AAR - 3 Rivers Tactical Training Solutions - 2 day AR October 5th & 6th, 2013

[John A Brown]

3T held a 2-day AR course this past weekend, Oct 5th & 6th at the Beaver Valley Rifle and Pistol Club. We had a total of 8 students - 7 who attended the full 2 day course, and 1, Adam, who has attended the class twice in the past and was only able to attend day 2. Since Adam had attended the course twice previously he was able to step into the class on the morning of day 2 with no issues at all. I would not allow a student who has not attended this class with me previously to do this, but Adam is a solid shooter and I knew there would be no issues.

Weather

The weather on day 1 flat out sucked. It was very hot and extremely humid. There were two periods of pretty heavy rain that last about 10-15 minutes each. Luckily they both occurred during the 1 hour lunch break. Believe me when I tell you, those were the only weather breaks we got on day 1. There were patches of fog that hung over the range all day, which severely limited the amount of shooting we did at the targets set at 100 and 135 yards. By the time the night shoot rolled around we literally could not see those targets at all, so unfortunately we didn't engage them during the night shoot as we normally would, which was disappointing, but to do so would have accomplished nothing but wasting ammo.

How humid and wet was it on day 1? All of us dealt with our eye pro and optics fogging up for most of the day. When your eye pro fogs up it's usually no big deal. With a quality red dot optic it's not the end of the world if you get some moisture on your lens. When both your glasses and your optic have moisture on them, it makes shooting very difficult. We all pressed on and did the best we could, and the bitching and moaning was minimal, which was good because there is nothing we could do about it anyway.

The weather on day 2 was about a billion times better - warm, sunny, no longer humid and no rain at all. Day 2 was a dream come true weather-wise compared to day 1.

Weapons, Gear, and Ammo

We had very few gun, gear, or ammo issues during this course, which is normal as this is a low round count class - 500 rounds spread of 2 days isn't really all that much in the grand scheme of things.

There were a few issues however...................

One shooter had multiple failures to feed during the night shoot. He was using steel cased ammo and I am 100% positive this was the cause of the problem, as his magazines were brand new P-Mags. Moisture (remember the humidity on day 1) collects on steel-case ammo and can cause problems, which is what happened here.

Mr. Murphy made an appearance as the same shooter who had the issues with his steel ammo during the night shoot had his EOTech-knockoff Bushnell red-dot fail on him - right at the start of the Final Training Exercise (FTX). He switched to his BUIS and charged on.

We had two shooters using EOTech's and I'm more than a little surprised to report that neither of them failed during the course. As many of you know, I am not an EOTurd fan - at all. I've seen more problems with them over the years than I can possibly count, and even in a 2 day course it's notable when one doesn't fail.

The solution to an EOTech is an Aimpoint.

Two shooters had accessories literally fall off of their AR's during the course. The reason for this is ALWAYS the same - because they didn't use Loc Tite on the screws when mounting the accessory. Anything you mount onto your AR (optic, light, laser, VFG/AFC - ANYTHING) that had threaded screws must have Loc Tite applied to the threads. If you don't, it's a matter of when, not if, the accessory comes loose, and if you don't notice in time that it's loose, it will fall to the ground. Usually when we are doing individual drills and the whole class will get to see you picking up your accessory from the ground.

Below is Adam, right after picking up his light, which fell from his AR during the barricade drills.



And below, PAFOA member Grumpy Bear shows off his VFG/Bi-pod, which fell off also during the barricade drills.



Both Adam and Grumpy Bear were good sports about having their pictures taken with their fallen accessory. I don't do this to embarrass anyone, at all. I do this as a learning point - if you don't use Loc Tite, it's only a matter of time before you find yourself in this spot.

We started off the course with our safety and emergency medical procedures brief. This takes the better part of an hour - something I make no apologies for. Taking a few minutes to go over the safety rules is fine when you are with a group of folks who have been shooting together for years. When you have a group together for the first time, you need to take the time necessary to get everyone working from the same sheet of music on all of the firearms and range safety rules, as well as emergency medical procedures.

