William B.
10-23-11, 21:37
Class/Instructors:
Commonwealth Criminal Justice Academy Carbine/M4 I
http://www.ccjatraining.com/
http://ccjatraining.com/courses-training/carbine_ccja_open_to_the_public_courses.pdf
Tom Perroni & (our very own) Jim Santoro
Previous Training:
Last year I was fortunate enough to attend the USMC Foreign Weapons Instructor Course. Outside of the military I have taken CCJA’s Handgun I. You can read that AAR here (https://www.m4carbine.net/showthread.php?t=76416).
Class Details:
This class was taught in Fredericksburg, VA at CCJA’s classroom and range. The class fee was $200 and we were required to bring 500rds for carbine and 100rds for handgun. I am a firm believer in bringing extra so I brought 600rds of 5.56 and 200rds of 9mm.
Morning:
We started the day at 9am in the CCJA classroom. I had only one fellow student in the last class, so it was a nice surprise to see that there were 11 others in attendance for this one. Tom and Jim began the class by formally introducing themselves and giving a little bit of background. Tom is former LEO, former PMC with combat experience in the Middle East, and was an instructor at Blackwater before going out on his own. He is now a DCJS certifed instructor and has training contracts with some military units and Federal & local LE agencies. Jim is a former Marine with 12yrs in the infantry and plenty of combat experience. He worked for Marine Corps Systems Command as a civilian and has received training from many notable instructors such as Larry Vickers and Pat Rogers. The students were a wide mix of backgrounds including current and former military, defense-minded civilians, LEO’s, and PMC’s.
We spent all morning in the classroom (0900-1200) and covered a lot of material. The classroom material that Tom covers in this course is invaluable if you are new to the AR15/M4. That is not to say, however, that you must use an AR15 to participate. There were two students using non-AR carbines. One was running a FNH SCAR 16S and the other brought a Sig 556 as a back-up in the event that his AR15 went down. Tom and Jim inspected our rifles to make sure that they were functional and that we had properly lubricated them. This was in order to mitigate issues before we began live fire. Tom caught an unstaked carrier key on one gentleman’s BCG. I’m not sure what make it was, but Tom pointed out to us the importance of that component being properly staked and I believe Tom actually had it staked for him before all was said and done. During the classroom lectures we covered:
Safety Brief/Range Rules
Range Commands
Characteristics of the AR15/M4
.223 SAAMI vs. 5.56 NATO
Accessories
Nomenclature, Disassembly, & Maintenance
Cycle of Operation
Sights, Trajectory, and Zeroing
Stance and Grip
Sight Alignment and Sight Picture
Trigger Control
Breathing
Follow-Through
Afternoon:
After we had completed our classroom training we took an hour for lunch, met back at the classroom, and convoyed out to Tom’s range. This is where we spent the rest of the course (1330-1700). After all of the poor Marylanders were done loading their mags Tom broke us down into 2 relays of 6 and we began zeroing at 50yds. I had zeroed my Aimpoint at that same distance the weekend before, but had just bought a new rear BUIS that I had not yet had a chance to zero. I fired a pretty tight group, but it was about a foot low. Jim told me to just go ahead and crank my FSP down as low as it would go and see what that did. That brought me about an inch under the bulls-eye. Since I had no more elevation adjustments that I could make I just depended on my Aimpoint for the remainder of the class and had no issues. I’m not sure yet if this was a gear problem or if I jacked something up. The latter wouldn’t really surprise me, though. I’ll probably be heading up to VA Arms later this month so that Robb can take a look at it.
After zeroing we headed up to the 7yd line and ran some drills to show us how high we would have to aim at close distances to compensate for the sight-over-bore height. We then practiced using trigger reset by the numbers and moved on to weapons manipulations. We went over tac reloads, dry reloads, and transitions to our side-arms as well as the appropriate times to perform these in real situations. During the dry-runs that preceded the transition drills Tom noticed that one student may have had a safety issue with his side-arm manipulations. Tom was able to fix the issue politely and respectfully. The student was allowed to remain on the firing line and run some drills with his carbine while the rest of us performed transition drills. To his credit that student had thick skin and a desire to learn. I saw him seeking out Tom’s help after class on his draw stroke and proper grip of his side-arm.
