kwelz
06-27-11, 09:44
VSM 1 Day Basic Carbine Class
June 26th 2011
https://www.m4carbine.net/showthread.php?t=81222
Instructors: Joe Barnsfather assisted by Barry Foster
Location: Knob Creek shooting range.
Total in attendance: 7 + instructor
Range conditions: Muddy Muddy Muddy. There was possibly more water than last time. In fact I am positive there was. Every walk to the targets resulted in more sloshing around. Is was hella fun! Although we were 3 students down and I assume it was weather related. Thankfully the projected Thunder storms stayed away.
Equipment: Pretty standard fare. A good mix of ARs. Two gentlemen were running Sig rifles. One gentleman was running his duty gun and kit. Which lead to some interesting discussions on the problems that can arise from various gear configurations.
I was running the same suppressed AR that I ran last class. 11.5 inch BCM with a VLTOR VIS but halfway through i switched to my DD carbine. More on this later.
Class and Drills:
As always we started out checking the Zero on our guns. Since I had swapped out optics the night before I knew mine would be off. What I didn't realize is that apparently gremlins had replaced my AR with a shotgun while I slept.
Even shooting prone supported my groups looks more like a shotgun pattern. And this was with a 1-4 power Accupoint set to 4X!
This is also where I ran into a problem with my new Lancer Magazines.
You can real more about this issue HERE (https://www.m4carbine.net/showthread.php?p=1032767#post1032767) however rest assured the issue is resolved.
Eventually I was able to get my gun dialed in although it took more work than expected. Normally this is the point where Joe would have us advance to 25 yards and start class. But No. Since this was not the first class for most of us and the other students had some experience, he decided we would stay at 50 Yards.
I figured with the 1-4 power optic I would have a real advantage here. Ummm. NO! Not the case at all. In fact I shot worse than I can EVER remember shooting in a class. I was constantly chasing the dot and for the life of me could not hold on target. I wish I could give you a reason. Lack of sleep, illness, something. But no. I was just sucking!
For some reason a couple of us were having issues. One gentleman I have trained with a few times was right next to me on the line. Our targets looked similar. We both know we are far better shooters than we showed. But the tale of the tape was the targets. And the fact that we needed brown pasters. About halfway through the class his Optic also came loose which could have contributed to his issue. After lunch he tightened up a bit. As did many of us. But I think a lot of us left feeling we had not performed to the best of our abilities.
Drills were a mix of the standard fare with a few new twists thrown in to keep things interesting. I think a lot of people come to these classes expecting to put 500 rounds downrange in short order while doing back flips. But that isn't what these classes or the VSM method is all about.
These classes are about learning the fundamentals of shooting. Proper sight alignment. Learning holdover. TRIGGER CONTROL! I would never disparage any trainer or training method. All the big guys out there know a lot more than I do. But I really feel that this is where is all needs to start.
Anyway, back to the drills.
We started with simple drills to work on trigger control. Making sure that we could hit the target. As I mentioned above I seemed to have a real problem with this.
One point that came up early in class was gear. One of the guys in class is a police officer and was wearing his plate carrier. The way he was wearing it posed some problems since it put the buckles right where he needed to have the gun. It made for a good case study on gear and how to make sure everything you have works together.
This also led to some discussion on how to set up a rifle so you can hold it properly. To much junk out on the end keeps you from getting a long enough grip to control the gun properly.
From this we quickly moved on to reload drills (this is where I really started to have issues with my mags).
Malfunction drills are by far my least favorite drill we do. It isn't that they are hard. Or I have trouble with them. But I just hate doing that to my gun. And of course we did the ever so popular double feed drill which as is so elegantly put is like a bad porn movie. To many Dudes not enough chicks.
One thing that really mixed it up was a ramped up version of the 10-10-10 drill. As most of you know this drill is normally with a handgun and is 10 rounds at 10 yards within 10 seconds. With a rifle you push it out 25 yards.
We however decided not to be pansies about it. We did it at 50 yards. Then 25 yards but in 5 seconds. Then at about 10 yards but in 2.5 seconds. Oh and when I saw we did it I mean we put a lot of rounds downrange! This drill was intense. We like to refer to the shot timer as the little black box of adrenaline and that is an apt description. When that thing comes out you forget most of what you have learned. I found myself falling into an old bad habit of firing two shot string. If I had just been consistent on the trigger I could have done a lot better but instead it was boom boom pause, boom boom pause.
One of the last drills we did was battlefield pickup. This is a personal favorite of mine because it allows me to see various configurations. Frankly I think Joe just does it as a sales tactic since we all end up reconfiguring our guns after this drill. The only place people seemed to have a problem was with my gun. I run a Micro ACOG on this gun and people were shooting consistently low with it. The only gun I had trouble with was one of the Sigs that had a 4X ACOG on it. I want to love these full sized ACOGs. I really do. But in close I just can't like them.
Conclusion:
I would love to say that I came away from this class feeling good. However that is not the case. I felt that my shooting was sub par at best. And when Joe handed me my certificate I told him that I didn't feel I had earned it. This is the first class I have ever felt this way. I can blame the weather, the gear, or the damndable fates. But when it comes down to it only I can control how well I shoot.
Something that is always focused on in these classes is the importance and seriousness of what we do. If something happens and you need to use your weapon would you be confident and skilled enough to use it. If you had asked me this on Saturday I would have said yes. Today however. I question myself.
But in the end there are only 2 choices in a situation like this.
Throw our hands up and give up. Or push forward, work harder, and get better. To me it isn't even really a choice.
