AAR Black Iron Performance, Low Light Rifle Performance, November 7, 2020 Madison, OH

Black Iron Performance
Low Light Rifle Performance 1-day class
November 7, 2020
Madison, OH
Hosted at C4 Shooting and Training Center

This fall I had the pleasure of discovering Paul Bellitto, owner and operator of Black Iron Performance located in Northeast Ohio. In September, I took Paul’s Rifle Fundamentals course and was thrilled with the level of instruction, dedication to safety, and the overall curriculum. When I saw Low Light Rifle Performance added to his website, I jumped at the opportunity to train under his instruction again. I had been looking for a course to work on an often-neglected skillset that has sat on my to-do list for quite some time; his course description fit the bill. It has been seven years since I have used a weapon at night and I have been meaning to return to this topic to update, practice, and improve my skills.

This class was specifically geared towards the use and implementation of white lights on long guns for target identification and engagement in low to no light environments. C4 Shooting and Training center provided an approximate 30x40 yard bay with berms surrounding almost all sides; this allowed multiple drills and scenarios to be engaged by students throughout the class in small groups keeping down time to a minimum and the curriculum flowing. The class size was eight students, meaning there was more than adequate supervision, opportunity to ask questions, and work through drills at a comfortable but brisk pace.

Class began at 3:00 pm with a short introduction by Paul, safety briefing, and gear inspection ensuring that students had an appropriate and functional carbine set up before things started getting dark. Following the intro, we all suited up and got to work. Class started with a walk up, shooting strings of fire from approximately the 30, 12, and 7-yard lines to reenforce hold-overs for students who may not have had as much experience and allowing more experienced students to confirm their holds. While this was not a fundamentals class, I do appreciate Paul building this into his warmup/and curriculum as some shooters simply neglect to practice this fundamental skill; as visibility waned it would become essential to know your holds and get your hits. We would be working at distances ranging from 10-40 yards throughout this course shooting both steel and paper targets from static positions, movement, and cover/concealment utilizing vehicles. Accountability for accuracy and speed was maintained throughout the class by scoring targets and pushing for A zone hits at all times.

During the daylight portion of this class we confirmed holds, safety manipulation, and covered reload procedures to ensure students were prepared to manipulate their weapons in low to no light conditions. This portion of the class allowed Paul to address any potential manipulation problems students may have as well as assess abilities. During this time one student was removed from class due to their inexperience with their weapon system to ensure the safety of all students and instructors. This was done respectfully and professionally. Following the first break in the evening Paul addressed this student’s dismissal reiterating the attention to and importance of safety.
With the last of the daylight, Paul addressed the use of cover and concealment around a vehicle which would be a center piece throughout the evening. Paul demonstrated rifle positions utilizing cover or concealment while still maintaining proper sight picture as well as not obscuring weapon lights. Students were able to practice these positions and be given additional direction as needed to ensure success in the dark.

Things really began to get interesting as the sun set and we began running courses of fire that required us to depend on our weapon lights to identify and engage targets. This wasn’t a class where we simply stood on line, shot pre- determined courses of fire, threw the rifle on safe, rinse and repeat. Each course of fire after dark included some kind of cognitive task, from identifying small subsets of 2-3 targets out of larger groups and engaging in the prescribed order and round count, to solving math problems giving you the information to identify your targets and target sequence. These drills continued to increase in cognitive difficulty as movement, reloads, and multiple stations of fire were introduced. Drills which required you to hear information, process information, engage targets, move, and call on that original information to identify and engage the next round of targets pushed students to focus on fundamentals while manipulating their rifles and lights to be successful. Class culminated in a multistage course of fire in which students had the opportunity to practice entering and exiting a vehicle to engage targets while being driven and directed by instructors under night vision.

This course presented information to shooters who were new to using their rifles at night, and extended opportunities for practice and refinement to those more experienced. I was thrilled with the attention to safety throughout the evening and quality of instruction. I look forward to seeing the Black Iron Performance 2021 schedule and attending future courses in Northeast, Ohio.

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Photos courtesy of North Coast Tactical