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Training
Minute - Trigger Control
Trigger control is a critical part of successfully engaging a target. Watch
lead Tiger Valley
instructor T.J. Pilling demonstrate the basics of trigger control here.
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Elm Fork Wednesday Night Classes
Tiger
Valley ran two Elm Fork classes in July, an "AK Operators"
class and an "Advanced CQB Pistol" class. Students in the AK class
were treated to a special presentation by Ray Velasco.
Velasco, a frequent contributor to the "Weaponology"
television program, discussed
the history of the AK and special variants.
Our August 6 "Immediate Action Medical" class is full and we're not
accepting any additional students. Registration is now open for
our next offering of this class on September 3rd. You can
either pay online or mail a check to our office address. A Tiger Valley instructor will explain the tactical side
of dealing with tactical medical situations and an ER Doctor will brief students on
the basics of stabilizing the victim. The course includes a
blow-out medical kit that all students will take from the class.
The course is $85, including the medical kit, and runs from 6:30
PM to 9 PM.
On August 20, we're having "Combat Match & Training". Arrive
with your carbine (with sling), handgun, ammo, and safety gear.
We'll be putting everyone through a series of pre-designed scenarios on
the timer. With our instructors providing lots of feedback to
participants, this will be a laid-back and fun event as well as a great
learning opportunity. As is always the case for our Wednesday
night classes, shooters of every experience level are welcome and
encouraged to attend. No pre-registration is required for this class, just show up and shoot.
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Upcoming Precision Rifle Training
Learning the art and the science in making accurate long-distance shots
is one of the many great skills taught by Tiger Valley. We have
two precision rifle classes coming up, a 3-day class in September and a
5-day class in October.
Both classes will be taught by Tiger Valley lead instructor T.J.
Pilling. T.J. served as designated marksman for the Garland
Police Department and participated in various miliary
programs, including Marine Corps and Army Sniper Schools. Excellent
instruction is a vital portion of training, as practice doesn't make
perfect - perfect practice does.
Our Waco facility offers a 27-position, 1000-yard, zero-angle military
style range complete with pit service. Pit service provides
the shooter precise and rapid feedback on their shot placement at long distances
and is another critical portion of precision rifle training. This can be seen in our video demonstration.
If you have interest in attending but lack a precision rifle, let us
know. We have a variety of gas and bolt operated weapons that we
can provide. This also lets you evaluate a particular
weapon system before an expensive purchase. Just give us a call
to work out the details. Students can also stay on-site for
$20/night at our bunkhouse, complete with air conditioning, showers,
and a kitchen facility.
For those interested in the classes and would like a bit of
completely optional homework to help prepare, we recommend Shooter Ready software, which was covered in a previous newsletter.
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Sectorization, the Common Language of Snipers
by T.J. Pilling
Sectorization
is the terminology that allow snipers, assault team members and command
post communicate with each other. Having accurate descriptions of
suspect location, window opening and movements is critical during
high-risk situations. There are several types of terminology used
in sectorization, but we will cover one type at this time.
When looking at a building, be it large or small, during a special threat
situation, it is important to get the description of the objective
disseminated in an accurate manner. When looking at a building
the front is always listed as side #1 and other sides listed in a clock
like manner through #4. The side they face, one through four,
lists all side facing those directions. Floors of the building
are listed using the alphabet A-Z with the roof being
“A”. All openings on each floor, door windows or
anything someone could look or shoot out are list again with numbers,
left to right. The description, 1B1 would be front side, top
floor first opening from the left.
During the last sniper match we gave a quick sectorization
class that was followed by a hands-on shooting sceneraio.
Shooters were looking at
a mini-city reduced to one inch to three foot scale. Eight
buildings were present having two to five stories. Shooters had
to develop range cards and use sectorization to describe the location of
hostiles in the buildings. The hostiles they were to engage with
rifle fire were Army men, the type commonly purchased from Wal-Mart.
This was no easy shot. An Army man is a 1/2 MOA shot side to side
and a little over ¾ MOA high in the body. Most shooter
were humbled during this portion of the competition, none making all the
shots. If you want a challenging target, you can’t beat the
fun of a cheap Army man shoot, 55 targets for $1.19.
Good shooting.
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What's your Stance???
by Wayne Dobbs
Last
month we began this series of discussions on the fundamentals of pistol
shooting and I hope you guys discerned that I believe that a correct
and subconscious execution of the fundamentals of any motor skill or
performance is absolutely critical to achieving success. This is
especially true when shooting under some kind of real (or
artificial) pressure. Right now, the “motor skill”
we’re concerned with is shooting a pistol well. To further
define our collective frame of reference, we’re going to say that
we want to know what we need to be absolutely successful in using a
pistol in defense of our lives or the lives of people we wish to
protect. This goal is likely the toughest standard we can work
towards and so, if we’re competent in fighting for our lives with
a pistol, shooting a pistol match, handgun hunting or casual plinking
should be a piece of cake.
As we proceed, I want you to consider
firing a pistol well to be the same as building a solid
structure. And, in keeping with that, we’re going to build
our house from the ground up, starting with the foundation. This
month’s topic is an “important” one of the
fundamentals – stance.