We got on the range and got everyone zeroed. I strongly believe in either the 50 or 100 yard zero. Both work very well for not only this class but for typical real world situations. I'm not a fan of the 25 yard zero and avoid it at all costs.

Below, Phil (far) and Jeremy (near, with the FDE SCAR) zero from the 50 yard line.



Below is Rich during the rhythm drills on day 1. Rich is a former United States Marine. Rich emailed me a couple days before the course and asked if he could attend the course in his current situation in a wheelchair. I didn't hesitate to tell him that he absolutely could attend. I admired his willingness to come out to the class, and being a Marine I had no concerns about safety. Rich did very, very well and was without any question one of the top couple shooters in the class.

Rich had a kick-ass attitude and was a pleasure to have in the class.



We finished up the daylight portion day 1 working on the kneeling and prone positions, going to each position from the standing position. All positions have their pluses and minuses, and it's important that shooters know the pluses and minuses of each.

Day 1 concluded with the night shoot. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of the night shoot, as each student shot this individually and I had my hands full running the line.

Below is Adam during the rifle-to-pistol transition drills at the start of day 2. This is exactly where you want the rifle when you transition to your pistol - to the side of your support side leg, NOT in front of your body. This is much easier to achieve when using a 2 point sling instead of a 1 point.



Below, Rich again during the pistol transition drills. There were very few drills that Rich was not able to participate in.



Below, Tony engaging steel from about 45 yards while properly utilizing the white and blue barrels as cover. Most people do not understand how to do this properly. Standing right in front of your cover (known as "crowding" your cover) is wrong on many levels.



Below, Tom also utilizing cover properly while engaging steel. Tom's optic failed on him right at the start of the FTX, but he immediately flipped up his rear BUIS, charged on, and did very well.



Below is Mike shooting strong side and support side using a barricade as support. Very good form here.

Strong side



And support side



Below is Phil after a rifle to pistol transition. On day 2 Phil shot his DD lower / BCM upper AR with a Troy rail. I REALLY like the Troy rail. Phil let me shoot a few rounds through this rifle, and it's one of the lightest AR's I've ever shot.

By the way, Phil is 66 years old. He did very, very well and like Rich was a pleasure to have in the class.



As a left hander, one of my favorite parts of this class is when we do the strong side to support side transition drills. This is another part of properly utilizing cover, and exposing the least amount of your body to the enemy as possible. To be kind, most right handed shooters look (and feel) like fish out of water when they first begin shooting their AR from their support (left) side. But it's amazing how after just a few repetitions they are able to do this smoothly and safely.

Most of the right handers were shocked to learn that not only could they get accurate hits from their support (left) shoulder, but they could also reload the AR from this position. AR's can be accurate AND reloaded left handed? Who knew?

Below, Jeremy engaging steel from his support side shoulder. Jeremy attended the Patrol Rifle Challenge the Sunday before the course, and got a free spot in the class by winning the raffle I held.



Below, Rich engaging steel support side shoulder.



Below, Phil also engaging steel from his support side. Phil was very skeptical about shooting from his left side. He hit the steel with every single shot. Part of the reason why is because when you get shooters out of their comfort zone, they focus and concentrate more. Very well done Phil.



We use a barricade placed on some ammo cans to simulate shooting under cover or a vehicle. I stress throughout the course that it's never a bad idea to make yourself as small a target as possible. With that in mind - why shoot over a car when you can shoot under it?

This is an awkward and unusual shooting position for those doing it for the first time. But like just about everything else, after a few attempts guys figure it out and end up doing very well.

Below, Grumpy Bear engaging steel while shooting under cover.



Below, Tony engaging steel not only while shooting under cover, but utilizing his support side shoulder. Very, very well done.



Below, Phil engaging steel while shooting under cover.



