I’m writing this AAR as a student in a recent class offered by Buck Doyle of Follow Through Consulting.
Class Dates: 3/20-3/22/2015
Location: Teasdale, UT
Course Description (from website): Scoped Carbine course focuses on educating the individual student how to appropriately manipulate and accurately shoot a scoped AR style rifle (AR10, SPR, Recon setup, etc.). Scoped Carbine is ideal for the hunter transitioning from a bolt-action rifle to an AR, 3 Gun competitors, and for long range shooting situations. Subjects covered include: zeroing, range estimation, utilizing practical supported/non-supported shooting positions, observation methods with a rifle scope, atmospherics, low-light shooting, and accurately engaging targets from 25 to 800+ meters.
Weapons Platforms Utilized: .223 Carbines (one 6.5 Creedmoor) with Magnified Optics, offset sights
Class Participants: Participants included me, my 23 year old son, industry rep from target manufacturer, freelance magazine writer, and .gov contractor
Practical Activities Covered: Familiarization with using the Carbine Platform at long ranges, general concepts regarding optics, reticles, ranging, multiple target engagement, movement and target acquisition, shooting known and unknown ranges, exposure to low-light shooting (use of Thermal and NVGs), zeroing techniques, use of offset sights, and introduction to Truing Concepts (calculation of true formulas/muzzle velocities based on Applied Ballistics Formulas and generation of range card for each individual and their rifle/ammunition). Philosophy of gunfighting at long ranges vs sniper training. In detail discussions of long range shooting/ballistic concepts as developed by Todd Hodnett and Bryan Litz.
Strengths of Class:
Buck. With a resume such as his, BTDT is inadequate to describe his qualifications to teach this material. Beyond that, Buck is committed to passing on these skillsets and is a genuinely nice guy. I found him to be professional and a true gentleman. His military service furthermore makes his appeal as an instructor even greater. He is truly an individual worthy of your time and precious dollars.
Location. The range in Teasdale is a special place. There are few facilities of this diversity, quality, and expanse available for training. The sheer variety of target placement, shooting angles, and winds makes the range extraordinary.
Reasonableness of cost. His fees are very fair for the amount of time, effort and energy that Buck puts into the class. For someone with the background of Buck, you’re really getting your money’s worth spending time shooting with him.
Freshness of material. While Buck may be less well-known (for the time being) than some of the more established instructors, the fact that Buck has been downrange for the past decade plus provides him with the basis to deserve honorable mention among these other greats. His approach to instructing is kept fresh by the newness of his arrival on the civilian training scene. Buck’s familiarity with the material and his vast experience teaching the .mil and .gov types allows him to readily pull from this knowledge base to construct his curriculum on the fly – tailoring the material specifically to his students comprising his class. As a Tactical Medical Instructor and student of many training classes, I know how easy it is for things to become stale. Buck is able to avoid this difficulty by the breadth of his expertise.
I have photos that I'll try to add later. These photos only tell part of the picture, but they help to try and let you grasp the size and scope of the training facility.
For those looking to know more about Buck and his training courses, I’d refer you to his website: www.followthroughconsulting.com and a snippet from Mark Greenblatt discussing Buck in his book, Valor: http://markleegreenblatt.com/buck-doyle/
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