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04-02-11, 19:52
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Vickers Tactical
www.vickerstactical.com
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v74/va_dinger/logo.jpg
Grey Group Training:
www.greygrouptraining.com
This is my second class ever, the first one being an LAV Basic Handgun last November. I don't remember how the team drills went, really, as I had only taken notes about the individual drills; feel free to correct me on anything.
Class started at 8:30 AM; weather was a bit cold and windy, but got better through the day (temperature-wise; the wind messed with electronic ear pro a bit, but it wasn't anything catastrophic). There were 23 students, the furthest drivers from Ohio. Most guns were Glocks, with a light sprinkling of M&Ps; there was also two H&Ks (my HK45 and an HK45C), a couple of Berettas, a Sig or two, a Springfield EMP, and an FN of some sort (FNP9?). Larry started out with the usual safety briefing, emphasizing muzzle awareness and finger off the trigger.
The first exercise of the day was the empty shell casing on the front sight, to help show the students exactly what a good trigger pull consisted of. After allowing all students to understand what a good trigger pull was, he then moved on to the ball and dummy drills.
(Disclaimer: my memory is a bit fuzzy on this one, so I might have mixed some things up here) After doing so, to help emphasize that stress makes it far more difficult to keep good trigger control, since one has a "fiscal year" to pull the trigger in standard ball and dummy, Larry showed us the ball and dummy command fire drill, which is having the sights on the target, slack pulled, and then calling out when to shoot, using a 5/8th second beep from a shot timer. After that was the ball and dummy timed command fire drill, in which the students started at a low ready and had three seconds to bring up the pistol, acquire the target, and shoot.
I personally had much more problems with the ball and dummy drills when stressors were introduced; I usually do a variant of the ball and dummy drill on my own, but without any time constraints, which showed. My propensity to rush shots only compounded this problem, although my flinches were relatively minor.
The drill after that was the trigger reset drill, which was done purely with dry fire. One dry fires, and then a training partner racks the slide back while you are still in a firing position; while the slide is being racked back, one should simply relax the trigger finger, and let the spring tension push the trigger finger to the reset point. Larry stressed that the two most commonly taught ways were incorrect: the gaming world had a tradition of taking the finger entirely off the trigger between shoots, which works because of the excessively light pull of race guns; the LE/CCW way of slowly resetting the trigger until feeling it reset often makes the shooter then rush the next shot in order to make up for the lost time, thus inducing trigger snatching.
Larry also stated at this point that for accuracy, one should be able to cover one's groupings with a fist when <5 yards, and with a hand when between 5 and 10. He also stated that under combat conditions, one's groupings will, at the very least, double from range conditions.
After these drills on trigger control, Larry then went over sight picture; he stated that he left sight picture after trigger control to help show that it is less important than good trigger control, contrary what many other sources might state. The front sight should be the object in focus, as it is easiest to focus on the object in the middle out of three in a row (rear sight, front sight, target). He also stated to ignore the dots on the sights during the day, as they may be a bit off compared to the actual iron sights.
After lunch, we then moved onto reloading. Larry prefers to use only tactical reloads and slide lock reloads; when topping off in a fight, one should strive to retain one's magazines as long as they contain ammunition, since realistically, one would be carrying only one or two extra magazines.
As for the act of reloading itself, one should strive to keep the magwell pointed at the mag pouch after the empty mag has been ejected, so that there is less distance to cover while reloading. One should also be keeping the gun in one's workspace, which is essentially about six inches in front of one's face. When inserting the mag, one would probably be better served to sacrifice a bit of SA in order to glance at the magwell to help insert the magazine in, instead of keeping eyes on target but fumbling the reload. To hit the slide release, use the support hand thumb after the mag has been inserted to actuate it. It is important to those using Beretta 92s (and derivatives) to not slingshot the slide, as there is the possibility of putting the pistol on safe while doing so (as an aside, one should also use the DA pull as a safety, rather than the actual safety itself). For lefties, one should either slingshot the slide or else use the support hand to try hit the slide release if possible.
