YammyMonkey
Member
Last weekend I was able to attend a combo Rifle/Pistol Tactics class by Mr. Man himself Andy Stanford.
First off, thanks to Gomez (a little more on him later) for turning me on to Steve Materkowski, the local OPS affiliate & thanks also to Steve for hosting the classs & all the work that went into that.
All of this is from memory & about a week after the fact so a few details may be missing. If you were there feel free to fill in the gaps.
The weekend was broken down into 3 portions, Friday was the Rifle, Sat & Sunday were Pistol. Fri & Sat could be had as stand-alone days, but Sun required you to to be there on Sat or have taken the course before.
Friday was more of a gunhandling course while the handgun course was more of a tactics course.
FRIDAY:
We started off in the classroom going over Ayoob's Priorities (Mindset, Tactics, Skill & Equipment), Cooper's Principles of Personal Defense & safety.
We headed up to the range, got everything set up & started with some close range drills in the 3-5 yard range so we could figure the difference in POA vs POI. Most of us had AR's. There was also one AK, a Mini-14 & a .357 lever gun. Andy also went over the upper chest aiming since the A-zone on an IPSC target does not accurately depict where you should be trying to hit. The goals were fist sized groups in the eyebox of the target & the top 1/2 of the A-zone. We also went over reload techniques, sling use, getting off the X & weapon-specific issues.
After lunch we zeroed & once that was complete we got into transitions to the handguns & more getting off the X in the process. Then it was on to different shooting positions from about 25 yards. Lots of moving to & from the various positions. We also ran a 3-position timed drill that involved moving 3 spots laterally & using a different position for each one if that makes sense. We had one semi-spectacular trip, log roll into prone & fire incident. I think it was Chris that pulled that one & he did a very good job of keeping his composure, maintaining muzzle control & getting back on target. Back on the line we did a firing in unison drill & a 10-shot as fast as you can put rounds on target (cover fire) drill, both from prone.
We ended the day with a forward bounding team drill that was actually a bit of a preview for Sunday's activities with the handguns. Lots of moving from cover to cover, providing covering fire & coordinating.
RIFLE LESSONS:
Figure out what your POA vs POI is & REMEMBER that for close in fighting. Same goes for aiming at the upper end of the chest area. It's easy to get sucked into the sights where you want to hit & "center of mass" aiming when those aren't optimal.
For lefty's, if you're using the muzzle up reload position & the flip the rifle over ejection port down & rack the charging handle with the right hand technique, make sure you tuck the stock into your armpit or between your arm & chest or otherwise control the muzzle as it heads toward parallel to the deck.
Knee & elbow pads would have been nice, especially on the sharp rocks at this particular range.
It's not a bad idea to confirm zero before & after each session, just to be sure.
PISTOL TACTICS DAY 1:
We started off with more classroom work & about double the number of students (18 or so). Again addressed the same info from the Rifle classroom as well as the OODA Loop, Cooper's Color Codes & how those two relate with more emphasis on the midset & tactics than gun handling & other skills. Andy also talked about what he thinks are the priorities for training for individual citizen types. He also tossed out some other courses/trainers that would be useful for the average joe, the most mentioned was probably Craig's (SoughNarc) Extreme Close Quarters Combat.
At the range we started off with the 4-count draw/reholster stroke & what each position looks/feels like & why it is the way it is, some 3-5 yard drills again, from holstered & ready positions as well as more getting off the X. We were also shown Position Norte for reloads which I really like because it allows you to focus on the threat, keeps the gun close for retention & in your peripheral vision.
After the warm-up we talked about the Wyatt protocol, (I remember it as Move, Fight, Assess, Scan, Top-off, Talk, Treat but may be off on the 3-T's) various muzzle down positions, and started integrating that into our situational drills that followed. Most of our scenarios started with verbal confrontations then engaging the cardboard.
We got into some un-trained partner drills passing off a backup gun, giving instructions & getting out of Dodge. We continued on with more scenarios, shooting & moving to cover & more of the different starting positions with increased emphasis on the thinking portion (completing the Wyatt Protocol).
We finished the day with some simulated flashlight drills. We couldn't get permission to stay & shoot after dark so we did what we could.
PISTOL TACTICS DAY 2:
No classroom, we went straight to the confront, move & shoot your way to cover/Wyatt drills. Lunch was brats, hot dogs, tater salad & cake for Derek's (Steve's son) birthday. After lunch we did some slice the pie practice & shooting out of a vehicle (stationary
) from the driver's seat. Then we went into some more 2-person team drills & got an intro to room clearing.
PISTOL LESSONS:
There is something to be said for capacity. I shot a Kimber Compact 1911 & burned through all 4 mags I could carry during some of the drills. The guys shooting the G-17's & similar size guns usually had to do one, maybe two mag swaps.
On the other hand, because of my limited capacity I was forced to focus more on getting out of Dodge while a lot of the people with the higher cap guns seemed to spend a lot of time putting rounds down range when they should have been moving.
You need to be always aware of your muzzle & where everybody else is located. You may need to twist your hand around in some weird manner, but you need to make sure you're not sweeping someone else. Even if you stumble & fall (good job with that Kate).
Use cover properly or Andy will throw rocks at you. Not small insignificant rocks, but baseball-plus size ones with sharp corners.
