AAR: VTAC Street Fighters Course 26-28 Apr 13
My apologies for getting this up late...
Requirements: Must have attended the VTAC 1.5 Carbine Course (1.5 Pistol is my recommendation for the course based on the advanced pistol shooting techniques demonstrated and applied).
This class was conducted on 26-28 Apr 13 at the Southern Exposure Training range, located at Kathleen FL, north of Lakeland FL. The classes conducted at this range are hosted by Irv & Wafta, who are known for bringing in top notch high quality trainers as well as their very non-PC sense of humor, which most can appreciate. They are themselves excellent shooters and great people to know. The facility itself is very manicured, with a covered area for the shooters, gear and classroom instruction. The range also has a shoot house and two separate side shooting bays. I've trained here for many years and highly recommend checking it out and taking a few classes.
Instructors: The VTAC Street Fighters Course was my fourth class with SGM (Ret) Kyle Lamb. If you don't know who is, google him or look up Viking Tactics. Kyle is an awesome instructor, with a laid back personality and great sense of humor who imparts real world practical application shooting techniques, many of which are very unusual and unconventional. His AI, Chili, is an active duty SGM with the same unit, is like Kyle’s brother, with the same laid back attitude, great sense of humor, and the ability to instruct and unf--k you at the same time. The goal is always to push you till the wheels come off, (your shooting accuracy starts to fall apart) then dial it back a notch or two.
Weather: Moderately warm, mid to high 80s, and humid. Day 1 sucked ass. Temp 88 degrees, no breeze and mostly clear skies. But as each day passed, the temperatures backed off to mid 80s. More cloud cover and breezes increased with each passing day. We thank Irv and Wafta for putting in a huge fan under the shed, it helped a lot!
Students: The class, as with all the VTAC classes I've attended was full, with 24 students. They were mostly the usual suspects, some civilians, some Vets, some Mil and lots of LE represented, from Local to Federal, with some new faces, most repeat highly trained shooters I see in every class I attend. One student habitually drives down from Michigan to attend classes here because we know each other and the high quality instruction. It's always great to train with safe, switched on students. No ego's involved, great sense of humor, always helping each other out and the banter is classic. Meals together, with the instructors, are always a great benefit and increases the learning curve. We've had so many classes together, that it has a very family atmosphere. Kyle and Chili were always available to discuss during meals, any and every topic, firearms related or not, and all of us dining together builds great bonding and camaraderie (No Homo).
Firearms: You name it, we had it, in every configuration imaginable. I brought as a primary, a DD MK-18, with 1.0 BC, Giselle super V trigger, and Trijicon 3.5 MOA RMR and M&P9 with Apex sear, storm lake barrel and Bore Sight Solutions awesome stippling job. My backup was a 14.5 DD LW with 12 in Literail and pinned BC2.0. The MK18 ran like a champ, with two malfunctions, one double feed and one where two rounds were crisscrossed in the same mag that wouldn't feed. { It was a Gen 1 Pmag that has been well used in many classes and range sessions. After inspection by myself, several students as well as Chili, we still couldn't find anything physically wrong with it. I trashed it soon afterwards. In retrospect, I should have done a write up, took pics, and sent it to Magpul, not for a replacement, but for their own analysis…next time.}
TD1: Started with a safety briefing, followed by zeroing, first at 50 yards, then 100, in two relays. After all weapons were zeroed, and Vtac targets (with 4 vertical bulls), we walked back to the 125 yard line. The 1st relay had to run to the 100, and shoot 10 yards prone timed. Then we ran to the 75 and shot 10 rounds sitting, then 50 yards 10 rounds kneeling, then to the 25 yard line 10 rounds standing. Then the next relay got to do it. After all rifles were zero’d, we never shot in a normal shooting position again. After reloading, the junkyard vehicles showed up and two were placed on the 100 yard line, and one in a shooting bay. We practiced, starting from the drivers seat, to return fire, then bailing out on the other side and shooting around, under and over the vehicles, paying close attention to using cover and accurate rifle fire from the rear, underneath, over the hood or front wheel. Kyle got in on the driver’s side of my run without warning and pretended to be dead, so I had to immediately engage the targets, open the door, push his body out, climb over him, maneuver, and return fire. He would do several things like that to throw shooters off balance and still require them to perform.
We used a lot of brokeback prone, support side and one hand/arm shooting, loading, & malfunction clearing throughout the day and the course. After running a course of fire on one vehicle, we got in line for the van, and did the same thing, at least 2 times on each vehicle. One thing that must be stressed is the fact that when shooting over a vehicle, your sight picture must exceed the angle of the vehicle or you will shoot the car. After lunch, we repositioned the two vehicles down to the 15 yard line or so with steel and paper targets, and VTAC shooting barricades. We split up into two groups and one went to the smaller range to practice shooting from, dismounting, then shooting around and under the vehicle at paper targets 10-15 yards away. The other group went to the 2 other stations set up to do similar training with a van, a VTAC barricade as a visual limiter, and a similar smaller vehicle, shooting steel and paper, depending on how close the target was. Same drills performed again, with different positions of the vehicles. We then swapped with the other group to perform close in shooting in the smaller range bay, practicing shooting from the driver’s seat, dismount, maneuver to cover at the rear of the vehicle and return fire from various positions. No glass was shot or pistols used this day. Did I say it was F’in hot???
