After Action Report of carbine training class

[tightgroup]

Some of the guys on wethearmed.com got together and attended one of George Hill's ( www.madogre.com ) training classes in Vernal, UT.

This was the first official carbine class I have attended so I really didn't know what to expect beyond a few pistol classes that I have taken.

WEATHER: We couldn't have asked for a better day for the middle of July. It was warm but thank God for some cloud cover or we would have broiled.

GEAR: I like to keep things as light as possible and since I am not a professional, I don't see the need to carry a whole lot of stuff on me. My pistol belt was a standard Uncle Mikes with a Blackhawk Serpa, a GI-issue 30 round mag pouch, and a basic single stack, single mag pouch with a velcro closure. I wanted everything to be secure and lost nothing during the drills or rolling around. The only time my gear got in the way was when I was rolling around and the 30 round mag pouch would not allow me to roll onto my left side for urban prone drills. Sliding the belt about 20 degrees solved this problem. My son, which I nicknamed the Tactical Cowboy, (or John Wayne, as George liked to call him ;D ) used an older tactical leg holster with a GI issue mag pouch. Our slings were home grown and performed just fine for the intended purpose. I wore the Howard Leight Sport headset and my son wore a good ole' pair of earplugs.

GUNS: The original plan was to bring my CAR style carbine and had just picked up a BCM midlength upper that Tactical Cowboy was going to shoot. Up until a couple weeks ago, the CAR had been running like a top, but I started having some funky extraction and bolt-hold-open issues. After several range trips, trying different remedies that I had available to me, I ditched the short barrel for an old 20" Bushmaster that I had laying around and the gun ran 100% for the class. The BCM gun had a double feed from a Magpul mag on the first loading. TC did not know why it happened but the gun ran 100% after that. For sights, I gave TC my carry handle and I went with a cheapie BSA red dot that I had used in the past. Both worked well but the BSA is not high on my list of recommended sights. Nice, wide field of view, but seems to eat the batteries, dim on it's brightest setting, and does not have a good reputation for being reliable. An Aimpoint or Eotech is definitely in my future. Ammo was home-grown 55 grain FMJ's over 24.0 grains Hodgdon 4895. We shot close to 600 rounds between the two guns.

For pistols, I carried a pre-series II Kimber Target and my son had my old Norinco 1911A1. They were only shot about 50 rounds total for the class but had zero stoppages which is typical. Ammo was a 225 grain LRNFP bullet over 3.7 grains of Hodgdon Clays.

INSTRUCTION: George did a great job of making us feel comfortable. He answered our questions and used positive reinforcement to get their point across. Best of all, they made it FUN! I would definitely take another class from them, especially at the prices they are offered. At the end, he let my boys run some drills on his little course which was fun to watch.


Here are just a few of the nearly 200 pictures that my 11 year old son took. I thought he did a really good job.































I took the last couple of my boys having some fun....

[Administrator]

Love the targets. Gave me a good laugh. Looks like a lot of fun out there.

[n2moto]

It looks like you guys had alot of fun and when you can learn something at the same time thats a win in my book.

I'd look at a low power varible before a red dot you never know when you want to make a far shot.

Trijicon Accupoint TR21 or TR24, Meopta Meostar K dot are good to look at.