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View Full Version : 2011 Rangemaster Rac Conference AAR



Bratch
05-23-2011, 01:20 PM
I wasn't sure to if I should put this here or in the existing competition thread. Feel free to merge if necessary.

Rangemaster Tactical Conference
USSA Tulsa, OK
May 14-15, 2011

The Rangemaster crew hosted another successful Tac Conference this year in Tulsa. There were live fire and classroom sessions along with standards, scenarios, and a shoot house. Instructors this year included Rob Pincus, Mas Ayoob, S'Narc, Mike Brown, and many many others. Live fire and action courses covered: handguns, shotguns, hand to hand skills, unknown contact skills and medical skills. Classroom topics included: the Miami shootout, FOF for Instructors, stress management, terminal ballistics, working with loved ones, victim selection, and an intro to EP.

On Saturday I attended John Hearne's lecture on the Miami shootout, I knew that the FBI had ran into a couple bad men in Miami in 1986 and that their ammunition hadn't performed as well as hoped but that was about the extent of my knowledge. The 2 hour lecture covered the events and the participants in detail, much can be learned from the mistakes and successes of the FBI and the pure aggression and violence of Platt and Matix. I was surprised to learn that Matix took 13 hits during the battle and was still alive at the conclusion. Platt and Matix had shot several gun owners while they were target shooting to steal their cars during their crime spree, I was reminded that these are the threats we need to prepare for not for the crack head with the .25.

Following John's lecture I went to Karl Rehn's Force on Force for Instructors lecture. During Karl's scenarios multiple role players are involved; no one knows what the other players roles are or what will happen this allows for a more natural progression of events, many of his scenarios end with out “gun fire”. Karl walked us through the conclusion he has made in his year of teaching FoF (importance of seeing facial expressions) and how he designs he scenarios to teach the lessons he deems most important. As a class we walked through designing a scenario involving CCW on campus with an active shooter.

After Karl's lecture I shot the scenarios and shoot house. The scenarios replicated the Miami shootout and had four stages, One stage had a single target at 30 yard The next two stages had two targets each and had to be shot while using the hood and bed/tool box of a Ford truck for cover. The final stage had a forced reload behind low cover before engaging two more targets. The shoot house was set up as a restaurant with an active shooter, you had been separated from your significant other and had to move through the restaurant to find them engaging threats if found. The range officer acted as a voice for the targets and addressed you, reacted to your firearm, and answered your questions or commands. Part of the shoot house was dark enough to force the use of a light for target identification. All targets used in the shoot house and scenarios were 3-d reactive Hard Head Teds from DVC targets. They would only fall if hit in the 8” high center chest plate or ocular window, other shots simply went through the shell. The targets had to be shot to the ground to be neutralized.

The last class of the day I attended was Jim Higginbotham's handgun course. Jim stressed the need for solid hit in the center line to hit vital organs and the spine. He had several drills to reinforce the importance of solid hits, we shot modified Tueller drill to show the speed events can happen. Jim worked several reload drills and introduced what was a new method to me. Everyone reloaded normally on the clock, I was in the 1.75 sec range. Jim then introduced us to what I would call a modified Tac/Emergency reload. He showed getting the extra mag and bringing it to the gun, dropping the partially filled mag to the ground and inserting the fresh mag. Using this method I was able to get the time my gun was unload and off target down into the .5 second range. Jim had three students forced to shoot someone while they were reloading in 2010, he used these numbers to reinforce the importance of minimizing the time your gun is out of action. Jim had custom Hard Head Ted's built that had reduced hit zones some were as small as a 2” spinal column, these targets proved difficult for many.

Sunday began in Claude Werner's class on working with loved ones and the myth of the lone gun man. Claude discussed that we will usually have people with us when encountered with threats and will need to have plans in place for the best chance of success. He introduced problems that others have encountered while working with loved ones and what others have done to over come these problems. We discussed the importance of plans and assigned responsibilities during events and that uncertainties lead to delays in action that could be fatal. Everybody left class with a list of things to discuss with their loved ones to be better prepared.

I shot Wayne Dobb's Fundamental handgun course next. We focused on a few of the fundamentals Wayne considered most important with lecture, dry fire, and live fire. Wayne showed several tricks to make sure the fundamentals were being done correctly and drills to use both for yourself and for new shooters. We worked multiple shots string and double back drills to reinforce and make sure everyone had a good grasp on the fundamentals. Wayne was the match champion out of approximately 100 shooters so he clearly had a good grasp on the fundamentals.

Next I shot the standards. The standards were a timed and scored course of fire from 2 to 22 yards. Shots were from retention, kneeling prone, SHO and WHO. Every string had multiple targets and some had COM and head shots. I shot much worse than I had hoped I would be still came away with learning bits.

The final class I attended was Steve Moses' Intro to Executive Protection. This was the second straight year that Steve has done a class that I had 0 experience with so it was 2 hours of learning. Steve went over common practices, setting up a detail, and what he has found to work. While I am not in executive protection it was a very interesting class especially since I went into it knowing nothing. I was able to pick up a couple nuggets that could be included in my day to day life.

The conference wrapped up with awards and door prizes.

I managed to make 6 of the 16 classes so there was much more that happened that I wasn't able to attend or write up. This is probably my favorite weekend of the year. I get to spend two and a half days with the leading trainers in the industry and get exposed to some of their best material. I see some old friends that I haven't seen in a year and always manage to make a few new friends. I can't away until the 2012 conference.

John Ralston
05-23-2011, 03:09 PM
Nice write up - I am hoping to make it in 2012.

Al T.
05-23-2011, 05:32 PM
He showed getting the extra mag and bringing it to the gun, dropping the partially filled mag to the ground and inserting the fresh mag

Tom Givens had us doing this in his class. Made a lot of sense to me in my circumstances.

Excellent AAR by the way. :D

Bratch
05-23-2011, 09:04 PM
Tom Givens had us doing this in his class. Made a lot of sense to me in my circumstances.

Excellent AAR by the way. :D

Thanks

Its been almost 6.5 years since I took CP1 with Tom (my first class) he's either added that to his class or I completely forgot about it; both are a real possibility. