Class: RedbackOne Basic Carbine
Date: Sept 29/30 2012
Location: Birchwood Shooting Range, Alaska
Jason Falla of RedbackOne graced us with his third class in Alaska so far. Prior to this I have attended his Basic Pistol and Tactical Pistol classes. I came into this class with having a limited knowledge of an M4 carbine style weapon in defensive uses. My primary use of the platform in the past was hunting. I got serious earlier this year and purchased an DDM4V7 for the purpose of home defense as well as a little varmint hunting on the side.
The class started on day one with 33F temps, rain and snow. We were certain that this was going to be a wet and miserable class. Jason introduced himself and his co-instructor Muz (Murry). I was very pleased to see a second instructor with this class of 24.
Luckily the class started with 5 hours of classroom time. Birchwood has a great classroom in it’s clubhouse, complete with a flatscreen T.V. that Jason was able to plug his laptop into and use a powerpoint presentation. This was definitely a step up from the dry erase board of our prior classes.
Jason and Muz started off with the characteristics and functions of the M4. We proceeded to the safe handling, operation, carriage and control of our firearms. They demonstrated their proper way of individuals clearing their weapon, as well as procedures for showing clear collectively with the instructors doing the final inspections while on the range. We moved on to field stripping and detail stripping the M4 in the classroom environment. During the classroom time we had to show the clearing process as well as detail stripping our own carbines.
Included in the classroom discussion was teachings on various zeroes and the problems associated with them. Jason teaches a 50/200 yard zero that basically works with most 5.56 carbines.
In the classroom it was also discussed the how’s and why’s of dealing with safety infractions by the instructors, as well as the corrections that would be taken with them if you broke a safety rule.
At first, I considered the long classroom time to be excessive. However, as the range time progressed I discovered that this very clear instruction in the safety of the classroom is crucial to running a safe range, as well as provide the building blocks to understand the stoppage drills during range time.
The addition of a second instructor was an excellent decision by Jason. Muz was able to keep up on admin duties while Jason instructed. He also was able to demonstrate processes while Jason instructed. Muz is also a very qualified instructor that interjected his own extensive experiences at appropriate times.
During our extensive classroom time the weather cleared and the day warmed up. We headed to the range and were given a safety briefing by Muz. Once again the safety violations and their corrections were discussed, as well as developing a medical plan for an emergencies. We spent the afternoon sighting in our rifles. This sounds simple, but many of us had zeros that were not 50/200. Also, a couple optic issues cropped up that needed to be remedied. We sighted in prone using a magazine monopod. We shot at 25 yds, 50 yds, 100 yds and 200 yds. This enabled us to see the zeros at 50 and 200, as well as the low shots at 25 and high shoots at 100. I would suggest that if you planning on attending one of Jason’s classes you should sight your rifle in prior to the class using his zero and technique. We finished the day with a relay race that I won’t describe due to the proprietary nature of drills in the class.
Day two dawned clear and cold with frosty temps in the 20’s. We started promptly at 8am with the safety briefing. We jumped right into dry runs of the first drills with no ammo. Instruction was clear and concise. The use of Jason or Muz to demonstrate while the other instructed was a huge plus over my prior classes with RB1.
Once again, my male ego just wanted to jump right into shooting. I inwardly grumbled about all the dry runs. What I found out was that those dry runs proved what a bumbling idiot I could be without the dangers of bullets being involved. At every turn, safety was stressed and enforced.
We spent the day working on drills to improve our close range accuracy and test the limits of how fast we could go with acceptable accuracy. If you’ve attended a prior RB1 pistol class, many of the drills are very similar. This continuity in training is very beneficial. As always, it was clearly taught that a fast miss was still a miss. Hit what you are shooting at, as fast as you can, was the order of the day.
Included in the day’s instruction were stoppage/malfunction clearing drills. The RB1 method taught in the class strives to simplify the clearing of malfunctions and provides continuity with pistol training. We purposely set up various malfunctions and were required to clear them precisely as taught under a time limit.
We finished the day shooting from standing, kneeling and prone. Moving from each position quickly and safely. This was actually a pretty good workout.
I found this RedbackOne class to be well taught and challenging. Jason admits that he teaches to a high level and expects excellence. He and Muz expect you to listen and perform under pressure. However, they will also answer your questions at any point and expect you to ask them if you are confused.
The booming voice of Muz made his instructions loud and clear. Jason, as always was clear and concise. Both of them demonstrate a sense of humor necessary to keep a class like this lively and interesting. As they work/teach together longer it will only get better.
I will be looking forward to our Tactical/Combat Carbine next year.
