AAR: Dynamic Defense Concepts Customized Carbine Training

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  • boss281

    Ultimate Member
    Apr 14, 2012
    1,575
    Carroll County
    Summary
    This After Action Report (AAR) covers a customized “Competitive Shooting Skills-Carbine” course I took on October 4, 2017 through Dynamic Defense Concepts, hosted by co-owner Trevor Scheuneman at Bollinger Gunsmithing in Taneytown, Maryland. I was the sole attendee (see below) and other than setup and take down time, the course lasted a solid 6 hours with frequent hydration and food breaks.

    Firearms Background
    I retired from the workforce in the fall of 2016 after serving 4 years in the US Navy Reserve and 30 years in federal service. Shooting has been a part of my life since my father, a Master Sergeant in the Army and fire arms instructor, put a 22 rifle in my hands at the range in Fort Meade when I was 8 years old. I competed, I hunted, I plinked, I served…it’s a fairly mixed variety of experiences. While I dabbled with sidearms and shotguns after discharge, the rifle in hand, especially the now familiar Colt M16 pattern and the Colt 9mm SMG (we had our hands on early prototypes back in the day!), just felt right, and a rifle has been with me in one form or another since the mid-60s. What started with bolt actions in early life led to semi-automatic rifles after discharge. Range time the last two decades has been occasional but steady, with no competitions or shooting beyond the bench. I haven’t hunted since my late teens.

    With retirement comes time on your hands (that’s another story) and I started spending time working the 5.56 rifles at 50 and 100 yards, zeroing my old Nikon scopes, and learning that my eyesight had deteriorated to a point that I needed a special prescription setup to effectively use iron sights at all (which I have yet to order, but currently have a prescription set for seeing distance clearly). I joined the Associated Gun Clubs of Baltimore in Marriotsville MD due to the size of the range and relative proximity to my home--about a 35-minute drive with early morning commuter traffic. But, you can only shoot tack drivers so much before getting a little bored, and before long I got the competitive itch again. Instead of my historical interest in distance shooting, I decided to research then compete with “run and gun” type exercises.

    Getting Signed Up
    My original plan was to take the Reactive Gunfighting-Rifle Basic and Advanced two-day weekend class with Dynamic Defense Concepts scheduled for July 2017, which was held at Bollinger Gunsmithing in Taneytown, Maryland. The range and armorer/sales shop are built on a large acreage farm. The goal was to use my Windham Weaponry SRC 5.56 in these two classes to refamiliarize myself with dynamic shooting concepts, reinforce safety, expose accumulated bad habits and correct them, and learn drills that would be useful for training to compete in PCC divisions in USPSA and IDPA using my 9mm Colt 6450 and 6951 carbines.

    Like many firearms based training organizations, a wide range of training services and experiences are available from DDC, including sidearm, carbine, competition shooting, HQL and private time with the staff. I signed up for the 2-day class, paid my fee and waited. About a week before the class started, my better half informed me I had double booked the class over a family event. It’s not worth regurgitating the discussion that followed, but, well, I lost. One of DDC’s owners, Trevor Scheuneman (who teaches the course), understood my predicament and indicated it wasn’t a problem to reschedule. He suggested I attend instead a fall class on 9/30-10/1.

    Well, that didn’t work out quite the way I expected, either. It seems the spring and summer courses are the sweet spot that fill quickly, as about two weeks before the course Trevor informed me that I was the sole attendee signed up at that point, and we started floating options on whether to proceed. For me, my goal was to develop a steady hand firing under PCC rules in IDPA and IPSC/USPSA competitions, and even steadier hand with my 5.56s as the muzzle climb was a bit much when off the bench. Trevor listened to my expectations, and created a custom hybrid short course about 6 hours in length. I’d get an abbreviated introduction for reactive rifle using the 5.56, and would spend a good part of the day focused on USPSA style course shooting with the 9mm.

    The Experience

    I arrived a bit early, say 9:40am, and ran into Trevor setting up targets. After brief introductions, he continued to put the finishing touches on a seemingly random set of steel and paper targets, while I quickly unloaded my equipment and set up. For gear I brought the following:

    • Windham Weaponry SRC 5.56 with Nikon Blackforce 1000 scope (optic for 3 gun comps) and 30 round Magpul magazines
    • Colt 6951 9mm Carbine with C-More Tactical Railway red dot and Colt 32 round magazines
    • Viking Tactics 2 point adjustable slings
    • Condor Battle Belt with magazine pouches for 5.56 and 9mm extended length magazines
    • Blackhawk Knee Pads
    Note the optics, kneepads, slings and battle belt were purchased for use in this class. I also got an h-harness for the battle belt as the setup was similar to the issued ALICE rigs we had in the USNR, although I left it at home. Red dot style optics are new to me, although I had a bit of bench time with both mentioned here.