Next, we stacked some plastic barrels at the 10yd line to simulate cover and Tom had his range hand replace our paper targets and stands with some steel targets. For this drill we fired several shots from the standing while properly using cover, then dropped to the kneeling, and then the prone. Then we switched to our weak side and ran the same drill. This drill looked quick and easy during Jim’s demonstration, but I had to go through it slowly and methodically to get solid hits while maintaining proper cover. I’m not sure about everybody else, but I was able to run this drill twice. For our final drill Tom had about 8 plastic barrels lined up in a row. We weaved between the barrels and once we rounded the last one we had to weave between the barrels while walking backwards and firing. I had some problems getting tunnel vision instead of glancing behind me and was drifting off to the left, so Tom, being the great guy that he is, grabbed my dump pouch and towed me back so that I stayed on course. This got me thinking later about whether or not “groucho” walking backwards for that distance would be a great idea in a shootout. For a few steps maybe, but I think I agree with what Kyle Lamb says about this in Green Eyes & Black Rifles: “Walking backwards is a good way to fall, and fighting from the ground is another can of worms.” The only malfunction I saw that was not user induced was during this drill. The student who was running the SCAR performed a dry reload and his carbine would not strip the round off of the P-Mag. I would have thought it was operator error, but I watched him perform tap-rack-bang on that mag, dump it load another, same thing, load another, and I think that one finally worked. All of his mags were P-Mags, but he had no issues with them until this point in the class.
Once we were done training for the day we sat down with Tom and debriefed about the pros and cons that we felt the course had. The main issue was that the round count for the day was not very high. Tom agreed that it was lower than normal. I feel that maybe this wouldn’t have been a problem if more students would have brought solidly zeroed weapons to the class, but I also understand that they may not have been able to. The only other way we could have squeezed more time in on the range would have been at the expense of classroom time and I think that the classroom material we covered was very beneficial to the new students of the AR15 in our class. This was a basic class and was exactly what it was advertised as being. A high round count is not necessarily indicative of quality training.
Throughout the day safety was paramount. Tom and Jim made sure that ear and eye protection were worn during all courses of fire and that firearms and ammunition were handled safely at all times. All drills were explained in detail before we were required to perform them. On some of the more complicated drills Tom and Jim had us perform a few dry runs before we went hot. All drills were also demonstrated before-hand. We were never asked to do anything that our instructors didn’t do first. While we didn’t fire as many rounds as we would have liked to, all drills that we ran had a purpose. We didn’t just blow rounds off for no reason. Mistakes were corrected and many of us got a lot of pointers. Everybody left with some solid fundamentals and drills to work on.
Gear:
I ran a Colt 6920 as my primary carbine. It is outfitted with a Battle Comp 1.0, an Aimpoint Comp M2, a Troy TRX rail, and a few other goodies. The internal components of the carbine, though, are completely stock. Like Tom said, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” I ran P-Mags and a couple of GI mags. My side-arm was a Glock 19 with Ameriglo sights, a Grip Force beavertail, and a custom piece of bicycle inner-tube on the grip. All mags were Glock brand. I carried my combat load in Blade-Tech mag pouches, a Blade-Tech holster, and an Emdom dump pouch. They were all mounted on a Safariland duty belt and Eagle belt pad.
Pros:
The classroom lecture was good material. Beginners will leave the classroom with a wealth of knowledge.
The drills that we ran were all very fundamental and had a purpose. We did not waste ammunition.
Affordability.
The range portion was very orderly and structured. At no time did I feel unsafe or confused about anything that was happening.
Tom and Jim put their money where their mouth was. They proficiently demonstrated every drill that they asked us to perform, from zeroing to the barrel weave.
Cons:
We could have fired at some farther distances. After zeroing at 50yds I don’t think we crossed the 25yd line again.
The round count could have been higher, but I think that some of that is beyond Tom’s control.
Summary:
This was an excellent course taught by professionals who have been there and done that. Everybody left with a good understanding of how to keep their AR15 running, a solid grasp of the fundamentals, and plenty of drills to work on until next time.
