SCT Black Rifle 1 & 2
Jan 09 - 10, 2010
Sacramento Valley Shooting Center, Sacramento CA
Instructors: Jason Paletta, Aaron Moe, Patrick Deasy
Disclaimer: I borrowed the format from a Calgunners AAR on a different carbine class. Also, this AAR has a Black Rifle2 bias.
Major topics addressed during class:
Safety
Confirm zeros
Basic shooting drills to get warmed up
Holdovers/unders
Ready positions
Situational awareness...after an engagement don't just look side to side, scan all the way around 360 degrees and scan slow enough that you can really look because in the heat of the moment you'll speed it up anyway
Reloads...tactical vs. speed reload/emergency reload.
Malfunction clearance type1 & type3, SCT drilled us on these with man-on-man competitions at the beginning of Day2.
Prone positions
Kneeling...two knees vs single knee; tradeoffs in mobility vs stability; always look behind you before you stand up!
Sitting
Safety
Changing positions in between hammers.
Support side transitions with carbine and proper sling use
Shoot-on-the-Move
o forward and back
o lateral movement and support/strong side transitions as the situation dictates
o use of cover and concealment during movement
o safety
Transition to secondary weapon and address the threat with a failure drill (i.e. two COM + one ocular shot).
More safety
Hammers
My biggest learning takeaways:
Slow down until you can shoot accurate enough to make A-zone hits.
Situational awareness! After a contact check all around for additional hostiles including behind you. In a real-life team situation if you're kneeling or squatting you may have a partner standing behind you and you don't want to stand up into his line of fire.
Logistical: Bring as many loaded magazines as you can possibly afford. Maintenance/repair items should be in your kit as well.
Bring tried and tested magazines. There were a lot of magazine related malfunctions.
Bring a zeroed carbine. Even the few of us that had their weapons wired tight prior to class needed to make an adjustment here and there. I was one of them.
During cease fires and in between drills is a perfect time to top off your weapon systems if you have spare magazines. Bump your magazines up if needed in order to make sure that wherever you index your fresh mags from is always topped off as well.
Press check and press check often.
Do not assume that one, two or even three shots COM will do the trick. Practice your non-standard responses (i.e. 3-5 shots).
These were my first two classes with SCT and second and third overall with regard to operating the AR15 carbine weapon system and I was not disappointed. My prior carbine class was with Andy Stanford. Regardless, Day1 was what I expected, however, Day2 met and exceeded my expectations. Day2 had 11 students on the line. Due to Day1 being fresh in our minds, Jason and Aaron were able to cover a lot of material and kept us on our toes. The day started off with reload drills and malfunction clearances to get the students warmed up.
Jason and Aaron put us on the move once the class was warmed up. Both of them kept us on the move the entire class except for the administrative periods where students were asked to break for lunch or top off magazines. There were some of us that actually complained vocally about the final exercise. I was one of them - "WTF, more movement?" For those that know me, I never turn down the chance to SOTM. All the SOTM actually made me whine a bit.
Both of them are active LEO and were able to provide real world examples to the drills that we executed. SCT demonstrated almost all of the drills by putting their own rounds down range. These guys are professionals and extremely competent shooters. They gave credit where credit was due and critiqued when it was needed. I cant speak for others, but I walked away knowing that my capability increased significantly by the end of the day.
Throughout Day2 we shot both paper and steel targets, but concentrated on paper during the first half of Day2. Steel provided by Sacramento Black Rifle, SCT and our very own Biko were used for the dynamic courses of fire. The instructors kept upping the intensity of the drills and provided a good course of fire for the last exercise, which incorporated most everything that was taught during the two classes. This exercise was a competition with a prize giveaway that consisted of a Condor day bag and SCT hat that has the Velcro patches. I wonder who the winner was?
My equipment:
Primary Carbine:
Upper: LMT, 16", 1/7 twist chrome lined.
Flash Hider: A2
BCG: Denny's Super Duty AR15 BCG
Charging Handle: BCM Gunfighter Mod4
Rail: Daniel Defense Omega 7.0 w/Ergo ladders
Sights: Troy rear BUIS
Optic: Aimpoint T1
Optic Mount: LaRue LT660 Tall
Lower: Bushmaster RAW
LPK: Stag/CMT w/Magpul BAD
Stock: LMT SOPMOD on Henderson Defense receiver extension, VLTOR receiver end plate, castle nut and spring
Buffer: LMT H1 buffer
Grip: Magpul MIAD w/spare Colt bolt w/BCM spring upgrade
Magazines: preban 30rd USGIs with Magpul Ranger Plates AND Magpuls
Sling: Viking Tactics MK2
I brought my secondary carbine, but never took it out of the case except to verify that it was unloaded and on safe.
My first line belt consisted of a CR-Speed unit with a double Uncle Mikes Glock magazine carrier, two Blade-Tech AR pouches, a single Maxpedition medium sized Roly Poly and a Blade-Tech drop and offset holster for my G35. My cargo pants were used to hold a third AR mag.
Total ammo consumed was 725 rounds. Federal boxed XM193F made up 565 and the remaining 160 was PRVI M193.
My secondary was a Glock 35. The rest of the class was dominated by Glocks with a USP, Sig P226 and Beretta M9 thrown into the mix. There were quite a few pistol malfunctions across the board. One of them was attributed to me during a one-handed drill. Limp wristing was the culprit.
I'm in for their upcoming tactical medicine and Carbine 2.5 courses.