Shot my first suppressed gun, an AR, first full auto, an Ingram .45, & got to try out both an EOTech & Aimpoint. All in all a very fun & informative weekend. If you get the chance, take a class, or two, or three... with the Accordian maistro known as Andy Stanford
First off, thanks to Gomez (a little more on him later) for turning me on to Steve Materkowski, the local OPS affiliate & thanks also to Steve for hosting the classs & all the work that went into that.
All of this is from memory & about a week after the fact so a few details may be missing. If you were there feel free to fill in the gaps.
The weekend was broken down into 3 portions, Friday was the Rifle, Sat & Sunday were Pistol. Fri & Sat could be had as stand-alone days, but Sun required you to to be there on Sat or have taken the course before.
Friday was more of a gunhandling course while the handgun course was more of a tactics course.
FRIDAY:
We started off in the classroom going over Ayoob's Priorities (Mindset, Tactics, Skill & Equipment), Cooper's Principles of Personal Defense & safety.
We headed up to the range, got everything set up & started with some close range drills in the 3-5 yard range so we could figure the difference in POA vs POI. Most of us had AR's. There was also one AK, a Mini-14 & a .357 lever gun. Andy also went over the upper chest aiming since the A-zone on an IPSC target does not accurately depict where you should be trying to hit. The goals were fist sized groups in the eyebox of the target & the top 1/2 of the A-zone. We also went over reload techniques, sling use, getting off the X & weapon-specific issues.
After lunch we zeroed & once that was complete we got into transitions to the handguns & more getting off the X in the process. Then it was on to different shooting positions from about 25 yards. Lots of moving to & from the various positions. We also ran a 3-position timed drill that involved moving 3 spots laterally & using a different position for each one if that makes sense. We had one semi-spectacular trip, log roll into prone & fire incident. I think it was Chris that pulled that one & he did a very good job of keeping his composure, maintaining muzzle control & getting back on target. Back on the line we did a firing in unison drill & a 10-shot as fast as you can put rounds on target (cover fire) drill, both from prone.
We ended the day with a forward bounding team drill that was actually a bit of a preview for Sunday's activities with the handguns. Lots of moving from cover to cover, providing covering fire & coordinating.
RIFLE LESSONS:
Figure out what your POA vs POI is & REMEMBER that for close in fighting. Same goes for aiming at the upper end of the chest area. It's easy to get sucked into the sights where you want to hit & "center of mass" aiming when those aren't optimal.
For lefty's, if you're using the muzzle up reload position & the flip the rifle over ejection port down & rack the charging handle with the right hand technique, make sure you tuck the stock into your armpit or between your arm & chest or otherwise control the muzzle as it heads toward parallel to the deck.
Knee & elbow pads would have been nice, especially on the sharp rocks at this particular range.
It's not a bad idea to confirm zero before & after each session, just to be sure.
PISTOL TACTICS DAY 1:
We started off with more classroom work & about double the number of students (18 or so). Again addressed the same info from the Rifle classroom as well as the OODA Loop, Cooper's Color Codes & how those two relate with more emphasis on the midset & tactics than gun handling & other skills. Andy also talked about what he thinks are the priorities for training for individual citizen types. He also tossed out some other courses/trainers that would be useful for the average joe, the most mentioned was probably Craig's (SoughNarc) Extreme Close Quarters Combat.
At the range we started off with the 4-count draw/reholster stroke & what each position looks/feels like & why it is the way it is, some 3-5 yard drills again, from holstered & ready positions as well as more getting off the X. We were also shown Position Norte for reloads which I really like because it allows you to focus on the threat, keeps the gun close for retention & in your peripheral vision.
After the warm-up we talked about the Wyatt protocol, (I remember it as Move, Fight, Assess, Scan, Top-off, Talk, Treat but may be off on the 3-T's) various muzzle down positions, and started integrating that into our situational drills that followed. Most of our scenarios started with verbal confrontations then engaging the cardboard.
We got into some un-trained partner drills passing off a backup gun, giving instructions & getting out of Dodge. We continued on with more scenarios, shooting & moving to cover & more of the different starting positions with increased emphasis on the thinking portion (completing the Wyatt Protocol).
We finished the day with some simulated flashlight drills. We couldn't get permission to stay & shoot after dark so we did what we could.
PISTOL TACTICS DAY 2:
No classroom, we went straight to the confront, move & shoot your way to cover/Wyatt drills. Lunch was brats, hot dogs, tater salad & cake for Derek's (Steve's son) birthday. After lunch we did some slice the pie practice & shooting out of a vehicle (stationary
) from the driver's seat. Then we went into some more 2-person team drills & got an intro to room clearing.PISTOL LESSONS:
There is something to be said for capacity. I shot a Kimber Compact 1911 & burned through all 4 mags I could carry during some of the drills. The guys shooting the G-17's & similar size guns usually had to do one, maybe two mag swaps.
On the other hand, because of my limited capacity I was forced to focus more on getting out of Dodge while a lot of the people with the higher cap guns seemed to spend a lot of time putting rounds down range when they should have been moving.
You need to be always aware of your muzzle & where everybody else is located. You may need to twist your hand around in some weird manner, but you need to make sure you're not sweeping someone else. Even if you stumble & fall (good job with that Kate).
Use cover properly or Andy will throw rocks at you. Not small insignificant rocks, but baseball-plus size ones with sharp corners.
Shot my first suppressed gun, an AR, first full auto, an Ingram .45, & got to try out both an EOTech & Aimpoint. All in all a very fun & informative weekend. If you get the chance, take a class, or two, or three... with the Accordian maistro known as Andy Stanford