AAR: dynamic carbine 1 - hou,tx 10/12-13/09

Dealers/ Manufacturers/ Regional/ Info Magpul CORE
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Magpul Dynamics Carbine 1
October 12-13 2009, Houston Community College Range

TD1. The weather was a bit cool and wet. It rained off and on the entire day, and the rain was a bit heavy, heavy enough to get HP to complain about shooters dripping on the classroom floor. The day started off a bit slow, took a few extra relays to get everyone zero’d but after that, we started to pick up the pace a bit and put lead down range. I honestly do not remember all of the things that we worked on but I do remember the mindset lecture and how Travis went into extreme detail about how our mind works and why we do the things we do. What I got from the whole thing was that self control is very important, in all aspects. I’ve heard other instructors talk about the ooda loop before but never did I really understand it until Travis used his experiences to translate the ideas. Chris kept the class going with his shenanigans and movie quotes but was serious when he wanted to get his points across. These guys, although they both possess prior mil/gov experience, did not act like drill sergeants or suites with high pay grades… They didn’t single anyone out, instead, pushed those who needed to be pushed. You were pushed until you reached the point of failure. When that happened, problem solving came into the picture. The biggest thing I noticed was that Chris and Travis both expected you to not only use the mechanical skills and fundamentals of shooting, they also wanted you to use your mind and solve whatever problems came up. We finished off the day with Paul (retreathell) telling his story and encouraging everyone to continue to train.

TD2. The second day was way more intense and we started off the day right away with the BSA drill. We ran it cold and while some were making the time and getting good hits, others were pushed by Chris and Travis to shoot more rounds. This is where some shooters, including I, started to fail and put rounds outside of the “IDPA circle” but a lot of the shots were still “combat effective”. We went into other techniques and drills, I really enjoyed prone and didn’t feel like I had a problem at all other then the fact that I had a hard time getting my fat ass down fast enough. But it got to the point where I didn’t care about the bumps, scratches, concrete we were falling on, I wanted to give it my all… I’ve always struggled with shooting on the move but I noticed improvement while we covered that topic and that alone made the entire two days worth it. With that being said, I took home with me an entirely new set of skills and different thoughts on training. We ended the training with Chris talking about desire and using that to keep us motivated to continue training and living the life of a warrior.
I struggled a bit with height over bore issues and realized I was focusing on the dot way too much instead of building body indexes that will allow me to shoot instinctively. The weather was a obstacle for me, and a few others. The rain made it difficult for me to see through my eye protection, there was a time where I decided to just throw them down. The heat was a burden on me for most of the second day but I got through it, my wife packed a cooler with ice and water both days for me. My jeans were a bit too tight or I’ve grown since I bought them cause they ripped on me during dynamic prone, I used my problem solving skills and fixed it with duct tape. I had the chance to compare a PWS fsc556 on TD1 and a KAC triple tap on TD2. Few others were running loud brakes, one guy had a ninja-supersize-magnum brake that was extremely loud. Saw a lot of different ar15/m4 platforms, one guy running a scar and another running a sig 556… Also saw a variety of different handguns. I don’t think anyone’s rifle went down other then brockmann’s due to a slamfire. Magpul hooked it up with a few give aways, pmags, patches and stickers. Few people bought slings and asap plates. I labeled someone “that guy” during zero on TD1 because he shot someone else’s target lol.

Few things that stuck in my head
Mindset
Pooda loop
Efficiency, Consistantly, Reality
Desire

The Instructors were both very professional but very down to earth at the same time. We didn’t get bombarded with war stories and kill counts, etc etc. The two days were filled with movie quotes and some not so funny jokes but they both had a wealth of knowledge. My wife and I are making arrangements to travel for a pistol course and a carbine 2 course. I spent close to a grand for this class in tuition and ammunition costs. My wife encouraged me to take the class since it was on my birthday and Im glad she did. I dont see any houston classes on the 2010 schedule, i hope to try and organize something with chris and travis so that we can get them to come back next year.

