Matt O
10-24-11, 15:10
Instructor: Christopher "Hans" Frank
Location: C2 Shooting Center (Virginia Beach)
# of Students: 8 + Chris
Equipment: AR's of various manufacture across the board (BCM, DD, Colt, Rock River and one or two I wasn't familiar with)
We essentially had an ideal day for shooting; clear skies, mid to high 60's with only a slight breeze and a 100 yard range all to ourselves. Can't really think of any better way to spend a Sunday.
This was my 3rd time training with Chris, but my first time attending a carbine class. Chris is a solid instructor, as evidenced by the fact that multiple students, including myself, have made 7-8 hour round-trip drives down to train with him again.
As always, we started everything off with a very comprehensive safety brief before Chris jumped into a detailed explanation of the various functions and components of AR-style carbines, as well as recommended (and proven) set ups regarding lights, slings, stocks, rails, magazines and mag pouches. Chris continued to expand on these points throughout the class and I think a few light bulbs went off among students regarding magazines or mag pouches that might need to get thrown out...or shot up and then thrown out. Or just sold on ToS. For me personally, being a genetically cursed individual who is right handed and left eye dominant and was shooting a carbine left handed, it was a learning experience on where to position my carbine mag pouches as I have relatively limited belt real estate behind and in front of my pistol.
Much of the rest of the morning was spent on zeroing, first at 25 yards and then off to 100 yards to confirm and make final corrections. Chris also went over the various shooting positions and their advantages/disadvantages. After some dry practice, we tested the different positions out in the 10-2 drill, shooting from 100 yards all the way into 10 yards.
Chris also went over reloads and a bit of malfunctions clearance, thanks to an AR that decided to double-feed. Why waste a training point, right?
And then the rest of the afternoon was a blur of various (mostly timed) shooting drills, including walk back drills on shots to the index card head area, shots to 12"x12" steel, various team competitions, target transitions and multiple round shot strings.
Most of these types of drills are pretty standard in VSM carbine class AAR's so I won't go into extreme detail on each of them. Suffice it to say, this class was entirely about reinforcing the absolute need for proper execution of the fundamentals - proper stance, controlled & continuous trigger pull, deliberate & smooth movements, as well as the need to drive the gun. The absence of any of the above on any given drill was usually immediately and embarrassingly obvious.
For me there were a couple key pointers that I needed to beat into my head:
Always know your off-set.
You can't miss fast enough.
Don't let the timer mind-**** you.
No, you still can't miss fast enough and the timer is now laughing at you.
We did also have an opportunity to test out one of the Surefire 100 round magazines (I think it was the 100 round one?). While I definitely would not want to carry one of those around all day in the weapon, the weight of the magazine essentially reduced the recoil impulse to nothing which, for a moment, made me feel like a better shooter than I actually am.
Overall, it was a fantastic learning experience and a damn good time. We had two ladies in the class who did remarkably well despite having no prior experience with a carbine. Their improvement over the course of the day is direct evidence of the efficacy of the instruction and drills utilized. I highly recommend Chris' classes for anyone who wants to develop a solid core skill-set with a carbine that they can continue to build upon.
Location: C2 Shooting Center (Virginia Beach)
# of Students: 8 + Chris
Equipment: AR's of various manufacture across the board (BCM, DD, Colt, Rock River and one or two I wasn't familiar with)
We essentially had an ideal day for shooting; clear skies, mid to high 60's with only a slight breeze and a 100 yard range all to ourselves. Can't really think of any better way to spend a Sunday.
This was my 3rd time training with Chris, but my first time attending a carbine class. Chris is a solid instructor, as evidenced by the fact that multiple students, including myself, have made 7-8 hour round-trip drives down to train with him again.
As always, we started everything off with a very comprehensive safety brief before Chris jumped into a detailed explanation of the various functions and components of AR-style carbines, as well as recommended (and proven) set ups regarding lights, slings, stocks, rails, magazines and mag pouches. Chris continued to expand on these points throughout the class and I think a few light bulbs went off among students regarding magazines or mag pouches that might need to get thrown out...or shot up and then thrown out. Or just sold on ToS. For me personally, being a genetically cursed individual who is right handed and left eye dominant and was shooting a carbine left handed, it was a learning experience on where to position my carbine mag pouches as I have relatively limited belt real estate behind and in front of my pistol.
Much of the rest of the morning was spent on zeroing, first at 25 yards and then off to 100 yards to confirm and make final corrections. Chris also went over the various shooting positions and their advantages/disadvantages. After some dry practice, we tested the different positions out in the 10-2 drill, shooting from 100 yards all the way into 10 yards.
Chris also went over reloads and a bit of malfunctions clearance, thanks to an AR that decided to double-feed. Why waste a training point, right?
And then the rest of the afternoon was a blur of various (mostly timed) shooting drills, including walk back drills on shots to the index card head area, shots to 12"x12" steel, various team competitions, target transitions and multiple round shot strings.
Most of these types of drills are pretty standard in VSM carbine class AAR's so I won't go into extreme detail on each of them. Suffice it to say, this class was entirely about reinforcing the absolute need for proper execution of the fundamentals - proper stance, controlled & continuous trigger pull, deliberate & smooth movements, as well as the need to drive the gun. The absence of any of the above on any given drill was usually immediately and embarrassingly obvious.
For me there were a couple key pointers that I needed to beat into my head:
Always know your off-set.
You can't miss fast enough.
Don't let the timer mind-**** you.
No, you still can't miss fast enough and the timer is now laughing at you.
We did also have an opportunity to test out one of the Surefire 100 round magazines (I think it was the 100 round one?). While I definitely would not want to carry one of those around all day in the weapon, the weight of the magazine essentially reduced the recoil impulse to nothing which, for a moment, made me feel like a better shooter than I actually am.
Overall, it was a fantastic learning experience and a damn good time. We had two ladies in the class who did remarkably well despite having no prior experience with a carbine. Their improvement over the course of the day is direct evidence of the efficacy of the instruction and drills utilized. I highly recommend Chris' classes for anyone who wants to develop a solid core skill-set with a carbine that they can continue to build upon.