    I used cheap Federal 62g FMJ for the 5.56, and Winchester 124g NATO for the 9mm (a “dirty” round, but it’s dead accurate out to 50 yards). I went through about 300 rounds of 5.56, and 280 rounds of 9mm.

    To summarize the day, we checked zero and discussed, then practiced, many topics and tasks as outlined in the original reactive rifle course description: safety, mindset, rifle anatomy/function, sight-in, iron vs. optical sights, gear and accessory placement, stance, recoil management, trigger control, changing magazines, clearing malfunctions, shooting from cover, and shooting on the move. This customized course was fast paced, used considerable mental and physical energy, and frankly felt just a bit like sipping from the fire hose. But Trevor had a good sense of when my mind was starting to fog, as he backed me up, grounded me on principles, and let me go through the movements again until I got it right. Exhausting as it was, it was exhilarating to go from an awkward start to accurate shooting quickly on the move by the end of the day. Things happen for a reason, and I think for me, as a first formal training class in many years, the experience ended up being the right thing for me to do, and with an instructor wired for my personality, mindset and goals.

    I learned a lot in this class, and I’m going to start with my perspective of the outcomes from the day, more or less in the order they crossed my radar and sunk home: mental focus, trigger control, speed in movement, speed in shooting, accuracy, and physical fitness. I’ll also add in proper equipment choices, and I suppose knowing the rules of USPSA/IDPA as a final area of learning. It was a lot to absorb in six hours of outdoor “class time” and putting those concepts into practice, and as already mentioned, by the end I was physically exhausted, but you know, in that good way. Yet, tired as I was, I was hungry for more, just not that day! It felt like I had opened a book, read the inside jacket, then perused the table of contents, quickly scanned the chapters, was ready to read the book, but I was too tired and put it down for another day. The day was as humbling as it was exciting.

    Mental Focus and Trigger Discipline
    These two concepts, especially in the context of safety, were hammered home throughout the day, and I found myself surprised to lapse a few times. Running a course set up for either the 5.56 or 9mm, especially, took incredible mental discipline, and walking the course and setting up a game plan really helped, but not always. Sometimes you get in there and realize on the fly the plan needed to change. I used magazines with various amounts of ammo loaded to get used to quick magazine changes. I distinctly remember me yelling out in frustration when I was on the ground on my side, shooting underneath an obstacle with the 9mm and hearing “click!” I needed to reload and didn’t have gravity to drop the magazine. In all my years, I’ve never had to drop a mag lying on my strong side, and I just stopped. Trevor yelled back at me “Well, don’t just lie there, get a new magazine!” Well, now I have a plan on how to do that, you know? You can’t stop working the problem, watching the angles, dropping focus. Top Gunning a course really makes a difference.

    Mental focus began to erode a bit over time, but Trevor would bring me back into it when he saw me struggling. Call it building the muscle and mind memory matrix. During the morning carbine training, I was solid, but during USPSA course training the second half of the day, I found that moving sideways around obstacles and even backwards surprisingly lost focus on trigger management. Moving forward? I was fine, because I had focused on that earlier. But upon hearing several times “You missed that same target again!” I had to move quickly back to an earlier part of the course, and my focus on keeping the muzzle forward resulted in moving my trigger finger inside the trigger guard. Humbling. But Trevor very patiently pointed out that if trigger discipline eroded near the end, it also meant my focus was off. So, focus on focus, and keep building on that—muscle memory again.

    Trevor’s keen eye and his own focus on my weak points were welcome criticisms, and his communication style came across constructively and didn’t make me feel like a total idiot. Trust me, it all sank in: guess who set up deck chairs all around the back yard the next day, running drills just focused on movement and trigger management? Yeah, that experience really made an impression, so much I dreamed of it for several nights.

    Speed and Accuracy
    Speed in movement, speed in shooting and accuracy all worked together, and Trevor really made it a point to demonstrate each principle, grounded in safety and focus, and worked various angles so I could “solve the problem” from different approaches. At first I worked very slowly, then picked up speed in shooting quickly (sending 2 or 3 rounds into a target, moving to the next, etc.), speed in movement came a bit later, and I really started drilling the targets well on the move (with occasional strays) towards the end. In fact, it all pretty much came together during the last hour, and even with the dreaded DQ, I was getting close to being somewhat competitive score-wise.