I didnt take any pictures although i brought a camera. Too busy shooting and moving. Paul, please feel free to post pictures of our class at your convenience.

Ngoc
-the asian guy

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Well I’m going to try to add a little to the AAR already posted here. I wrestled with the idea of posting one. On TD1 was stoked about the class and ready to put my thoughts down. But once I was done with TD2 and extremely disappointed in my self I was not going to post anything but I feel I owe it to other people here and to the shooting community to put my thoughts down in hopes that some one can learn from my mistakes and use them to excel when they train. So bear with me guys as I have never tried to put pen to paper in this kind of format before.

Ok first of all I want to think Mast Solutions and Matt Brockmann for bringing the Magpul guys down here to TX and putting on an awesome course. Second have to thank Travis and Chris for the quality of instruction and the great class they provided us with. For those who haven’t trained with Magpul there is truly no ego in the instructors. They don’t care if you have never fired a rifle or have a life time of experience they look at everyone the same and treat each student in a way that we can all excel. I’d also like to think Paul who came out both days, shared his life experience with us and that really hit home with me for sure.

My thoughts heading into this class: When I first learned of the class coming to Houston I was pumped at a chance to train with the Magpul guys. It was first slotted as a Carbine II class on both Mast Solutions, and Magpul’s website. When I called to get enrolled I learned that it was a Carbine I class and was a little bummed but excited none the less. I thought to myself “I have a Center Mass patrol rifle school under my belt. I’m not a novice shooter, and should probably take a level 2 class.” Boy did I get humbled and probably would have fallen behind in a level 2 class. Not that at one point in my training I couldn’t have kept up, but since the Center Mass school I have not properly taken the time to keep my skills as sharp as I should, and the Carbine I class was perfect to sharpen the skills I had refined at one point, and refine a lot of shooting technique coupled with the mental side of shooting. So while preparing to go to the class I decided to get my mind right and go to the school completely open to what was going to be taught. Give every thing taught my complete best effort. Then add to what skills I have and use what works best for me coming out of the school into the future.

Training Day 1 (TD1)
*Safety Brief/Admin. paperwork
*Battle Sight Zero
*Balance of Speed and Accuracy Drill (BSA) with instruction on technique and shot placement
*Combat Mind Set Lecture
*Tactical Reloads/Admin Loads explained and practiced
*Speed Reloads
*BSA Standing from 25 yard line
*Dynamic Kneeling and Dynamic Prone from 50 yard line BSA style drill with no time limits
*Full BSA from 3 yards to 50 yards

My thoughts on TD1:
First let me start by saying that if you’re ever in a class with me you never have to worry about being “that guy”. It will be me. I’m the one who had a self induced malfunction before ever firing a round. I decided to press check my weapon prior to zeroing caused the malfunction. Secondly I am the guy who showed up with brand new prescription safety glasses that did not work correctly and couldn’t see the targets at 50 yards to zero slowing the class down. Then on TD2 I’m the one who shows up late to class and while in a rush to get geared up I can’t get my kit on right in a hurry.

A note on getting there late. For guys who work grave yards try your best to adjust your sleep schedule to get up early a few days prior to starting a class. I slept no more then 3 hours the day before TD1 and was up all night and was up all night again. I got about 3 more hours of sleep for TD2 which lead to me being late. Those 3 hours coming from 4am to 7am. I’m not trying to make excuses but help others learn from my mistakes. Let me be clear there is NO EXCUSE for being late to a class you knew weeks in advance of the set times.

All the techniques that Chris and Travis teach work, work extremely well, and work under stress. If you work at them, use them, and make them your own then you will no doubt come out the other side a much better shooter. The aggressive grip they advocate for the weapon hand WORKS big time to help control recoil and make faster follow up shots. But it if your not used to it your shoulder gets tired quick. It was all I could do to keep the grip and hold my rifle up just through a course of fire and then drop it and shake out my shoulder by the end of TD1. As mentioned before we got rained on hard on TD1. I believe that it may have affected round count, and reps. Not that we didn’t train in the rain the class goes on rain or shine. Travis and Chris decided to move the Combat Mindset block of instruction up in the class to get us out of the rain some. I think that this was a benefit to the class as a whole. It is always good to get to a shooting course and shoot no doubt not sit in a class room. But by moving up the mindset portion of instruction it made me for sure think about why I do this or why this technique works the best and how it helps keep me safe and will possibly send me home at the end of shift one day. When you take the Combat Mindset out to the range it makes you work harder, and want to push your self more then if it would have come later in the class. At least it did for me.