TD2. Mostly pistols work, performing the same maneuvers, positions, reactions, and shooting, both normal, strong side only, and support side only, to include clearing malfunctions and magazine changes and shoot on the move. Shooting under a vehicle is challenging by itself, but when vehicles have a tire or two shot out, it makes it extremely challenging to get an accurate sight picture and getting a good hit. I found that being completely proned out, face on the deck, shooting strong or support side, while using the opposite eye, doing malfunction clearances and mag changes one handed, all while not shooting the undercarriage of the vehicle, was the most challenging shooting drills for me, as well as for most of the students.
During one of the breaks, Kyle mentioned that he was glad to see no one was doing the SUL position when moving about. For those unfamiliar, it was a technique developed while a US trainer teaching a South American police force that was so unsafe, he devised SUL to stop them from flagging each other with live ammo (or some shit like that). For some reason, it migrated north. I always thought it was a little dopey and caused your weapon to be unnecessarily exposed to a gun grab or getting knocked out of your hand when maneuvering in close quarters. But hey, when you're in a class where the instructor wants you to use SUL, you use SUL.
Kyle explained in depth a more logical and efficient way to maneuver in a stack, vehicle or around your teammates, while maintaining positive control over your pistol. What he demonstrated and explained, was faster and a more normal method to drive your weapon back towards a threat, similar to a normal draw stroke. (This was also discussed in the 1.5 Pistol class, which if you have not attended, it is an excellent, and extremely challenging pistol course. It will push you well outside your comfort zone, regardless of skill set). Anyway, several students got their gun knocked loose or lost control of their pistol due to getting the front sight snagged on the steering wheel in strong hand and support hand maneuvering.
TD3: Carbine Work: Unconventional Shooting Positions (100 yard line). These positions were an eye opener to say the least. They go against everything you have learned, damned uncomfortable and weird as hell, especially when running the drills one handed. One shooting position even required you to accurately engage targets one handed, while using your thumb to manipulate the trigger. Another one was where you had the sling around your neck with your arm almost fully extended, laying on your side with the weapon braced on your calf, knees or on the deck. It was a great learning experience to know that you can build your own stable (or close enough) position and still make an accurate hit.
Vehicle Ballistics Seminar: Kyle gave several examples of how bullets behave and don't behave when shot at a vehicle. A lot of myths were completely busted. What you think you know and what actually occurs is phenomenal. We shot through glass and doors with various types of ammo from M193, green tip, Tap, bonded, pistols 9, 40, 45, +P, +P+, HP, FMJ, 12 Ga slug and 00. The effects of 00 from a distance of 10 feet was mind boggling. A huge hole was produced on the outside, but the buck shot failed to penetrate the door of a POS compact car. One instant, a .45 went through both sides of the vehicle, the next, goes through one side and gets stuck in a head rest. As Kyle discussed and what was demonstrated, it is completely impossible to know the effects of how a bullet will perform when shot at a car. It was a very interesting and thought provoking class.
The rest of the day was spent employing all the techniques learned while maneuvering in and out of the three vehicles, shooting out the glass and seeing the effects on the targets engaged. When shooting through the van’s wind shield, I shot a ten round burst and didn't get a hit (I know...5 rounds was the requirement, but I had a twitchy finger 
). It took five more rounds with a steadier hold, to get hits on target. You are way better off leaning out the window to effectively engage targets. A friend had a 308 gun and lent it out for a mag or two. A couple of shots, without being muzzle aware, made a pretty good cut through the hood. What a difference in the effects of that caliber compared to a 5.56 gun when shooting through the front glass
Conclusion: This class was an eye opener to many, including those LEOs in attendance. I found it was for most of this class, a tremendous challenge of one’s shooting ability, to be tested over and over again in extreme shooting positions. You will make mistakes and you will learn your limits, how to adjust, and to push through your personal wall to place that accurate shot. I've learned a lot training with Kyle and Viking Tactics over the years and highly recommend their courses to round out your shooting experience and training regiment. If you can only take one class, I recommend the 1.5 pistol course. It is the most demanding pistol course I've ever taken.
RMR issues: I was running a newly obtained RMR and was having serious issues trying to get it zeroed. I couldn't hear or feel the clicks on the adjustment knobs, which states 1 MOA. After trying to get in on paper at the 25, I shot a group at 100 and was able to make a final adjustment to have a good zero, but it was a PITA to get it there. I was having a lot of difficulty finding my dot in many of the unconventional shooting positions. I finally had to line up the front and rear Iron sights in order to find the dot. I also found out that the RMR is not parallax free. My suspicions were confirmed when a class mate showed me some photo evidence from a TMACs course, and how the shots grouped differently, depending on where the dot was seen in the glass. After talking to several in the class about that, I’m glad I wasn't the only one having issues with finding their dot. I'm still up in the air about the RMR and will have to give it more time as to whether to keep it on my MK18 or replacing it with a micro aimpoint, and moving it to a pistol.
If there’s anything I left out or got out of order, please feel free to chime in. Pics to follow. All pics are courtesy of my friend Fred...
Last edited by RogerinTPA; 05-11-13 at 20:00.
Reason: Re-Title
For God and the soldier we adore, In time of danger, not before! The danger passed, and all things righted, God is forgotten and the soldier slighted." - Rudyard Kipling
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Originally Posted by scottryan
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