This weekend's training (Page 1 of 4)
Posted: 11/12/2024 1:03:10 PM EDT
[Last Edit: R_S][Edited]
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The weather in Texas was absolutely perfect this weekend and the range was packed. Fortunately TDSA is a big enough place where I could still find my own bay away from the crowd. I'm at the point where adding an optic to my pistols is getting to be important. The last couple times out, the focus was on zeroing the optic and running on steel. This time I ran one of my standard pistol accuracy tests, Project Appleseed's "Hits Count - Pistol". Earned a PISTOLSEED patch a while back and found that the Appleseed targets are great for practice. It is shot at 7 yards. 4 shots at each tombstone. Tombstones representing scaled silhouettes at 44, 60, and 100 yards respectively. Then the challenge target is MAJ Pitcairn's button. MAJ Pitcairn was one of the most capable British officers who fought at Lexington, Concord, and Bunker Hill. He narrowly survived April 19 1775 and was mortally wounded at Bunker Hill. The button is approximately 7/8 inch. It simulates something like a 50 yard headshot. I just hit the edge of the red on the button: Attached File Another standard test is the ALT-C Rifle Qual. I run the old school version (40rds from the prone). You can use support for 20 of the 40 rounds, but I don't bother: Attached File The other drills were CSAT Pistol/Rifle Standards and a few Squadron Drills (Rifle High ready, Reload). Rifle High Ready: 7 yards Raise rifle from high ready(tucked under armpit), fire 1 round inside target (1 sec) Rifle Combat Reload: 7 yards Load 1 round in gun, Load spare mag with 1 round Raise rifle from high or low ready, fire 1 round inside target, reload, fire 1 round inside target (5 sec) Attached File These were the real center of my practice. It had honestly been a couple months since I ran these. As a practice session, I did each several times. I wanted to #1 see how my ShieldPlus would do, #2 make sure I could still do these drills with the updates I've made to my carbine, and #3 get several good live fire reps in to re-enforce the skills. As expected I found the 7 yard carbine drills were very easy. The 25-to-100y rifle stages were where I actually needed some practice. 75 yard kneeling is never easy. With regards to pistol, I'm still learning the ShieldPlus/optic, and the split time for that little pistol makes hitting some of the times difficult. Could only hit about half the pistol standards. It was very eye opening when I did the shift from strong and to support side. Had only shot with the ShieldPlus already in my support side hand before. But at least I know what I need to work on now. Next weekend is night shooting |
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Cool post. I've taken some time off of training for the moment due to deer season. Don't want to wreck anyone's hunt. I always slow down this time of year to get the winter stuff done around the house. I've always had a hard time with kneeling and shooting accurately. Red dots on pistols were a total game changer for me once I got used to them. |
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Outstanding. Weather's been getting alot more windy & wet here, buy we're still out in it. That wind up in the mountains is murder... I've taken more lately to setting up courses of fire that are random, different, and involve IMTing to positions of cover. Focusing on always shooting from cover, around cover. Doing this with pistol too. Doing Bill Drills, F.A.S.T., Wizard Drill, etc., leaning around cover as I shoot. Sure throws a monkey wrench into the metrics. And yes, I too have been working on rifle from kneeling over the last few months. Was inspired by @Nacho Dip, and his experience at Cola, where 200 & 300 yard targets are done from kneeling. Seemed damn difficult to me, so I challenged myself to relearn and train a proper, solid kneeling position, and lo and behold it is doable. I'm a better shooter for it. Also been working on obscured targets. Normal silhouette, slash it in half or a third. |
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Originally Posted By Nobody69s: Cool post. I've taken some time off of training for the moment due to deer season. Don't want to wreck anyone's hunt. I always slow down this time of year to get the winter stuff done around the house. I've always had a hard time with kneeling and shooting accurately. Red dots on pistols were a total game changer for me once I got used to them. Sometimes body position plays a big factor in this IMO. Every body type is different and it varies from person to person the level of athleticism, flexibility, etc. factor in also "old injuries" where the body builds tension around that area protecting it, etc. That all plays into the extent of how "low down"  one can get for lower platform shooting. Most however when it comes to kneeling do the old skewl high up kneeling- picture the "kneeling" army man toy green soldier we all played with as a kid. That's way too high of a platform (not counting in factors like need to rise up to overcome change in angle etc.) Let's say your shooting right handed and have your left knee up. If you can drop your butt down to where it's over your right foot, this will give you more of a stable position. This also means you don't kick your right foot out to the side (creating trip hazard for others if working in a team). Next be sure you are "hard on soft" and not "hard on hard" (cause that's gay! LOL). What do I mean by that- your elbow is hard, your knee cap is hard- that's hard on hard (gay) and doesn't make for as stable position as "hard on soft." So you either put your elbow just up just a bit proximal OR you move your arm up where the area just past the elbow (proximal also) both of these are "hard on soft." The last thing is just like standing, taking a bit of a forward positive position. This helps with recoil management and follow up shots. If you crack a shot and your position goes all to shittake- then fix your position. Again, flexibility, age (to a degree, I often nicely shame the 20 year olds in class telling them my age after demonstrating this) and athleticism does factor into this. What you should end up with is a lower (by height versus high up green army man kneeling) platform that is more apt to help with recoil and follow up shots, that also give you places to go and shoot from if need be- this position flows right into supine or modified prone, etc. Shoulder transfers and 180 degree coverage is handled easily from here also. Wish I knew MS Paint LOL. But seriously if this doesn't make sense I'll take some pics. |