Commonwealth Criminal Justice Academy Carbine/M4 I
http://www.ccjatraining.com/
http://ccjatraining.com/courses-training/carbine_ccja_open_to_the_public_courses.pdf
Tom Perroni & (our very own) Jim Santoro
Previous Training:
Last year I was fortunate enough to attend the USMC Foreign Weapons Instructor Course. Outside of the military I have taken CCJA’s Handgun I. You can read that AAR here (https://www.m4carbine.net/showthread.php?t=76416).
Class Details:
This class was taught in Fredericksburg, VA at CCJA’s classroom and range. The class fee was $200 and we were required to bring 500rds for carbine and 100rds for handgun. I am a firm believer in bringing extra so I brought 600rds of 5.56 and 200rds of 9mm.
Morning:
We started the day at 9am in the CCJA classroom. I had only one fellow student in the last class, so it was a nice surprise to see that there were 11 others in attendance for this one. Tom and Jim began the class by formally introducing themselves and giving a little bit of background. Tom is former LEO, former PMC with combat experience in the Middle East, and was an instructor at Blackwater before going out on his own. He is now a DCJS certifed instructor and has training contracts with some military units and Federal & local LE agencies. Jim is a former Marine with 12yrs in the infantry and plenty of combat experience. He worked for Marine Corps Systems Command as a civilian and has received training from many notable instructors such as Larry Vickers and Pat Rogers. The students were a wide mix of backgrounds including current and former military, defense-minded civilians, LEO’s, and PMC’s.
We spent all morning in the classroom (0900-1200) and covered a lot of material. The classroom material that Tom covers in this course is invaluable if you are new to the AR15/M4. That is not to say, however, that you must use an AR15 to participate. There were two students using non-AR carbines. One was running a FNH SCAR 16S and the other brought a Sig 556 as a back-up in the event that his AR15 went down. Tom and Jim inspected our rifles to make sure that they were functional and that we had properly lubricated them. This was in order to mitigate issues before we began live fire. Tom caught an unstaked carrier key on one gentleman’s BCG. I’m not sure what make it was, but Tom pointed out to us the importance of that component being properly staked and I believe Tom actually had it staked for him before all was said and done. During the classroom lectures we covered:
Safety Brief/Range Rules
Range Commands
Characteristics of the AR15/M4
.223 SAAMI vs. 5.56 NATO
Accessories
Nomenclature, Disassembly, & Maintenance
Cycle of Operation
Sights, Trajectory, and Zeroing
Stance and Grip
Sight Alignment and Sight Picture
Trigger Control
Breathing
Follow-Through
Afternoon:
After we had completed our classroom training we took an hour for lunch, met back at the classroom, and convoyed out to Tom’s range. This is where we spent the rest of the course (1330-1700). After all of the poor Marylanders were done loading their mags Tom broke us down into 2 relays of 6 and we began zeroing at 50yds. I had zeroed my Aimpoint at that same distance the weekend before, but had just bought a new rear BUIS that I had not yet had a chance to zero. I fired a pretty tight group, but it was about a foot low. Jim told me to just go ahead and crank my FSP down as low as it would go and see what that did. That brought me about an inch under the bulls-eye. Since I had no more elevation adjustments that I could make I just depended on my Aimpoint for the remainder of the class and had no issues. I’m not sure yet if this was a gear problem or if I jacked something up. The latter wouldn’t really surprise me, though. I’ll probably be heading up to VA Arms later this month so that Robb can take a look at it.
After zeroing we headed up to the 7yd line and ran some drills to show us how high we would have to aim at close distances to compensate for the sight-over-bore height. We then practiced using trigger reset by the numbers and moved on to weapons manipulations. We went over tac reloads, dry reloads, and transitions to our side-arms as well as the appropriate times to perform these in real situations. During the dry-runs that preceded the transition drills Tom noticed that one student may have had a safety issue with his side-arm manipulations. Tom was able to fix the issue politely and respectfully. The student was allowed to remain on the firing line and run some drills with his carbine while the rest of us performed transition drills. To his credit that student had thick skin and a desire to learn. I saw him seeking out Tom’s help after class on his draw stroke and proper grip of his side-arm.