June 26th 2011
https://www.m4carbine.net/showthread.php?t=81222
Instructors: Joe Barnsfather assisted by Barry Foster
Location: Knob Creek shooting range.
Total in attendance: 7 + instructor
Range conditions: Muddy Muddy Muddy. There was possibly more water than last time. In fact I am positive there was. Every walk to the targets resulted in more sloshing around. Is was hella fun! Although we were 3 students down and I assume it was weather related. Thankfully the projected Thunder storms stayed away.
Equipment: Pretty standard fare. A good mix of ARs. Two gentlemen were running Sig rifles. One gentleman was running his duty gun and kit. Which lead to some interesting discussions on the problems that can arise from various gear configurations.
I was running the same suppressed AR that I ran last class. 11.5 inch BCM with a VLTOR VIS but halfway through i switched to my DD carbine. More on this later.
Class and Drills:
As always we started out checking the Zero on our guns. Since I had swapped out optics the night before I knew mine would be off. What I didn't realize is that apparently gremlins had replaced my AR with a shotgun while I slept.
Even shooting prone supported my groups looks more like a shotgun pattern. And this was with a 1-4 power Accupoint set to 4X!
This is also where I ran into a problem with my new Lancer Magazines.
You can real more about this issue HERE (https://www.m4carbine.net/showthread.php?p=1032767#post1032767) however rest assured the issue is resolved.
Eventually I was able to get my gun dialed in although it took more work than expected. Normally this is the point where Joe would have us advance to 25 yards and start class. But No. Since this was not the first class for most of us and the other students had some experience, he decided we would stay at 50 Yards.
I figured with the 1-4 power optic I would have a real advantage here. Ummm. NO! Not the case at all. In fact I shot worse than I can EVER remember shooting in a class. I was constantly chasing the dot and for the life of me could not hold on target. I wish I could give you a reason. Lack of sleep, illness, something. But no. I was just sucking!
For some reason a couple of us were having issues. One gentleman I have trained with a few times was right next to me on the line. Our targets looked similar. We both know we are far better shooters than we showed. But the tale of the tape was the targets. And the fact that we needed brown pasters. About halfway through the class his Optic also came loose which could have contributed to his issue. After lunch he tightened up a bit. As did many of us. But I think a lot of us left feeling we had not performed to the best of our abilities.
Drills were a mix of the standard fare with a few new twists thrown in to keep things interesting. I think a lot of people come to these classes expecting to put 500 rounds downrange in short order while doing back flips. But that isn't what these classes or the VSM method is all about.
These classes are about learning the fundamentals of shooting. Proper sight alignment. Learning holdover. TRIGGER CONTROL! I would never disparage any trainer or training method. All the big guys out there know a lot more than I do. But I really feel that this is where is all needs to start.
Anyway, back to the drills.
We started with simple drills to work on trigger control. Making sure that we could hit the target. As I mentioned above I seemed to have a real problem with this.
One point that came up early in class was gear. One of the guys in class is a police officer and was wearing his plate carrier. The way he was wearing it posed some problems since it put the buckles right where he needed to have the gun. It made for a good case study on gear and how to make sure everything you have works together.
This also led to some discussion on how to set up a rifle so you can hold it properly. To much junk out on the end keeps you from getting a long enough grip to control the gun properly.
From this we quickly moved on to reload drills (this is where I really started to have issues with my mags).
Malfunction drills are by far my least favorite drill we do. It isn't that they are hard. Or I have trouble with them. But I just hate doing that to my gun. And of course we did the ever so popular double feed drill which as is so elegantly put is like a bad porn movie. To many Dudes not enough chicks.
One thing that really mixed it up was a ramped up version of the 10-10-10 drill. As most of you know this drill is normally with a handgun and is 10 rounds at 10 yards within 10 seconds. With a rifle you push it out 25 yards.
We however decided not to be pansies about it. We did it at 50 yards. Then 25 yards but in 5 seconds. Then at about 10 yards but in 2.5 seconds. Oh and when I saw we did it I mean we put a lot of rounds downrange! This drill was intense. We like to refer to the shot timer as the little black box of adrenaline and that is an apt description. When that thing comes out you forget most of what you have learned. I found myself falling into an old bad habit of firing two shot string. If I had just been consistent on the trigger I could have done a lot better but instead it was boom boom pause, boom boom pause.
One of the last drills we did was battlefield pickup. This is a personal favorite of mine because it allows me to see various configurations. Frankly I think Joe just does it as a sales tactic since we all end up reconfiguring our guns after this drill. The only place people seemed to have a problem was with my gun. I run a Micro ACOG on this gun and people were shooting consistently low with it. The only gun I had trouble with was one of the Sigs that had a 4X ACOG on it. I want to love these full sized ACOGs. I really do. But in close I just can't like them.
Conclusion:
I would love to say that I came away from this class feeling good. However that is not the case. I felt that my shooting was sub par at best. And when Joe handed me my certificate I told him that I didn't feel I had earned it. This is the first class I have ever felt this way. I can blame the weather, the gear, or the damndable fates. But when it comes down to it only I can control how well I shoot.
Something that is always focused on in these classes is the importance and seriousness of what we do. If something happens and you need to use your weapon would you be confident and skilled enough to use it. If you had asked me this on Saturday I would have said yes. Today however. I question myself.
But in the end there are only 2 choices in a situation like this.
Throw our hands up and give up. Or push forward, work harder, and get better. To me it isn't even really a choice.