    Accuracy was an unexpected problem for me with the 5.56, and I’m going to dive into equipment a bit. Because both rifles are old school Colt patterns with short handguards, we couldn’t work on the new-to-me forward facing shooting stance with weak side arm extending straight out almost to the muzzle—I had to compensate with the shorter length handguard using a bent arm, and this was especially difficult with the 5.56 SRC as setup. That 3-gun Nikon scope weighed a ton, and even in Trevor’s hands, the rifle was difficult to stabilize with a modified bent arm grip (although his groups at 70 yards were still tight). On the other hand, I found that with a bit of coaching on the front facing stance, using his rifle was very easy on the arms and left shoulder, and I was much more accurate. When I came home, I ditched the Nikon and put on a lightweight Vortex Strikefire II, wandered the yard pointing at various “targets”, and that single change really improved my steadiness. The lesson here: what was manageable on the bench with the Nikon didn’t translate to a Carbine class. The lightweight Colt on the other hand, even with a modified bent arm grip using the short-style handguard, was much easier to use with the lightweight optic and my accuracy was significantly better.

    Physical Fitness
    Ha! Oh boy. I’m a bit embarrassed to talk about physical fitness. Trevor was probably 185lbs to my 160lbs and I’m guessing somewhere in the 26-35 year old range, but the “kid” just didn’t run out of steam. I have stayed active and fit throughout my 59 years and am still fairly lean, but I was pretty tired by the end of the 6th hours and had zero energy left. The weather was perfect at 79 degrees and clear, and it was important to stay hydrated and fueled by lunch and snacks as this was a very physical session. Moving from a standing to kneeling or prone (on stomach or side) and then upright again really tests your stamina! Lessons learned here are improving shoulder strength for managing the stability of the rifle platform under fire, and aerobic capacity, to effectively run multiple drills without running out of gas. If you can, get used to running short sprints well ahead of the course to get a feel for what’s coming. I was thankful to have brought plenty of water, sandwiches and granola bars to munch on (I think DDC provides these with the full two-day course).

    Equipment
    I tend to be a minimalist and go with what I know. My rifles are all as received from the factory, and the optics were based on some preliminary research. The Nikon Strikeforce 1000, intended for 3 gun competitions, in my opinion is just not suited for Reactive Rifle, and would expect most red dots (like the Strikefire mentioned above) to be much lighter and more than adequate for placing accurate groups at 50 to 100 yards with the 5.56, and acceptable shot placement at shorter distances while moving between hides. As the day progressed, I got used to it, but using Trevor’s setup easily demonstrated I was working from a disadvantage. On the other hand, the C-More on the 9mm is a much better optic system for competition for sure (thanks to some MDS member’s advice), and I’ll stick with that for now—no complaints at all.

    Using the two-point adjustable sling was a surprising pain to use, but it never occurred to me to really practice using this tool (my own experience with simple two-point duty slings was to carry the rifle over my shoulder muzzle up or down, and off the body in hand when on patrol). Trevor, on the other hand, had a single point sling and pointed out the appropriateness for reactive carbine courses, and I ended up taking off the sling and hand carrying the rifle throughout the day. That said, I will likely get a single point sling for further reactive rifle training as it relieves you of having to carry it muzzle down while at rest listening to instruction in between shooting drills. For the 9mm carbine and competitive shooting, a sling is just not necessary. Period.

    The battle belt and attached magazine pouches were a mix. The 5.56 pouches came with the now standard bungee retainers, which I quickly learned to hate and just undid them to release the tension and keep them out of the way—the three 30 round magazines stayed put just fine. Nonetheless, I have since ordered a 3-magazine pouch that has a cover flap that can be velcro’d out of the way for easy access to the magazines. My triple 9mm carrier, unfortunately, used a PALS-based attachment system, and on the battle belt there was too much slack when attached and it just moved around too much for use in competition. Frankly, I think this particular magazine pouch setup is intended for a chest rig that uses PALS webbing. Instead of wasting time futzing with it, I ended up ditching the belt setup and putting magazines in my cargo pants pockets for the day. The belt itself, however, a model from Condor, was surprisingly comfortable and with proper magazine pouches and practice I suspect it a good carrier, especially with the available harness to help manage weight. Going forward, I think I will use the battle belt with proper magazine pouches for 30 round magazines, and try it out for USPSA competitions using alternate magazine pouches more appropriate for 9mm magazines. I’ll just have to experiment more on the latter.

