Fly320s
Member
Part 1.
On May 7th and 8th I attended the SIGArms two day defensive rifle course in Exeter, NH. The class was designed as an introduction to the use of a carbine as a defensive weapon.
www.sigarms.com/EducationTraining/Courses/ShowCourseDetails.aspx?cid=35&ccid=11
There were four students in the class, each with different firearm experience levels, but we all used AR15s (at least the first day):
Me: I brought my Bushmaster XM15-E2S, a 16 inch heavy barrel AR15, with carbine length handguards, fixed butt stock, fixed carry handle, and A2 sights. I was the only person using strictly iron sights. The only changes I have made to the rifle are a replacement front sight (tritium insert) and an Ergo grip. I’ve had the rifle for a few years, but have shot only about 1,000 rounds through it. Still, I knew how to use it and the iron sights were zeroed at 50 yards.
Hans: Brought a 20 inch (or 22 inch?) Colt Sporter in the A2 configuration with an Aimpoint mounted on the fixed carry handle. Other than the optic, his gun was stock. It was also fresh from the box having never been fired by Hans. Neither the iron sights nor Aimpoint had been zeroed by Hans. He was new to the AR15 platform, but has attended many classes at SIGarms, primarily handgun courses.
Ed: Had a Bushmaster AR15 in the M4 style with an Aimpoint mounted on the flat-top upper. This rifle was borrowed from the fourth student, Armand. IIRC, this rifle was also new. It was new to Ed, at least. Ed is a cop in Massachusetts, but had little to no experience with the AR15 rifles.
Armand: Had a brand-new Bushmaster with 20 inch barrel and all of the bells and whistles. He brought a total of four rifles to the course and used every one of them. One was used by Ed. Armand’s new Bushy took a mechanical nose-dive during the morning of the first day when his bolt hold open lever broke or fell off, I’m not sure which. One thing is certain: the BHO was way too sensitive and would not reliably hold open the bolt once engaged. The other rifles he used included another AR in 6.8mm SPC, also fully rigged, and a Beretta CX4 Storm .40SW. Armand is a real gun-guy; he owns many, but I don’t know his overall experience.
Scott: The instructor used all SIG gear, naturally. The rifle was a SIG 556 with a Surefire vertical foregrip and light. It also had an Aimpoint, IIRC. His handgun was a SIG, but I didn’t see what model; I can’t ID SIG handguns at all. Scott is currently working for a NH police department where he is the firearms trainer for their tactical team.
Day 1, morning:
Our first day started at 0815 when we signed the standard liability waivers at the SIGArms academy. The main building was being remodeled so we met at a mobile classroom near the rifle range that we would use. We were in class by 0830 where we spent a few minutes getting to know each other and discussing the standard safety protocols. We also covered some AR15 specific information and discussed ballistics of various calibers and guns. It was a quick discussion; we were on the range by 0915 or so. That was the last time that we would use the classroom until the end of the course. Lots of range time.
The morning range period started off quickly. I was expecting to ease into rifle drills, but we jumped right in. We had a quick brief on proper positioning of the rifle to the shoulder, head, and arms, and a review of the nomenclature of parts.
The first shooting drill was at the 5 yard line. We started with trigger control and sight alignment. We had to shoot a tight group while properly working the trigger. Next, we were shooting to demonstrate the offset distance between the muzzle and the sights. My rifle with its zeroed, iron sights has an offset of about 1.5 inches. In other words, the bullets I fired were hitting about 1.5 inches lower than where I aimed. Hans, with his high-mounted, non-zeroed Aimpoint was shooting several inches low and about 2 inches left. This drill also eased us into handling, loading, and unloading the rifles. We slowly moved back to the 25 yard line doing the same drill. By that time it was becoming apparent that some of the rifles needed to be zeroed (Note: the instructor, Scott, knew some rifles weren’t zeroed. He said that we would do it later on day one). Hans, Ed, Armand, and Scott adjusted the optic sights as we moved back to get a rough zero.
Most of the morning was spent getting comfortable with the rifles: lots of firing starting from the ready position, safety, magazine changes and exchanges, loading and unloading, etc. The morning ended with an official zeroing of the rifles from the 50 yard line. My rifle was right where it needed to be, and the other’s were close due to the constant small changes during the short-range drills.