Training Day 2 (TD2)
I showed up late so what happened first thing in the morning I don’t know. I’d think a safety brief but I am not sure.
*BSA
*Immediate Action (Tap, Rack, Bang)
*Remedial Action (double feeds, bolt overs, ect…)
*Kneeling
*Urban Prone
*Barricades (Oh No I MAY have put a round or two through a barricade with Chris standing there right next to me)
*Cycle from standing barricade/urban prone/kneeling barricade shot from dominate shoulder no switching the gun, but 5 rounds on both right and left sides.
*Pistol slow fire from high ready
*Pistol Draw broken down/Slow fire from draw
*Transition Carbine to Pistol and back to Carbine…Keeping a gun in the fight
*Off Line of attack
*Shooting while on the move
*Range Clean Up/Course Reviews/Certificate Presentations

My thoughts on TD2:
First I was pist at my self for being late, and then while shooting the BSA first thing my gun went down. Buffer spring issue, got it fixed and back on line. Then having fought my gun all of TD1 with fail to fires I was already proficient at the Tap, Rack, Bang before we go to the instruction. One rifle in the class had a self induced bolt over according to Chris, and that proved to be another learning experience for the whole class. I learned that even if you are athletic, or think you are Urban Prone sucks. I like the firing position but getting down into position, and worse, getting up blows. I’m going to have to work hard at getting smooth at it especially getting up and NOT taking my hand off fire control like I felt like I had to get up. The pistol shooting portion went well for me, and I was able to modify my arm position a little to be a better shooter. Now that being said Chris and Travis are equally impressive with pistols and carbines. Watching Chris shoot a students 1911 and keep it flat through the recoil and super quick on the trigger was awesome and gave me something to strive for.

What I learned/and changed during the course:
I have changed my weapon hand grip on the front of the rifle, and elbow position in both carbine and pistol. Keeping your gun up in your work space during reloads and malfunction clearing is super important. Falling on concrete sucks! The BAD lever makes you quicker once you depend on it and not hitting the bolt catch. Throughout the whole course hits in the “circle” was a must. Accuracy was important but fast accuracy was essential. This course definitely sharpened my existing skills and refined my technique too. One thing I HAVE to do is think more during shooting. I liken it to when I play golf. If I hit a slice into the woods I know why I did it. But If I don’t slow myself down on my next swing and think about correcting what I need to do to fix the problem I have learned nothing. Same in shooting. One time I got through a course of fire and noticed that I had a lot of finger in the trigger guard not just the pad of the index finger. But next course of fire I didn’t concentrate on fixing that and had to stop my self, reset and get my stuff squared away. Same goes with putting rounds where you want them. Sometimes you have to slow down and think respiratory pause, height over bore, slow press on the trigger ect… Now those things have to be done in a hurry. You can only shoot effectively as fast as you can think and process information. If you shoot faster then you can think you’re a liability not a force multiplier in real life. I definitely took a lot away from this course and that is not by accident. Chris and Travis are excellent instructors. I believe having Paul show up both days was a blessing, and that the Combat Mindset tied everything together from range work to the mental side which made me work harder and absorb more then I may would have without it.

I know this is long but I hope by being brutally honest about my experience when reading this people can take my successes, and more importantly my failures and apply it to their own training to excel. Last thing Travis and Chris talked about is that LIFE IS BIGGER THEN JUST YOU. When that day comes and you have to protect yourself, your family, or strangers in a mall/school or where ever you learn from me and I learn from you which leads to saved lives.

