AAR - Protective Shooting Concepts - Advanced Carbine Clinic - May 30th, 2015

[Jay_Cunningham]

Protective Shooting Concepts conducted our half day Advanced Carbine Clinic on Saturday May 30th, 2015. The class is advertised as follows:

The PSC Advanced Carbine Clinic is designed to provide intense, fast-paced "run time" to experienced shooters in a competitive environment. The ACC is run like a match - students are timed and scored on various drills and stages. We use our own simple, accuracy-weighted scoring system and provide coaching to shooters during and between stages. Classes from other carbine trainers will (hopefully) have given you much of what you need in the way of a solid foundation - the ACC is a chance to see how you stack up against other shooters. Opportunities exist to sort out gear issues, work through pistol transitions, reinforce good practices, isolate bad habits, and test your balance of speed and accuracy. While not technically defensive training, the ACC is heavily biased towards accurate shooting instead of pure speed. Competitive shortcuts - while allowed - will be noted.

The stated requirements:

semi-automatic carbine with confirmed zero

sling

ballistic eye protection & filtered hearing protection

300 rounds (minimum)

mag carrier

five magazines (minimum)

pistol/holster/50 ammo for transition work

weapon lubricant


There were originally seven shooters scheduled, but one couldn't attend at the last minute, so we wound up with six. A small size class but good for keeping a quick tempo. There were three instructors.

Shooters were all experienced and skilled, so the range safety and gun handling briefs were to the point. We quickly made it to the firing line and shot our first drill, when ALL HELL BROKE LOOSE WITH THE WEATHER. A tremendous storm hit and we all got soaked to the bone while we finished up the first drill and then sought shelter on a nearby covered range. During this downtime I did my best to improvise with a blue gun to keep up review and field questions from the students. When the storm seemed to abate, we set up steel targets just in case the rain came back. Well that didn't take long... now the thunder and lightning hit. Lightning is a no-go so we pulled everyone off the range and into the clubhouse. I kept up my improv with the blue gun, conducting refresher material on fundamentals. After probably a half hour or so, the rain passed and we sounded the all clear.

We conducted a series of handgun and carbine drills which were scored using our own bastardized system. We used USPSA targets and the following scoring:

All strings of fire were specified, i.e. "limited" count.

Score was time plus:

• 0 seconds for each "A" Zone hit OR each hit on steel
• 0.5 seconds for each "B" Zone hit (pistol only, carbine is scored like "A" Zone)
• 1 second for each "C" Zone hit
• 3 seconds for each "D" Zone hit
• 5 seconds for each miss (including steel)

This scoring system is simple and emphasizes accuracy. Head shots with a pistol needed to be "A" Zone for -0, but carbine shots anywhere in the head were -0. We shot a non-timed support side aggregate that was scored on a bullseye target and the scores were rolled into the above numbers, i.e. the most accurate shooter had the least time added to his current time.

Shooters were all safe and all accorded themselves well. There was trouble with one home built "frankengun" which suffered from a tight chamber and maybe something else as well; all shooters used AR-15 carbines. In the end, our intrepid AI/professional accountant Dan tallied up the times from 10 separate drillsets and came up with a winner - Toney C decisively earned the highly coveted Protective Shooting Concepts BAD MOTHERF*CKER wallet!

This class was very easy for us to conduct due to the short length, high experience level, and modest class size. Thanks again to Dan and Ashton for your instruction and score-keeping, and thanks to Bill, Harold, Lawrence, Steve, Sal, and Toney for being such accomplished shooters. One of these days, Harold!

[Jay_Cunningham]

[Jay_Cunningham]