    The Instructor
    Finally, the instruction. Trevor is well suited for the training at hand. He has infinite patience, a very positive communication style that allows constructive criticism where needed, and can walk the walk after talking the talk. While I can’t yet communicate how a specific course curriculum was covered, after minimal discussion he was able to create a customized approach to reactive rifle and competition shooting skills for the carbine that met my needs and goals perfectly. And I mean perfectly. The experience as I indicated earlier was fulfilling, exhilarating and appropriately exhausting. Not many people can teach a wide range of principles and concepts in a relatively short time frame, break it down into palatable components, and know when to move on to the next item when the current one is sufficiently mastered.

    In terms of future training expectations, I aim to iron out my equipment problems and practice using the supportive gear, exercise a bit more intently to focus on shoulder strength and aerobic capacity, practice a number of concepts on my home property using dry fire techniques, get my butt off the bench at the range and spend more time standing and improving steadiness using a modified shooting stance, and then get more private time. Finally, I need to memorize a bit better the IDPA and USPSA range commands that will be coming from the safety officer hovering behind my back. My guess is I’ll both request a short 4 hour training session follow-up, and then wait for the next 2 day reactive rifle course to become available. I’ll be there.

    Thank you, Trevor, for a day I will remember!

    Important Links
    Dynamic Defense Concepts (www.ddctraining.net)
    Dynamic Defense Concepts Training Curriculum (http://www.ddctraining.net/Courses.asp)
    Bollinger Gunsmithing (http://www.bollingergunsmithing.com/)
    Windham Weaponry SRC 5.56 (https://www.windhamweaponry.com/firearms/rifles/223-556-caliber-rifle/src/)
    Colt 6951 Carbine 9mm (www.colt.com/Portals/0/Specs/2016/AR6951.pdf)
     

    bman940

    Bart, Nikon Pro Staff
    Oct 11, 2010
    156
    North Texas
    What a great review! Very thorough and I enjoyed your insights! Doing things liek that keep you young and next thing you know you are signing up for a 3-gun tourney! I took an older friend of mine to a carbine competition, I am 58 and he is in 60's. He came in dead last but had a ball. I told him I compete against myself. I try to make fewer mistakes each time and don't waorry about what the 27 year old guy is doing. My buddy was hooked and has been practicing 2 times a week with a coach and has thanked me. Needless to say I'm not inviting him back to my club because even though someone has to finish last I don't want it to be me!

    What did you think of your Blackforce 1000 scope. I have been using one for 6 months now and have yet to let someone put some rounds under it who doesn't want one after finding out the price.

    Again, great write-up and kudo's to Trevor for running a well thought out program.
     

    boss281

    Ultimate Member
    Apr 14, 2012
    1,575
    Carroll County
    Hey Bart.

    Thanks for the feedback and comments.

    On the bench, the Nikon scope is perfect, and I will keep it along with my more traditional Nikon rifle scopes, but the weight of the scope is not workable for me for dynamic carbine training that requires a lot of free standing target shoots. If I have an obstacle such as a tree or barrel to lean on, it's not so much a problem, and like I said, for 3 gun it's probably fine based on a mix of prone shooting and using materials set up on the course as support for the rifle platform. I think a standard red dot (like the Vortex Strikefire I put on the rifle when I got home) is lighter and allows a quicker acquisition of target, and what I'll take next. Again, for PCC divisions in USPSA and IDPA, my c-more is perfect.

    That said, I've used the Blackforce out to 100 yards, and will give 200 yards a go soon. Sure, it's a bit pricey, but found it solid and the illumination of the reticle convenient in my hands. It's a keeper.

    John
     

    boss281

    Ultimate Member
    Apr 14, 2012
    1,575
    Carroll County
    What a great review! Very thorough and I enjoyed your insights! Doing things liek that keep you young and next thing you know you are signing up for a 3-gun tourney! I took an older friend of mine to a carbine competition, I am 58 and he is in 60's. He came in dead last but had a ball. I told him I compete against myself. I try to make fewer mistakes each time and don't waorry about what the 27 year old guy is doing. My buddy was hooked and has been practicing 2 times a week with a coach and has thanked me. Needless to say I'm not inviting him back to my club because even though someone has to finish last I don't want it to be me!