Matt

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Just an update, I’ll be posting pics of your class either tomorrow or this weekend. I know you guys want to see them and I’m working on it. I just gave my AAR and my class’ pics priority.

Just wanted ya’ll to know I hadn’t forgot about you. But there are a LOT of great ones of you guys!

Also, Matt, what were you wearing and what carbine were you using. Apologies for not recalling that info, but my memory sucks ass. But since you took time to post a good AAR on here I want to make sure I get some good pics of you posted;)

And Gnoc, can you do me a huge favor and talk to the guy with the SCAR next time you see him and tell him to please post an AAR here, mainly about the issues he had with his SCAR. I think it would be very informative for guys on here.

Here’s a few of the pics for now:

Take care and Semper Fi,

Paul

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Hey Paul there were 2 Matt’s as I’m sure your aware Brockmann from Mast and myself. If your asking what I ran during the week it was:

Carbine: RRA Entry Tac with a Sure Dedicated Fore End weapon light, redi-mag, Aimpoint CompM3, Magpul Asap/M2S/CTR/Pmags w/Ranger floor plates, Anvil Arms BGC, and Spikes Tactical Milspec receiver extension.
I spoke in my AAR about having fail to fires several times in the class. I changed the buffer spring from the Spikes to the RRA spring and that cut down on fail to fires. It was always the first round out of the mag on reloads and I didn’t take the time to check for possible weak primer strikes so I’m not 100% it was a spring issue.

Other Gear: HSGI Warlord (V3 i think) Chest rig and double mag pouches, TAG pistol/rifle shingle, 5.11 pistol mag pouch, Safariland 6004 thigh rig, Glock 23c w/TLR1 light, an Olight M20 Warrior Premium hand held light, Woolrich Elite Lightweight Operator Pants(awesome pants I highly advocate), Wiley X script glasses(sucked ass for me, and wouldn’t recommend the “soft” frames cause when they bend the screw up the curve of the lenses which cause distorted vison) and Danner Striker boots.

Over all I was happy with my kit but at work I bail out with duty belt(Glock 23C with light and 2 spare mags), and carbine (2 mags one in gun one in redimag) or shotgun (6 rounds +5 on the side saddle). Using anytype of kitchest rig/lbv ect is a little out of my element but all prefromed well.

Matt

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That’s the exact reason I use my “active shooter” style bag (that looks like a man-purse) in classes, because in reality I’ll never be strapping on a chest rig of any kind and kicking doors again (for obvious reasons). I don’t think there’s anything wrong with guys using a chest rig in classes that they will never use in an actual situation in the real world, because a lot of guys just go to these classes for fun, and that’s fine by me. I’m certainly NOT going to knock anybody for running something like that just for the hell of it and to have a great time training at the range.

But for me personally, in classes I run the same setup that I’m going to run in the real world.

I think you’re wise to use the redi-mag on your patrol rifle, because you’re not going to have time to get all kitted out when you pull up to the mall where there’s some fucking nutcase madman shooting as many people as possible before he gets stopped by someone (you). But I would also highly recommend using some sort of active shooter bag that you can just keep 4 extra loaded (high quality) rifle mags in (and extra pistol mags too, if you want) and maybe a tourniquet or two as well for yourself or any gunshot wound victims you come across after the threat has been neutralized.

Just throw the bag across you shoulder/chest first, sling your carbine and go hunt down that SOB.

I know you were in the second class and didn’t see me speed reload my carbine, but with the Sneaky Bag that I run (after I “modified” it to be more efficient for my needs), I can literally drop the empty mag out of my carbine, index a fresh mag from my Sneaky Bag, and perform a speed reload to get my weapon back up and running in just a hair under 3 seconds. And with the extra pouch in that bag, I can easily retain partial mags during tactical reloads.

Maybe we can get together sometime and I’ll let you use mine and se what you think. I’m all about helping LEOs out, brother. In fact, now that I think of it, an LEO that I befriended in my last class before this one keeps a sneaky bag in the trunk of his patrol car right next to his duty carbine. I forgot how he had it all setup and how much ammo/supplies/whatever he kept in it, but I do know he had rifle mags and a small med-kit in there, among other things.

