rksimple
10-06-2007, 8:13 PM
Well, I just got back from a week out in the hot and humid state of Texas. I attended the PR2 course offered from Tiger Valley, by Waco, TX. Upon arrival, I was greeted by HUGE crickets, spiders, and all other kinds of bugs you could imagine. The range itself is an NRA style 1000 yard range with pit service. There is a bunkhouse, which I stayed in, that is right there on the range property...I was grateful it had A/C. Attendees ranged from normal civilians to competition shooters to LE.
Anyway, the first day, we went over the basics. TJ Pilling, a retired SWAT sniper, gave the instruction for the first 2 days. Internal, external, and terminal ballistics were all reviewed, as well as basic scope adjustments. Proper prone shooting was also covered. We went out to the range late that morning and began getting our dope to 1000 yards. One group would shoot while the other worked the pits. We got to 600 yards the first day.
The second day we started with classroom instruction once again, this time covering urban precision riflery. Sectorization and observation were well explained. We also had a brief introduction to "kims" games-"keep in memory" games. We then hit the range to confirm dope to 1000 yards. JBM was off by about 1.5 MOA at 1000...it was good enough to get on paper, though. We finished the day with a kims game. We had to look at a table for one minute with various objects scattered about. After the minute of observation, from memory, we had to remember what objects were present and list them by: What it appears to be, color, condition, and then draw the item. It was quite a challenge.
The third day, John Tillman, ex-marine sniper and scout/sniper instructor, taught the course. We went over moving targets and different methods for engagement of said targets. We covered a lot of everything with him from ballistics to positional shooting, to improvised supports (like 550 cord on a vertical pole...awesome stuff!). He was very informative. Shooting that day consisted of movers to 600 yards, stop and go's at 700, and bobbers at 800. We switched to silhouette targets for 900 and 1000 yards. This was all in practice for the qualification course which took place the following day.
Here's John with a smoke showing us the intricacies of the swirling wind.
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b82/rksimple/IMG_7818a.jpg
Day four began with an unknown distance course. We were given roughly 20 minutes to range 6 steel targets and set up a range card. On command, we then engaged the targets, the furthest being 1035 yards. The prize for hitting all the targets on the first round was a new 30 round AR mag...only one person did it...I had to disassemble it to bring it back as spare parts :D Immediately thereafter we began the qual course. It was a direct copy of the shooting portion of the marine corps sniper qualification. It involved a static FBI silhouette and 14 inch wide cardboard silhouette on a long stick as the mover. The guys in the pits would hold the stick and target up over the berm and walk back and forth. Hits were marked on the static targets after every round. From 300 to 600 we fired 3 rounds to the static target and 2 on the movers. At 700, 3 to the static and 2 to stop and go movers. At 800, it was the same, but the movers were bobbers this time appearing for 4 seconds and dropping. 900 and 1000 involved 5 shots to the static target only. 40 rounds total and 35 hits needed to pass. Only one person passed, with a score of 36. I'll give you a hint, he was shooting a Savage :D
Here's the UKD setup with my humble stick.
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b82/rksimple/IMG_7824a.jpg
Later that evening we had a night shoot on a lightly illuminated steel target. TJ fired different sorts of fireworks while we were shooting on command for some distraction.
The last day, we did a sort of open shoot from the tower on the UKD targets from the previous day. We shot at different color balloons on command as well. After I figured out the switchy wind, I was able to make a couple headshots on the 1035 yard steel. It felt good.
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b82/rksimple/IMG_7836a.jpg
It was a great group of guys with lots of nice equipment (faces altered to protect the innocent...
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b82/rksimple/IMG_7844a.jpg
All in all it was a great class. It had a good pace without being too stressful. All of the information covered would give anyone plenty to study and all of the fundamentals of long range precision riflery.
Anyway, the first day, we went over the basics. TJ Pilling, a retired SWAT sniper, gave the instruction for the first 2 days. Internal, external, and terminal ballistics were all reviewed, as well as basic scope adjustments. Proper prone shooting was also covered. We went out to the range late that morning and began getting our dope to 1000 yards. One group would shoot while the other worked the pits. We got to 600 yards the first day.
The second day we started with classroom instruction once again, this time covering urban precision riflery. Sectorization and observation were well explained. We also had a brief introduction to "kims" games-"keep in memory" games. We then hit the range to confirm dope to 1000 yards. JBM was off by about 1.5 MOA at 1000...it was good enough to get on paper, though. We finished the day with a kims game. We had to look at a table for one minute with various objects scattered about. After the minute of observation, from memory, we had to remember what objects were present and list them by: What it appears to be, color, condition, and then draw the item. It was quite a challenge.
The third day, John Tillman, ex-marine sniper and scout/sniper instructor, taught the course. We went over moving targets and different methods for engagement of said targets. We covered a lot of everything with him from ballistics to positional shooting, to improvised supports (like 550 cord on a vertical pole...awesome stuff!). He was very informative. Shooting that day consisted of movers to 600 yards, stop and go's at 700, and bobbers at 800. We switched to silhouette targets for 900 and 1000 yards. This was all in practice for the qualification course which took place the following day.
Here's John with a smoke showing us the intricacies of the swirling wind.
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b82/rksimple/IMG_7818a.jpg
Day four began with an unknown distance course. We were given roughly 20 minutes to range 6 steel targets and set up a range card. On command, we then engaged the targets, the furthest being 1035 yards. The prize for hitting all the targets on the first round was a new 30 round AR mag...only one person did it...I had to disassemble it to bring it back as spare parts :D Immediately thereafter we began the qual course. It was a direct copy of the shooting portion of the marine corps sniper qualification. It involved a static FBI silhouette and 14 inch wide cardboard silhouette on a long stick as the mover. The guys in the pits would hold the stick and target up over the berm and walk back and forth. Hits were marked on the static targets after every round. From 300 to 600 we fired 3 rounds to the static target and 2 on the movers. At 700, 3 to the static and 2 to stop and go movers. At 800, it was the same, but the movers were bobbers this time appearing for 4 seconds and dropping. 900 and 1000 involved 5 shots to the static target only. 40 rounds total and 35 hits needed to pass. Only one person passed, with a score of 36. I'll give you a hint, he was shooting a Savage :D
Here's the UKD setup with my humble stick.
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b82/rksimple/IMG_7824a.jpg
Later that evening we had a night shoot on a lightly illuminated steel target. TJ fired different sorts of fireworks while we were shooting on command for some distraction.
The last day, we did a sort of open shoot from the tower on the UKD targets from the previous day. We shot at different color balloons on command as well. After I figured out the switchy wind, I was able to make a couple headshots on the 1035 yard steel. It felt good.
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b82/rksimple/IMG_7836a.jpg
It was a great group of guys with lots of nice equipment (faces altered to protect the innocent...
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b82/rksimple/IMG_7844a.jpg
All in all it was a great class. It had a good pace without being too stressful. All of the information covered would give anyone plenty to study and all of the fundamentals of long range precision riflery.