Next, we stacked some plastic barrels at the 10yd line to simulate cover and Tom had his range hand replace our paper targets and stands with some steel targets. For this drill we fired several shots from the standing while properly using cover, then dropped to the kneeling, and then the prone. Then we switched to our weak side and ran the same drill. This drill looked quick and easy during Jim’s demonstration, but I had to go through it slowly and methodically to get solid hits while maintaining proper cover. I’m not sure about everybody else, but I was able to run this drill twice. For our final drill Tom had about 8 plastic barrels lined up in a row. We weaved between the barrels and once we rounded the last one we had to weave between the barrels while walking backwards and firing. I had some problems getting tunnel vision instead of glancing behind me and was drifting off to the left, so Tom, being the great guy that he is, grabbed my dump pouch and towed me back so that I stayed on course. This got me thinking later about whether or not “groucho” walking backwards for that distance would be a great idea in a shootout. For a few steps maybe, but I think I agree with what Kyle Lamb says about this in Green Eyes & Black Rifles: “Walking backwards is a good way to fall, and fighting from the ground is another can of worms.” The only malfunction I saw that was not user induced was during this drill. The student who was running the SCAR performed a dry reload and his carbine would not strip the round off of the P-Mag. I would have thought it was operator error, but I watched him perform tap-rack-bang on that mag, dump it load another, same thing, load another, and I think that one finally worked. All of his mags were P-Mags, but he had no issues with them until this point in the class.
Once we were done training for the day we sat down with Tom and debriefed about the pros and cons that we felt the course had. The main issue was that the round count for the day was not very high. Tom agreed that it was lower than normal. I feel that maybe this wouldn’t have been a problem if more students would have brought solidly zeroed weapons to the class, but I also understand that they may not have been able to. The only other way we could have squeezed more time in on the range would have been at the expense of classroom time and I think that the classroom material we covered was very beneficial to the new students of the AR15 in our class. This was a basic class and was exactly what it was advertised as being. A high round count is not necessarily indicative of quality training.
Throughout the day safety was paramount. Tom and Jim made sure that ear and eye protection were worn during all courses of fire and that firearms and ammunition were handled safely at all times. All drills were explained in detail before we were required to perform them. On some of the more complicated drills Tom and Jim had us perform a few dry runs before we went hot. All drills were also demonstrated before-hand. We were never asked to do anything that our instructors didn’t do first. While we didn’t fire as many rounds as we would have liked to, all drills that we ran had a purpose. We didn’t just blow rounds off for no reason. Mistakes were corrected and many of us got a lot of pointers. Everybody left with some solid fundamentals and drills to work on.
Gear:
I ran a Colt 6920 as my primary carbine. It is outfitted with a Battle Comp 1.0, an Aimpoint Comp M2, a Troy TRX rail, and a few other goodies. The internal components of the carbine, though, are completely stock. Like Tom said, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” I ran P-Mags and a couple of GI mags. My side-arm was a Glock 19 with Ameriglo sights, a Grip Force beavertail, and a custom piece of bicycle inner-tube on the grip. All mags were Glock brand. I carried my combat load in Blade-Tech mag pouches, a Blade-Tech holster, and an Emdom dump pouch. They were all mounted on a Safariland duty belt and Eagle belt pad.
Pros:
The classroom lecture was good material. Beginners will leave the classroom with a wealth of knowledge.
The drills that we ran were all very fundamental and had a purpose. We did not waste ammunition.
Affordability.
The range portion was very orderly and structured. At no time did I feel unsafe or confused about anything that was happening.
Tom and Jim put their money where their mouth was. They proficiently demonstrated every drill that they asked us to perform, from zeroing to the barrel weave.
Cons:
We could have fired at some farther distances. After zeroing at 50yds I don’t think we crossed the 25yd line again.
The round count could have been higher, but I think that some of that is beyond Tom’s control.
Summary:
This was an excellent course taught by professionals who have been there and done that. Everybody left with a good understanding of how to keep their AR15 running, a solid grasp of the fundamentals, and plenty of drills to work on until next time.