- Location
- Vernon, BC
Hello all!!:
The following are my thoughts and an After Action Report.
To be clear, this report is on the ShadowForce sponsored Dave Hull Precision Rifle 1 (Oct 14/15, 2011. This course was a basic/introduction to Precision/Long Range Rifle shooting
Course Curriculum and Content
On the first day we started at 8:30 AM. This was about a half hour earlier than normal, but with good reason. We first dealt with all the house keeping and range safety matters and procedures. and then jumped right into the material to be covered. Topics Discussed included:
Day One Range time:
There were 10 students and we were randomly put into teams of two. One would shoot, while the other would spot and offer correction, and then we would swap positions.
We all started with dry-fire drills while balancing a loonie on the barrel. The aim was to become familiar with our rifles trigger pull, and work through any possible flinching issues the students might have. We then moved to zeroing our rifles at 100 yards from the prone position, using a bi-pod/rear bag.
There after we moved to 200 yards and started the process all over again. Here we learned our first come- ups and wind dope settings. At the start of this process, shooting paper was important and informative, however after a short while it can become repetitive and tedious. Our instructors were sensitive to this. To keep things interesting we then move to a metal plate Hostage & swinger style of target. The instant feed back gained from shooting plate really sped things along and help all of us gain confidence. During this time both Dave and Shawn walked back and forth patrolling the line, and doing there best to distract us, and instructing how to “shoot through the distraction” when necessary.
Note: this is a picture of the Hostage/Swinger plate I was shooting at 400 yards
This process then moved to the 300 yard line with great success. Many of us had never shot beyond 100 meters or less, and we were all now consistently ringing 14" x 20" (Torso) steel plate, and in many instances, the 6" swinger plate at 300 yards.
Night shoot:
This to me was the most interesting and challenging exercise of the day. A single 8" reactive round plate was put at 100" yards, and then a single above mentioned hostage/swinger plate were installed at the 200, and 300 yard lines respectively. Now while the plates were Along their respective yard lines, they were in random locations along that line. Then, in the pitch darkness, the plates were then light up, one at a time by remote control in random order. The random plate would stay lite until the first strike, and then go dark. It would then light up again to allow the other students a chance to hit that plate. The aim here was to determine what the distance was, compensate for it, and in safe but short order, place our shots on target. This was all done in the dark.
What was interesting, is after a short while, Dave was able to tell who hit the target, simply by the bark of the rifle and the corresponding steel “clang”. Illuminated reticles, with good light gathering ability, and fast working bolts dominated this drill.
On a personal note, I am still amazed how low light conditions change the perceptions of target and distance.
Training Topics on Day Two included
This day started with reconfirmation of our 300 yard zeros on plate, and then we moved the plate back to 400, and 500 yards respectively.
At 500 we all pasted practice golf balls on our plate, and we all in our own time connected.
The final drill was a progression drill. A single Hostage swinger plate was positioned at the 100, 200, 300, 400 and 500 yard lines (in random locations along those lines) We each then took 5 shots in a row, with the aim being to place one shot on each plate. If you missed, you still had to move onto the next plate. This drill was a true testament to the skills that each of us had developed over the preceding two days
Instructor Notes:
We as Canadian Students are very fortunate to have someone in our own back yard with the depth and breadth of Mr. Dave Hull’s Military, tactical, and competitive experience (his bio can be seen on the Shadowforce.ca website)
At the outset of the course, Dave shared this philosophy with us, and is paraphrased as follows:
He truly believes this. Over the next two days we all learned from him through question, answer, and demonstration. He encouraged us to try his own personal gear and guns so that we could make our own decisions and conclusions.
Many of the topics listed above could be an entire course on there own, however Mr. Dave Hull and his assistant Shawn made sure that the material was presented in a methodical, but expedient and concise manor. He seemed to find a way to inform us (the students) with out overwhelming us with information, and made sure that what was being talked about would be applicable to the hands on training that day, and fresh in our minds.
