Instructor: Jason Falla.
Overall this class was great. For a basic class we seemed to go over a lot of many things, however, never forgetting the same fundamentals he was teaching us, and that we were to utilize throughout the class. I learned a lot!
Day 1:
At the start of the class Jason started with lessons, mainly on zero, hold overs at close range, AR15 platform, limitations and set-up. I really enjoyed his explanation of why he chooses the 200m zero. I will now use it. Next we moved to zeroing at 25, 50, 100, then 200meters. That was my first learning experience- shooting from the bench does NOT equal ability to shoot in prone. I need a lot more practice from the position. My groups at 50m prone were worse than 100yd on the bench. Though I got the zero at 50m, I could not hold the groups as we moved to 200m.
Since he wanted us to use the charging handle instead of the bolt release, I quickly found that my sling got in the way. I had it in the Noveske QD, but have now moved it to the stock.
Jason prefers the high ready for many reasons, I do not want to butcher his words on it though, but that is what he used. Next, we worked on cadence drills at 7yds. He have us six seconds to fire six shots as accurately as possible. He wanted us to count each shot out loud- “one one-thousandth…”- in order for us to know that one second has gone by. Here is Jason’s explanation of this drill in another thread here: “Until you have the ability to judge time accurately, the shooter should call the time out loud in order to stay in cadence. If not, you will race the time and the cadence and potentially compromise accuracy.”
He then gave use 3 seconds for six shots and a different counting method- “one and two and…” Lastly, we were given 1.5 seconds for the six shots. Accuracy began to degrade for me in the faster drills, it was hard to manage accuracy and speed. It was a great learning drill: you either shot too fast and did not follow the cadence when given more time, or too slow when trying to be accurate given less time.
Sadly, I forgot the details of the following drill, but I know it included using bigger targets, and smaller ones. So that we learn to shoot fast on high percentage targets, and slower on low percentage targets. During all these two drills we were taught how to scan our area, and reminded to always do a systems check by examining the BCG and closing the dust cover (which helps with remembering).
Day 2:
Before we started Jason went over the cycle of operation for the AR and the different type of stoppages it has. I really appreciated that Jason went over each drill, the why of them, before we started. We always had great lessons going into the drills.
We first went over mag changes. We would have one round in the chamber on an empty mag, fire, systems check, reload, fire, then scan. My struggle with this drill is that Jason did not want us to turn the gun to safe during reload, and I had to remember to use the charging handle instead of bolt catch. I failed the timed drill due to fumbling with the safety, going to it, then stopping.
We then moved to stoppages. To simulate a Failure to Fire or to Feed we went to fire the gun with no round in the chamber. We were taught to push and pull the mag, rack the charging handle then fire. For double feeds we were taught to check the bolt, lock the bolt back, take the mag out, clear everything with your fingers from the magwell, then charge the gun three times. We did both using the same mag, or storing it. To work on this while shooting live, Jason would hold a mag at the ejection port to induce the malfunction were then to clear it, and try to get 5 shots off before he came back to us.
After this, we we focused on marksmanship from standing, kneeling, and prone from different distances. We first went over unsupported prone and kneeling, then supported. This led us to starting at around 100m or more and choosing what position to fire from, everyone chose prone. After two shots we were to stand up and jog to our next spot which was whenever Jason stopped. We did this until we were about 5 meters away. On the very last shot of this exercise I ran out of ammo. It was the first time I did not feel the bolt lock back. I learned the value of a systems check.
I know I am leaving a few drills out. I do not want this too long winded and I cannot remember the details of everything. I recommend this class and plan on taking it once more before moving to their next level class.
My biggest take-aways:
Holdovers
clearing malfunctions
Technique to practice in prone and other positions
Sling position
Thinking while shooting
Trigger contorl