Day 1:
We began by affirming and adjusting zero. I had changed my setup and only have access to a 25 yard range where I live, for the time being, and my zero needed a few clicks. No big deal.
We then demonstrated offset secondary to weapon-cant. It was text-book, and I was very pleased to see "stuff I read" translating into "stuff I saw/did".
The thing that helped me most on day 1 was learning that YES, an RDS CAN AND DOES have paralax, even at 100 yards, and flipping the FS up to provide a reference will help with that a lot. It also provides feedback for head position, and weapon cant, when firing from unconventional positions behind cover. I am VERY pleased that I went with a lower 1/3 co-witness, and with the FSB up, I never once got "lost" looking for the dot through my T1's window. No pistol-work was done on Day 1. Limited work around the cars shooting from around cover...one of the instructors removed the BCG from his weapon, and took position behind a car while we stood 75m down-range. He was a very very tiny target. I did not see him (nor did half the class it seemed) until he wiggled into position and we saw motion. You feel so naked behind a car, but really, if you're doing it right...wow.
Day 2:
By this time, Kyle Lamb had become one of those people you just enjoy being around. A serious guy who doesn't take himself too seriously. Great teacher, very approachable, and able to speak to "from the book" as well as from personal experience, and tell you how the two do (or don't) mesh.
We focused a lot on shooting around vehicles. Firing from around them, producing our weapon strong and typing-hand...errr...support-hand side from inside them and firing out of windows to the front, etc. We did more work using them as cover. Pretty straight-forward stuff, no surprises. My epiphany that day was that an SBR is only worth a damn if it's suppressed. Otherwise, you are just giving away barrel for nothing. Absolutely nothing. After seeing and learning how to properly produce a rifle out of a vehicle window, I can echo what VG told me a long time ago "You can fight with a 16" barrel from inside a car just as easily, and probably safer, than you can with a 10.3" barrel." I agree. 100%. And with better terminal ballistics. That said, all of my SBR stuff is suppressed, so no buyer's remorse!
We also learned how to stay in the fight using only our left or right hand to operate our carbines. This includes reloads, firing at 100+ yard targets, malfunction clearance, etc. I learned how to seriously multiply force having only 1 hand, whereas before this course, my best plan would have been to simply lay the rifle over something, or "Rambo wield" it until it ran dry and then run. Kyle Lamb had much better ideas! Precision hits at 100+ yards with no right arm? No problem.
Day 3:
This is where things got interesting. Shooting through car bodies/doors/windshields/back windows, etc. Lessons from Carbine 1.5 came in here. Bangbangbang...push the muzzle through the glass, now you're on target! Also, M193 effectively penetrated clean through doors without deviation, only yaw, and M855 fragmented, and 70gr TSX did other wild things, and...no-matter what crap, or what wonderbullet you have...P for Plenty! Cars are not homogenous, and there is NO WAY TO KNOW what ANY bullet is going to do, whether it will deflect, be stopped, whatever. Keep shooting until you get results. No matter what. Even in .308.
Another thing we did was firing our support-side using our side-arms as well as M4's from the vehicles, around barricades, etc. Something I will practice, from now on. I have not done NEARLY as much work as I should have been doing with my support-side, but that being said, I feel very confident with it and was able to make fast, solid hits. I actually impressed myself for once. Same strong-side. Being a bachelor isn't all bad, apparently!
Over-all things that went right:
I love lower 1/3 co-witness. Much easier for me in awkward positions.
I am very happy with the Thorntail SBR mount for my scout (The FUSION mount is the same location, and if you have more than a light to mount, I recommend it.
My Glock only failed once (G19)...when I jammed the top of the slide against the windshield and it couldn't fully return to battery.
