position, and did not require shooting on the move, the best solution I saw was to begin standing directly in front of T2, engaging T1 through the body of T3, reload on the move to standing in front of T4, and then finishing the stage. This allows you to take advantage of the reload time to get a better position on the remaining targets. If the shooter has a fast reload down, the entire stage shot standing in front of T3 was an alternate solution.

Personal Lessons

I have been trying to use a Blue Force Gear Redi-Mod (http://blueforcegear.com/product.cfm?type=cat&cat_id=1&prod_id=91), which is a lightened version of the Gen II Boonie Packer Redi-Mag (http://www.redi-mag.com/Shop/pc/viewPrd.asp?idproduct=1&idcategory=5). I started using this because Travis Haley of Magpul Dynamics (http://www.magpuldynamics.com/) gave me one of his Battery Assist Devices (B.A.D.) (http://s294.photobucket.com/player.swf?file=http://vid294.photobucket.com/albums/mm118/magpuldynamics08/BADmp1.flv&fs=1&os=1&ap=1) to T&E, and I think it works best in conjunction with the Redi-Mod. What I'm finding is that the change in manual of arms is a big training issue for me as I'm used to my emergency reload coming from the belt. You can audibly hear my frustration at not getting the reload right in the video for this stage. It's just a matter of getting more practice in, but I am concerned about how it will affect my use of a non-BAD/Redi-Mod equipped AR.

Admin Lessons

Bring 5 times more targets than you think you will need. I brought out 60+ Post-It notes expecting to use 2 per shooter for 30 shooters. After a single squad of 8 ran the stage we were already down to 1/4 of the total. I guess that public school math didn't do me much good, since it should have been TEN notes per shooter (2 notes times 5 targets) for a total of 300 I would have needed to run 30 shooters. Fortunately Squad Two that followed us figured out a way to make it work for them. Painting the targets is another option, but I really wanted to present each shooter with a clean aiming point, hence the notes.


Stage Three

Course Description

Stage three consisted of a Bianchi barricade errected vertically with 5 targets available to be shot from each side of the barricade for a total of 10 threat targets. Non-threats were interspersed such that the potential for shoot-throughs was pretty great, and to require shooters to shoot from both sides of cover.

Intent

Rule 4. Always be sure of your target and what's beyond it. I have also been working on stages to reinforce the utility of a weapon-mounted white light, and this was one of those stages.

Gaming

While having a light can't really be considered "gaming", it clearly helped. Additionally, knowing that there were 5 targets to engage from either side and having the mental capacity to count the number of targets engaged really helped.

Personal Lessons

The Surefire X300 (http://www.surefire.com/maxexp/main.pl?pgm=co_disp&func=displ&strfnbr=6&prrfnbr=24462&sesent=0,0&search_id=1283429) I have mounted to a Midwest Industries MCTAR-04 (http://www.midwestindustriesinc.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=category.display&category_id=94) front sight base light mount was a fantastic asset on this stage. However, as you can see in the video even when not crowding cover there was some light bounce off the barricade which led me to move forward to get the light past the wall. This is really strengthening my belief in the 12 o'clock mount for white lights, and I want to work on a way to accomplish this without a rail system.

Admin Lessons

I always consider a stage a success when a shooter gets done and says something along the lines of "damn, that was hard". That happened a lot on this stage. Some of it, however, was not intentional. Typically I like to mark the non-threat targets by putting an "X" through the entire body and then outlining the body in the same color paint. This allows the shooter to see where a non-threat stops and a threat starts. We didn't do the outline on these targets. An un-intentional side effect of this was that the need for the white light REALLY became apparent, which isn't a bad thing at all.