This past weekend I taught the “Beta” version of the Designated Marksman course that I’ve developed. It incorporated the suggestions and changes from the “Alpha” version I taught back in April. I had one holdover student that took the Alpha course and two newbies.
Day one morning was the lecture part of the course
work. It defines terminology, the
purpose of a DM (in my opinion anyway) and the fundamentals of the skill set
that I will be working through on the range. I’ve included an image of the training flyer
that summarizes the course and equipment.
After lunch we moved to the 50-yard range and their 22LR training
rifles. You’ll note that everyone in the
photo ended up with the Ruger American 22LR as their training rifle – it was
not purposeful but kind of interesting.
One fellow brought a conversion kit for his scoped AR, but it simply
proved too finicky to use so he used my training rifle.
The goal of this portion of the course is to move the
shooter toward shooting 5-round groups on 2 inch targets at 50 yards with a 90%
consistency (Accuracy) and a group size averages of 2MOA – or 1-inch sized
groups (Precision) . To get there, I
work them through all the fundamentals rifle shooting and simply work our way
through all the basics. As you can see from
the three targets the Accuracy was reasonably achieved but work remains on the
precision.
At the end of Day One they all sent 5 rounds through their
selected DM rifles to confirm their zero at 50 yards and the day ended.
Day two saw us move out to the 100-yard range beginning with
their 22LR trainer rifles. I believe this
step is key. The goal here for both
rifles is that 90% of all their rounds fall within 3-inch targets (Accuracy)
and that their group size averages 2MOA – a 2-inch group (Precision). My reasoning for starting with the 22LR
trainer is that it’s more cost effective to build and maintain a shooting skill
set with ammunition that costs $.09 per round rather than $2.00+ per
round. If you can’t meet these
requirements with a 22LR trainer, you won’t with a larger caliber DM rifle. The morning was spent working on all the
fundamentals that would allow them to meet these requirements. It’s at this point that folks begin to realize
phrases like . . . “I can shoot ½ MOA
all day long” . . . may be a bit of a stretch.
Each target sheet contains 5ea. 3-inch targets. After around 4 boxes of 22LR – 8 completed
target sheets – we chatted about what they had all learned, talked about how to
apply that to their DM rifle and broke for lunch.
After lunch we moved to their individual DM rifles. We had a .223 scoped AR, a Ruger American in
6.5 Creedmoor (the best overall performer) and a Ruger M77 in .308. Again, the same shooting standards were held
. . . and again the phrase . . . “I can shoot ½ MOA all day long” . . . took a
bit of a beating. All shooters ended the
day with work remaining to be done but with a solid training approach of how to
get there using a training rifle and their primary rifle.
We had a final debrief and the day ended. As is often said, shooting is a perishable
skill. It is certainly true with rifle
shooting that needs to be both Accurate and Precise. They all seemed happy with the process that
was taught, the elements of the skillset and the dual approach of a training
and primary rifle. “A fine time was had
by all!”
This was the end of the primary testing of the course, I
will bring it live in the Spring of 2024.
If you’re interested, drop me a PM.