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Originally Posted By R_S: The weather in Texas was absolutely perfect this weekend and the range was packed. Fortunately TDSA is a big enough place where I could still find my own bay away from the crowd. I'm at the point where adding an optic to my pistols is getting to be important. The last couple times out, the focus was on zeroing the optic and running on steel. This time I ran one of my standard pistol accuracy tests, Project Appleseed's "Hits Count - Pistol". Earned a PISTOLSEED patch a while back and found that the Appleseed targets are great for practice. It is shot at 7 yards. 4 shots at each tombstone. Tombstones representing scaled silhouettes at 44, 60, and 100 yards respectively. Then the challenge target is MAJ Pitcairn's button. MAJ Pitcairn was one of the most capable British officers who fought at Lexington, Concord, and Bunker Hill. He narrowly survived April 19 1775 and was mortally wounded at Bunker Hill. The button is approximately 7/8 inch. It simulates something like a 50 yard headshot. I just hit the edge of the red on the button: https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/33354/IMG_5341_JPEG-3377445.JPG Another standard test is the ALT-C Rifle Qual. I run the old school version (40rds from the prone). You can use support for 20 of the 40 rounds, but I don't bother: https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/33354/IMG_5343_JPEG-3377449.JPG The other drills were CSAT Pistol/Rifle Standards and a few Squadron Drills (Rifle High ready, Reload). Rifle High Ready: 7 yards Raise rifle from high ready(tucked under armpit), fire 1 round inside target (1 sec) Rifle Combat Reload: 7 yards Load 1 round in gun, Load spare mag with 1 round Raise rifle from high or low ready, fire 1 round inside target, reload, fire 1 round inside target (5 sec) https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/33354/IMG_5342_JPEG-3377458.JPG These were the real center of my practice. It had honestly been a couple months since I ran these. As a practice session, I did each several times. I wanted to #1 see how my ShieldPlus would do, #2 make sure I could still do these drills with the updates I've made to my carbine, and #3 get several good live fire reps in to re-enforce the skills. As expected I found the 7 yard carbine drills were very easy. The 25-to-100y rifle stages were where I actually needed some practice. 75 yard kneeling is never easy. With regards to pistol, I'm still learning the ShieldPlus/optic, and the split time for that little pistol makes hitting some of the times difficult. Could only hit about half the pistol standards. It was very eye opening when I did the shift from strong and to support side. Had only shot with the ShieldPlus already in my support side hand before. But at least I know what I need to work on now. Next weekend is night shooting Hell to the yeah, great job!! |
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For this weekend's training I got permission to use some private land. It was great in that I had the range to myself. While the primary goal was night training, I arrived early enough to do a couple hours of daylight training as well. With plenty of space to work with I ran one of the best drills out there. Paul Howe's 100-7 Drill:  "The CSAT 100-7 drill, is it the perfect all around rifle drill?" with Paul Howe. Marked off positions at 7, 25, 50, 75, and 100 yards and set up my equipment: Attached File You can just see the cardboard USPSA target at 100 yards. Ran it slick, using my phone for a timer. Used a different lower with a LaRue trigger, STR stock, but no flared magwell. Warmed up with a "walkthru" where I dryfired at every position to where I was comfortable with that position and walked to the next position, doing the same. Next I ran the drill for time, but only dryfired at each position. Dry-runs are free. Did this 4 times. Finally ran the drill live. PAR time is 2 minutes. Made it at just under (1:57). Sadly the 75 yard kneeling gave me trouble: Attached File Just outside  Tried again. Nailed the 75 yard kneeling, threw the 50 yard kneeling, 25 yard standing was rushed and was just touching. Time was (2:05): Attached File Tried again. Failed. 2 shots outside and (2:15 time). 4th time was the charm. All inside: Attached File At that point, between the setup, walkthru, a pasting targets I had walked 1,200 yards and Run 186x8 = 1,488 yards. So while I was sweating, I didn't sweat that my time was slightly over (2:15). The key was to use a trigger technique I learned from Eric at GreenEye Tactical. It's slow, but effective. You take up slack on the trigger, and very slowly pull (only when on target)... hold if/when your muzzle drifts off target. Continue when you are back on. While it takes awhile, it worked even when I was unsteady from running. All that 100-7 Drill training cost me only 20 rounds of rifle ammo. Hard to beat that price-to-performance ratio. The last moments of daylight were used to zero a dot on an M&P9 fullsize. After dinner, nightshooting commenced: Attached File Streamlight's TLR-VIR® II GUN LIGHT allows a lot of different options. These first shots were an assortment of 7 yard CSAT Pistol stages using white light. I don't know what everyone else's experience is with pistol red dots and white light, but I was slow. Like double the standard times or worse. The full moon backlit my target and it took what seemed like forever for my eyes to adjust to the white light, see the optic dot, and then get a proper sight picture/trigger pull. On top of that, everyone can see your white light. Better was when I broke out the NVG's (continued below) |
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Attached File The Streamlight has an IR light/laser mode. Combined with NVG's that worked much better. I could start the drill seeing the target and things flowed much more smoothly. Good hits and respectable times. Then I tried simply using the pistol's dot optic with NVG's. That worked great too: Attached File Next was 7 yard Carbine drills. -Low Ready 1 shot 1 target 7 yards 1.00 sec. -High Ready 1 shot 1 target 7 yards 1.00 sec. -Low Ready 2 shots 1 target 7 yards 1.50 sec. -Low Ready 2/1 Body/Head 7 yards 1.75 sec -Low Ready 2 Head 7 yards 1.75 sec -Low Ready 5/1 Body/Head 7 yards 3.00 sec Ran all the drills passively with the EOTech Nightvision setting. Only issue was the High Ready was a little over par. With NVG's it seems to take a fraction of a second longer to mount the rifle and acquire my sight. Perhaps using the IR laser or just more practice might make it faster. Didn't time loading, but the full moon made it easy. Attached File Lots more to do next time. |
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Good stuff. THAT'S what it's about. THAT'S real shooting, forget public ranges. I like that 100-7 Drill. I'm going to incorporate that. Cardio stress is why I designed the Devola's Five drill. It's also a benefit of incorporating IMT into training (as well as the fact that that's a better way to be moving if being shot at, right?). To learn a better kneeling position, I went right to Kyle Defoor on the yootoob, he explains & demonstrates it perfectly, and damnit it works. Have done alot of night shooting with the pistol optic, no issue with WML (aside from leaving it at a high, daytime setting so it doesn't get washed out). When shooting pistol n the dark without using WML (obviously assuming PID has happened), perfectly doable, but it does seem a bit harder to acquire the dot, even with good index. I tend, especially in unusual positions, to let the tritium front iron "guide me in". Isn't always necessary, but it's there, and it works, for me. Hell yeah last night was a bright full moon! Went on a long patrol myself, even when it clouded over at times, it was stupid bright. |
Thinking this is the Kyle Defoor video? Kyle Defoor of Defoor Proformance talks about the kneeling and sitting positions. I actually know a number of kneeling techniques. Many of which are accurate, but slow to get in and out of. Since I'm tall, stretch kneeling tends to give me good results, but you can't stay there forever and I feel it the next day. Kneeling was never my best position and I've been a fan of Pat Mac's "alternate kneeling position"... the squat for a while now. Liking Kyle's advice so far. Working Kyle's position with a blue gun and there is a lot of good advice for fine tuning. Will try it out dry and perhaps live with bullseyes next time out. There's no substitute for strong fundamentals. |
