AAR: Defoor Advanced Carbine at The US Training Center , Nov 2011

[Shawn.L]

A little background. This is my 3rd time training with Kyle this year ( Intro Carbine beggining of year and Advanced Handgun in the summer) , but I have also trained in pistol, carbine, edged weapons, and combatives from a variety of instructors to include but not limited to Larry Vickers, Ken Hackathorn, Southnarc, Tom Kier, Jason Falla, TigerSwan , Randy Cain , and others to include local small name outfits like Red Zone Solutions, MCS, and FIRE Institute.

To say things like "this course was great! " or "had a blast!" really doesnt give much info for guys looking into who to train with or what a course might cover. While I dont hope to hit EVERYTHING Kyle covered here I'll try my best to give a prospective student an idea of what to expect and my perspective on the value of the training from a experianced students perspective.

First off this course was $400 through Grey Group Training, and we shot right at the 800 round mark. I have no idea, really, how in the holy hell GGT was able to offer this course, at this facility, at this price and how this didnt sell out within hours (although it did sell out).

Its carbine, so even though I was wondering if Kyle was going to crush us with some crazy skill test first, thing first day cold we all confirmed zero and shot accuracy standards in 10 shot groups on NRA B-8 bulls back to 200 yards.

It was during this period Kyle reviewed "the basics" and introduced one fundamental at a time working on slow fire marksmanship.

It was many times during the course where he would review and expound upon the class that while this was a "advanced" class all we are really doing is working those fundamentals at faster speeds, or different positions, at different targets, movers, while moving, ect.

There was very little discussion of gear that wasnt just talk amoungst us as we loaded mags. Kyle was not focused on hardware and told us he felt like going over accesories and equipment was best done in an intro course. We should have that stuff sorted out by now so we can focus on and push performance.

Before lunch on TD-1 we shot Defoor Carbine Test #1 and while I squeeked by at a 270 there where a couple scores in the 280 range and it became clear to me that we had some good shooters in this class !


Yes, I took a picture of my target, and yes Im posting it on the internet. I worked hard for it, rocked it out, and Im proud of that.

Kyles tests are NOT EASY , they are not feel good tests, they are standards you have to strive to beat. I run his handgun ones as my cold skills evaluations and Im going to add his carbine ones in as well.

I belive it was before lunch , but I could be wrong, Kyle gathered us to cover a speech on mindset. I wont do it justice to retell it, but he had mentioned on his site earlier adding this in to OE courses and I have to say it was sincere, meaningful, and thought provoking. Not bravado, or chest thumping, but an honest talk about stark reality and what decsions we may be called to make along with some real life examples of those who choose to die well, and those who did not.


After lunch we covered speed, CQ shooting, and individual timed shots from the high and low ready along with bill drills.
As to stance and grip "When in doubt, get more aggressive."

Before we broke for the day we ran a drill on one timed shot on steel from standing drop to prone at 100 yards in under 2.5 seconds. Some flashlight salesman was the only "hero" on that one.....

Its November, and night comes early, so we took a long break, BS'd and set up for the night shoot. Lights, standing, prone, kneeling from 50 yards and we sent many a spark off the steel at the USTC. We ran drills one at a time so you wouldnt be getting light off others carbines and covered load/unload and how that applies in the dark as well as some other tidbits on tactics and light placement options.

TD2 started with Defoor Carbine test #2 , this ones a smoker ! 8 hard fucking shots. I passed by the skin of my teeth with 2 A and 2 C in the body and 3 A 1 B in the head.

Again we drill accuracy first, working our way way way back to 300 yards. So heres the part where I tell the internet that yes I shoot (gasp!) cheap steel cased ammo and yes I was able to keep them all inside the C zone on an IPSC target (not the easiest target to even see at that range! ) at 300 yards with a 4MOA red dot and a DD 1:7 16" chrome lined gov weight bbl.



We then moved in and worked shooting on the move, and Kyles take on it from a practical standpoint. This evolved from doing drills advancing and laterally to a set up which had shooters breaking off to left and right angles to shoot an array of targets going forward, to the side, stopping for a hostage shot with no shoot and then advancing on a series of targets dropping to the ground.

Before lunch we ran Test #3 (pass), and again, RUN THESE.

After lunch we moved over to range 7 , which is 100 yards and has a gloriuos amount of steel.

We covered shooting movers and Kyles input on the realistic application and shot from 25 out to 100 on a steel plate that runs the length the range laterally from standing , kneeling, and prone.

We also covered use of cover, the tactics of that, how to approach corners , and how to brace off cover both vertically and horizontally .

At some point on TD-1 we covered "reverse kneeling" and did some shooting from that with Kyle mentioning it would come in handy working barricades the following day.


For the grand finale Kyle set up a course of fire where we start up on a landing and drop a series of resetting pepper poppers at maybe 20-40 yards (plus elevation), come down a flight of steps and pie a corner hit a series of close range plates , move through a set of vertical, horizontal, and stepped barricades and hit swingers and a mover at 100 yards, SOTM to cross to the next set of steps and then up and drop another set of stubborn pepper poppers (some took multiple rapid hits to drop).
We ran this lined up one after another so you had to wait for and look for those ahead and behind you and went from left to right and then back right to left.

Great fun finish and way to wrap together everything from the last 2 days and finsh out the course.

For your viewing pleasure.




We finished with a little open Q&A with Kyle and hit the road.

I said it multiple times this weekend. If I could only take one firearms training course next year, it would be a Defoor course. Hands down, no questions asked.

[Shawn.L]

Kyle Defoor
www.kyledefoor.com



Grey Group Training:
www.greygrouptraining.com

[Shawn.L]

Kyle Defoor
www.kyledefoor.com



Grey Group Training:
www.greygrouptraining.com

Special thanks to our friend Kevin Burger (Streamlight) for the awesome photos.

[offshorebear]

Fantastic class. Kyle knows his stuff.

[Jeffrey Bloovman]

Great AAR. Sounds like an excellent class.