Odin Bravo One
07-30-2012, 11:27 PM
My GF (and I, as the creepy dude onlooker) attended Jay's LSHD Women's Only Carbine this past Saturday at the BV Rifle club way the hell and gone up in western PA. Despite the five and half hour drive from the GF's place, and the 4 hours it took me to get there, it was well worth the trip.
Jay was kind enough to let me stay and observe his teaching/training style and curriculum, even though it is just a little more than creepy for a dude to be hanging around an all women's training course. Fortunately, none of the ladies got scared enough to call the police, stab/shoot me, or ask me to leave.
This fundamentals class was EXACTLY that. Jay and his staff did a great job of presenting the fundamentals of the AR family to relatively new carbine shooters in a manner that was straight forward and easy to understand. The morning started pretty typical of most training, safety brief, range rules, etc. I found Jay's interpretation and explanation of the "Cardinal Rules" very comprehensive, and especially useful for these women who all knew the Cardinal Rules from pistol shooting and training, but I think many probably followed them to the letter without understanding a lot of the ideas and concepts in Cooper's rules. Jay remedied this with his approach and explanations to this important issue.
Then it was off to zero. Most of the gals could shoot well enough to get some decent groups, and I was amazed at how quickly this part of the course went. Even as chatty as most women I know tend to be, this group of ladies was not a lot of nonsense or gabbing, and they finished the zeroing event faster than any male dominated carbine course I have ever attended or taught. This is including "advanced" courses for LE/MIL where the students are instructed to arrive with a properly zeroed carbine. Three of the women shot full powered 5.56 carbines, while two elected to use M&P 15/22's.
Jay's curriculum flows well, and covers the essential information for establishing a solid foundation for follow on training, but can also serve well as a stand alone course if the special lady in your life is not going to pursue carbine training beyond this fundamentals class. There was nothing really "out of the ordinary" or "new" to me. But Jay and his cadre did a great job of getting the information to the shooters, and producing results on the targets down range. It really reinforced my belief that some of the best training available focuses solely on the fundamentals and the basics.
The day was a mix of paper, and steel target shooting, with some scored events, eventually leading up to engaging (correct me if I am wrong Jay) "A/C" zone steel gongs at 100 yards from the standing position.
There were some equipment issues, as the M&P 15/22 needs to have ammo it likes. Find the ammo that your gun likes, and stock up. The ladies using the .22's bought bulk packs somewhat in the blind as they were using loaner rifles and probably didn't know what brand their particular carbine would like. Then during the mini-monsoon that hit mid-afternoon, the 15/22's showed they don't care much for rain. Other than those few minor irritations, the guns ran smooth for the most part. There was a gal running the 15/22 who had brought her 5.56 carbine in hopes to get it zeroed at the lunch break as it was brand new to her, but elected not to run it during the course for the very understandable reason of ammo costs. Turned out to be a very wise decision. Or perhaps just lucky I suppose.
This young lady brought out her Bushmaster, and Jay picked up on a discrepancy with the receiver extension, buffer, and spring. This turned out to be the result of some home armorer work, and was easily and quickly addressed. However further inspection revealed the typical shitty assembly I expect from Bushmaster. Working on this gal's gun I couldn't help be be embarrassed for the poor employee's of that company. What a shit product.
The guns themselves are generally fine, but their QA/QC and assembly methods just suck. The gas key staking was pitiful. One surprise did pop up though. The 5.56 NATO marked barrel actually gauged out as a 5.56 NATO chamber. Still, it took about 20 minutes to turn this sack of shit assembly during production to turn her Bushmaster into a functioning and decent carbine. If only BM could spare the extra 20 minutes per gun to do the same thing we did on a picnic table, they might cease to build such shitty guns. Bottom line, I wouldn't take a Bushmaster if it was a gift and came with a B*!
This was the first time I have ever sat on the range all day and was neither student nor teacher. Next time I think I will the nearest Barnes and Noble. Besides feeling like the creepy dude stalking the all women's course, I found myself bored to tears at times. Not wanting to be in the way, or appear any creepier than I already did, I stayed far off the line, and well away from the action most of the time, which also meant I missed out on Jay's little nuggets of knowledge and wisdom as they popped up during training. I am quite sure I missed out on a lot of worthwhile information. Being half deaf certainly didn't help matters as I tried to eavesdrop from a distance to score some more information.
At the end of the day, my girl walked away with a new level of comfort and confidence in the carbine and her ability to hit realistic sized targets out to 100 yards. This was her first real training, or trigger time (other than the bench) with her AR, and she definitely came out swinging. She thoroughly enjoyed the course, learned a ton, and is already talking about "the next course".
