Gutshot John was trained in long distance by my brother.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Gutshot John was trained in long distance by my brother.
It's always interesting to see what cold and humid will do to guns and gear - our weather didn't disappoint. Eyepro and optics get fogged up, guns run sluggish, and weaponlight beams diffuse in the atmosphere. Fingers get numb and gear that allows for maximum usability during evolutions usually is not optimal for pure performance.
A couple of off-brand ARs went down, as well as an 18" M1A early on. Guns required lots of lube to keep running. Cold mud contributed to the good times as it worked its way into magazines. Proper cold weather gear was essential... not that it was super-cold, but TD1 we spent the better part of 12 hours outside in temps that ranged from the mid 30s to the mid 20s.
This was my first exposure of shooting a lot of rounds (500+) in adverse conditions (cold and wet), and I was surprised at how much lube was necessary by the end of TD1. I don't have an off brand gun (BCM upper, DD lower), but during the last drill, my BCG was starting to get really sluggish, eventually short stroking.
I'm glad I experienced weather-related weapon issues though, as up to this point, the AR I used hasn't had any issues at all.
Last edited by SteadyUp; 12-21-11 at 11:04.
All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent.
-Thomas Jefferson
Actually now that Jay mentions it, I have to agree that cold/humid was one of my bigger takeaways as well. Lots of guns seemed to be going down or having trouble.
My guns ran great except during the chemlight shoot when I was having some pretty consistent malfunctions with one particular magazine that I've never had trouble with before. I'm going to run the mag hard this weekend to see if that was the issue.
It is bad policy to fear the resentment of an enemy. -Ethan Allen
First off, thanks to Jack (Failure to Stop) for the instruction and Jay (Low Speed- High Drag) for the hosting the class. It was an awesome experience and I learned a lot. Jack is an incredible source of knowledge and has an uncanny analytical and diagnostic mind for shooting. His presentation on what to do after shooting and before holstering was something incredible. I would recommend F2SConsulting to anyone interested in learning to shoot or better their shooting skills. Thanks to my fellow classmates, lets do it again!
I wanna thank Jack for his time, standing out in the cold, and being one of the most enthusiastic instructors I have had. So enthusiastic that him and a student were blasting at some targets in the dark and he took a dive, in the mud/much/snow to shoot from various roll over positions. My take aways from the class are enough to make me wanna get to the range ASAP, more so than after any other class.
Having had a decent amount of training in the past I wasn't too sure on what to expect. What I got out of both carbine and pistol was better ways, tweaks really, to how I was already doing things to improve speed/accuracy. Emphasis was placed on accuracy but there were a few different things used to push the limits of speed and accuracy and then bring it back and tie it together in a closing drill, per say, for that particular relay. The biggest thing I got out of the class was a few tweaks to my carbine stance that I think will allow me to be a great deal faster (will know when I time some stuff). I have also had a lingering issue with a Glock trigger that was finger placement related. I can shoot M&P's just fine with the pad but on a Glock I need more finger, something I have been agonizing over for a while.
One point I would also like to make is how fast some of the other students who had far less training were able to get up to speed. Jack was able to get shooting quite well very efficiently. I really liked the manner in which he presented a few of pistol topics (grip, stance, malfunction clearance) too. The techniques were often what I have seen before but they were presented very well.
I will definitely be seeking more training with Jack. I had a great time, improved upon a fair amount of my technique and am pretty convinced that I can maybe go a little further than I had previously thought.
Following up on this because I politely disagree.....
At the last Defoor adv carbine class at Blackwater; I shot next to a locked on Marine infantry officer fresh from Afghanistan who is F2S trained and also a man I'm proud to call my friend.
Said Marine was shooting a Noveske with a TA11 and fairly decent brass ammo, I was shooting my 5.45 AR with Sov mil surp ammo from the 80's and an Aimpoint H1.
At the 100, 200, and 300 yard lines, we pretty much tied for groups. Neck and neck. But.....we tied for speed at 50 and in. Not to mention similar group sizes.
I agree with GJ. I'm not too worried about scopes on a man sized target 300 and in. I'm not a bench rest nor accuracy fiend. Obviously if you are chasing small groups and hell bent on semi auto accuracy findings, red dots are not for you.
To those who took the course, what are three things you took away from it?
"The very purpose of a Bill of Rights was to withdraw certain subjects from the vicissitudes of political controversy, to place them beyond the reach of majorities and officials and to establish them as legal principles to be applied by the courts." Justice Robert Jackson, WV St. Board of Education v. Barnette, 319 U.S. 624 (1943)
"I don’t care how many pull ups and sit ups you can do. I care that you can move yourself across the ground with a fighting load and engage the enemy." Max Velocity
Number one for me was importance of trigger control when dealing with longer range (25+ yards) pistol work. While I could get away with rushing my press at short range, the sloppiness was immediately apparent as distance increased.
Secondly, this course made it really clear that a solid fundamental skill set is key for proficient marksmanship. There really weren't any fancy, whiz-bang, smoke and mirrors techniques that we were shown. Just perfect execution of the fundamental techniques.
Finally, I *thought* I knew how important properly lubing an AR was to provide reliable function, but the cold, wet days we dealt with showed me (and other students) that what is adequate lube on dry summer day doesn't cut it when it is 30 degrees and snowing. So basically, know your weapon inside and out.
All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent.
-Thomas Jefferson
This is the second time I have had the pleasure of training with Jack, at least this time I didn't have to sing.
Jack is a BTDT guy who can also teach, win. He has a very positive way of dealing with his students, very upbeat. "Kill good!" is a common motivational phrase.
Jack is very accessible and as ego free as I've seen.
There were some minor issues with pacing and sequencing that we talked about as a class with Jack that I don't believe will be an issue in the future. Most of these issues stemmed from his efforts to try and satisfy requests from or the special needs of the class.
A couple of things I took away from the class:
I had a bit of a lightbulb moment when it came to my carbine grip, it finally felt right. I don't know how to explain it.
His description of the 'why' behind the post engagement sequence (scan and assess, etc) was excellent and not diluted with flashy wordspeak. Concise, to the point and most importantly, irrefutable. That 10 min was worth the price of admission.
In all, training with F2S is time and money well spent, I will again.
Bookmarks