Anyhow, something to think about, brother.

Take care and Semper Fi,

Paul

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Matt,

There were 2 of you running a dedicated SF fore end weapon light… was yours the painted AR or the black one?? Trying to figure out which guy you are, buddy.

Paul

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i think he was wearing a police shirt or some sort

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Hey bro, first I had the painted fore end should be a tan with puzzle piece black spots.

Second I agree whole heartidly that you should train as you fight, and do have an active shooter bag. But alas I did not have it properly set up and prepared not only for deployment at work but also to use at a class doing reloads and storing mags from tac. reloads. Once I get it set up I’ll be using it at schools and training with it to be proficent with it to deploy in critical situations.

Thanks so much Paul for all the work you put into you AAR and all the pics you have supplied for the second class.

Matt

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After much hesitation I finally got around to putting this AAR together and posting it. I will mainly cover the things that stuck in my head and hopefully they prove to be beneficial to someone else. Please excuse any grammatical errors, english composition was not my greatest subject.

I would first like to thank Travis Haley and Chris Costa for teaching a great class. Thank you for helping me break that “institutional minusha” (I hope that is what Travis was calling it) of military training. I would also like to thank Matt B from Mast Solutions for brining the class to Houston and finally Paul, thank you for having he courage to tell us your story. It was a real eye opener on the effects that training scars can have on someone and for helping me unload and then reload my mags on TD1.

I won’t go over the break down of the course because that has already been covered twice in the previous post. I will try to go over what I learned in each day.

TD1:

  1. Safety, Safety, Safety!!! The 5 Basic Rules. As shooters we need to know these by heart. If we can’t follow basic safety then whats the point. We will do more damage to the shooting community than good if we aren’t safe shooters.

  2. The Mechanics of shooting: This was the biggest eye opener for me. Learning that holding a carbine closest to the front of the barrel and ensuring that your elbow is pointing outward slightly will allow for quicker follow up shots and causes all recoil to go straight back, then all you have to do is drive the gun forward to get back on target. I struggled w/ this durning the entire class. I kept wanting to grab the vfg. That being said it was removed right after I got home. Also, that squaring off to the target rather than blading offers quicker and more accurate shots and when wearing armor it won’t defeat the purpose of said armor.

  3. Mindset: Understanding how your mind works when SHTF was a great lecture from Travis. It was amazing learning about how important your eyes are in SHTF scenario and that if you choose to engage you better effective and consistent and not a liability.

  4. Performing Tac and Speed Reloads: “Bring the carbine up and keep in your work space!!!” When reloading bring the carbine up, don’t look down. Maintain situational awareness at all times. Also, when doing a speed reload let magazines fall on the deck and concentrate on the reload and getting the carbine back into the fight.

  5. Kneeling and Prone: When in the prone position keep your feet flat and go prone directly behind your rifle. It will affect accuracy a whole lot less.

  6. Supine Position: If you land on your back in the middle of the fight, it best to engage from that position vs trying to get back up. Just be careful that you don’t blow off your feet.

  7. Failure Point: We all have a failure point when it comest to being “effective shooters” and knowing that no matter how much one trains, a failure point will always exist. Don’t ever become complacent and think that you don’t have a failure point, because thats the day it will bite you in the ass.

TD2:

  1. Immediate Action and Remedial Action: Ensure that you observe the bolt before sending another round into the chamber to avoid a bigger malfunction.

  2. Urban Prone: This a great position to learn when comes to shooting over or under targets. Its much better than SBU prone as it is less awkward and in my opinion it is easier to get into and it allows for quicker follow up shots.

  3. Shooting around barricades: When coming out from behind a barricade, ensure that your carbine is up and ready. always take a knee on the side that you are leaning out of.