Larry does not like using the strong thumb to release the slide release, as it is quite possible that one keeps their thumb on the slide release after they get back into the fight, thus preventing the slide from locking back when running dry. Also, there is the possibility of the slide being released before the mag is fully seated, thus creating an empty chamber. This second reason is also why Larry does not endorse the usage of autoforwarding on a handgun, even if it does it on a regular basis. Instead, one should try to insert the mag in such a way that it does not autoforward (by putting it straight in rather than at an angle), and practice with it slowly until it become natural. A Sig in the class actually exhibited autoforwarding onto an empty chamber, which is why this was stressed.
I personally had great trouble with this part of the class, as my HK45 has a very strong tendency to autoforward. When it didn't, I then always used my strong hand thumb to actuate the slide release, since it's so long on the HK45. I stumbled for awhile, but slowly got the hang of using support-side thumb, albeit still being slower than how I was using my strong hand thumb; I also had a bad tendency to stare at my gun to look for the slide release, since it was still a bit of a foreign operation for me. Seems like something I'd just have to practice.
For malfunctions, Larry recommends using tap-rack-bang or else running the rip drill. For the tap-rack-bang, once should bring the gun into the workspace while doing it. When tapping the gun, one should also be sure to be actually hitting the mag's baseplate, rather than just the bottom of one's hand. For right handed shooters, one should also strive to roll the gun out to let gravity help pull out anything that was in the chamber while racking the slide.
For the rip drill, the sequence is:
Lock the slide back.
Take out the magazine.
Grab a new magazine while shaking the muzzle upward to help it clear anything in the chamber.
Let the slide go forward.
Insert the mag.
Slingshot.
The act of letting the slide go forward before inserting the mag is often the biggest issue people have, as when confronted with a slide locked back, they default into thinking of reloading. However, this might induce another jam if there was still something in the chamber, and thus force the shooter to do another rip drill. Also, there is no real reason to do multiple racks; if one is to do it, one should be sure to do it correctly, rather than just rack the slide back repeatedly without letting it slide home all the way each time.
I have not had exposure to the rip drill before, so that was a very new concept to me. It took me a little while to get down, as I tend to have to think for a second or two before I remember I start it by locking the slide back; after I get it going, it all comes back to me, but for the first second or two after the unsuccessful tap-rack-bang, I'm just staring at the gun while it's sitting in my workspace as i try to remember what I was suppose to do.
As it is known, Larry likes to put people into teams in order to simulate a bit of stress. The first team drill ran was to shoot the target three times in the black, and then three times in the head. Scoring was time + misses (1 point in the white, 3 points on the cardboard, 5 points for complete misses). The other team drill on paper was ran twice, which was 5 yard weak hand only, 10 yard strong hand only, and 15 yard two hand, scoring just the misses. There were also two team drills ran on steel: low ready to two shots on the steel and one shot each on two different targets. Also on steel was the walkback shoot; each person got two shots to hit a steel target; if one was able to get at least one shot on target, one was able to stay for the next yardline. Only MILFMaster (NCPatrolAR, I believe), Larry, and one other student was able to get to the ~100 yard line; most fell out at about 40 yard to 60 yards.
I personally made it out to about 60 yards, but was able to hit the steel once at 100 yards after the drill had been completed and everyone took shots.
The last drill of the day was to shoot a single shot at a single point on the target; the student with the best group was to be awarded a prize. In this case, the student that won requested one of Larry's famed slide releases, which Larry said he would bring tomorrow.
Larry talked a bit about gear throughout the whole class:
Rudy Project are the only sets of glasses that he would put on par/superior to Oakley. Using VICKERS (or something like that) would get one a 40% discount.
M&Ps are "shit", as they are bedeviled by issues caused by S&Ws incessant attempt so save money, and that several shooters he knew have switched from GLOCK to M&P back to GLOCK.
No one he knew would pick a SCAR-L over an M4 (this was when discussing FN products, where the shooter with the FN had his gun refused to have the mags drop free when reloading).
The best brown AR-15 magazines were Brownell's, which is actually discontinued, which is why his signature DD rifle came with only one magazine instead of the original three as planned; according to Larry, brown PMAGs had a habit of cracking.
As for training, Larry stated that one should probably bring 150 to 200 rounds when running bullseye exercises, perhaps 250 to 300 when doing mixed, while when doing carbine and handgun, one should bring about 250 rounds for each weapon.
I will post day two's proceedings as a separate post to avoid a wall of text.
