I have never trained or heard much feedback about the USSA, and since the Advacned Carbine class at Sig was cancelled, I decided to try out the Tactical Rifle 230 from USSA.
The course was taught by Eric Lund and hosted by the Sig Sauer Academy in Epping, NH. While the academy is nice, our class took place in a remote class room/range - very different from last year Defensive Rifle.
The first day started in a classroom with a standard safety briefing followed by a 3 hour long lecture about accessories, AR variants, etc, which contained information I already knew and I learned very little new information. Unfortunately, we did not get a chance to shoot until after lunch.
After lunch we gathered on the range and I had a chance to look at different rifles. We had a total of 8 shooters. Seven civilians and one LEO. A large number of students were new to rifles, this being their first class.
One guy has FS2000 classic. Another had Sig 556 and another shooter had an AK and FAL. The rest had one variant or another of the AR platform. I was running BCM ligtweight upper with TRX extreme topped with H1. Eric had Sabre upper with Adams Arms piston conversion and he was running an Eotech.
The LEO was running a ban compliant 20" HBAR with irons. His sling setup made me go wtf - he started the class with the classic AR carry strap attached in the traditional manner to the bottom of the stock and the bottom of front sight base. He was struggling with it. Since he did not have any other sling attachment methods besides the strap, he tried to make single point around the rear sling point on the stock. Apparently dissatisfied, he then attached the front of the sling to the side of the FSB.
This setup was still unsatisfactory to him and he ended up attaching a 1903 leather sling and finishing the class with that. So note: Please have a modern, two point sling NOT a carry strap to make things easier on you in a class.
We finally started shooting with some NSR drills. Eric's philosophy is less about pinpoint precision and more about "shoot him into the ground". Therefore throughtout the class the unofficial accuracy standard was to keep all the hits in the A zone from 50 yards in. During the first half of the class, Eric also went over the reloads. He teaches putting the stock of the rifle under the armit while ejecting the spent magazine and acquiring a fresh one. I liked that technique as you no longer have to balance your rifle on the wrist alone.
As we started going through higher round count drills, I noticed my handguard get too warm to touch with a naked hand. During this time I also had a hard failure to go into battery that required me mortaring my AR. Since I was using Wolf Military Classic ammo, this was the likely culprit. After the mortaring I exeprienced no more malfunctions.
Due to local restrictions, we couldn't start shooting on Sunday until noon. So Eric gave the mindset lecture which took about an hour.
After we got back on the range, we did a brief warm up and then Eric introduced transitioning to pistol. From now untill the end of the class we were expected to transition to pistol during drills if we were within 25 yards and the rifle ran dry or had a malfunction. I liked the setup they had with a paper target for rifle and a steel plate to the right of paper target for pistol. Towards the end of the day we pushed back to 100 yards to refine our zeroes. Everybody was able to get on steel with minimal effor in a short amount of time. This marked the end of TD2.
Day 3 started around 8:30 with some warm up drills. Then Eric had us do Optic failure drills were those of us with optics turned them off and used the BUIS. I didn't have a chance to get a rear BUIS in time for the class so I was only using my front HK Troy. However, coupled with Aimpoint Micro, I found the system workable out to about fifteen yards. Another shooter next to me had a simialr setup except his front sight was AR style. I actually found the HK style to be a little easier to use in the optic down drill since the POA was right in the middle of the HK ears. I used FSP for horizontal alignment and the simply put the point of aim in the space between the ears of the front sight. If I had an AR style sight, things would be more difficult.
Eric also briefly covered shooting behind barricades and bilateral use of the rifles. He said that due to his eye sight he never transitions to left side and always engages targets from his strong side regardless which side of cover / barricade he uses. However, he let us experiment with transition the rifle to the support side. The FS2000 shooter was next to me and as he transitioned to support side I noticed him fiddling with his safety, unable to fire. "Turn it [the safety] the other way" I said. And he immediately was able to engage the target. Later he said that he got confused by the FS2000 safety since it rotates along a horizontal axis and requires a different motion if done with an off hand.
After this drill Eric introduced different shooting positions. We covered various flavors of kneeling, prone, roll over prone, and reverse roll over prone. However, Eric did not spend much time instructing us how to get into these positions with slung rifles. For reverse roll over we started with the rifle simply laing on the ground, unslung. I would have preferred if he were to start it with a slung rifle. We then pushed back to 200 yards for zero confirmation. By this point everybody had a decent zero, and getting hits on steel became easy.