    What did you think of your Blackforce 1000 scope. I have been using one for 6 months now and have yet to let someone put some rounds under it who doesn't want one after finding out the price.

    Again, great write-up and kudo's to Trevor for running a well thought out program.

    Bart, after sending the note to your feedback above, it really starting bothering me about the scope's weight and my struggle having it off the bench for the first time in a defensive, rifle scenario. It also reminded me of a comment Trevor made about my preference for using the collapsible stock fully extended, which in retrospect is probably tied directly to my using M16's with fixed stocks in the service. He gently suggested I collapse the stock a bit, and I pushed back as it felt too unnatural at the moment and my ego probably got in the way, and we moved on since the day was short. But, I've been reading about "natural point of aim" for a few days, and decided to go back to Trevor's comments about a natural stance from my feet and collapse the stock a bit, presenting a more forward facing stance, and test that using my original 5.56 setup from that day, and another similar 5.56 rifle using the Vortex.

    So, I pulled the Strikefire II red dot off the Windham Weaponry SRC and put the Blackforce 1000 back on. I took the detachable carry handle off my Windham Weaponry HBC and put the Strikefire on that. Then I pasted paper plates to the backside of the house today, and started dry firing with the a comfortable grip on my weak hand, the degree of stock extension, cheek weld, and buttstock position on the shoulder.


    Since I had nothing to focus on beyond stance and rifle stability, a more natural stance fell into place quickly with both rifles, including the one with the heavier Blackforce scope. It didn't seem as heavy by using my natural point of aim, modifying my weak hand grip, pushing the buttstock higher on my strong side shoulder and moving around going pew pew on the paper plates.

    I've written down stance and stability as one item for my next coaching session. I'll have more feedback from the range tomorrow using the scope from a standing position at 50 yards. The range is usually crazy crowded weekends, but I can't wait to try this...
     

    photoracer

    Competition Shooter
    Oct 22, 2010
    3,318
    West Virginia
    Nice review. One thing about action shooting is, in general, unless you have an initial point of reference, your firearms tend to change shape and setup frequently until it feels right. Sort of like the old military axiom that no plan survives contact with the enemy, an initial pre-match setup is never stable until its been tested in competition. My initial 3-gun rifle included a complete 3G upper from Stag Arms. Yet in less than 3 years the only original part left on the rifle was the barrel (it was death to any steel under 400 yards). I had to learn to use the 1-4x Burris scope like a red dot at 1x and a scope at 4x. Nothing brought that into focus better than trying to shoot clay pigeons at 15 yards at the York 3Man/3Gun match with the AR.
     

    boss281

    Ultimate Member
    Apr 14, 2012
    1,575
    Carroll County
    Nice review. One thing about action shooting is, in general, unless you have an initial point of reference, your firearms tend to change shape and setup frequently until it feels right. Sort of like the old military axiom that no plan survives contact with the enemy, an initial pre-match setup is never stable until its been tested in competition. My initial 3-gun rifle included a complete 3G upper from Stag Arms. Yet in less than 3 years the only original part left on the rifle was the barrel (it was death to any steel under 400 yards). I had to learn to use the 1-4x Burris scope like a red dot at 1x and a scope at 4x. Nothing brought that into focus better than trying to shoot clay pigeons at 15 yards at the York 3Man/3Gun match with the AR.

    What "feels right" is the Colt pattern 9mm. My gut tells me I might have some turnover in optics as I find just the right one (I have a Holosun HS510C on the Colt 6951 which I'm testing tomorrow morning), but I doubt much will change on the actual factory hardware (think Factory Stock in drag racing).

    I had "no plan survives in the face of the enemy" beat into me long ago. I seem to recall that presentation on an overhead projector!
     

    boss281

    Ultimate Member
    Apr 14, 2012
    1,575
    Carroll County
    I like a red dot on my 9mm PCCs. I am generally good to somewhere between 50-75 yards with that.

    It was windy at the range around 10am this morning, but after shooting from the bench at 25 to verify zero and then standing to ensure some semblance of groups with a shakey target, I moved out to 50 yards and the Holosun's combination of 2 moa red dot and 65 moa ring worked well (you can bounce back and forth between the two). The 124g Winchester WinClean shoots about 2" higher going from 25 to 50 yards, but that's well within reason for the targets we shoot. Nice red dot...the solar panel electric backup is cool enough, but I cowitnessed my magpul rear BUIS just in case the redundancy fails me!
     

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