Below, Tom engaging steel while shooting under cover from his support side. Very well done. Note his sling laying on the ground. Tom unattached his sling when he went to his support side in this position because with the way the sling was setup, he flat out could not get a sight picture. Two good learning points here: 1) You don't know how any piece of gear is going to work until you get on the range and try it out. 2) Improvise, Adapt, and Overcome. When Tom realized that his sling wasn't letting him get a sight picture, he didn't give up and quite. He figured out a solution - he unattached the sling and made his hits.

Figure out what the problem is, fix it, and get back in the fight. Very, very well done here Tom.



This class concluded with the FTX, but like the night shoot this wasvshot one shooter at a time, and I had my hands full working with the individual shooters and unfortunately didn't get any pictures.

It's impossible to go over every detail of any class in an AAR. I do my best go jam pack every class I teach with as much information and as many learning points as I possibly can.

One thing I can tell you is that there were some growing pains when it came to what I call "Running the Gun", which specifically reloads and malfunction clearing. Learning to do smooth, fast, efficient reloads and clearing malfunctions in the same fashion is a big step in mastering any weapon system. I ended up giving each of the students a few dummy rounds to keep and work on these techniques at home.

This was a good class filled with better people. Everyone had a great attitude, worked hard, and a lot of learning occurred.

My next scheduled class is a 2 day Tactical Pistol scheduled for October 26th & 27th, again at the Beaver Valley Rifle and Pistol Club. This class is confirmed as a go, and slots are still available. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you are interested.

John
www.3riverstraining.com
412-925-0818

[John A Brown]

I have received a few requests to hold one more of these classes before the weather turns cold. As long as there is enough interest I will schedule the class.

It would likely be one of the first two weekends in November.

If you are interested in attending this class one of those two weekends, please contact me.

Thanks,

John
www.3riverstraining.com
412-925-0818

[TC450]

Thanks John for putting on the class. I had a great time out there. But I hope you are working on your spray can skills and can paint a better 1 next time.

Also looks like I am balding.

[John A Brown]

Glad you liked the course Tony. Thanks for coming.

Hahaha - I guess the camera never lies!!!

As far as my spray paint skills.....well, I'm nobody's artist that's for sure. I guess all I can say is that everybody else identified the #1!!

Thanks again for coming to the class. You and Tom did very well.

John
www.3riverstraining.com
412-925-0818

[TC450]

FYI you have the same pic of Mike 2x times the next one should be Phil

[John A Brown]

Thanks Tony. I fixed it.

John
www.3riverstraining.com
412-925-0818

[WheelchairAssassin]

John,

Again thank you for encouraging me to join the class. It was great to brush up on the little that I already know, as well as be afforded the opportunity to soak in all of the valuable information that you had taught us. Im looking forward to the pistol class.

For anyone looking to or thinking about joining one of John's classes do not hesitate. He has a relaxed yet straight to the point teaching method and the information he has to share is priceless. I was glad that I went to this class. Not only was it a great excuse to burn up a little bit of ammunition but the skills that were taught can be applied to my everyday life. It is your right to be able to protect yourself and having the skills to do so is not a bad thing. Knowledge is power and once you have it, it can not be taken from you.

Semper Fi!

Rich

[John A Brown]

Rich you did great and it was awesome having your level of dedication in a class.

FYI - Rich did the best of all the students during the FTX. By far.

John
www.3riverstraining.com
412-925-0818

[John A Brown]

See below. Solid technique here by Mike utilizing a barricade to enhance his firing position. Note that his hand guard, NOT the barrel is in contact with the barricade.

Even merely touching your barrel to the barricade will greatly affect your accuracy.



John
www.3riverstraining.com
412-925-0818

[John A Brown]

See below. Rich during the zeroing process.

Note his right leg being used for support.

No excuses. Improvise, Adapt, and Overcome.



John
www.3riverstraining.com
412-925-0818