We then moved back to 15 yards and had a quick competition which involved starting with one round in a chamber and empty mag in the rifle. On command, you would engage the target, perform the emergency reload and engage the target twice more. I think the FS2000 shooter was the first one out, followed by the guy running FAL. At the end it was me with a BAD equipped AR vs another shooter with a Sig 556. I did notice that as I kept re using the same magazine for my empty, it stopped being drop free due to the fine sand we had, so I had to give it a pull a few times. At the end, the AR won ;)...
With the class almost drawing to a close, the time came for the best drill so far. It started out with us not knowing what to expect. We had to run about 100 yards to our rifle, make it ready and engage steel targets from 100 yards using cover. For the first time in the class I felt challenged. I also got to experience all the stress factors. Taking cover directly behind the car instead of a wheel well, shooting from the right side off the left side of cover all the things that I knew I shouldn't be doing but still did.
This drill concluded our class and we went to the classroom for the final wrap up. I feel that this is a good class for complete novices. However, for somebody who is already familiar with the AR platform and has been through at least one rifle class may find this class too slow. Personally, I did not feel challenged in the class until the last drill. However, it provided me a good opportunity to pratice with my rifle.
I think that by adding more graded drills/qualifications the class could become more interesting and push the students more.
Equipment notes:
I ran BCM light upper with VTAC TRX. It ran great except for one stuck case of Wolf which required mortaring to unstick. The TRX does get uncomfortably hot after prolonged shooting. So gloves are recommended. One shooter had his AK - I believe it was a Saiga conversion, but not sure, have numerous malfunctions, including an AD when he was charging an empty rifle. He ended up finishing the class with FAL. The student with FS2000 did not seem to experience any mechanical issues except learning the need to really tug on the magazine after seating it.
One student experienced a quadruple feed while using a Sig 556 with loaner mags. Sig Sauer academy uses asian manufactured aluminum loaner mags, which was the cause of the problem. It never ceases to amaze me how the academy uses low quality / junk parts for studen loaner firearms, making for a poor experience.
The trouble the LEO student experienced with his carry strap sling drives home the point of having a modern, two point, quick adjust sling.
Showing posts with label Firearms training. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Firearms training. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Sig Sauer Defensive Rifle class
I decided to take a rifle course this year. Based on my good experience at Sig Sauer Academy in Epping, NH, I decided to take their two day Defensive Rifle class on July 18-19 2009.
Unfortunately, this turned out to be a mixed experience.
I arrived on Saturday morning to find 12 other people in the classroom in addition to our two instructors. Our main instructor Scott R. has experience as a SRT team member and assistant
team leader and is a full time firearms and tactics instructor for his PD.
The course consisted of a variety of people. There was a couple from TX that drove cross country, the Three Amigos - very sharp guys from Costa Rica that came over to attend training and do some sightseeing, a PMC from Australia and a number of engineers, as well as a gentleman from the Customs and Border protection.
After a brief intro in the classroom, we headed down to the range for a cold demonstration of basic fighting positions, rifle loading/unloading and basic malfunction clearance.
Engaging target with Glock 19 after transition
About half of the class ran an AR15 variant while the other half used either theirs or borrowed Sig 556 with one exception - the gentleman from Customs using his M1 Carbine.
One of the loaner 556 rifles that was issued to a Olde had a loose castle nut. It struck me as strange that the Academy would not stake their castle nuts - especially on loaner rifles
that are handed out to guests and potential future customers. The assistant instructor tightened the castle nut and we started dry drills.
I was a little surprised at that, since the class is labeled as "intermediate" on their site. I specifically did not want to attend a basic/introductory class since I already have these skills as well
as book knowledge. I needed a class where I would get a chance to practice my "theoretical" skills with live ammo.
Scott quickly went over basic fighting stance, malfunction clearance including failure to fire and double feeds, as well as different methods to load a rifle. After an hour of dry practice we headed down to the range.
