Posted: 10/12/2007 1:31:59 PM EDT
|
I am sure there will be several who post reviews, but here was my take on things. First of all, my experience with Front Sight this course might be slightly different than what is typical, as I was involved in a course which was provided to me free of charge by the generosity of FS-FRNL. He is a Front Sight First Family Member, and as part of a membership upgrade he was allowed to have a "Birthday Party" for ?40? others which allowed them to have free training. He generously opened this up to many from AR15.com. For this reason, the course was largely made up of AR15.com folks, who surprisingly enough, mostly shot ARs. My guess would be that most of these courses have a majority of AR shooters, but our class was probably out on the extreme for percentage. As an aside, we all are very grateful to FS-FRNL for this opportunity, and I am sure we would all say that we learned a lot and had our eyes opened to many new things. We did, however, have several other rifles represented: M1A, Bolt Action 22-250?, AK, and FAL that I knew of, although I am sure there were others. The course is designed to work for any rifle a student brings, but ours was oriented toward the manual of arms of the AR, the M1A and a bolt action precision rifle. Probably because of the high percentage of ARs, most demonstrations were done with an AR, with follow up demonstrations of other rifle systems done with an M1A and bolt gun showing if they were different in some way. Front sight offers two and four day training programs. The first two days of both courses are the same, and held together, with the two day folks going home at the end of the second day, while the four dayers going on for the last two. I believe this format is used for all their basic courses (handgun, rifle, sub gun, shotgun). Many of the classroom discussions are held with all of these groups together as the information is common to all (i.e. being aware of surroundings, deadly force decisions, etc.). I will go through the course outline briefly by day: Day 1: Check in, liability waiver signing Lecture on Competence- basically will you choose to learn and be competent, or choose ignorance Range time instruction for 3 hours in the AM Lunch with the Front Sight Philosophy laid out Lecture on a system for being aware of your surroundings Range time with 2 1/2 hours instruction in PM Lecture on use of Deadly Force The range instruction on day one included: Four safety rules, range commands, carry positions, brief teaching on marksmanship (sight alignment, picture, and trigger control), chamber checking, loading and unloading, zeroing, different ready positions, different shooting positions, after action drills, malfunction clearance drills. If you think that looks like a lot to cover in one day, you're right. They have the day scheduled from 8:00 AM to 6:45 PM and the information does not stop. Day one gets a lot of the foundations on the table to be used for the next three days. Day 2 This starts with 4 1/2 hours of range time working on the information given on day one. In addition, close quarters drills are added including unsighted fire at extremely close ranges, and hostage shots. A 50/200 yd zero is obtained for the student's rifles, and the prone and sitting positions are added. Lunch includes a presentation on becoming a First Family Member Two hour lecture in PM on Criminal and Civil Liability after a shooting Two hours range time in PM which includes running the "simulator" One hour lecture on Tactical rifle and shotgun equipment choices The "simulator" is basically a live fire exercise in which you are given a scenario involving bad guys and good guys. You then walk through the course individually with an instructor engaging targets as you find them- lots of fun! and an application of all the stuff you have learned in a simulated "real world" situation. Two day folks go home at this point, but the four day folks show up for: Day 3 Lecture 1 hour on tactical movement/ house clearing One hour range time practicing movement Range time 2 1/2 hours in AM using information covered up to this point Lunch lecture on Defensive Handgun selection Range time 4 hours including a second "simulator" scenario The evening of day three is the Night Shoot. There is a brief lecture on use of lights followed by live fire exercises from 3-50 yards. You have not lived until you see 30 shooters on a line emptying 1-3 magazines simultaneously at metal targets which are pointed out with a laser pointer in the dark. To borrow a phrase from the tannerite ad- "guaranteed to give grown men woodies". Day 4 Time pressure is added to what you have covered, and all of the day is spent on the range other than lunch time when a lecture about reality vs training is given. Range time is spent shooting at 400 yards after confirming 200 yd zero, and the AM is spent doing basically a slow walk through of the "skills test". The PM is the actual "skills test" followed by closing ceremonies. What is the skills test? Basically a series of live fire exercises which apply all that you have learned in the course. I am sure someone can come along with the specifics, but basically you shoot from 3 to 200 yards. Targets are basically silhouettes with "vital zones" in the head and upper chest. Any hit in these areas is worth 