Things that went wrong:
My Noveske N4 jammed twice. I blame Lancer L5 AWM's. This happened on day 1, and both times the bolt failed to strip a round from the top of the magazine on a reload when the bolt-stop was depressed. On day 2, I switched to PMAG's, and did not add lube or clean. It should have had MORE issues. Instead, it had NO issues. Nor on day 3, although for Day 3 I switched lubes. H buffer (middy), and Buffer spring was mil-spec from BCM, purchased less than 200 rounds before the class. No more lancers for me. This has happened before. I destroyed the mag. Apparently it is not limited to 1 magazine that I have, and they were all bought after this issue was supposedly fixed. Unloading them when I got home, I could tell they were a lot harder to strip rounds from than my PMAG's.
Take-home points:
Never STOP!
Always be doing SOMETHING!
Front-sight up is helpful!
P for Plenty!
Do what works for YOU! Everyone is different.
VFG's are necessary. The Magpul AFG may be cool and help, but the VFG does so much more than act as a place to rest your hand when things get interesting. I won't ever run an M4 without.
There were a lot of cool people there, I made lots of new friends, and there was only one nurse joke the whole week-end. I am (as many of you know) non-LE, not military (never was, not now), and I was made to feel like I fit-in and belonged by people who have done bad things to bad people the world over. I was ragged on, joked with, and gave as good as I got, and had a helluva good time and couldn't have asked to be around a cooler group. To all of you other civilians out there who are scared you "won't fit in" or something like that, DO NOT let that get in your way of a Viking Tactics course, it's a logical but irrational fear, and I felt more at home with the people at that course than I did in my own work-place (which I love, btw.).
Over-all, just like Carbine 1.5, this was an exceptional experience and training opportunity, and I would like to thank Kyle Lamb, Instructor #2 (name not public), Vanilla Gorilla, and all of the others that helped make it happen, including Mr. Wong who allowed us to use his (very nice!) range, and who happens to own the best oriental restaurant I have ever eaten at (Honey Pecan Shrimp...ask for it.) Also, my classmates, thanks for making me feel at home and helping me learn. KNEES KNEES KNEES! A good group of students is its own instructor in its own way. Thank-you, all!
We began by affirming and adjusting zero. I had changed my setup and only have access to a 25 yard range where I live, for the time being, and my zero needed a few clicks. No big deal.
We then demonstrated offset secondary to weapon-cant. It was text-book, and I was very pleased to see "stuff I read" translating into "stuff I saw/did".
The thing that helped me most on day 1 was learning that YES, an RDS CAN AND DOES have paralax, even at 100 yards, and flipping the FS up to provide a reference will help with that a lot. It also provides feedback for head position, and weapon cant, when firing from unconventional positions behind cover. I am VERY pleased that I went with a lower 1/3 co-witness, and with the FSB up, I never once got "lost" looking for the dot through my T1's window. No pistol-work was done on Day 1. Limited work around the cars shooting from around cover...one of the instructors removed the BCG from his weapon, and took position behind a car while we stood 75m down-range. He was a very very tiny target. I did not see him (nor did half the class it seemed) until he wiggled into position and we saw motion. You feel so naked behind a car, but really, if you're doing it right...wow.
Day 2:
By this time, Kyle Lamb had become one of those people you just enjoy being around. A serious guy who doesn't take himself too seriously. Great teacher, very approachable, and able to speak to "from the book" as well as from personal experience, and tell you how the two do (or don't) mesh.
We focused a lot on shooting around vehicles. Firing from around them, producing our weapon strong and typing-hand...errr...support-hand side from inside them and firing out of windows to the front, etc. We did more work using them as cover. Pretty straight-forward stuff, no surprises. My epiphany that day was that an SBR is only worth a damn if it's suppressed. Otherwise, you are just giving away barrel for nothing. Absolutely nothing. After seeing and learning how to properly produce a rifle out of a vehicle window, I can echo what VG told me a long time ago "You can fight with a 16" barrel from inside a car just as easily, and probably safer, than you can with a 10.3" barrel." I agree. 100%. And with better terminal ballistics. That said, all of my SBR stuff is suppressed, so no buyer's remorse!