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| Good stuff. |
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Yes that is the exact viddya. I've used that sitting position too, surprisingly stable. Rocking the mag against the forearm is a neat fine tuning piece, really helps. Also, that technique from Eric at GreenEye Tactical you speak of, yes, I call it "riding the wobble", and I learned it from a Pat Roger's video, rather than trying so hard to keep the gun stable, just press every time you have what he calls an "acceptable sight picture", and it does work well, even at 100 yards. |
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So with the holiday there was travel and no range day last weekend. Fortunately MantisX came to the rescue. While I am not the MantisX pro that some here in the training forum are, I have earned a few patches from Mantis over the years: Attached File Picked up an upgrade earlier this year. The Mantis X10 Elite - Shooting Performance System: Attached File One major change from the original MantisX is that the X10 analyses holster draws. Something I certainly needed work on with switching to a pistol dot optic. Had aquired a custom holster for the Streamlight TLR-VIR® II which fortunately also works great for the Mantis X10. After lots of dryfire and coaching from MantisX app I got this: Attached File Patch will be in the mail shortly 
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Sunny and 60's here this afternoon. Since the zero on the M&P9 wasn't finished last time, it was a good day to make sure the optic was dialed in. Shot a few 3 round groups at 15y and then ran the NRA Level 4 pistol qual. It's what qualifies NRA pistol instructors. It is fired at 15y standing. You want a 16 out of 20 shots inside a 6 inch circle (inside an 8 inch circle). Results were solid, all inside a 2 inch group: Attached File Zero was still slightly off. Moved back to 25 yards to finish: Attached File Next up was the CSAT Pistol Instructor Standards. You have to hit 8 out of 10 standards to qualify: -Ready 1 shot 1 target 7 yards 1 SEC -Holster 1 shot 1 target 7 yards 1.7 SEC -Ready 2 shots 1 target 7 yards 1.5 SEC -Ready 5/1 shots 1 target 7 yards 3 SEC -Ready 4 shots 2x target 7 yards 3 SEC -Ready 4 shots 2x weak/2x strong (1target) 5 SEC -Ready 1 shot Malfunction drill (1 target) 3 SEC -Ready 4 shots 2 Reload 2 (1 target) 5 SEC -Rifle up 1 shot Dry fire/transition 3.25 -Holster 1 shot Kneeling (1 target) 25 yards 3.25 Total: 25 Rounds Did it on the first run: Attached File Attached File Was slow on the 5/1 and threw the head shot. Also too slow on the switching hands. Not bad for my second time ever shooting the pistol. Most of Paul Howe's recent red dot instructor candidates failed. Dryfire and MantisX helped me and saved a lot of ammo. After that was CSAT Rifle Instructor standards: -Ready 1 shot 1 target 7 yards 1.00 sec. -Ready 2 shots 1 target 7 yards 1.50 sec. -Ready 2/1 Body/Head 7 yards 1.75 sec -Ready 5/1 Body/Head 7 yards 3.00 sec. -Ready 2 shots /2 targets 7 yards 3.00 sec. -Ready 1 Rifle /1 Pistol 7 yards 3.25 sec -Ready 5 shots /1 target 100 yards/prone 20 sec. * -Ready 5 shots /1 target 75 yards/kneel 20 sec. * -Ready 5 shots /1 target 50 yards/kneel 20 sec.* -Ready 5 shots/1 target 25 yards/stand 8 sec. Total: 37 Rounds Rifle/1 Pistol. Also requires 8 out of 10. To be continued. |
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It was also a good day for rifle: Attached File Attached File I muddled through the 100 yard prone (4 out of 5 was enough): Attached File Even though I was feeling more stable kneeling, rushed my shots and those stages didn't work out for me... but 8/10 is enough. Now I know for sure what needs more work. Was going to try the Russian AK shooting qualification, but dialing in an AK consumes a lot of time and ammo. Attached File PSA makes a nice AK, but switching to a rifle designed in 1947 after my pistol and AR-15 rifle felt like going from the space age to cave man age. Pistol sights work ok for CQB, but leave a lot do be desired for aging eyes even shooting at just 100 yards. Eventually I got to where I think I'm zeroed. Will still need to confirm next time. |
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Long time (since I was 15) AK shooter- a magnified optic will really help with an AK. We put ACOGs on most of our family's AKs. The wife, my son and I have all made hits on steel at over 600 yards with an ACOG. Our range only goes out to 400 yards, but we try to go down to Arena once a year or so and shoot longer distance down there. It will really help. Dollars for donuts the Primary Arms variable power scope with X39 BDC has been good on a milled AK also and is a lot cheaper than an ACOG. |
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Thanks Lowdown3! I ran the Russian Army AK qual(s) and it really drove home the point that the AK needs an optic to get the full utility out of the rifle. Opened the range session with Appleseed Greycoats. They are printable targets, similar to the Redcoats, but a more difficult color and it adds a 500 yard target. You set these scaled targets up at 25 yards. 3 shots at each target, except the head which you only get one try at. 16 shot total, with an AR-15 from the prone: Attached File I was a little disappointed about missing the 250y head shot, but found out that my EOTech was actually loose... so I guess I'm lucky to have done as well as I did, LOL. The F-Class MR-52 bullseye was the closest thing I had to the Russian #4 qual target, so I used that at 100y. Rings are somewhat different (1 inch vs 5cm/2in) and the range was 10% shorter than 100m. Tried the qual first with an AR-15 firing my 6 shots from prone. Even with a loose sight, hitting 25 out of 60 possible points wasn't difficult. The second run was 59/60: Attached File Next I ran the AK47: Attached File Even with pistol sights, my far sighted 50 year old eyes, and Wolf ammo, this was easy to get a passing (15) or even "very good" (25) score: Attached File One shot broke high. The extra 223 hole is a piece of tape that came off. I went back afterwards to draw the target outline: Attached File 5 out of 6 in. I estimated 3x9 and 2x8 = 43/60 This seems to speak to the horrific level of marksmanship that exists in much of the rest of the world. |
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The Russian I Live, I Fight, I Win : Rules of Life In War suggests: The range of effective shooting from modern types of small arms from an unprepared position does not exceed 150 meters Next I tried the "difficult" Russian 200m qual, using a USPSA target at 200 yards. I guessed that this was also 6 shots from the prone. First run was 2 out of 6. Second was 4/6: Attached File As I'm reading it, only a single hit is required to pass. Finally with the AK I ran some 7 yards drills (1 shot, 2 shot, 2+1, 5+1, reload): Attached File Wish I had times, but my timer decided to die. Working the safety quickly is the biggest difficulty. Working at speed has other challenges. Not properly discriminating the front sight post from the posts next to it cost me a few rounds out of the box. The odds of me having a battlefield pickup from a Russian Paratrooper, Urban Yut, Jihadi, or Antifa are probably nil, but it's certainly worth knowing how to use the most prolific rifle in the world. I have experience with a variety of AKs. AK-47, AK-74, RPK, etc, but bought one because familiarization is always strongest with the rifle you own and live with. This exercise gave me a much better familiarity with the capabilities and limitations of an AK-47, as well as foreign training standards. 