Vickers Tactical
www.vickerstactical.com
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v74/va_dinger/logo.jpg
Grey Group Training:
www.greygrouptraining.com
This is my second class ever, the first one being an LAV Basic Handgun last November. I don't remember how the team drills went, really, as I had only taken notes about the individual drills; feel free to correct me on anything.
Class started at 8:30 AM; weather was a bit cold and windy, but got better through the day (temperature-wise; the wind messed with electronic ear pro a bit, but it wasn't anything catastrophic). There were 23 students, the furthest drivers from Ohio. Most guns were Glocks, with a light sprinkling of M&Ps; there was also two H&Ks (my HK45 and an HK45C), a couple of Berettas, a Sig or two, a Springfield EMP, and an FN of some sort (FNP9?). Larry started out with the usual safety briefing, emphasizing muzzle awareness and finger off the trigger.
The first exercise of the day was the empty shell casing on the front sight, to help show the students exactly what a good trigger pull consisted of. After allowing all students to understand what a good trigger pull was, he then moved on to the ball and dummy drills.
(Disclaimer: my memory is a bit fuzzy on this one, so I might have mixed some things up here) After doing so, to help emphasize that stress makes it far more difficult to keep good trigger control, since one has a "fiscal year" to pull the trigger in standard ball and dummy, Larry showed us the ball and dummy command fire drill, which is having the sights on the target, slack pulled, and then calling out when to shoot, using a 5/8th second beep from a shot timer. After that was the ball and dummy timed command fire drill, in which the students started at a low ready and had three seconds to bring up the pistol, acquire the target, and shoot.
I personally had much more problems with the ball and dummy drills when stressors were introduced; I usually do a variant of the ball and dummy drill on my own, but without any time constraints, which showed. My propensity to rush shots only compounded this problem, although my flinches were relatively minor.
The drill after that was the trigger reset drill, which was done purely with dry fire. One dry fires, and then a training partner racks the slide back while you are still in a firing position; while the slide is being racked back, one should simply relax the trigger finger, and let the spring tension push the trigger finger to the reset point. Larry stressed that the two most commonly taught ways were incorrect: the gaming world had a tradition of taking the finger entirely off the trigger between shoots, which works because of the excessively light pull of race guns; the LE/CCW way of slowly resetting the trigger until feeling it reset often makes the shooter then rush the next shot in order to make up for the lost time, thus inducing trigger snatching.
Larry also stated at this point that for accuracy, one should be able to cover one's groupings with a fist when <5 yards, and with a hand when between 5 and 10. He also stated that under combat conditions, one's groupings will, at the very least, double from range conditions.
After these drills on trigger control, Larry then went over sight picture; he stated that he left sight picture after trigger control to help show that it is less important than good trigger control, contrary what many other sources might state. The front sight should be the object in focus, as it is easiest to focus on the object in the middle out of three in a row (rear sight, front sight, target). He also stated to ignore the dots on the sights during the day, as they may be a bit off compared to the actual iron sights.
After lunch, we then moved onto reloading. Larry prefers to use only tactical reloads and slide lock reloads; when topping off in a fight, one should strive to retain one's magazines as long as they contain ammunition, since realistically, one would be carrying only one or two extra magazines.
As for the act of reloading itself, one should strive to keep the magwell pointed at the mag pouch after the empty mag has been ejected, so that there is less distance to cover while reloading. One should also be keeping the gun in one's workspace, which is essentially about six inches in front of one's face. When inserting the mag, one would probably be better served to sacrifice a bit of SA in order to glance at the magwell to help insert the magazine in, instead of keeping eyes on target but fumbling the reload. To hit the slide release, use the support hand thumb after the mag has been inserted to actuate it. It is important to those using Beretta 92s (and derivatives) to not slingshot the slide, as there is the possibility of putting the pistol on safe while doing so (as an aside, one should also use the DA pull as a safety, rather than the actual safety itself). For lefties, one should either slingshot the slide or else use the support hand to try hit the slide release if possible.
