[Prizm]

Just finished a two day, very, very intense carbine course. We shot about 800 rounds over the course of two days. I used pmags and the L5 translucent magazines ( I only have five of those). As I expected, the XCR ran with no hiccups. I used Wolf and S&B and Remington and would run all different types in the magazine at one time, and never any issues with magazines or gun. I believe I still have the old hammer in my gun and have not updated it yet. We ran around alot, and were in and out of prone all the time and often my magazine would slam into the ground well before the rest of me. I would then push down on the magazine for support and shoot and no... no problems. I have the PWS break on my gun and it's great, but not for those shooting around me. It's loud and obnoxious with one wicked concussion. But it works to keep the gun on track.

There were only 7 or so of us in the class, perfect size. I've never ever trained so hard in a class. It was like being back in school as a college athlete. I wanted to quit a couple of times but the pay off was well worth it. I feel like my gun fighting skills improved significantly. On the second day we had to eat lunch fully geared up with guns hot and we had 20 minutes to do it. Brutal, but I loved it.

There were 4 AR's one was a piston, an AK 74 (the guy knew how to run it too, lightning fast mag changes), a Sig 556 (got dumped on the second day cause the weight was killing the user) and my XCR. One AR went down completely and the piston (LWRC) had 1 or 2 hiccups for reasons unknown.

The instructor had lots of praise for the XCR and has put multiple thousands through his own. He told the Sig guy to dump it and get an AR or an XCR SBR. I think that puts me around 4500-5000 rounds with one cleaning, only because I knew the longer I waited the dirtier it would be. Still no malfunctions that weren't induced by me.

 

[EricCartmann]

nice pics and nice looking gun.

 

[gunner69]

I'll bet you broke your piggie bank for ammo money, eh? :toast: Nice pics. 8)

 

[Prizm]

I'll bet you broke your piggie bank for ammo money, eh? :toast: Nice pics. 8)

Actually Gunner I bought all the ammo a year ago so it was much cheaper than it is now, so it didn't hurt nearly as much. And most of it was Wolf so that made it even better.

 

[faawrenchbndr]

Very nice,....
What height cheek riser?

 

[magikbullet]

glad to hear everything went well!

I really want to start taking some classes...

tell us about some of the drills you found useful

 

[Prizm]

Very nice,....
What height cheek riser?

If I recall it's the 1/2" riser. There were two sizes and I bought the higher of the two.

tell us about some of the drills you found useful

I think the greatest thing I pulled from this one was to keep moving when not shooting. On malfunction drills or mag changes we had to be moving quickly. Not just stepping but running. The movement is obviously to make you a difficult target if there is no cover. But we trained so hard and ran so fast that at times I didn't know if I would catch my breath. This was to simulate the increased heart rate and stress of a gun battle. He wasn't teaching us to shoot he was teaching us to fight with our guns and everything else we had on us. He wouldn't accept anything less than 100% with good shot placement in a box area in the upper chest. If you didn't perform you sucked and he'd let you know it.

The pictures are of the qualification round we ran at the end of the class. 4 targets at varying distances and heights. 3 rounds per target. 30 seconds to complete it with 10 rounds per magazine to force mag changes and one dummy round in your first magazine to force you to clear malfunction (we ran most of the class with 10 rounds per mag). Prone had to be used at least once other than that you could use any position: standing, kneeling, double kneel, prone. When the buzzer goes you have to clear the line (run at least 3 steps to the left so you weren't directly in front of your targets path) then engage. If you had a malfunction you had to move while doing it same with mag changes. That meant if you were prone you had to stand up and run while doing it and then go back to prone to finish. No one made the qualification with 3 tries per person. We even had a contractor in the class and he could shoot... he didn't make it. I finished at 30 sec. flat but threw two rounds on the CLOSEST target. The shots were low cause I didn't compensate enough for my zero.

Apparently less than 60% make the qual. He runs the same drill with SF guys but they have more gear (obviously) and a smaller target area to hit, apparently they have to hit an area the size of a playing card with all 3 shots. Brutal.

 

[faawrenchbndr]

Thanks,
Appreciate Ya!

 

[ny32182]

Looks like fun...

Who's class was it?

 

[piusmilitis]

Are you military?

 

[cleric-dragoon]

very interesting prizm. i really enjoy your photos, you have a talent for that.

 

[aziator]

Prizm, I would say looks like fun but it was probably anything but when you were doing it. Who put on the class? Sounds like a difficult course of instruction but very worthwhile in the long run.

 

[Master of Scholastics]

Very interesting. I think I might have been able to handle the physical part when I was younger, but no way at 53. Any idea of the age of the oldest guy? Do girls take this class? I'm sure some could do it, but it seems good upper body strength is necessary.

 

[Prizm]

millitis- no I'm just an average joe with a love of shooting.

ny- Strike Tactical Solutions. www.striketactical.com

Cleric- Thanks for the compliment and I'm glad you enjoy the photos. I enjoy when people post pics, brings the whole thing together.

Aziator- I truly mean this... the first day I was freakin' pissed cause I was so tired and hot. I was like "I spent money for this?" He wore us out and there was no fun in sight. I put all I had into the movement and by the end of that 1st day I honestly could barely walk or talk. I just wanted to die somewhere. Maybe I could have scaled it back some, but I wanted to do it right. Now I must confess that the night before I only got 2 hours of sleep, so I know that didn't help. But on that second day it all came together and worked very well. I'd do it again even knowing how much it would suck at times. By the way, how are you doing?

Master- I know we had one guy in his 50's, keep in mind you move at your own pace when you have to. He did well though. There was one guy in the mid-40's and the rest of us were 30- to mid 30. I'm 37. The guy with the Sig had to dump it for the very reason you stated, it just required too much upper body strength and was wearing him out. But he also had some health issues. The best bet was a shorty of some sort, due to the weight reduction and improved mobility. The instructor suggested SBR's to everyone and mentioned how well the SF guys are using them out to some good distances on several occasions.

 

[bolster]

Awesom! Looks like it was a lot of fun. 8)