We also learned how to stay in the fight using only our left or right hand to operate our carbines. This includes reloads, firing at 100+ yard targets, malfunction clearance, etc. I learned how to seriously multiply force having only 1 hand, whereas before this course, my best plan would have been to simply lay the rifle over something, or "Rambo wield" it until it ran dry and then run. Kyle Lamb had much better ideas! Precision hits at 100+ yards with no right arm? No problem.
Day 3:
This is where things got interesting. Shooting through car bodies/doors/windshields/back windows, etc. Lessons from Carbine 1.5 came in here. Bangbangbang...push the muzzle through the glass, now you're on target! Also, M193 effectively penetrated clean through doors without deviation, only yaw, and M855 fragmented, and 70gr TSX did other wild things, and...no-matter what crap, or what wonderbullet you have...P for Plenty! Cars are not homogenous, and there is NO WAY TO KNOW what ANY bullet is going to do, whether it will deflect, be stopped, whatever. Keep shooting until you get results. No matter what. Even in .308.
Another thing we did was firing our support-side using our side-arms as well as M4's from the vehicles, around barricades, etc. Something I will practice, from now on. I have not done NEARLY as much work as I should have been doing with my support-side, but that being said, I feel very confident with it and was able to make fast, solid hits. I actually impressed myself for once. Same strong-side. Being a bachelor isn't all bad, apparently!
Over-all things that went right:
I love lower 1/3 co-witness. Much easier for me in awkward positions.
I am very happy with the Thorntail SBR mount for my scout (The FUSION mount is the same location, and if you have more than a light to mount, I recommend it.
My Glock only failed once (G19)...when I jammed the top of the slide against the windshield and it couldn't fully return to battery.
Things that went wrong:
My Noveske N4 jammed twice. I blame Lancer L5 AWM's. This happened on day 1, and both times the bolt failed to strip a round from the top of the magazine on a reload when the bolt-stop was depressed. On day 2, I switched to PMAG's, and did not add lube or clean. It should have had MORE issues. Instead, it had NO issues. Nor on day 3, although for Day 3 I switched lubes. H buffer (middy), and Buffer spring was mil-spec from BCM, purchased less than 200 rounds before the class. No more lancers for me. This has happened before. I destroyed the mag. Apparently it is not limited to 1 magazine that I have, and they were all bought after this issue was supposedly fixed. Unloading them when I got home, I could tell they were a lot harder to strip rounds from than my PMAG's.
Take-home points:
Never STOP!
Always be doing SOMETHING!
Front-sight up is helpful!
P for Plenty!
Do what works for YOU! Everyone is different.
VFG's are necessary. The Magpul AFG may be cool and help, but the VFG does so much more than act as a place to rest your hand when things get interesting. I won't ever run an M4 without.
There were a lot of cool people there, I made lots of new friends, and there was only one nurse joke the whole week-end. I am (as many of you know) non-LE, not military (never was, not now), and I was made to feel like I fit-in and belonged by people who have done bad things to bad people the world over. I was ragged on, joked with, and gave as good as I got, and had a helluva good time and couldn't have asked to be around a cooler group. To all of you other civilians out there who are scared you "won't fit in" or something like that, DO NOT let that get in your way of a Viking Tactics course, it's a logical but irrational fear, and I felt more at home with the people at that course than I did in my own work-place (which I love, btw.).
Over-all, just like Carbine 1.5, this was an exceptional experience and training opportunity, and I would like to thank Kyle Lamb, Instructor #2 (name not public), Vanilla Gorilla, and all of the others that helped make it happen, including Mr. Wong who allowed us to use his (very nice!) range, and who happens to own the best oriental restaurant I have ever eaten at (Honey Pecan Shrimp...ask for it.) Also, my classmates, thanks for making me feel at home and helping me learn. KNEES KNEES KNEES! A good group of students is its own instructor in its own way. Thank-you, all!
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