There was a variety of field gear. I ran Wilderness instructor belt with 2 Ready Tactical AR pouches and 1 Ready Tactical Glock mag pouch. I also had a chest rig with me, just in case. However, I did not feel the need to wear it for this class. For the purpose of this class, one magazine in the rifle and two magazines on belt were more than sufficient. I experimented with running my magazines with bullets facing to the rear, but found that my wrist was too hyperextended and hurt after repeat reload. So I switched to bullets forward carry mode for the AR magazines and the reload became much more comfortable while still fast. The Three Amigos all ran a chest harness which had a spring loaded container for three AR mags. A few people carried spare magazines in the rear pockets while others wore tactical vests.
Setting up transition drill
The first drill was a demonstration of the difference between between POA and POI at close range. Scott drew a circle about 2" above the headzone of a target and had us aim there while observing that the shots were getting into the head zone.
At this point several Sig mini red dots were experiencing issues. One was not holding zero. Another one had a wandering dot. They were taken off line and students were using the iron sights.
One 556 had to have its gas regulator adjusted to function with the ammo being used.
After a few revolutions of this, we finally zeroed our weapons. We used the 50 yard IBZ methodology. The zero was established by firing from the prone position. My rifle was already set for this zero and I needed no adjustments. However, some people had to move their sights, and all loaner guns had to be rezeroed as well.
Engaging targets after transition
After lunch we Scott demonstrated a few different kneeling positions followed by transitions to pistol. For transitions we started out with pistol only doing some basic draw and fire drills with no mention of tactical reloads. After doing a few tried, we got the rifles ready. We did a few different transitions. The first one being done with a rifle un slung. When it goes click, you simply hold the rifle across the chest while drawing the pistol with the strong side hand and engaging the target. This followed by transitioning with a slung rifle. Scott emphasized controlling the rifle all the way down instead of simply dropping it.
With these drills done, TD1 was over.
Since we were not able to use the range until after noon, TD2 started in a classroom with a presentation about AR maintenance, accessories, ammo selection and ballistic information. While the information presented was good, there was nothing new for me since I got it from other sources. However, some other students found it interesting.
After the lecture we headed down to the cleaning room for the "clean your rifle" part of the course. It amazed me that in a class labeled as "intermediate" about 50% did not know how to properly field strip and clean their OWN weapon. For some reason there were NO chamber brushes in the cleaning room! Considering that a clean chamber is one of the keys to a reliably functioning AR, I was surprised to say the least. Luckily, I brought my field cleaning kit and we passed around my chamber brush.
After grabbing a quick bite to eat we met up at the range. Once again, a loaner 556 had a loose castle nut. It had to be taken off line while the assistant instructor tightened it down. We started off with a quick zero confirmation at 50 yards from the prone position. Followed by a drill where we got into the prone position, engaged the target with 3-5 shots and stood up. This is where a quick adjust sling - be it VTAC or VCAS is golden. I was able to quickly lenghten my sling before going prone. I used magazine supported prone which gave me great accuracy with NO malfunctions.
During this day whenever we ran dry we were free to transition to the pistol. I hate to admit but I did a rifle speedload at the 10 yard line. After mentally congratulating myself on the smoothness of its execution, I realized that instead I should have just transitioned...
We then set up steel targets and poppers for 200 yards engagements. We fired prone from 200 yards and almost everyone was getting consistent hits on the steel as well as knocking down the poppers.
After returning from the 200 yard line, Scott wanted to show us what it was like to engage targets with elevated heart rates. To do that, we assembled at the 75 yard line and had to run as a group to the 50 yard line. Because there were so many people of varied physical ability and the short distance, my heart rate was barely elevated. I was not the only in that opinion. Overall, this attempt to elevate our heart rates failed miserably for me and at least a few others.
We did a few multiple target engagement drills and the zipper drill. In the zipper drill you start shooting at the low part of the target, letting the recoil move the rifle up.
Another interesting drill we did was the stop/threat. Based on the instructor's command we had to either yell "Stop" or engage the target.
Barricade, center
Finally time came for our last drill. We were supposed to engage to targets behind the barricade at 100 yards. We did standing and kneeling positions. Due to range limitations we could not do prone/urban prone behind the barricade. Scott briefly explained how to transition from one shoulder to another and to use the barricade for support. However, not much time was spend on finer details of transition, and no mention was made how to grip the rifle with the non-dominant hand. Here again, a quick adjust sling becomes very useful. One student with a standard two point sling decided that it was faster to unsling the rifle before transitioning.
