Alpha Sierra
08-19-07, 18:18
August 4th and 5th I drove to Battle Creek, Michigan to attend 10-8 Constulting's 2 day intermediate carbine fighting skills class.
The Sunday prior I went to my local club to check my 50/200 yd zero and to run some basic drills as well as wring out my new chest rig. Good thing because my rifle's rear sight came apart and fell on the deck in pieces. This was a flip up unit made by Midwest Industries. With less than a week to go I did what I should have done in the first place and ordered a fixed back up sight from LaRue Tactical the very next day.
On Friday I cut loose from work at lunch and headed to the club to zero the new LaRue sight. That done, I hit the road north at about 12:30, rolling into Battle Creek about 4 hours later. After dumping the gear in the motel room and grabbing some Indian dinner I headed north out of BC to check out the range halfway between BC and the little burg of Bellevue.
Saturday morning dawned clear and warm. Made it to the range at about 8:30 for admin paperwork and briefings at 9:00. Range went hot at 10:00 and stayed hot for the rest of the day. Weapons cocked, loaded, and on safe was the rule unless you grounded one, in which case it was made safe immediately after unslinging or unholstering.
The morning started with prone shooting at 25 yards to make sure everyone was on paper and then back to 50 yards (max distance we shot all two days) for zero verification and fine tuning.
Next on the agenda were basic shooting positions starting with the proper stance for a standing fighting (as opposed to target shooting) position. We then proceeded to work on the position with live fire. Included in the instruction were the different ready positions (low, high, patrol). This was also done to cover other positions such as basic prone, basic supported kneeling and unsupported kneeling. Each position lecture was followed by lots of live fire reps to sink it in.
That done we moved into a discussion and drills regarding the point of impact changes in relation to point of aim at different distances from 3 to 25 yards. At each yard line (3, 5, 7, 10, 15, 25) we shot and noted the offsets needed to place the shot exactly where desired.
We also covered on day one things like anatomy and the effects of handgun and rifle bullets, aimed fire, controlled pairs, hammers, Mozabiques, and Non Standard Responses. We covered basic weapons manipulations, malfunction clearing, basic weapon maintenance. We covered the basics of shooting on the move, intermixing with it earlier learnings.
Day one was long, nearly nine hours and by the time all was said and done I had expended nearly 700 rounds of rifle ammo.
Day two started rainy and later turned drier but very humid. Day two took a decidely more advanced flavor as we started right off doing a long series of command drills from 50 yards and moving in closer. Lots of shooting from all positions at all distances and on the move. We also worked on team drills, box drills, multiple target engagements, more malfuction clearance drills, reloading drills, and the basics of transition to handguns. At the end of the day we ran a qalification course similar to the USMC MEU(SOC) carbine qual course and I took second overall by one point. I went home with a new Viking Tactics two point sling to show for it.
By the end of the weekend I had burned nearly 900 rounds of 5.56 and about 50 of 38 Special (yep, I was the only round gun shooter there). I was sore everywhere, particularly around the shoulders, and had increased my comfort level with operating an AR in a setting closer to reality.
We had thirteen students and one instructor, Joe Riedy. Joe is a retired PO from the Bethlehem PA area and has a great, easygoing teaching style that made some grueling days a lot of fun.
Video from the class (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enxSPW6vDyo)
Class pic slide show (http://www.flickr.com/photos/al_lassen/sets/72157601267364179/show/?no_back=1)
The Sunday prior I went to my local club to check my 50/200 yd zero and to run some basic drills as well as wring out my new chest rig. Good thing because my rifle's rear sight came apart and fell on the deck in pieces. This was a flip up unit made by Midwest Industries. With less than a week to go I did what I should have done in the first place and ordered a fixed back up sight from LaRue Tactical the very next day.
On Friday I cut loose from work at lunch and headed to the club to zero the new LaRue sight. That done, I hit the road north at about 12:30, rolling into Battle Creek about 4 hours later. After dumping the gear in the motel room and grabbing some Indian dinner I headed north out of BC to check out the range halfway between BC and the little burg of Bellevue.
Saturday morning dawned clear and warm. Made it to the range at about 8:30 for admin paperwork and briefings at 9:00. Range went hot at 10:00 and stayed hot for the rest of the day. Weapons cocked, loaded, and on safe was the rule unless you grounded one, in which case it was made safe immediately after unslinging or unholstering.
The morning started with prone shooting at 25 yards to make sure everyone was on paper and then back to 50 yards (max distance we shot all two days) for zero verification and fine tuning.
Next on the agenda were basic shooting positions starting with the proper stance for a standing fighting (as opposed to target shooting) position. We then proceeded to work on the position with live fire. Included in the instruction were the different ready positions (low, high, patrol). This was also done to cover other positions such as basic prone, basic supported kneeling and unsupported kneeling. Each position lecture was followed by lots of live fire reps to sink it in.
That done we moved into a discussion and drills regarding the point of impact changes in relation to point of aim at different distances from 3 to 25 yards. At each yard line (3, 5, 7, 10, 15, 25) we shot and noted the offsets needed to place the shot exactly where desired.
We also covered on day one things like anatomy and the effects of handgun and rifle bullets, aimed fire, controlled pairs, hammers, Mozabiques, and Non Standard Responses. We covered basic weapons manipulations, malfunction clearing, basic weapon maintenance. We covered the basics of shooting on the move, intermixing with it earlier learnings.
Day one was long, nearly nine hours and by the time all was said and done I had expended nearly 700 rounds of rifle ammo.
Day two started rainy and later turned drier but very humid. Day two took a decidely more advanced flavor as we started right off doing a long series of command drills from 50 yards and moving in closer. Lots of shooting from all positions at all distances and on the move. We also worked on team drills, box drills, multiple target engagements, more malfuction clearance drills, reloading drills, and the basics of transition to handguns. At the end of the day we ran a qalification course similar to the USMC MEU(SOC) carbine qual course and I took second overall by one point. I went home with a new Viking Tactics two point sling to show for it.
By the end of the weekend I had burned nearly 900 rounds of 5.56 and about 50 of 38 Special (yep, I was the only round gun shooter there). I was sore everywhere, particularly around the shoulders, and had increased my comfort level with operating an AR in a setting closer to reality.
We had thirteen students and one instructor, Joe Riedy. Joe is a retired PO from the Bethlehem PA area and has a great, easygoing teaching style that made some grueling days a lot of fun.
Video from the class (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enxSPW6vDyo)
Class pic slide show (http://www.flickr.com/photos/al_lassen/sets/72157601267364179/show/?no_back=1)