5 points. Hits of the silhouette outside the vital zones are worth 2 points, and misses of the silhouette are not given any points. At longer ranges the shooter uses the position of choice. In addition, malfunction drills are also tested for each common type of malfunction and reload. The real difficulty of the skills test are the time limits, which range from 1.8 to 6 seconds. If you go over the designated limit, you lose 3 points for each shot. If you have not shot under time pressure, you will not believe how much more difficult this makes shooting. The times are short enough to stress any but the most accomplished shooters. The skills test is scored, and you can miss basically 10% of your points and be a "Distinguished Graduate". You can miss roughly 30% and be a "Graduate". In our course of 30+ shooters, all of whom seemed to be pretty competent and committed to me, we had two DGs and numerous graduates. So, here are the answers to a few questions I had before I went: What is this "First Family" and membership stuff, is this all a scam? I must admit, I had a fairly skeptical view of all this before I went. However, there was approximately 1 1/2- 2 hours the entire four days which was aimed at membership. This time was also during lunch, so you were eating during the presentations. There was NO pressure given to join, but the benefits were explained. In addition, the video on Front Sight and your legacy focused more on the Second Amendment, and what we should all be doing to help protect it, as well as what Front Sight was doing. This course was definitely a practical rifle course, not a membership drive. Is membership worth it? Obviously, this is completely my opinion, so take it with a grain of salt. I think that in certain circumstances it is. If I lived in So Cal, I would be a member in a minute. There are people in many places who do not have access even to a decent range, or a group of people to train with. If you are in this boat, I would certainly look into membership. Spending several four day blocks a year at Front Sight would definitely keep your skills sharper, and give you a place and a peer group to do it with. It also gives training, and a yardstick to measure improvement. What about the instructors? Top notch. I did not run into one who was full of himself, or lacked knowledge. You know the kinds I am talking about- the ones who are really there to stroke their own ego and tell you about the time they had to bail out Chuck Norris in a bar fight, or the ones who remind you of the "liar" from Saturday Night Live: "Yeah, yeah, that's how you do it, like that, that's the ticket". Each one was there to help you learn without trying to humiliate or embarrass, and each one had something useful to say when he opened his mouth. What about Scientology? Yes, I heard all the rumors before I went, but I did not hear the word mentioned, nor did I see a single E meter, or other paraphanelia. All of the instructors seemed to be hired for their ability and background, not their beliefs. And, as one would expect, their beliefs seemed to be pretty consistent with what you would find in a cross section of AR15.commers. What Rifle should I take? A semi auto military style- AR, M1A or FAL would be my recommendations. Also, one which you know runs, so you can focus on learning, not troubleshooting your weapon. What optic? Interestingly, the skills test seemed to mirror what I see on AR15.com in terms of optic choice. I started the course with an Aimpoint. This was definitely an advantage out to 50 yards, making the timed shots much easier. However, I couldn't make the hits at 200 yards. I am sure there are those who could do it, and I saw some good groups shot with EO techs and Aimpoints at 200, but I couldn't do it. I switched to an IOR M2 which is fixed 4x, and did much better at 200 without losing too much time up close. I ended up doing well on the skills test, so this was the best choice for me with what I had available. I would say that the ideal optic would be what most folks think is the "real world" ideal optic- a S&B short dot. I would thing a Meopta K dot would work very well as well. These would allow rapid 1x red dot shooting up close, but give you the option of magnification at 200 yards. The ACOG would also be a good option (there were many in attendance) as would an aimpoint or EO with a flip over magnifier. What ammo? Anything reliable that does not have a steel jacket or penetrator. You do not need 1-2 MOA ammo to shoot the skills test. I shot wolf and it worked well enough. I am sure that having more accurate ammo would give you a little more margin for error at 200 yards, but wolf is good enough to get you a DG score. Any tips for the skills test? Yes, as the instructors said, you need to get into your position and get your rifle mounted quickly and efficiently. This gives you time to acquire your sight picture and control your trigger. You cannot squeeze your trigger like you would in target shooting, and have enough time. Your trigger press must be decisive but without moving the rifle when you have decided your sight alignment is "good enough". Was it worth it? Completely Just a hint- if you are interested in a course, search on line for "front sight certificate", and you may be able to find some deals on tuition. |
|