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Not a fan of putting too many accessories on AKs as many I've tried over the years have been awful. But the absolute #1 thing to do on any AK is to add a Krebs safety. A better flash hider is #2. I have "more than a few" AKs including some safe queens and the "I don't shoot these any more cause they are so expensive (gun not ammo) now" AKs, every one of them has a Krebs safety on them. Are those Magpul AK mags? How are they running for you? Can you actually get 29 or 30 in them? I don't have any Magpul AK mags, but every Magpul glock mag I have won't accept more than 12 or 13 rounds even long after being broken in. |
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| So I ran a MAGPUL GEN3 AK mag and so far it runs the best. Zero malfunctions. Didn't count how many rounds were squeezed in. Also ran a PSA mag, which is built like a tank, but perhaps was less bulletproof in reliability. |
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Originally Posted By Lowdown3: , but every Magpul glock mag I have won't accept more than 12 or 13 rounds even long after being broken in. Never heard of anyone having that problem. All my Magpul Glock mags work to full capacity, even brand new out of the package. |
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During the week I made a little progress towards another MantisX patch. No range trip this weekend. Training was completely different. This weekend was a "Basic" Survival Class. It wasn't SERE school or DARC TUSC. It wasn't "Ultimate Survival Alaska" or "Outlast". But it was a good class on the fundamentals necessary to survive in the wilderness for ~72 hours. Skills are tied to both frequency and recency. So I didn't mind if I had seen and done some of this stuff before. There was also a benefit to just sorting through and updating my gear for the class. I'm an avid day hiker who likes to backpack, climb, and camp during the typical 3 seasons. I know a few things about the outdoors and such. While over the years I've slept in all sorts of "austere" conditions, winter camp was never my thing. Last weekend may have been a few days short of the official winter solstice, but close enough. The great thing about the survival school I found was that kids under 18 are free with an adult. link It was a great opportunity to take a young'n with me on my 3 day weekend adventure. We weren't far off in the wilderness or buried in snow, but North Texas winters can have their own difficulties. At the edge of the great plains, weather is unpredictable. Rain isn't like most places. When it rains it's usually a major storm with wind and heavy downpour. The soil here isn't like other places. This area was once an ancient seabed. When wet, the clay soil turns into the worst muck imaginable. Arrived to the parking area Friday evening in the rain and total darkness. After a short sign-in and brief on where to go, we loaded up the gear for the weekend and trudged into the rain, mud, and darkness towards the campsite. Kid couldn't carry much, so I was at capacity. It was only 300 yards, but not easy heavily loaded and sliding around in the mud. I found perhaps the best area to set up, which the instructors had already claimed for themselves, so ended up in a somewhat open area nearby. Headlamps were essential as we layed down a tarp and set up the 4 season tent w rainfly on top in the darkness and rain. Its best to get as good of quality sleep as you can, so an air mattress provided an excellent barrier from the cold/wet ground. I have long used the U.S. Army Modular Sleeping system, which is somewhat bulky and heavy, but does great in all seasons. No tent is complete without a lantern. It was a major relief once we got to that point. First night was largely an introduction to the school and instructors. Overnight we got pounded with a storm. Was very glad to have the setup we did. Stayed warm all night with just misty amounts of moisture seeping into the tent. With lots to do, training started early, at 0730, which meant getting up, eating, and getting ready in the dark. Thankfully the rain had finally stopped. Saturday day weather was much improved, with the sun eventually coming out and afternoon temps climbing up to 70 deg. We covered knots, improvised shelters, medical including stop the bleed, improvised pressure bandages, and wilderness hazards, fire, water procurement, and an intro to land nav. The instructors were fans all of the Cammenga compass, so I fit right in with mine. For land nav we practiced finding azimuths, and calculating back azimuths. We also did a 100m pace count by averaging our pace over the interval 3 times. My pace hasn't changed, but it was good for the kid to run through all of this. Knots were the area I needed the most work on. It's so hard to remember all that stuff. The instructors did a demo creating a sling from a shemagh, so I took the opportunity for us to practice making our own. Fire starting after all the rain was interesting. I've got good experience building fires with only scavenged materials and Ferrocerium Rod, but with damp materials after the rain life is hard. I got a fire going, but it was so much tougher than I thought it would be. There were case history discussions regarding hikers and other who got lost in the wilderness. One interesting thing the instructors did was discuss how in other classes they would walk the group out into the woods just after sunset and ask if students knew where they were. Only 20% could use landmarks to orient themselves. Few day hikers carry the necessities to spend the night in the wilderness. It was an eye opener for me. I happen to have some atypical navigation skills/background (natural direction sense/Army/hiking/graduate school/NASA Space Navigation/etc) that has generally enabled me to locate myself in the wilderness. It has kept myself and companions out of trouble on many, many occasions. But going forward I should make sure to have a deeper backup plan. Sunday night got cooler (dipped into breezy 40's and more rain). Sunday morning was the final test: Build a fire and boil water from the creek. Sadly the kid had some issues during the night and more storms were on the way, so we ended up packing up and leaving instead of completing the final challenge. Overall the Kid had fun and an important first experience camping. I learned that keeping a young kid out of trouble in the wilderness was probably the toughest part of survival training. Another great thing about this particular school is that with slots available they will let me retake the course for free. There are other kids to train, so this is an amazing deal for me 
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This is an improvised shelter a female instructor built in under 2 minutes: Attached File An example of some of the knots used: Attached File They recommended #36 Tarred Bankline (which I brought/used), but liked to use 550 cord for training. Another improvised shelter that only requires a tarp, tent pole, and some stakes: Attached File You fold over the entrance to close They liked the Sawyer mini water filters: Attached File Affordable and compact. My humble fire (as this was an exercise we were limited to twig size pieces of wood): Attached File You can just see the ferro rod to the bottom right. We gathered dead grass by running our hands through the grass fields. I also processed some bark, and of course twigs. I like the log cabin or pyramid types and used a few shavings of pine fatwood to help get sustained fire.  Honestly it barely worked. What I had was as dry as I could find, but humidity was high and everything had been saturated with water the night before. I had to give the fire some breaths to keep it going. I should have had a lot more grass and processed bark to sustain combustion. It's far better to have too much than not enough to start. |
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With the holidays I'm running behind, but last weekends training was actually me as the instructor teaching pistol. Not only is firearms instruction a benefit for students, but teaching also benefits the instructor The Protégé Effect: How You Can Learn by Teaching Others Psychology of the protégé effect The protégé effect helps learn information better as a result of several psychological mechanisms, all of which revolve around the differences between how we learn information when we’re learning for ourselves, compared to how we learn it when we expect to teach others, as well as when we teach them in practice. Specifically: Expecting to teach and teaching can lead to increased metacognitive processing, which makes people more actively aware of their learning process. Expecting to teach and teaching can lead to increased use of effective learning strategies, such as organizing the material and seeking out key pieces of information. Expecting to teach and teaching can lead to increased motivation to learn, since people will often make a greater effort to learn for those that they will teach, than they do for themselves. Expecting to teach and teaching can lead to increased feelings of competence and autonomy, by encouraging people to view themselves as playing the role of a teacher, rather than that of the student. Worked with an enthusiastic and experienced shooter with lengthy background in law enforcement and a training resume that includes at least one well know national instructor. Started at 3 yards firing 5 times at a 1 inch paster with Paul Howe's 5+1 drill. That's 5 dryfires before every live fire. What was noteworthy was that 3 of the live shots went through the same hole, but to the left of the paster. Low left is common for a flinch, but this was a bit different. Watching him closely showed that he was pushing left with his trigger finger. With some coaching and intense focus he could eliminate the push, but it appeared to be an ingrained habit that affected his shooting further into the session. Next was another fundamentals of marksmanship exercise. Using scaled targets we tested his ability to hit at distance. He had respectable effective range with a pistol (over 40 yards on a silhouette), but the left trigger push moved some shots off target, which became less forgiving as range increased. Next added time as a factor to fundamentals of marksmanship. The FBI Pistol Bullseye test is a nice eval that stretches out to 25 yards. 25 yards is when those small errors start to be very noticeable. Then we moved on to the modern FBI pistol 50rd qualification. Worked this dryfire first before we went live. It is shot at distances from 3 yards to 25 yards and involves starting from both the ready and concealed holster. Honestly a well thought out evaluation of relevant practical pistol skills at relevant distances. The qual gives you a good feel for balancing speed and accuracy at relevant distances. The FBI Pistol Qual may not give experienced competitive shooters any issues, but the FBI spends around 6,000 rounds teaching their cadets to pass it. Karl Rehn estimates that it requires around 70% of the skill of a USPSA Grandmaster. This particular shooter tended to focus his training at 5-to-10 yards. Great distance interval to practice as that's where most of the action is at, but the other distances are also relevant to defensive pistol. After a couple iterations he had a much better feeling for balancing speed and accuracy at 3-to-25 yards. Finally we did several iterations of Bill Drills 1 & 2 running from concealment. These are classic drills and some variant should be a part off every serious pistol shooters live fire training. I saw clear improvement during the training session and provided direction for future practice sessions. |
