BassCliff
Hellcat
Hi folks,
I've been looking forward to this class. The instructors decided to move this one to an outdoor range that's not too far away, 40 minutes on a good day. The drive out there was very relaxing through the woodlands and farmlands.
I'd always driven up to the local mountains to train outdoors. It was quite different scenery back then when I lived in Southern California.
Here we are at the range. The buildings are for the various distance bays. I'm planning to get out here for some longer distance practice with my rifles. One of these days.
But I made the turn onto the LEO range where our class was being hosted. My range has a deal worked out with this range. We were the only ones on the range this evening.
Ahh, here we are, all the comforts of home, plus lots of mosquitoes. Yes, we had a lot of targets to shoot this evening, cardboard, paper, and steel.
The class was a good size so it was split in half. I was in squad one. Squads would take turns running drills and loading magazines.
We started with some simple warm-ups from 5, 7, 10, and 15 yards with some pivoting and single hand shooting. My targets started off looking pretty good, keeping it in the A zone.
As the distance increased I had to slow down a little, but I wasn't the slowest.
Squad 2 is ready to pivot and fire.
Even shooting with strong hand only or weak hand only, I had only one flyer out of the A zone at distance.
The crew changed out the targets for the next round.
This was a relatively simple drill. From 10 and 15 yards, engage the different shapes in order, or reverse order, one hit on each. We went three rounds for this.
My target was nothing to write home about, but I was in the neighborhood.
The next drill was a ton of fun. There were 20 targets of paper and steel. One hit on each steel, three to five on each paper, while moving between the cover. There was cover set up at 30, 20, and 10 yards.
You couldn't see all the steel unless you moved. You had to plan your reloads so that you weren't exposed. We started with that red diamond on the left and moved to the right.
I was a little disappointed with my time on this drill. I hit the first steel with my first shot from 30 yards. But the last red diamond on the other side, at 10 yards, took me four shots to hit it. I guess runnin' and gunnin' takes its toll on this old man.
It seems that diamond on the right looks white (glare), but it was painted red. We started the class at 6pm and now the sun is just about gone. There's one more drill for us.
The class ran the "Fletchers Drill" for time. Everyone ran it twice and a couple of students qualified for patches. I have a patch but did not qualify for the next level up. Maybe next time.
At the very end of the class we were able to take ten minutes and pound on the steel targets (from 10 yards) before we cleaned up the place. I was able to knock that green heart back and forth a few times on this silhouette.
All in all, a very fun workout. My VP9 ran flawlessly. The sweatshirt I was wearing gave me trouble a couple of times during reloads. My spare mag would get hung up. But that's why we practice, right?
Mrs. BassCliff is going to see her Mom for a few days so I'm hoping to get in another practice day at the range this week, maybe Wednesday. She's been saving leftovers in the fridge for me so I won't starve. I think she loves me. Take care everyone. Thanks for stopping by.
Thank you for your indulgence,
BassCliff
I've been looking forward to this class. The instructors decided to move this one to an outdoor range that's not too far away, 40 minutes on a good day. The drive out there was very relaxing through the woodlands and farmlands.
I'd always driven up to the local mountains to train outdoors. It was quite different scenery back then when I lived in Southern California.
Here we are at the range. The buildings are for the various distance bays. I'm planning to get out here for some longer distance practice with my rifles. One of these days.
But I made the turn onto the LEO range where our class was being hosted. My range has a deal worked out with this range. We were the only ones on the range this evening.
Ahh, here we are, all the comforts of home, plus lots of mosquitoes. Yes, we had a lot of targets to shoot this evening, cardboard, paper, and steel.
The class was a good size so it was split in half. I was in squad one. Squads would take turns running drills and loading magazines.
We started with some simple warm-ups from 5, 7, 10, and 15 yards with some pivoting and single hand shooting. My targets started off looking pretty good, keeping it in the A zone.
As the distance increased I had to slow down a little, but I wasn't the slowest.
Squad 2 is ready to pivot and fire.
Even shooting with strong hand only or weak hand only, I had only one flyer out of the A zone at distance.
The crew changed out the targets for the next round.
This was a relatively simple drill. From 10 and 15 yards, engage the different shapes in order, or reverse order, one hit on each. We went three rounds for this.
My target was nothing to write home about, but I was in the neighborhood.
The next drill was a ton of fun. There were 20 targets of paper and steel. One hit on each steel, three to five on each paper, while moving between the cover. There was cover set up at 30, 20, and 10 yards.
You couldn't see all the steel unless you moved. You had to plan your reloads so that you weren't exposed. We started with that red diamond on the left and moved to the right.
I was a little disappointed with my time on this drill. I hit the first steel with my first shot from 30 yards. But the last red diamond on the other side, at 10 yards, took me four shots to hit it. I guess runnin' and gunnin' takes its toll on this old man.
It seems that diamond on the right looks white (glare), but it was painted red. We started the class at 6pm and now the sun is just about gone. There's one more drill for us.
The class ran the "Fletchers Drill" for time. Everyone ran it twice and a couple of students qualified for patches. I have a patch but did not qualify for the next level up. Maybe next time.
At the very end of the class we were able to take ten minutes and pound on the steel targets (from 10 yards) before we cleaned up the place. I was able to knock that green heart back and forth a few times on this silhouette.
All in all, a very fun workout. My VP9 ran flawlessly. The sweatshirt I was wearing gave me trouble a couple of times during reloads. My spare mag would get hung up. But that's why we practice, right?
Mrs. BassCliff is going to see her Mom for a few days so I'm hoping to get in another practice day at the range this week, maybe Wednesday. She's been saving leftovers in the fridge for me so I won't starve. I think she loves me. Take care everyone. Thanks for stopping by.
Thank you for your indulgence,
BassCliff
Last edited:
Yeah, I've got some work to do. I should live so long. 
