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| Gun/Dog* |
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If this post is tl;dr for you, here's the short version:
Take the Carbine Manipulation 1.0 class with Falcon Ops. They care about making you a better shooter and they have the teaching and communication skills to do it.
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Here's the full version:
AAR: Falcon Ops Carbine Manipulation 1.0
https://falconops.net/products-page/...0-feb-19-2012/
I participated in the courses offered by Falcon Ops this past weekend: Pistol Manipulation 1.0 and Carbine Manipulation 1.0. I’ll do an AAR on PM 1.0 in a different post. Class was 8 hours, cost was $150, and we had 18 students for 4 instructors. Recommended round count: 500 rounds. I will try and cover stuff that isn’t available on their website, so for more info on their backgrounds go there.
Falcon Ops is Charles Ferrara (aka Voodoo) and Anson Beck (aka Hollywood). Additional instructors for the weekend were Hoss and Senior. (I forget their actual names. I do remember that Hoss had a kydex holder for his can of Skoal, which I thought was funny.) I will use their nicknames here because that’s what they call each other.
The style is very informal. They don’t take themselves too seriously at Falcon Ops. I don’t mean unprofessional – they do not mess around on the range and safety is priority number one at all times. Their communication style is technical but very informal; they like to joke a lot during the lecture portions, partly to make it fun, and partly to check if you are paying attention. Their presentation and organization is very polished.
Also, they swear a lot. Like, a fucking ton. If you can’t handle 4 letter words (8 letter, 16 letter, fuck who can keep track with the way Hollywood talks) then this is maybe not for you. And you would be missing out, because the quality of the instruction is excellent.
What constitutes quality instruction? The ability to effectively communicate and demonstrate complex concepts. At this they excel.
Important: Listed required equipment is a modern sporting rifle with at least 5 mags, some mag pouches. You will have a better experience if you bring or borrow 20 or 30 round magazines. Good luck finding those now, but Falcon will let you borrow theirs so if that’s an impediment it can be worked around. If you have 10 round mags, bring a lot, and even then, figure on borrowing some and practice your emergency reloads before you get there. It will help you get the most out of your training.
Topics covered over the course of the day (partial list, from memory; note that some topics, like trigger control, were touched on throughout the day):
- Mindset
- Fundamentals of firing a rifle from the prone position – body position, rifle position, breathing.
- Battle Sight Zero (BZO), we zeroed for a 50 yard point of aim/point of impact. We were able to do this on a 25 yard range using their proprietary targets, a valuable skill if you have limited access to outdoor shooting ranges.
- 7 fundamentals of marksmanship
- Sight over bore and adjusting for sight over bore at close range
- Three types of reloads, with live fire practice
- Vulnerable target areas for humans
- Proper practice techniques
- Basic care and maintenance of the AR-style rifle
- Transitioning from shooting standing to kneeling
- Trigger control
Suggestions for improvement:
Bring mags like I mentioned above. The teaching itself moves at the pace of the slowest student. That’s good for the students and also safety. With a range of skills it’s possible that some may feel like it’s too slow. If so you can discuss it with the instructors and they will adapt your instruction accordingly.
Beyond that I don’t know what I would improve. They have a program and it starts with the fundamentals that you work from the ground up.
See you out there.
*I miss pups. She would help me clean guns sometimes.
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