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So I had to wait over a month, but the new Mantis patch came in the mail today: Attached File |
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So with the holiday I cheated and didn't wait for the weekend. Decided to try out the ARFCOM 1 MOA ALL DAY LONG Challenge I was very confident that my Ruger Precision Rifle in 6.5 Creedmoor could do the job. Generally get sub-moa groups with it. Attached File Attached File Had to brave the mud to set up my targets, but nobody said life would be easy: Attached File 5 different 5 shot groups were made at 100 yards. 25 rounds total. Zero was a bit low so I didn't shoot out my aiming point: Attached File Without doing precise measurements, I wasn't happy with the first attempt. I had expected every group to be clearly sub-moa, but lighting was perhaps not optimal, so I did it a second time: Attached File After breaking out the calipers and running the numbers I passed both attempts. Apparently I am 1 MOA all day. In his book Ultimate Sniper John Plaster wrote that FBI snipers do sustaining qualification of 1 cold bore shot at 100 yards that must hit a 3x5 card. I guess they don't have to be 1 MOA all day. Later shot some falling pistol steel plates with both .45ACP and 9mm. Needed to change out my old carry ammo for the new year. Included draws from concealment, presentation from low ready, and target transitions. It was very satisfying to see how hard 45ACP personal protection ammo knocks down steel. |
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Originally Posted By JoeDevola: I enjoyed shooting some steel with rifle & pistol today. Worked close out to 200 yards, ran a VOF involving improvised positions from various positions of cover. Mud? Indeed, everywhere. RIGHT THE FUCK WHERE I BELONG! Nice!  The research gathered from WW2 suggests that working improvised positions from various positions of cover is a vital aspect of training. From the 1949 "New Rifle Marksmanship Course": Attached File Attached File |
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Oh hell yeah that's good stuff. See, I think we get too caught up in 2 things: All the fancy-dancy shooting on our own 2 feet, square to the target. & shooting from ideal positions, that we take our time with & build. So I'm focusing on moving, and getting behind shit, 2 things I should be doing if I'm getting shot at. |
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With the winter storm I spent some extra time indoors this week. Land Navigation is a perishable skill, and the website Land Navigation with Map and Lensatic Compass has a ton of info Land Navigation. Hardly the first time I have seen these LandNav slides, but it's been a while and I was surprised how many things I forgot. What was new is that I tried out their Test Exams to check my knowledge. There really is no way to know what you retained unless you test. Completed Basic, Intermediate, Advanced, and Expert exams. Found a few errors in the test questions and there were a few items that seemed a little subjective, but overall it was worthwhile. Also re-watched "Make Ready to Survive: Land Navigation" with Paul Howe. MSG Howe's take on land nav is extremely practical and better than what I learned in the Guard. Plan to do some LandNav field work later this year when the weather improves. Also worked with a new student teaching beginner pistol. I tend to prefer working with advanced students, but there is a lot of demand out there for newbies. Had her up to NRA Level 1 in no time and she's already on the schedule for another session. Besides shooting live fire demos, I took a little time afterwards to shoot this target standing at 3, 5, and 7 yards: Attached File Calipers show that the dots are all .57 inch. So with a 9mm that allows me .925 inch to work with. Not bad at all for the 3 yard stage, but 7 yards gave me little margin for error. Next time I need to run it with the ShieldPlus |
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There are few things in life more important than fitness. Rucking is a great way to get or stay fit. This week I had a chance to do some rucking in Arizona. Mostly the Sonoran desert in Scottsdale, but also made it up to Sedona. In the military, rucking for time is a thing. But one tidbit Clay Martin shared in Concrete Jungle: A Green Beret's guide to Urban Survival, is that being able to carry a load over distance is far more important that doing it for time. In the field you generally don't ruck for time: In my opinion, you should build up to a maximum distance of twelve miles in training then never go above eight again. Twelve miles is a long ways and, like a marathon runner, twelve training miles will actually net you 25 in a pinch. I would also not worry about time. Soldiers have time standards so they learn techniques to walk faster. However, this is mostly just a method to cover ground faster in friendly territory, like moving a battalion from a rear area to fill a gap in the lines. Nobody tries to speed walk in a combat zone because it will generally get you killed. Much better to move a little slower but see the ambush coming. Started rucking at Pinnacle Peak: Attached File Popular spot and beautiful views. Sadly some of the trail is closed for maintenance, but was still well worth the visit. I've always used a Cammenga compass (with 2 backups Suunto clipped on to my wristband and phone compass). This time I tried out the Suunto MC-2. One of the interesting MC-2 features is a built in clinometer. While almost every shooting range is flat, the real world isn't. If you are operating in the hills, mountains, or towers you need to understand high angle shooting. The British lost the Battle of Kings Mountain due to their failure to understand high angle shooting. The entire larger, well situated British force was killed or captured because they fired too high. Don't be a stupid Red Coat.  The MC-2's clinometer isn't fancy, but I tried it out and it's not a terrible piece of gear. You rotate the dial to where W is facing the direction of travel, use the peep hole to find your object, and read the angle from the reflection in the mirror: Attached File Not easy to read that with old eyes, but it works. Next was the McDowell Sonoran Preserve, which gets 5 stars from me. Trails are well maintained and marked, with lots of amenities at the trailheads. Hiked a number of trails including the Gateway Loop and part of Tom's Thumb trail: Attached File Attached File |
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Some other scenery from the Sonoran desert trails: Attached File Attached File Sedona is a little town with great views that has become very, very popular. They are clocking somewhere around 3 million visitors per year and don't at all seem able, willing, or interested to accommodate them. I can't say that I recommend it. But the Red Rock Ranger Station outside of town was a good stop. The US Forest Service actually had parking, pavement, and running water... you are thankful to pay for gravel parking and a portapot inside Sedona Attached File Attached File Attached File Sedona reminded me a lot of Palo Duro Canyon... but Palo Duro is larger and seems to have less drama (no crystal shops or energy "vortexes" either). Overall rucking was great exercise at altitude (Sedona is over 4,000 feet). There is really nothing like getting out in nature and enjoying God's creation. I got some practice with paper maps and compasses, but these days it also pays to have digital tools like AllTrails and GPS (the apps on your phone weigh nothing): Attached File |
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Student canceled today and that gave me some extra range time. Had some unfinished business with the kneeling position. Broke out my favorite training rifle: The CMMG 22LR AR-15. It shoots great and is extremely affordable to feed. Topped with an EOTech it has been one of my best firearms purchases of all time. Began shooting 5 round groups from kneeling: Attached File Things got better as I went. Started out with a 2 inch spread at 25 yards and got it down to under an inch. Was feeling good, so I decided to go for time. Began with the CSAT Standard: 5 shots /1 target 50 yards/kneel 20 sec, but instead of 50 yards I used a scaled target zone at 25y: Attached File First attempt was a pass. 4 out of 5 in, well inside the time limit. Did several more to put in some solid reps and re-enforce the skill: Attached File Attached File Next was the more difficult: 5 shots /1 target 75 yards/kneel 20 sec. Again used a scaled target. Not an instant success, as the first couple groups were too wide. But I finally hit it with 5 in, well under time (for whatever reason the shot timer only picked up the last shot): Attached File Thank you JoeDevola! Your assistance in this thread paid off big for me! Going forward I want to get some additional good reps in and shoot full caliber. |
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Needed a little more time on red dot pistols, so I tried to see what the ShieldPlus could do: Attached File Didn't score nearly as good as the fullsize... but while the ShieldPlus is more difficult I know I can do better. There is always next time. With past training days showing I need some work on recoil management with red dot pistols, I ran a few CSAT pistol drills with the M&P fullsize. Particularly the 2 shots 1 target 7 yards 1.5 SEC and 5/1 shots 1 target 7 yards 3 SEC standards. Things came together nicely, hitting the standard repeatedly, but I still want to do some work on those going forward. Finally I tried out Jeff's 120 Carbine Classifier:  MTS How to train 8: 120 Carbine Classifier (120 Drill), for rifles and carbines. M90 Zastava. It was fun. Made some changes as I only had 30 yards to work with and using a 22LR AR made things a bit easier. This is after the first stage: Attached File Second Stage: Attached File Third Stage: Attached File With my timer not consistently picking up shots, all times were all guesstimates. Even with missing one of the headshots, one D-zone, and several C-zone hits my guesstimate was that I was under 120. Will have to try this out with a service rifle to get the real numbers. Really enjoyed String 11: Fire 6 standing, reload, and advance while firing 6 more. Ran that several extra times at the end just for fun. The one that threw me the most was String 7: "weak shoulder" 2+1 at 30 YARDS!! Had never even tried that before. Wonder if that move was from the battlefield or just a random challenge? I did the barricade per written instructions, starting on the left side. Good practice as I tend to begin on the right. I switched shoulders for the barricade, but apparently that's optional. Thanks to Jeff for making this stuff available!
