On 23 FEB 2025 NSR Training and Consulting ran an Independent Building Entry and Search Techniques class at our shoot house at Pikes Peak International Raceway. The weather for the class was great and allowed some nice moments of sunshine in between runs in the house.
The class was attended by people of varied backgrounds and experience including a couple of board members. The instructors for the class were me and Jeff C. (USMC03)
Equipment – We are using Elite Force airsoft G17s. Students had the option to use pistols equipped with a red dot or with iron sights. One student brought his own green gas G19. The equipment ran reasonably well. A few magazine related issues that were fixed by switching out magazines.
POI – The class is intended to be something of a survey course in single person room clearing/building search/CQB. We spent about an hour in the classroom discussing the concepts behind what we’re doing in the house and then spent the rest of the day in the shoot house.
We talked about clearing systematically and hastily and the merits/pitfalls of both. We talked about how to break the house down into manageable shapes and the priorities of work. Students got approximately two hours to practice the various techniques followed by some full runs systematically clearing sections of the house dry. Then we introduced targets.
This is a tactics course much more than a shooting course. Jeff and I want to keep this training as accessible as we can so there are no marksmanship prerequisites or “shoot in” like you often see for live-fire CQB. Historically, when you introduce “shooters” to tactics, the marksmanship suffers. A much more seasoned instructor once told me that he usually expects to see a 50% reduction in marksmanship ability. This class was no different. I was very happy to see the target ID was outstanding. Not a single no-shoot was engaged.
The afternoon was spent on hasty clearing. This is usually stimulus driven (screaming/gunfire from the end of the hall, moving to a known location responding to a call for help, etc.) and we have to understand and accept that we are absorbing more risk in the interest of speed. This is usually a lot of fun for the students and this class was no exception. How fast you can move, make decisions, target ID, and accurately engage is highly individual but I think everyone enjoyed getting to push their personal envelope in a controlled environment.
We ended the day with a debrief. Lessons learned were reviewed and things Jeff and I wanted taken away from the class were emphasized.
Thank you to everyone that came out, I enjoyed working with you all.