Further, the pace was never rushed, and we were all allowed to progress at our own pace, making sure that we comfortable with what we were working on at the time.
Needless to say, this will not be my last course with him (if he will have me as a student
)
Sponsor Notes
Accommodations for the course were the responsibility of the students,(they ranged from un-serviced camping on the range site, to hotels & inns in the surrounding area). However the food was not. The mornings on the range were very frosty, and during that time there was always coffee, hot chocolate and tea available to keep us all warm and going. Further a wide array of fruit, snacks, drink and water were provided to ensure that we had the energy to participate.
The catered meals provided (namely Day 1 Lunch & supper, and Day Two breakfast and lunch ) were of excellent quality and quantity. The supper menu included dishes like pork tenderloin, Scalloped potatoes, and a variety of Salads. It was not an easy task to provide these meals on the range, and we (the students) hole heartedly thank Dave’s wife for her efforts!!! It was a great success.
ShadowForce also made sure that the “on range Pit Outhouses” were upgraded to chemical toilets.
All of the above were very nice touches, and allowed the students to better focus on why they were there, and learning as much as possible, instead of focusing on the important but mundane details.
Conclusion:
In my opinion, the above course was well worth the time and tuition paid, and to be honest, I am hard pressed to find anything negative to say. I look forward to part 2 and stretching my shooting skills to the 1000 yard mark!!
These are my thoughts, and will do my best to field any questions or comments you might have.
Respectfully yours
AbH
Here is a Group photo of all of us with our 500 yard Golf Balls
The following are my thoughts and an After Action Report.
To be clear, this report is on the ShadowForce sponsored Dave Hull Precision Rifle 1 (Oct 14/15, 2011. This course was a basic/introduction to Precision/Long Range Rifle shooting
Course Curriculum and Content
On the first day we started at 8:30 AM. This was about a half hour earlier than normal, but with good reason. We first dealt with all the house keeping and range safety matters and procedures. and then jumped right into the material to be covered. Topics Discussed included:
- Fundamentals of marksmanship, including fire control sequence, position, breathing, sight, trigger, fire, follow through
- Recoil management - shoulder pocket vs free recoil
- Trajectory understanding - where is that button going?
- Use of the Minute of Angle system for measurement - what does a MOA mean?
- Gear selection - what are you into it for?
- Target detection, Shot placement, and the importance of a Spotter - reading trajectory & vapor trail
- Data gathering and usage - read/call your shots - USE A DATA LOG
- Precision shot placement under high stress - shooting through distraction
Day One Range time:
There were 10 students and we were randomly put into teams of two. One would shoot, while the other would spot and offer correction, and then we would swap positions.
We all started with dry-fire drills while balancing a loonie on the barrel. The aim was to become familiar with our rifles trigger pull, and work through any possible flinching issues the students might have. We then moved to zeroing our rifles at 100 yards from the prone position, using a bi-pod/rear bag.
There after we moved to 200 yards and started the process all over again. Here we learned our first come- ups and wind dope settings. At the start of this process, shooting paper was important and informative, however after a short while it can become repetitive and tedious. Our instructors were sensitive to this. To keep things interesting we then move to a metal plate Hostage & swinger style of target. The instant feed back gained from shooting plate really sped things along and help all of us gain confidence. During this time both Dave and Shawn walked back and forth patrolling the line, and doing there best to distract us, and instructing how to “shoot through the distraction” when necessary.
Note: this is a picture of the Hostage/Swinger plate I was shooting at 400 yards
This process then moved to the 300 yard line with great success. Many of us had never shot beyond 100 meters or less, and we were all now consistently ringing 14" x 20" (Torso) steel plate, and in many instances, the 6" swinger plate at 300 yards.