  4. Transitions (carbine to pistol): Single point slings are best for this. Ensure that your carbine doesn’t come down on top of your secondary or your secondary’s ammo pouches. One thing that I did learn durning the pistol segment was that a pistol when a take the path of least resistance durning recoil. If you shoot w/ both hands with your elbows pointing outward the pistol will recoil straight back.

  5. Shooting on the move: Don’t stop. Keep moving forward no matter what. When moving forward and not engaging threats look over your optic not thru it.

  6. Desire: Desire and strive to be better. Never settle after taking just one class.

Equipment:

Carbine: Mk18 Mod 0 clone w/ KAC QDSS NT-4 and Aimpoint M3 on a Larue mount. The rifle worked a great and I only had four malfunctions, one failure to fire and three double feeds that where cause by me. I never completely cleaned the rifle between the two days, which was a mistake (thats what caused the misfire during the BSA on TD2), but keeping it lubed w/ a shit load of Weapon Shield lube kept it going.

Pistol: Stock Glock 23

Ammo: On TD1 I used Winchester M855 which I found was not allowed on the range 3/4 of the way thru TD1. I then had to trade for some Fiocchi 55gr fmj(thanks HB for the trade, that trade kept me in the class).

Kit: Eagle RRV w/ a TAG Custom rifle/pistol mag pouch, a Blackhawk m4 pistol holster, and a TAG dump pouch. The rifle pouch worked great. I was able to pull out Pmags w/ no problem. The Blackhawk M4 pistol holster was a joke. That is the worst piece of gear that I own. I kick myself for not buy a holster that would of gone on my belt. It is damn near impossible to transition back to your carbine without having to look down and use both hands to holster the pistol. I will never run a pistol in a M4 mag pouch type holster or anything similar to it, as it makes for a hasty holster and not an effective one.

I really think that this class is extremely beneficial for both experienced and novice shooters. The class will take to your fail point and then teach you techniques that will increase the number of effective shots you can fire before said fail point. As Ngoc pointed out earlier the training focuses on reality, efficiency and constancy. Everything you go thru through the course focuses on the these core principals.

The last thing that I want to cover are things that I did that had negative results in my training.

  1. Test out your equipment before the course. It sucks finding out that on TD2 your holster is a piece of shit or that a VCAS sling makes a shitty single point sling.

  2. Clean your rifle at the end of each. Nothing sucks like missing out the being of a demo because you are trying to run a bore snake down your bore.

  3. Hydrate.

  4. Get plenty of rest each night.

  5. Take plenty of notes. (it makes for an easier AAR)

  6. Use quality eye pro, nothing sucks more than missing or slowing down your shots do to fogged up eye pro. (or missing 17 shots outside of the IDPA circle on the TD2 BSA)

  7. Use stripper clips on your ammo. The less time you spend reloading, the more time you spend shooting.

  8. If you are using a suppressor durning the course, make sure that you bring an oven mitt, just in case you have to take off the suppressor.

  9. Make sure that all of your mounts are on tight, locktite in place, and marked. My aimpoint on my Larue mount became loose on TD1.

This concludes my cluster fuck of an AAR.

Stay safe,

Marco Guerrero

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Semper Fi,

Paul

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Travis Haley shooting htxred’s BCM upper, killing some paper baddies with some serious hate and discontent!:smiley:

Not the unseen student in the background doing a mag change… I missed that when I first saw this cool pic. It’s not the best pic and I did my best to clean it up while editing, but it’ still pretty cool.

Semper Fi,

Paul

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great pics paul. yea man so during the urban prone reps, somehow i ripped my pants. so as i asked travis to hold roxanne for me while i run and grab my tactical duct tape to fix the wound on my jeans, i hear someone going to town… come back to a pretty hot rifle. :o lol.

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It’s like Ron Jeremy sleeping with your wife, you have to let a pro see what she is actually capable of. At the pistol class this summer Travis ran some mags thru someone’s (can’t remember whose) his nice 45 1911. We were all chuckling becuase of how expensive 45 is now, and how effortlessly he went thru the rounds.

Good pics, looks like a great class and a bunch of guys.

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Great pics Paul, thanks for posting them

Matt