Thanks to Jay and his cadre for putting on a great course for the ladies and for letting me creep. I highly recommend this course to any lady looking to get familiar with the carbine, and learn the basics and fundamentals the right way, the first time around.
Awesome course Jay!
Jay was kind enough to let me stay and observe his teaching/training style and curriculum, even though it is just a little more than creepy for a dude to be hanging around an all women's training course. Fortunately, none of the ladies got scared enough to call the police, stab/shoot me, or ask me to leave.
This fundamentals class was EXACTLY that. Jay and his staff did a great job of presenting the fundamentals of the AR family to relatively new carbine shooters in a manner that was straight forward and easy to understand. The morning started pretty typical of most training, safety brief, range rules, etc. I found Jay's interpretation and explanation of the "Cardinal Rules" very comprehensive, and especially useful for these women who all knew the Cardinal Rules from pistol shooting and training, but I think many probably followed them to the letter without understanding a lot of the ideas and concepts in Cooper's rules. Jay remedied this with his approach and explanations to this important issue.
Then it was off to zero. Most of the gals could shoot well enough to get some decent groups, and I was amazed at how quickly this part of the course went. Even as chatty as most women I know tend to be, this group of ladies was not a lot of nonsense or gabbing, and they finished the zeroing event faster than any male dominated carbine course I have ever attended or taught. This is including "advanced" courses for LE/MIL where the students are instructed to arrive with a properly zeroed carbine. Three of the women shot full powered 5.56 carbines, while two elected to use M&P 15/22's.
Jay's curriculum flows well, and covers the essential information for establishing a solid foundation for follow on training, but can also serve well as a stand alone course if the special lady in your life is not going to pursue carbine training beyond this fundamentals class. There was nothing really "out of the ordinary" or "new" to me. But Jay and his cadre did a great job of getting the information to the shooters, and producing results on the targets down range. It really reinforced my belief that some of the best training available focuses solely on the fundamentals and the basics.
The day was a mix of paper, and steel target shooting, with some scored events, eventually leading up to engaging (correct me if I am wrong Jay) "A/C" zone steel gongs at 100 yards from the standing position.
There were some equipment issues, as the M&P 15/22 needs to have ammo it likes. Find the ammo that your gun likes, and stock up. The ladies using the .22's bought bulk packs somewhat in the blind as they were using loaner rifles and probably didn't know what brand their particular carbine would like. Then during the mini-monsoon that hit mid-afternoon, the 15/22's showed they don't care much for rain. Other than those few minor irritations, the guns ran smooth for the most part. There was a gal running the 15/22 who had brought her 5.56 carbine in hopes to get it zeroed at the lunch break as it was brand new to her, but elected not to run it during the course for the very understandable reason of ammo costs. Turned out to be a very wise decision. Or perhaps just lucky I suppose.
This young lady brought out her Bushmaster, and Jay picked up on a discrepancy with the receiver extension, buffer, and spring. This turned out to be the result of some home armorer work, and was easily and quickly addressed. However further inspection revealed the typical shitty assembly I expect from Bushmaster. Working on this gal's gun I couldn't help be be embarrassed for the poor employee's of that company. What a shit product.
The guns themselves are generally fine, but their QA/QC and assembly methods just suck. The gas key staking was pitiful. One surprise did pop up though. The 5.56 NATO marked barrel actually gauged out as a 5.56 NATO chamber. Still, it took about 20 minutes to turn this sack of shit assembly during production to turn her Bushmaster into a functioning and decent carbine. If only BM could spare the extra 20 minutes per gun to do the same thing we did on a picnic table, they might cease to build such shitty guns. Bottom line, I wouldn't take a Bushmaster if it was a gift and came with a B*!
This was the first time I have ever sat on the range all day and was neither student nor teacher. Next time I think I will the nearest Barnes and Noble. Besides feeling like the creepy dude stalking the all women's course, I found myself bored to tears at times. Not wanting to be in the way, or appear any creepier than I already did, I stayed far off the line, and well away from the action most of the time, which also meant I missed out on Jay's little nuggets of knowledge and wisdom as they popped up during training. I am quite sure I missed out on a lot of worthwhile information. Being half deaf certainly didn't help matters as I tried to eavesdrop from a distance to score some more information.
At the end of the day, my girl walked away with a new level of comfort and confidence in the carbine and her ability to hit realistic sized targets out to 100 yards. This was her first real training, or trigger time (other than the bench) with her AR, and she definitely came out swinging. She thoroughly enjoyed the course, learned a ton, and is already talking about "the next course".
Thanks to Jay and his cadre for putting on a great course for the ladies and for letting me creep. I highly recommend this course to any lady looking to get familiar with the carbine, and learn the basics and fundamentals the right way, the first time around.
Awesome course Jay!