On May 7th and 8th I attended the SIGArms two day defensive rifle course in Exeter, NH. The class was designed as an introduction to the use of a carbine as a defensive weapon.
www.sigarms.com/EducationTraining/Courses/ShowCourseDetails.aspx?cid=35&ccid=11
There were four students in the class, each with different firearm experience levels, but we all used AR15s (at least the first day):
Me: I brought my Bushmaster XM15-E2S, a 16 inch heavy barrel AR15, with carbine length handguards, fixed butt stock, fixed carry handle, and A2 sights. I was the only person using strictly iron sights. The only changes I have made to the rifle are a replacement front sight (tritium insert) and an Ergo grip. I’ve had the rifle for a few years, but have shot only about 1,000 rounds through it. Still, I knew how to use it and the iron sights were zeroed at 50 yards.
Hans: Brought a 20 inch (or 22 inch?) Colt Sporter in the A2 configuration with an Aimpoint mounted on the fixed carry handle. Other than the optic, his gun was stock. It was also fresh from the box having never been fired by Hans. Neither the iron sights nor Aimpoint had been zeroed by Hans. He was new to the AR15 platform, but has attended many classes at SIGarms, primarily handgun courses.
Ed: Had a Bushmaster AR15 in the M4 style with an Aimpoint mounted on the flat-top upper. This rifle was borrowed from the fourth student, Armand. IIRC, this rifle was also new. It was new to Ed, at least. Ed is a cop in Massachusetts, but had little to no experience with the AR15 rifles.
Armand: Had a brand-new Bushmaster with 20 inch barrel and all of the bells and whistles. He brought a total of four rifles to the course and used every one of them. One was used by Ed. Armand’s new Bushy took a mechanical nose-dive during the morning of the first day when his bolt hold open lever broke or fell off, I’m not sure which. One thing is certain: the BHO was way too sensitive and would not reliably hold open the bolt once engaged. The other rifles he used included another AR in 6.8mm SPC, also fully rigged, and a Beretta CX4 Storm .40SW. Armand is a real gun-guy; he owns many, but I don’t know his overall experience.
Scott: The instructor used all SIG gear, naturally. The rifle was a SIG 556 with a Surefire vertical foregrip and light. It also had an Aimpoint, IIRC. His handgun was a SIG, but I didn’t see what model; I can’t ID SIG handguns at all. Scott is currently working for a NH police department where he is the firearms trainer for their tactical team.
Day 1, morning:
Our first day started at 0815 when we signed the standard liability waivers at the SIGArms academy. The main building was being remodeled so we met at a mobile classroom near the rifle range that we would use. We were in class by 0830 where we spent a few minutes getting to know each other and discussing the standard safety protocols. We also covered some AR15 specific information and discussed ballistics of various calibers and guns. It was a quick discussion; we were on the range by 0915 or so. That was the last time that we would use the classroom until the end of the course. Lots of range time.
The morning range period started off quickly. I was expecting to ease into rifle drills, but we jumped right in. We had a quick brief on proper positioning of the rifle to the shoulder, head, and arms, and a review of the nomenclature of parts.
The first shooting drill was at the 5 yard line. We started with trigger control and sight alignment. We had to shoot a tight group while properly working the trigger. Next, we were shooting to demonstrate the offset distance between the muzzle and the sights. My rifle with its zeroed, iron sights has an offset of about 1.5 inches. In other words, the bullets I fired were hitting about 1.5 inches lower than where I aimed. Hans, with his high-mounted, non-zeroed Aimpoint was shooting several inches low and about 2 inches left. This drill also eased us into handling, loading, and unloading the rifles. We slowly moved back to the 25 yard line doing the same drill. By that time it was becoming apparent that some of the rifles needed to be zeroed (Note: the instructor, Scott, knew some rifles weren’t zeroed. He said that we would do it later on day one). Hans, Ed, Armand, and Scott adjusted the optic sights as we moved back to get a rough zero.
Most of the morning was spent getting comfortable with the rifles: lots of firing starting from the ready position, safety, magazine changes and exchanges, loading and unloading, etc. The morning ended with an official zeroing of the rifles from the 50 yard line. My rifle was right where it needed to be, and the other’s were close due to the constant small changes during the short-range drills.
