How has Magpul Dynamics's "Art of the Tactical Carbine" stood the test of time?

[cd228]

Gunsite popularized training for non-LEO/military shooters. MagPul popularized AR-centric training for the masses

Excellent Point! We could go a step further and credit COL COOPER, leather slap and similar events and Cooper's writings as the foundations of the modern technique, that most our training either draws from, or is based on. Then say Magpul slapped some snazzy packaging on added some flourishes and one liners and sold it to the masses.

[sonny22]

the only thing that i can say is i learned a few things from them

[dewatters]

I really hope that camera is on an auto timer. For all we know those guns are probably loaded as well.

I've seen a larger copy of the photo. You can see the firing pin holes in the breechfaces of the M1911.

[jwfuhrman]

Then there's the gimmicky tricks that you see people trying to imitate all the time now. For example, you see Costa doing his customary rifle flip, where rotates it to the left, supposedly checking the chamber to see if there was a malfunction and if the mag is empty, and then rotates it to the right in such a way that the magazine goes flying out. Now I see people doing this crap in all of these online videos, and you can tell they aren't checking their chambers because they're just trying to look cool.

There's also the little fake look around they do when they finish firing and prepare to put the weapon on safe or holster it. They fire a string off shots at their targets, then supposedly look left and right, and then safe their weapon. I would really like to see the vast majority of the folks who do that in a course where there may legitimately be targets moving around, and see how many miss it. Most of the time, it's just a stunt to look cool.

I'll stop there.

Both Costa and Haley still teach the search and assess in class, Costa still teaches the "silly mag flip".

Having taken courses from both in years past and this year again, I can tell you, its still relevant, not some gimmick.

[Koshinn]

Searching and assessing is better than not searching and assessing, even if you don't catch everything every time you search and assess.

Whoever says a lack of situational awareness is somehow an advantage needs to really think about what they're saying.

[justin_247]

Both Costa and Haley still teach the search and assess in class, Costa still teaches the "silly mag flip".

Having taken courses from both in years past and this year again, I can tell you, its still relevant, not some gimmick.

Searching and assessing is better than not searching and assessing, even if you don't catch everything every time you search and assess.

Whoever says a lack of situational awareness is somehow an advantage needs to really think about what they're saying.

Those are not the points that I was making...

[HackerF15E]

Searching and assessing is better than not searching and assessing, even if you don't catch everything every time you search and assess.

Whoever says a lack of situational awareness is somehow an advantage needs to really think about what they're saying.

I'm guessing the criticism is of folks who mechanically perform "search and assess" motions as part of a rote memorized habit pattern, rather than actually taking the opportunity to "look" during the search part and "evaluate what they're looking at" during the assess part.

The same basic criticism of the guy in post #17 who was going through the motions he'd been taught without actually performing the procedure those motions were designed to guarantee.

[Arctic1]

Searching and assessing is better than not searching and assessing, even if you don't catch everything every time you search and assess.

Whoever says a lack of situational awareness is somehow an advantage needs to really think about what they're saying.

In my opinion, the scan and assess has little real value on the square range.
Maintaining SA is not about marksmanship, it is about tactics.

Achieving and maintaining good SA is something that takes quite a bit of time to learn how to do, and is best done in a setting where there are actual elements you need to be aware of (terrain, friendlies, threats/enemy). You will not learn this ability solely from hitting the range a few times.

[falnovice]

I'm guessing the criticism is of folks who mechanically perform "search and assess" motions as part of a rote memorized habit pattern, rather than actually taking the opportunity to "look" during the search part and "evaluate what they're looking at" during the assess part.

The same basic criticism of the guy in post #17 who was going through the motions he'd been taught without actually performing the procedure those motions were designed to guarantee.

Precisely.
In that situation he flip flopped TWICE but didn't really look either time.
That's the risk....you may wind up training yourself to flip flop the rifle as a "normal" part of your reload without assessing anything.
Brutal honesty time; that is what I was essentially doing when I was flip flopping.

[John_Burns]

If you have not seen the DVDs then it would be worth a few hours of your time. As mentioned above both guys do somethings differently and other, more current videos are available. Less choreographed range dancing and range kata.

The "flip" to check the chamber doesn't do anything positive in low light. Learn to feel an empty mag slide lock and how to diagnose malfunctions from the charging handle.

I thought Paul Howe's videos at Panteo were good. He is not very fast or flashy but just solid fundamentals. Stuff that worked in the real world.

Frank Proctor's new carbine video has a wealth of good shooting technique.

The Kyle Lamb videos at VTAC have a lot of good info and showcase some drills that have become standards in the training industry.