Most excellent AAR!! Spot on with my experience. I was in the 4 day Defensive Pistol class on range 1A. This is the same format we used except of course for the distance, we only went out to 15 meters. The only thing I might add is, we started with 125 points, 25 shots to complete the skills test. All you could do was lose points for misses, or out of the target area misses. And then there were the malfunction drills. OUCH!!! |
| Excellent review. I concur. The optics thing was difficult for me. I went irons all the way with my FAL. This would have been a better choice had I been in my 20's or 30's. However, my oldguy eyes were clearly not up to the task of target recognition at 200/400 yards. Had I not had a problematic mounting system, I would have been better served with the red dot at the very least. Magnification of any sort would have dramatically improved my distance work. |
|
Excellent review!! great detail on everything that was covered. I cant say enough good about the instructors as they did an excellent job. Their knowledge, skill, presentation and composure was excellent. I was also impressed with how 'well rounded' the course was with all the info on mental state and awareness surrounding a defensive shooting event along with all the legal info provided and suggested methods for dealing with LEO after a shooting. Very useful and insightful information. I shot irons the whole course and did alright - not rockstar status but I held my own I thought. No doubt about it, most of the optics guys were shooting better groups than I was and having some magnification on the 400yd line sure would have been nice  I do have the benefit of 10 years .mil background with nothing but irons so I guess that helped some. I am 36 and so far my vision is holding out  I had never shot irons past 300m prior to the course so 400yds was something new, never mind the fact I had to shoot it with my back up rifle and a not familiar zero do to a malfunction with my primary rifle. I still managed to hit my 3 out 5 but yes the target is smaller than the front sight and it is a bit of a challenge to get the right sight picture. Not saying anything against the optics at all - hell I would love to have an ACOG or a IOR scope myself (someday soon I hope) but not having optics shouldn't keep anybody from taking the course at all. I would like to also thank the group of guys who shot the course as everybody was very friendly and cordial. Special thanks to Chris from Round Rock Texas for letting me borrow a SureFire 6P when I realized I forgot to pack mine  And of course the highest Thanks to FS-FRNL for giving away the class time to all of us....speaks volumes about your character. 
|
|
Skills test: All single shots to the body unless otherwise noted: 15m 1.5sec 25m 2.0sec 50m 3.0sec 100m 5.0sec 200m 6.5sec 15m Head 2.0sec 25m Head 2.5sec The head shot is about the size of a 3"x5" card. Basically top of the eye brows to the outside of the eye socket; then straight down to the bottom of the nose. 7m Hostage Taker Left 1.5sec 7m Hostage Taker Right 1.5sec Hostage Taker head shot is about 3"x 2.5" Close Contact Emergency Response 3m 1.0sec Reloads Emergency Reload 3.0sec Look & move (move is to make you think to goto a better place of cover) at chamber see no brass, grab a new mag, drop old mag as new mag comes up, insert new mag, close the chamber, decide do you still need to shoot. Tactical Reload 5.0sec Old mag out and retained, New Mag in. Malfunction Clearances Type 1 Click, No bang 1.6sec Type 2 No Click, No Bang, Brass High 1.8sec Type 3 No Click, No Bang, Brass Low 8.5sec (clear it right, they are not timing this, they have seen too many people stopping when the timer beeps again, and they want to train you to finish clearing as your life will depend on it) Clearance: Type 1 Pull the trigger click no bang. Push and Pull the Mag (make sure it is seated fully in the rifle) Rack the bolt to the rear while flipping the ejection port towards the ground (let gravity help) Evaluate (Do you still need to shoot? Has the threat moved, left, etc? Has someone come between you and the threat? Has the reason you were shooting changed?) Type 2 Pull the trigger no click no bang Look at the ejection port, is there brass sticking out, if so clear like type 1 Type 3 Pull the trigger no click no bang Look at the ejection port, is there brass inside the ejection port that is all kinds of messed up? (Second round trying to get into the chamber when there is already one case or round in there) Lock the Bolt to the rear Strip the Mag out of the rifle Sweep the chamber from the Mag Well. Get your finger up in there and get the extra round out. It will be stuck fairly well so this will take a bit. Rack the bolt three times to remove the case or round from the chamber Insert a Mag (either the one you just stripped and retained or a different one) Rack Bolt to get a round in the chamber Evaluate (Do you still need to shoot? Has the threat moved, left, etc? Has someone come between you and the threat? Has the reason you were shooting changed?) |
What can I say? I'm a flashlight junkie. Glad to have helped out! Cheers, kk7sm ETA: After this course, I now know what Type 1, Type 2 and Type 3 malfunctions are. That was always a mystery to me before. Special thanks to the guy who put this on - you know who you are!
|