On 7/25/08, Insights Training Center put on a 3-day Intermediate Defensive Rifle course. Greg Hamilton was the primary instructor. Due to facility problems in the past, this was the first time we were able to offer this course. The course was conducted at the Cascade Rifle Club in Ravensdale, Washington. Cascade Rifle Club's excellent facility allowed us to work everything from up close and personal distances out to 500 yards.

Our two-day General Defensive Rifle was required as a prerequisite to this course. This showed as the competence of the students in the course was high. This allowed for a fast paced course and drills that are often not covered in open enrollment classes.

Weather throughout the course was excellent. As I often say, there is no better place in the world than the Seattle area in the summer. This weekend was no exception. On the first two days it was slightly overcast in the morning then sunny in the afternoon with highs in the mid 70s. The final day it rained slightly in the early morning hours. It was overcast in the beginning or the day and then again sunny and in the mid 70s again in the afternoon.

Training Day 1 started off with a quick intro and then short discussion of a ballistics chart and a proper zero.

We then moved to range and started with fast and furious work at CQB distances. The emphasis for the entire weekend was a race. Greg wanted everyone to try and have the quickest first shot every time and have the most accurate shot every time. We incorporated scanning, kneeling, tac loads, speed loads, and transitions.

We then moved back to the 50 yard line and worked on our zero and then to the 100 yard line to confirm zero and work on distance shooting.

Overall for the course guns ran pretty well with only a few problems. It was a mixed group Colts to POFs and 11.5" Commandos to a couple of 20"A3s.

On day 1, a very squared away fire fighter medic who spends his spare time as a SWAT team medic had his agency issued Bushmaster 11.5" go full auto with 2 and 3 round bursts (and there was no fun switch on the gun). There was a standard carbine buffer in the gun, and he stated that the agency armorer did a "trigger job" on the gun. He swapped out the buffer for an "H" buffer and the problem went away until training day 2 when the triples started again. As Greg pointed out, you can't do trigger jobs on stock AR trigger groups. The metal is only hardened on the surface and anything more than polishing will work through to the soft metal and you end up with problems like guns going full auto that aren't supposed to.

We also took some time to discuss staying away from match triggers for a fighting gun. The light springs can lead to light primer strikes with the hardened primers of mil-spec ammo. If you want a better trigger pull in a fighting gun polish surfaces to create less friction, don't change spring weights.

The first day also saw people working out problems with gear. Mag pouches, holsters, slings, and other gear are always a problem if you don't work them out before a class. When you buy gear spend the time working drills dry or going to the range to make sure that your gear does not interfere with your tactics and skills. Equipment should make life easier, not harder.

We then moved back up close and worked left, right, and 180 pivots. Again the gunning was fast and furious and students enjoyed drills where we queued off the movement of the person next to you to start your turn.

We then went to the 150 yard line. Greg took the time to discuss natural respitory pause and the body's natural point of aim and how the two need to intersect to result in accurate slow fire shots at distance. This helped everyone. My groups went from 5" to sub 3" inches with my 11.5" colt, a 4 MOA Aimpoint, and M193.

We finished the day with more up close work. We introduced shooting on the move. Greg then integrated all pivots and kneeling with shooting on the move.

Due to an administrative error, some students only brought about 500 rounds to class. We called up Lance, the owner of West Coast Armory in Issaquah, WA, and he had his lovely wife deliver 10,000 rounds of ammo to the range for student to purchase. Thank you to Lance for his great customer service and helping us out in a pinch.

The line shooting on the move


Zeroing from the 50, sporting a signature Insights t-shirt


I will have more pictures and the AAR for the rest of the weekend shortly.