Barricade, support side kneeling
Very few people had any issues hitting the steel from either side of the barricade.
This marked the last drill for the class. We policed the brass and met back in the classroom for wrap up/ issue of certificates.
We went through about 500 rounds of rifle and 100 rounds of pistol.
Equipment:
My Rifle
The class was a mix of ARs, Sig 556s with one gentleman using M1A carbine.
I ran a Colt 6920 upper with KAC free float rail, Aimpoint M2 in OEM mount. I had VLTOR E-Mod stock with VCAS padded sling. I used Wolf 55gr ammo.
I had zero malfunctions, since the carbine was cleaned and well lubricated before each day and the round count was mild.
I did not notice anybody having malfunctions except for the Texas' couple Aimpoint moving in Larue mounts due to improper torque.
The Sig Sauer mini red dots should be avoided at all costs.
One student had his 556 setup with a single point sling on day 1. However, he switched to a two point because the rifle was hanging too low on single point, and he had little control when it was slung.
My ready tactical pouches performed great as well.
Overall I have mixed feelings about this course. I took it specifically because I wanted an intermediate level class where the students could spend more time practicing skills instead of being taught them. Unfortunately, the class ended up being an introductory level instead of intermediate level course which was a major disappointment for me.
Unfortunately, this turned out to be a mixed experience.
I arrived on Saturday morning to find 12 other people in the classroom in addition to our two instructors. Our main instructor Scott R. has experience as a SRT team member and assistant
team leader and is a full time firearms and tactics instructor for his PD.
The course consisted of a variety of people. There was a couple from TX that drove cross country, the Three Amigos - very sharp guys from Costa Rica that came over to attend training and do some sightseeing, a PMC from Australia and a number of engineers, as well as a gentleman from the Customs and Border protection.
After a brief intro in the classroom, we headed down to the range for a cold demonstration of basic fighting positions, rifle loading/unloading and basic malfunction clearance.
Engaging target with Glock 19 after transition
About half of the class ran an AR15 variant while the other half used either theirs or borrowed Sig 556 with one exception - the gentleman from Customs using his M1 Carbine.
One of the loaner 556 rifles that was issued to a Olde had a loose castle nut. It struck me as strange that the Academy would not stake their castle nuts - especially on loaner rifles
that are handed out to guests and potential future customers. The assistant instructor tightened the castle nut and we started dry drills.
I was a little surprised at that, since the class is labeled as "intermediate" on their site. I specifically did not want to attend a basic/introductory class since I already have these skills as well
as book knowledge. I needed a class where I would get a chance to practice my "theoretical" skills with live ammo.
Scott quickly went over basic fighting stance, malfunction clearance including failure to fire and double feeds, as well as different methods to load a rifle. After an hour of dry practice we headed down to the range.
There was a variety of field gear. I ran Wilderness instructor belt with 2 Ready Tactical AR pouches and 1 Ready Tactical Glock mag pouch. I also had a chest rig with me, just in case. However, I did not feel the need to wear it for this class. For the purpose of this class, one magazine in the rifle and two magazines on belt were more than sufficient. I experimented with running my magazines with bullets facing to the rear, but found that my wrist was too hyperextended and hurt after repeat reload. So I switched to bullets forward carry mode for the AR magazines and the reload became much more comfortable while still fast. The Three Amigos all ran a chest harness which had a spring loaded container for three AR mags. A few people carried spare magazines in the rear pockets while others wore tactical vests.
Setting up transition drill
The first drill was a demonstration of the difference between between POA and POI at close range. Scott drew a circle about 2" above the headzone of a target and had us aim there while observing that the shots were getting into the head zone.
At this point several Sig mini red dots were experiencing issues. One was not holding zero. Another one had a wandering dot. They were taken off line and students were using the iron sights.
One 556 had to have its gas regulator adjusted to function with the ammo being used.
After a few revolutions of this, we finally zeroed our weapons. We used the 50 yard IBZ methodology. The zero was established by firing from the prone position. My rifle was already set for this zero and I needed no adjustments. However, some people had to move their sights, and all loaner guns had to be rezeroed as well.
