VT AK Class #1 - Reviews, Comments, and Photos.

[Heavy Metal]

All survived, a good time was had by all. Thanks to Larry Vickers,
Dinger and the 'Nameless One' who shall have his secret identity preserved to ensure his continued ability to fight on for truth, justice and the American way.

My shooting on the move is now 1000% better and my skill with a handgun is no longer measured in negative numbers. A number of lights came on so to speak and I left with much to think about and practice.

Everybody was great, it was a pleasure to meet all my fellow students. If you like AK's, simply put, you will love this course. All of you in the latter courses are in for a treat.

Some advice for those to follow: The Vickers Sling is indeed every bit as good as Larry will tell you it is.

Gloves: Have and use gloves. Kalashnikovs are burn and boo-boo factories. When I wore my gloves, no problem. When I did not, I made the band-aid corporation that much richer.

At a minimum, wear one on your weak side hand to prevent contact burns with the barrel.

[blaster22]

Great class. I'm pooped! We need to have a discussion about the 106 problem. I'm tired now, but tomorrow I have a theory to share. Later guys.

[Robb Jensen]

Kicka** F***ing class. Larry Vickers and the not named instructor were both excellent. I learned a lot this weekend. Blaster22s and my opinion of the 106 after speaking with Templar our thought is that the 5.56mm AKs need to be built on milled receivers. The milled 5.56 AKs used in this class ran 100%. I think all of the stamped ones jammed at least once. We think it's the flexing of the stamped receiver causing this. A 1.6mm receiver may work, but without Arsenal testing know one really knows. I had about 20 failures to fully chamber a round this weekend with my AK-106. This may be the very first class were this many stamped 5.56 AK were used in and pushed this hard. Most of the failures were with American Eagle 55gr FMJ, and less so with Guatamalan, Radway Green, and Wolf.

[WillC]

Great class ... my favorite part was the swimsuit compitition, with Larry schooling us all.
Saw some great AK setups, this gun can be run almost like an M4, speaking of M4 .. M4arc "I miss ya man. Miss your laugh, miss your scent, I miss your musk Ron. I say when this whole thing blows over you and me get an apartment together"...
but seriously...
Guys were snapping away like "Chinese tourists", so I am sure there will be some great AAR picutres to go with this thread and to wet the appitites of those still to partake.
The one Larry biggie was the lock back selector from BF buffers as the one item a must have.
The MP44/Krinkov/AKM ... (for me) M&P demo were worth their weight in gold.
Vinh was once again "the human ransom rest" and C4iGrant's Doctor and Surefire setup a winner.
Don't hesitate to check out the Three Angles Bed and Breakfast Inn... Tom and Pat were more than gracious and only 2 minutes from the range.

Along with the professionalism of everyone at the couse and the "Unnamed one" this course brought a lot to everyone who attended and will no doubt set the standard by which others are judjed, not to mention directly impact things downrange.

Will

[VA_Dinger]

Great class.

I will post more later, but these are a few of the photos I took during the class.

[blaster22]

Nice pictures. Beautiful weather all weekend. Class covered everything very well. About the 106: we need to warn future classes to test-fire their 106 WELL before class. If it won't feed brass, try Wolf. If it hiccups on Wolf, take another rifle.

My M5 was fine. American Eagle 50g HP all weekend. Mini-ACOG on K-Var mount worked very well. Hold-over was no worse than AR. Black Bulgy mags, 4 cell chest pouch, 6004 with old-school 226/9mm. Federal AE 9mm. We did about 700 rifle, 300 pistol. Danner boots, single-point sling, $4 Wal-Mart fingerless gloves that have lasted thru 2 trips to Blackwater and are still okay.

I was feeling my 50 years on this planet and midnight-duty fatigue all weekend. Oh well, my problem. Stayed at Hampton Inn, which was nice. Dinner at Applebee's and Cracker Barrel. Great group of guys, class gets a 5 star rating from me.

Oh, and I learned a new word from Larry the Easter Bunny - "modificate".

[Robb Jensen]

This was a KICKA** F***ING class. I had an excellent time. Larry Vickers and the not named instructor were both excellent. I learned a lot this weekend, a lot about shooting on the move and a lot about the AK.

After speaking with Tim (Templar), Blaster22s and my opinion of the 106 is that the 5.56mm AKs need to be built on milled receivers. The milled 5.56 AKs used in this class ran 100%. I think all of the stamped ones jammed at least once (my did almost 20 times). We think it's the flexing of the stamped receiver causing this. A 1.6mm receiver may work, but without Arsenal testing know one really knows. I had about 20 failures to fully chamber a round this weekend with my AK-106. This may be the very first class where this many stamped 5.56 AKs were used in and pushed this hard. Most of the failures were with American Eagle 55gr FMJ, and less so with Guatamalan, Radway Green, and Wolf.

Larry Vickers said that me, Paul, himself and the other instructor are built like groundhogs (naturally pre-dispositioned for fighting on the move).

I think we're more like badgers/wolverines!

Here's a few pics I got.

[John_Wayne777]

For those who have never trained with Vickers before, he is a very different animal (insert bunny joke here...) than some of the other folks I have trained with.

I was planning to do a little writeup anyway, so I may as well do it here and now.

This was a much more challenging course than I expected. When looking at the prospect of a 2 day course I was skeptical about how much benefit it could be. I am a guy who is used to doing 5 day (or longer...) courses. Thus I wondered just how much we could accomplish in two days. Still, it was a chance to train with Vickers and see what sort of instructor he is and to get some trigger time on my VEPR-K which had spent most of its life collecting dust, so I decided to give it a whirl.

I seriously underestimated the difficulty in switching from a weapon I have trained with quite a bit (the AR) to a weapon I had only 3 or 4 magazines worth of informal plinking through and didn't really know much about. Finding that front sight and making it settle on target under the constraints of the drills that Vickers had us run was much more difficult than I expected. Add to that the use of REALLY TINY targets and what you have is a very humbling training experience.

Vickers has a different approach to movement than other instructors I have had, and a different take on speed. We didn't do a single speed drill in the entire course....only drills that had to be completed within a given period of time. There were no awards for fastest anything, no competitions for fastest anything.

The emphasis was on who shot whatever drill there was clean.

I really enjoyed the class. Larry's style is much different and much less "formal" than other classes I have taken....but you still learn every bit as much (or more) as you do in a more "formal" course. Larry is also quite.....how do I put this.....entertaining....and not just around bunnies.

After taking this class I am probably going to sign up for the low-light class he is doing with Ken Hackathorn in Sept.

If any of you out there haven't considered taking a course with Mr. Vickers, I suggest that you modificate your plans and do so.

Edit --



This was one of the highlights for me.....my only regret is that I didn't have more ammo.

[Joe Mamma]

Excellent information. I'm curious, how much ammo did you guys go through? I'm signed up for a future class and want to know how much I should bring.

I know the recommended amount is 800 rds rifle and 150 rds pistol. But, I attended other shooting courses where the recommended #'s were way off.

Thanks.

Joe Mamma

[John_Wayne777]

Excellent information. I'm curious, how much ammo did you guys go through? I'm signed up for a future class and want to know how much I should bring.

I know the recommended amount is 800 rds rifle and 150 rds pistol. But, I attended other shooting courses where the recommended #'s were way off.

Thanks.

Joe Mamma

Larry's recs are pretty good. He keeps close watch on people's ammo supply and usually won't have more than 400 rounds fired in a day. He believes much more than 400 rounds is actually harmful because people begin to fatigue and start getting sloppy, and the subsequent rounds just reinforce bad habits.