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I've been doing some training, but just now catching up on my write up. Had the chance the other weekend to do a 1-day Long-Range Rifle Training class at North East Texas Tactical. North East Texas Tactical has a 1-Mile range with nearly 100 steel targets of different shapes, sizes, and colors at various distances. It's like the Taj Mahal of long range rifle ranges. To say I was excited was an understatement. It was advertised as "After some time in the classroom going over gear, equipment, wind, mirage, and ballistics, we confirm zero, verify muzzle velocity with a chronograph, calculate your ballistic solutions, shoot the qualifier, and push out to 1-Mile or as far as your scope will let you go. Shooters can then spend the rest of the time ringing steel on their own." I've been enthusiastic about shooting rifles since I was a kid, but spending most of the day out on this range sounded like an experience like no other. Class started at 7am. I arrived early. Class size was limited to 8. The instructor had background with the Army Rangers, contracting in Iraq, and the GRS. He is clearly a long range enthusiast but his precise background in teaching and long range rifle was left unsaid. Over the next 6 hours we got a nearly continuous firehose of information in the classroom about long range shooting. There was only 10 minutes for lunch. I was fortunate to have some background and training on the subject which helped, but still got a ton of info. Some of the highlights include Heavier rifles tend to be more accurate: Attached File The bullet traveling down the barrel of your rifle moves the rifle before the bullet even leaves the barrel. Heavier rifles have more inertia and are less affected. That is why competitive distance shooters will often add weight to their rifles. I was in good shape with this... as I brought a Ruger Precision Rifle in 6.5CM which is known to be heavy, but accurate. Tall Target test is important. To shoot your best at long range you need to know exactly how well your optic tracks. The Tall Target test is a way to do this: Attached File This is something I previously learned from the Applied Ballistics video series, some of which is now online. I highly recommend it and their books. Next was that caliber selection matters: Attached File Those sad souls who are stuck with 308s in our modern world have a much tougher time at long range. The instructor recommended precision handloads which can make the performance of a given cartridge step up to the next most capable caliber. But how much does it matter? Attached File Turns out Wind calls matter the most, but caliber and ranging are also very important. Laser range finders are a vital thing for this reason. I've trained on techniques to estimate range, but in the end the LATEST Generation of laser range finders are worth it. Even a mistake of a few yards range estimation at 700 yards makes a significant difference. As you can see the instructor is a fan of Precision Rifle Blog. The briefing was solid and clearly based off of Applied Ballistics and Accuracy1st foundational techniques. Which was great because they are known to be world class Tier 1 instructors. But after 6 hours in the classroom I was getting concerned. We hadn't even gone to the range or zeroed yet... with only 2 hours left in the class. We moved out to the tower and began a safety brief. As a safety measure the range does not allow you to close the bolt on your rifle completely until you are on target. Had never been subject to this rule before and it quickly showed by screwing up my well practiced bolt manipulation. I always practice to quickly and efficiently manipulate the bolt to clear a spent casing and put a new cartridge in the chamber to be ready to shoot again. This range would not let me do so. I don't know if it was me or the RPR not liking the procedure of stopping with the bolt closed, handle up... a number of rifle malfunctions ensued. With no dryfire, demos, and minimal guidance we shot from prone. (Actually one thing I learned from Ryan Cleckner... a legit precision rifle instructor... is that you need at least FIVE good dryfires before you start putting live rounds down range... you get much more consistent results that way... as my students all know from experience). With 8 shooters on the line at 100 yards we had 1 array of previously shot on bullseyes with no numbers and 1 array of fresh bullseyes... with no particular order and repetitive numbers (not matched to the shooters). I've trained with the Army, State Troopers, and countless instructors in the civilian world and had never seen such a sloppy setup. With no coordination we were told to "pick a target"... Since I have a lot of experience at these things I positioned myself on the left most side of the firing line and took something closest to me. It was an overcast day and my neighbors misses on white paper were quickly visible... but my hits on the bullseye were not.... So I tried another...and another... and another... no luck. Eventually the instructor gave me some assistance with his spotting scope. He called some adjustments (which I was pretty sure I needed before I shot that day) and called it good without me shooting a confirmation group... Yeah... this was quickly getting worse. Apparently $8 worth of Shoot-N-C targets and a black marker to label the targets 1 through 8 was too much to expect. With time at a premium and our zeroing not quite finished... we quickly moved on to 300 yard steel silhouettes. We were instructed to use the brand new Applied Ballistics Quantum app. Because brand new phone apps are always the thing to solely rely upon with high power rifles Printed range cards of the sort taped to my rifle were not mentioned in this course. What could go wrong?Well I got a first round hit at 300y. Not hard with a 6.5CM RPR. Everyone down the line got one shot and 1 makeup if that missed. Some missed with both. Next was 400y. First round hit. Again as expected. A mix of hits and misses down the line. Next was 500y. I missed. There was moderate wind... pushed me right. Spotters told me I was going high right... which seemed correct.. so I adjusted... and missed low.  Crap. WTF? Tried at 600y... Missed again... as were most of the students in the class at this point. SO much for the 1000y "Guarantee" Tried at 700y... Missed again. Tried to "true" my wind with the app... no joy... 30mph wind on the app wasn't hardly moving my aimpoint... app solution not matching my rangecard at all. Tried another 2 rounds at 700y missed again... At this point I was sure that the app was failing me... but that's what I was told to use. Rather than continue this absurdity... when we were already in what was supposed to be the closing minutes of the class...I called it. I'm not sending rounds downrange randomly. Zero value in it.... waste of my time and ammo. Diagnonstics after the course showed that Quantum was giving me completely bogus firing solutions. To say I was disappointed would be an understatement. All and all the day wasn't a total waste. Classroom instruction was good and I learned the hard way that there is a good reason I usually use the Hornady app on my phone and JM Ballistic calculator for my rangecards. Those ballistic calculators actually work. Wouldn't mind getting out to the range again some day as the range was truly spectacular, but I think I'll try some other instructors future long range classes. |
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Well that is unfortunate. If I'd paid for that, I'd want my money back. You could have done all that on your own. Good stuff on the PowerPoint obviously, but damn....it has little value if you can't go out and truly apply it, right then. At least it sounds like a kick ass range. Hell, I'd LOVE to shoot at a place like that. Feels amazing getting a first round hit on steel at 400 yards, doesn't it. It's like "bang, did I hit it---DING". I love that. Just shy of 500 yards is the farthest spot I've found out here. Gotta get back up there soon. |
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Originally Posted By JoeDevola: Well that is unfortunate. If I'd paid for that, I'd want my money back. You could have done all that on your own. Good stuff on the PowerPoint obviously, but damn....it has little value if you can't go out and truly apply it, right then. At least it sounds like a kick ass range. Hell, I'd LOVE to shoot at a place like that. Feels amazing getting a first round hit on steel at 400 yards, doesn't it. It's like "bang, did I hit it---DING". I love that. Just shy of 500 yards is the farthest spot I've found out here. Gotta get back up there soon. 400 yard first round hits are always a joy. You have to know what you are doing at that distance. Couple years ago I had the chance at Appleseed KD to shoot a steel ram at 500y with a 20inch AR with irons. It was unreal that irons work so well at 500 yards! I should follow up with the instructor to find out if they are actually willing to back up their 1000 yard "guarantee" ... because it wasn't happening for most of our class. Quantum is pretty unpredictable and actually does seem to work for some of the time for some of the users. |