Night shoot:
This to me was the most interesting and challenging exercise of the day. A single 8" reactive round plate was put at 100" yards, and then a single above mentioned hostage/swinger plate were installed at the 200, and 300 yard lines respectively. Now while the plates were Along their respective yard lines, they were in random locations along that line. Then, in the pitch darkness, the plates were then light up, one at a time by remote control in random order. The random plate would stay lite until the first strike, and then go dark. It would then light up again to allow the other students a chance to hit that plate. The aim here was to determine what the distance was, compensate for it, and in safe but short order, place our shots on target. This was all done in the dark.
What was interesting, is after a short while, Dave was able to tell who hit the target, simply by the bark of the rifle and the corresponding steel “clang”. Illuminated reticles, with good light gathering ability, and fast working bolts dominated this drill.
On a personal note, I am still amazed how low light conditions change the perceptions of target and distance.
Training Topics on Day Two included
- Understanding 'Battle sight Zero' values - what does it mean - full trajectory -up and down
- Wind Compensation - how to read - full value vs 3/4 value
- Internal, external, and terminal ballistics - where is that button going?
- Range estimation using your optics reticle - you don’t need a range finder to figure out range
This day started with reconfirmation of our 300 yard zeros on plate, and then we moved the plate back to 400, and 500 yards respectively.
At 500 we all pasted practice golf balls on our plate, and we all in our own time connected.
The final drill was a progression drill. A single Hostage swinger plate was positioned at the 100, 200, 300, 400 and 500 yard lines (in random locations along those lines) We each then took 5 shots in a row, with the aim being to place one shot on each plate. If you missed, you still had to move onto the next plate. This drill was a true testament to the skills that each of us had developed over the preceding two days
Instructor Notes:
We as Canadian Students are very fortunate to have someone in our own back yard with the depth and breadth of Mr. Dave Hull’s Military, tactical, and competitive experience (his bio can be seen on the Shadowforce.ca website)
At the outset of the course, Dave shared this philosophy with us, and is paraphrased as follows:
He truly believes this. Over the next two days we all learned from him through question, answer, and demonstration. He encouraged us to try his own personal gear and guns so that we could make our own decisions and conclusions.
Many of the topics listed above could be an entire course on there own, however Mr. Dave Hull and his assistant Shawn made sure that the material was presented in a methodical, but expedient and concise manor. He seemed to find a way to inform us (the students) with out overwhelming us with information, and made sure that what was being talked about would be applicable to the hands on training that day, and fresh in our minds.
Further, the pace was never rushed, and we were all allowed to progress at our own pace, making sure that we comfortable with what we were working on at the time.
Needless to say, this will not be my last course with him (if he will have me as a student
)Sponsor Notes
Accommodations for the course were the responsibility of the students,(they ranged from un-serviced camping on the range site, to hotels & inns in the surrounding area). However the food was not. The mornings on the range were very frosty, and during that time there was always coffee, hot chocolate and tea available to keep us all warm and going. Further a wide array of fruit, snacks, drink and water were provided to ensure that we had the energy to participate.
The catered meals provided (namely Day 1 Lunch & supper, and Day Two breakfast and lunch ) were of excellent quality and quantity. The supper menu included dishes like pork tenderloin, Scalloped potatoes, and a variety of Salads. It was not an easy task to provide these meals on the range, and we (the students) hole heartedly thank Dave’s wife for her efforts!!! It was a great success.
ShadowForce also made sure that the “on range Pit Outhouses” were upgraded to chemical toilets.
All of the above were very nice touches, and allowed the students to better focus on why they were there, and learning as much as possible, instead of focusing on the important but mundane details.
Conclusion:
In my opinion, the above course was well worth the time and tuition paid, and to be honest, I am hard pressed to find anything negative to say. I look forward to part 2 and stretching my shooting skills to the 1000 yard mark!!
These are my thoughts, and will do my best to field any questions or comments you might have.
Respectfully yours
AbH
Here is a Group photo of all of us with our 500 yard Golf Balls
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