Larry does not like using the strong thumb to release the slide release, as it is quite possible that one keeps their thumb on the slide release after they get back into the fight, thus preventing the slide from locking back when running dry. Also, there is the possibility of the slide being released before the mag is fully seated, thus creating an empty chamber. This second reason is also why Larry does not endorse the usage of autoforwarding on a handgun, even if it does it on a regular basis. Instead, one should try to insert the mag in such a way that it does not autoforward (by putting it straight in rather than at an angle), and practice with it slowly until it become natural. A Sig in the class actually exhibited autoforwarding onto an empty chamber, which is why this was stressed.
I personally had great trouble with this part of the class, as my HK45 has a very strong tendency to autoforward. When it didn't, I then always used my strong hand thumb to actuate the slide release, since it's so long on the HK45. I stumbled for awhile, but slowly got the hang of using support-side thumb, albeit still being slower than how I was using my strong hand thumb; I also had a bad tendency to stare at my gun to look for the slide release, since it was still a bit of a foreign operation for me. Seems like something I'd just have to practice.
For malfunctions, Larry recommends using tap-rack-bang or else running the rip drill. For the tap-rack-bang, once should bring the gun into the workspace while doing it. When tapping the gun, one should also be sure to be actually hitting the mag's baseplate, rather than just the bottom of one's hand. For right handed shooters, one should also strive to roll the gun out to let gravity help pull out anything that was in the chamber while racking the slide.
For the rip drill, the sequence is:
Lock the slide back.
Take out the magazine.
Grab a new magazine while shaking the muzzle upward to help it clear anything in the chamber.
Let the slide go forward.
Insert the mag.
Slingshot.
The act of letting the slide go forward before inserting the mag is often the biggest issue people have, as when confronted with a slide locked back, they default into thinking of reloading. However, this might induce another jam if there was still something in the chamber, and thus force the shooter to do another rip drill. Also, there is no real reason to do multiple racks; if one is to do it, one should be sure to do it correctly, rather than just rack the slide back repeatedly without letting it slide home all the way each time.
I have not had exposure to the rip drill before, so that was a very new concept to me. It took me a little while to get down, as I tend to have to think for a second or two before I remember I start it by locking the slide back; after I get it going, it all comes back to me, but for the first second or two after the unsuccessful tap-rack-bang, I'm just staring at the gun while it's sitting in my workspace as i try to remember what I was suppose to do.
As it is known, Larry likes to put people into teams in order to simulate a bit of stress. The first team drill ran was to shoot the target three times in the black, and then three times in the head. Scoring was time + misses (1 point in the white, 3 points on the cardboard, 5 points for complete misses). The other team drill on paper was ran twice, which was 5 yard weak hand only, 10 yard strong hand only, and 15 yard two hand, scoring just the misses. There were also two team drills ran on steel: low ready to two shots on the steel and one shot each on two different targets. Also on steel was the walkback shoot; each person got two shots to hit a steel target; if one was able to get at least one shot on target, one was able to stay for the next yardline. Only MILFMaster (NCPatrolAR, I believe), Larry, and one other student was able to get to the ~100 yard line; most fell out at about 40 yard to 60 yards.
I personally made it out to about 60 yards, but was able to hit the steel once at 100 yards after the drill had been completed and everyone took shots.
The last drill of the day was to shoot a single shot at a single point on the target; the student with the best group was to be awarded a prize. In this case, the student that won requested one of Larry's famed slide releases, which Larry said he would bring tomorrow.
Larry talked a bit about gear throughout the whole class:
Rudy Project are the only sets of glasses that he would put on par/superior to Oakley. Using VICKERS (or something like that) would get one a 40% discount.
M&Ps are "shit", as they are bedeviled by issues caused by S&Ws incessant attempt so save money, and that several shooters he knew have switched from GLOCK to M&P back to GLOCK.
No one he knew would pick a SCAR-L over an M4 (this was when discussing FN products, where the shooter with the FN had his gun refused to have the mags drop free when reloading).
The best brown AR-15 magazines were Brownell's, which is actually discontinued, which is why his signature DD rifle came with only one magazine instead of the original three as planned; according to Larry, brown PMAGs had a habit of cracking.
As for training, Larry stated that one should probably bring 150 to 200 rounds when running bullseye exercises, perhaps 250 to 300 when doing mixed, while when doing carbine and handgun, one should bring about 250 rounds for each weapon.
I will post day two's proceedings as a separate post to avoid a wall of text.