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I set up another "assault course" for rifle today. Alone, as nobody else could make it. Set up steel (2/3 IPSC) in an area about 150x150 yards, so shot from 150 to 75 yards or so. Set up cover/positions, and IMTed between them, engaging the target at each. Not too cold, was nice to just be running an ACS under the armor instead of polypro, and no fleece hat under the helmet. Rained the whole time, of course, but you know the saying...so that and the mud were my friends. Ran the 18" rifle w/ LPVO. In the waning light of the late evening, the magnification REALLY helped to find the target (it's tan and grey, against a tan/brown/green foliage background, purposely done to make it harder to see). Sure is easy to fog up your own glass when it's wet, misty, and you're huffing & puffing. Need to apply more Cat Crap, but the coating that remains did help some. Good stuff though, simply moving around & using cover to shoot from is more challenging than just standing & banging away at an easy to see white piece of steel. Being at different positions, distances, & angles, made it a challenge to locate the target, the way it was set up, which I found valuable. I'd high crawl to a spot, be unable to see it, crawl some more, then scan, and finally pick it up. The way the visibility was, doing it with a simple red dot would have been challenging, especially at 100-150. Doesn't seem like much on a square range on a sunny day, I know..... I am more and more loving having some magnification these days. My primary rifle lately has been a 16" w/ 2.5x fixed. So much better than simple RDS. |
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Since I've finally made the jump to Red dot pistols, and pistol red dots do seem to be the trend, I decided to develop a training course for red dot pistols based on research from various subject matter experts. It took some time, and the course looks to be about 2 days in length. I already have one student anxiously waiting for it. Did a little test work dryfire... but I'm going to have to spend some time on the range to run through everything to make sure it all makes sense and flows properly and efficiently. That will have to wait for another weekend. Separately...after a long wait I managed to score an Invisiblesight NGAL. First impressions are good. Small, functional, and powerful. I do wish there was a mode with low power IR laser+ illumination... but otherwise it has been hard to find any fault with it. Their new ones even come rated IP68 water resistant. The quickest and easiest way to practice night shooting is airsoft in the backyard. I set up a silhouette at 10 yards and ran several CSAT standards from 10 instead of usual 7: Ready 1 shot 1 target 10 yards 1.00 sec. Ready 2 shots 1 target 10 yards 1.50 sec. Ready 2/1 Body/Head 10 yards 1.75 sec Ready 5/1 Body/Head 10 yards 3.00 sec. No illumination was needed so I ended up using the low power IR laser alone. These drills were all very easy with NVG... made sure to get at least 5 good reps in with each. Next I tried some white light drills. These were significantly more challenging. Without a switch set up for my WML, I had to change my grip for the lightswitch, flip on the switch, see the lit target, and adjust my focus to my optic. That made hitting the time standards tougher. Spent the bulk of my time and ammo on the 1 shot and 5/1 drills. With enough practice I got to where I could hit the standards consistently with white light. Attached File Next I picked some points on each side of the target and practiced transitions: Ready 2 shots /2 "targets" 10 yards 3.00 sec. No issues with IR or White light on that. Finally, since full-auto with airsoft is a thing, I ran some full auto IR drills. Bursts to upper thoracic and Zipper drills. Even though its only airsoft it's hard not to smile Honestly so far very impressed with the Invisiblesight. If I was shooting live fire the 400 rounds would have cost me at least $160... not counting time/money for the drive to get somewhere that would allow me to shoot in the dark. Airsoft was good familiarization with this new equipment for a very modest investment in time/money. |
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Originally Posted By R_S: Sounds like an excellent day training! Fogged up eyepro is an underestimated problem. I found foggy eyepro to be a major problem during my more realistic training days. It was mainly the scope lense getting fogged up, but eyepro too is an issue...I just push it farther out from my face. I must emphasize, that with the way I had this set up, and the weather & light conditions, and the way the target blended in to it's surroundings, during the last half of the excercise I was completely unable to see the target with naked eye within about 100 yards. Running this with a simple RDS would have been almost impossible. For those that always claim that RDS is "jess fine" for up to 200 yards, they must only be operating in ideal conditions. That fucker was invisible until I scanned at about 3x. I found this to be very useful, realistic, I'd say. |
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Originally Posted By R_S: Since I've finally made the jump to Red dot pistols, and pistol red dots do seem to be the trend, I decided to develop a training course for red dot pistols based on research from various subject matter experts. It took some time, and the course looks to be about 2 days in length. I already have one student anxiously waiting for it. Did a little test work dryfire... but I'm going to have to spend some time on the range to run through everything to make sure it all makes sense and flows properly and efficiently. That will have to wait for another weekend. Separately...after a long wait I managed to score an Invisiblesight NGAL. First impressions are good. Small, functional, and powerful. I do wish there was a mode with low power IR laser+ illumination... but otherwise it has been hard to find any fault with it. Their new ones even come rated IP68 water resistant. The quickest and easiest way to practice night shooting is airsoft in the backyard. I set up a silhouette at 10 yards and ran several CSAT standards from 10 instead of usual 7: Ready 1 shot 1 target 10 yards 1.00 sec. Ready 2 shots 1 target 10 yards 1.50 sec. Ready 2/1 Body/Head 10 yards 1.75 sec Ready 5/1 Body/Head 10 yards 3.00 sec. No illumination was needed so I ended up using the low power IR laser alone. These drills were all very easy with NVG... made sure to get at least 5 good reps in with each. Next I tried some white light drills. These were significantly more challenging. Without a switch set up for my WML, I had to change my grip for the lightswitch, flip on the switch, see the lit target, and adjust my focus to my optic. That made hitting the time standards tougher. Spent the bulk of my time and ammo on the 1 shot and 5/1 drills. With enough practice I got to where I could hit the standards consistently with white light. https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/33354/6FA0F905-1EB8-4819-ABDA-0EA29F1A0803_jpg-3473027.JPG Next I picked some points on each side of the target and practiced transitions: Ready 2 shots /2 "targets" 10 yards 3.00 sec. No issues with IR or White light on that. Finally, since full-auto with airsoft is a thing, I ran some full auto IR drills. Bursts to upper thoracic and Zipper drills. Even though its only airsoft it's hard not to smile Honestly so far very impressed with the Invisiblesight. If I was shooting live fire the 400 rounds would have cost me at least $160... not counting time/money for the drive to get somewhere that would allow me to shoot in the dark. Airsoft was good familiarization with this new equipment for a very modest investment in time/money. That is excellent. I'd be interested to hear the details of the optic course you've devised. That is very worthwhile. The transition is more difficult for some than others, as you know. And good taking advantage of airsoft. I've often considered it for a training aid, just never wanted to spend the money. |