A stance that’s used in the combative firearms arena must provide
several advantages for the user. This immediately places demands
on the combative stance “method” we select that hunting,
target shooting, plinking and other non-life threatening shooting
activities do not. So to begin, the stance we use in
combative pistol work must provide mobility. If you’ve ever been
in any kind of fight, from a playground-shoving match to boxing, mixed
martial arts, small arms fire or full-blown, military large unit combat
then you know that you must be mobile. Gluing yourself down to
one solitary spot on the map will almost guarantee that you’ll
get the snot knocked out of you in the fist fight and lose all your
forces and equipment in the big military one! The mobility
of individuals in a conflict is a stone necessity. If you
don’t believe that and think that you should “stand and
deliver” then consider this: if we were having a rock throwing
fight at 10-15 feet, would you stand still and let me pelt you or would
you vigorously move about and make yourself a tougher target?
We’ve all been in some kind of scenario like this and only
somebody riding the “short bus” stands still!
Mobility is your friend and a requirement of a good stance.
The next thing our stance must do is provide a stable firing platform
for our weapon. Concurrent with the idea of stability is to
provide a natural index of the weapon on our threat target so that we
don’t have to be steering or muscling the gun onto our
target. Now I will agree that sometimes we have to muscle a gun
if we’re presented with an odd angle problem, especially while
we’re confined (think about being inside a car with the threat
outside), but if we’re on our feet, with room to move, the last
thing we want to have to do is intellectualize driving a gun to the
target and keeping it there. Competitive rifle shooters call this
concept “natural point of aim” and it’s fully
achievable with a pistol once you know what you’re seeking.
This level of stability and index will enable you to fire fist-sized
groups on a 15 feet target WITH YOUR EYES CLOSED once you learn the
technique. How’s that for a confidence builder? This
is NOT point shooting, but is simply allowing your stance (and grip,
which we’ll cover later) to aim the pistol for you without having
to use your brainpower to do so.
Now having considered all the things we require of a stance –
mobility, stability and natural weapon control, which stance do we
chose? Here’s where we can get into arguments about the
Weaver stance, the Isosceles stance, the dynamic Isosceles stance,
Center Axis Relock and Lord knows what else! I’m going to
suggest that you let your needs drive the selection and not worry about
what we call it. It’s a waste of trees and/or bandwidth to
engage in those arguments. After all, it’s fighting, not a
matter of faith, religion or philosophy!
When we build our stance, we need front to back and side-to-side
stability. That means your feet are likely going to be about a
shoulder width apart or a bit more (for side to side stability) with
the strong foot trailing the weak side foot slightly to meet the fore
and aft requirement. This simple orientation of feet gives us
360-degree stability and mobility. Next, since we’re going
to be managing recoil, our weight should be displaced forward to
provide a mass advantage against the rearward impulse that the pistol
will deliver to your body, especially in rapidly delivered shot
sequences. Finally, we need to get the pistol between our master
eye and the target. We do that with a solid, centered, and most
importantly, a neutral grip on the pistol. We’ll cover grip
as a separate topic and that is a fundamental that I consider a
“critical” one. So, we have our feet set and our
weight displaced forward. I describe this as follows: unlocked
knees in front of ankles, shoulders in front of knees and your nose in
front of your toes. If you’ll study the photographs,
you’ll see examples of what I’m talking about. If you
take the pistol out of my hands, you can basically replace it with a
ball glove, a tennis racquet or put on a football helmet and pads and
we’re ready for athletic “conflict”. This
stance is a universal athletic and action stance and it’s no
accident that it works extremely well for fighting, since that’s
what folks have been doing with it for years!
When a new (or old) shooter tries this type of stance the first time, I
often see them forget the fighting basis of the stance and start
locking their knees, standing completely erect, keeping their feet
square or getting their body bladed completely sideways to the
threat. Give them a surprise push from any point on their
“compass” and we see them on their butts! If they try
to shoot a string of several shots, we see them rolling back on their
heels and having to stop to rebuild their stance and grip. This
is a sign that we don’t have a “believer” yet!
It’s critical to learn how to establish dependable balance and
mobility in any dynamic skill and shooting for your life certainly
qualifies. It’s easier to teach this and do it than it is
to write about it, but if you’re serious about operating a pistol
at high speed in defense of your life, you need to know how to
establish and use a stable and mobile stance. Failing to do this
in a fight results in static shooters that we call “bullet
magnets” or ones that end up on the ground with no
mobility. Neither one of these conditions portends for a bright
future!
Next time, we’re going to talk about those bumps on top of your pistols…some folks call them sights.
If you have feedback or suggestions about these articles, feel free to email me at wayne.dobbs@yahoo.com.
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Honorable
Mention - "The Last Patriot"
"The Last Patriot"
is a fast-paced and entertaining thriller by author Brad Thor.
Scot Harvath, the hero and lead character from his past books
makes a return, though reading the earlier novels certainly isn't
required.
Amongst the intrigue and gunfire, you will notice familiar gear being
utilized and the author certainly has a friendship with many in the
tactical firearms community. It's a fast read and a perfect
escape from the summertime heat in Texas. Highly recommended.
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Previous
Newsletters Available Online!
Check out our previous
newletters for fantastic training videos, equipment
reviews, and special articles. Find them here.
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Upcoming
Events
August
September
October
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Tiger Valley LLC.
Range Address: Hwy 84 at Joe Russell Rd. | Prairie Hill, TX 76678
Mailing Address: 6309 Scottsboro Ln. | Garland, TX 75044
Cell: (972)977-9512 |