Engaging targets after transition
After lunch we Scott demonstrated a few different kneeling positions followed by transitions to pistol. For transitions we started out with pistol only doing some basic draw and fire drills with no mention of tactical reloads. After doing a few tried, we got the rifles ready. We did a few different transitions. The first one being done with a rifle un slung. When it goes click, you simply hold the rifle across the chest while drawing the pistol with the strong side hand and engaging the target. This followed by transitioning with a slung rifle. Scott emphasized controlling the rifle all the way down instead of simply dropping it.
With these drills done, TD1 was over.
Since we were not able to use the range until after noon, TD2 started in a classroom with a presentation about AR maintenance, accessories, ammo selection and ballistic information. While the information presented was good, there was nothing new for me since I got it from other sources. However, some other students found it interesting.
After the lecture we headed down to the cleaning room for the "clean your rifle" part of the course. It amazed me that in a class labeled as "intermediate" about 50% did not know how to properly field strip and clean their OWN weapon. For some reason there were NO chamber brushes in the cleaning room! Considering that a clean chamber is one of the keys to a reliably functioning AR, I was surprised to say the least. Luckily, I brought my field cleaning kit and we passed around my chamber brush.
After grabbing a quick bite to eat we met up at the range. Once again, a loaner 556 had a loose castle nut. It had to be taken off line while the assistant instructor tightened it down. We started off with a quick zero confirmation at 50 yards from the prone position. Followed by a drill where we got into the prone position, engaged the target with 3-5 shots and stood up. This is where a quick adjust sling - be it VTAC or VCAS is golden. I was able to quickly lenghten my sling before going prone. I used magazine supported prone which gave me great accuracy with NO malfunctions.
During this day whenever we ran dry we were free to transition to the pistol. I hate to admit but I did a rifle speedload at the 10 yard line. After mentally congratulating myself on the smoothness of its execution, I realized that instead I should have just transitioned...
We then set up steel targets and poppers for 200 yards engagements. We fired prone from 200 yards and almost everyone was getting consistent hits on the steel as well as knocking down the poppers.
After returning from the 200 yard line, Scott wanted to show us what it was like to engage targets with elevated heart rates. To do that, we assembled at the 75 yard line and had to run as a group to the 50 yard line. Because there were so many people of varied physical ability and the short distance, my heart rate was barely elevated. I was not the only in that opinion. Overall, this attempt to elevate our heart rates failed miserably for me and at least a few others.
We did a few multiple target engagement drills and the zipper drill. In the zipper drill you start shooting at the low part of the target, letting the recoil move the rifle up.
Another interesting drill we did was the stop/threat. Based on the instructor's command we had to either yell "Stop" or engage the target.
Barricade, center
Finally time came for our last drill. We were supposed to engage to targets behind the barricade at 100 yards. We did standing and kneeling positions. Due to range limitations we could not do prone/urban prone behind the barricade. Scott briefly explained how to transition from one shoulder to another and to use the barricade for support. However, not much time was spend on finer details of transition, and no mention was made how to grip the rifle with the non-dominant hand. Here again, a quick adjust sling becomes very useful. One student with a standard two point sling decided that it was faster to unsling the rifle before transitioning.
Barricade, support side kneeling
Very few people had any issues hitting the steel from either side of the barricade.
This marked the last drill for the class. We policed the brass and met back in the classroom for wrap up/ issue of certificates.
We went through about 500 rounds of rifle and 100 rounds of pistol.
Equipment:
My Rifle
The class was a mix of ARs, Sig 556s with one gentleman using M1A carbine.
I ran a Colt 6920 upper with KAC free float rail, Aimpoint M2 in OEM mount. I had VLTOR E-Mod stock with VCAS padded sling. I used Wolf 55gr ammo.
I had zero malfunctions, since the carbine was cleaned and well lubricated before each day and the round count was mild.
I did not notice anybody having malfunctions except for the Texas' couple Aimpoint moving in Larue mounts due to improper torque.
The Sig Sauer mini red dots should be avoided at all costs.
One student had his 556 setup with a single point sling on day 1. However, he switched to a two point because the rifle was hanging too low on single point, and he had little control when it was slung.
My ready tactical pouches performed great as well.
Overall I have mixed feelings about this course. I took it specifically because I wanted an intermediate level class where the students could spend more time practicing skills instead of being taught them. Unfortunately, the class ended up being an introductory level instead of intermediate level course which was a major disappointment for me.
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