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I've found with that switching to the dot having the proper feel for indexing the pistol to where the dot is in the center of the window is key. You can do it through dryfire, but found that hard to start with and really learned the skill through point shooting. If you can hit the target without sights... the dot should be where it needs to be for you to see it. Bill Rogers "Centering Drill" I think also applies in training the index Centering Drill: Confirm your sight alignment in a safe direction (low ready). A spot is a finite area on the target. Aim small, miss small. Now learn to quickly point the pistol at the spot. Look at the spot intently. Close your eyes and try to visualize precisely where the spot is. Now look intently at the spot, close your eyes and quickly lift the firearm to where your mind thinks the spot is. Open your eyes immediately upon stopping the movement of the firearm but make your focus and focal attention rivet on the front sight. Run 20 repetitions dry. Centering drill was designed for iron sights and there it is not necessary or even desirable to focus on the dot for most of your red dot skills... you are just using the drill to build a feel for pointing your pistol. |
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That's a good drill, I'm going to try that. Indeed, it's ALL about index when it comes to the dot, and that's why most of us experience an improvement in shooting irons as well, after training hard with optic. A while back, before I'd ever gotten into pistol optics, I was teaching some folks some basic defensive pistol craft. I was showing them the value of index, and how THAT'S how you get rapid, well-centered hits at close range, the fact that there is NOT time to aim, in the traditional sense. I showed them how at 5 yards, I could flip my hat down over my eyes, and draw and put a round into the -0 zone of an IPDA silhouette, quickly. Seems like some dumb parlor trick, but I wanted them to understand that muscle memory makes the difference. |
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Originally Posted By JoeDevola: That's a good drill, I'm going to try that. Indeed, it's ALL about index when it comes to the dot, and that's why most of us experience an improvement in shooting irons as well, after training hard with optic. A while back, before I'd ever gotten into pistol optics, I was teaching some folks some basic defensive pistol craft. I was showing them the value of index, and how THAT'S how you get rapid, well-centered hits at close range, the fact that there is NOT time to aim, in the traditional sense. I showed them how at 5 yards, I could flip my hat down over my eyes, and draw and put a round into the -0 zone of an IPDA silhouette, quickly. Seems like some dumb parlor trick, but I wanted them to understand that muscle memory makes the difference. That's how I was taught point shooting. Standing at 2, 3, and 5 yards putting rounds into the -0 zone without my sights... and then the IDPA Master said... with a little technique he could increase my accuracy... blew my mind! |
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So yesterday was precision rifle day. AR-15 and Ruger Precision Rifle out to 400 yards. New Surefire RC3 made it fun: Attached File Attached File The 16 inch AR-15 carbine is a general purpose rifle and zeroed at 50 yards. First things first, I needed to confirm zero with the suppressor: Attached File Without a match barrel I guess under 2 MOA is ok. Next I shot the Army ALT-C at 50 yards (instead of the usual 25m). That nearly doubles the distances of these scaled targets: Attached File 38/40 is Expert. Noticed a little left bias and tried some adjustments. Perhaps just some thermal effects from the suppressor? Next I proceeded to use my range card to bang steel at 200 and 250 yards. Good times. I even hit a 4 inch plate at 250 yards. While I was pushing out to 400 disaster struck: Attached File The RC3 has "reduced backpressure"... but apparently the suppressor backpressure was enough to loosen my castle nut and create some issues. My smith says to stake the castlenut. Sounds like a plan. |
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6.5CM RPR was up next. She was on her A-game: Attached File That's 5 rounds at 100 yards... all through the same hole. Calipers show it to be a .36 inch group. I proceeded to clear all the steel on the course... various 200y, 250y, 300y, and 400y. The 400y plates went down to 4 inch. Made a first round hit on that. Also first round center punched the head of the 400y silhouette. Next I did some 5 round groups on F-Class targets at 300y: Attached File 49-2X. Under an MOA at 300y is not bad at all. RPR is still the most accurate rifle I own. |
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Also had the chance to do a little red dot pistol. Started with a nice little drill, the Four Leaf Clover. When I trained with Brian Eastridge a number of years ago he ran a 5rd drill with everyone in the class to see who had the smallest group size. I beat out a well known instructor on the drill and had the smallest group size for those who were running iron sights... but the Red dot pistol guys beat me. Lesson learned... for precision, pistol red dots are the way to go. Four Leaf Clover drill is run standing. 4 shots are fired at a small target. Goal is to get all 4 shots in the same hole. 3 yards is a good distance, but you can push it out if that gets too easy: Attached File For the class I would next do a zero, but skipped that as my pistol was GTG. Did a little dry fire presentation to warm up gun handling skills and then moved into Predictive shooting Drill. Stoeger is a big fan of this drill. Fire the first shot using your sight and the second shot without your sight. Makes perfect sense for irons, but had never tried it with red dots. The drill is 4 pairs of 2 fired at 5, 7, 10, 12, 15, 20, and 25 yards. More reps if necessary. The goal is to push for speed and test your grip and focus. Not sure that this is the most efficient way to do that. Point shooting is all about grip and focus. Since I figured out grip and target focus long ago with point shooting this drill was mostly a snoozer: Attached File Ended up with a few C's at 20-25 yards: Attached File Will test more and see how this goes, but may end up just adding a point shooting training module for those that don't know point shooting. I see pure point shooting as higher return. One thing I would emphasize with these drills is that natural point of aim is critical for consistency. You want to check your natural point of aim before you start shooting. |
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Another drill I ran was the Dryfire trigger Drill - At 5 yards, with pistol aimed at target, do a rapid double trigger press. Use actual grip strength and trigger pull. Be as realistic as possible. Do not go slow. Observe what sight is doing. Objectively assess what is happening to the dot. Adjust grip pressure until you find stability with rapid trigger pull. End result is that the dot stays within the black dot during trigger presses. Very helpful drill. I've been working that drill for years on MantisX as the "Compressed Surprise Break". If you want to shoot fast, this drill is important... because if you want to shoot fast you have to pull the trigger fast. If you want to be fast and accurate you MUST practice pulling the trigger fast without moving your sights off target. Another drill was a dry/live presentation drill - Tape over optic to occlude sight. If you are properly focused on the target while pointing occluded sight at target then your brain will merge the image. You will see the sight clearly with the sight superimposed on it. If you stare at the sight that will block your view of the target and provide feedback of your incorrect focus. Ran at 15/20/25 yards. This drill is pure gold for training pistol red dot sights. Finally, Bill Drill - 3/5/7/10/12/15/20/25/30 yards, draw and fire 6. I have lots of time running this from 3/5/7/10 yards... but doing it with a red dot can be in some ways more challenging. At 3 yards point shooting this drill is easy as pie. This was 3 yards with a red dot: Attached File I was looking at the target, but my subconscious mind focused on the dot and started to send rounds high right. Wow! Deliberate focus matters. I corrected the issue and walked things out all the way to 25y: Attached File Looked like more of a mess than I wanted and slower than I would like with splits over a second at 25y. Bill Drill at various distances was fantastic training and gives me an excuse to do it again. |
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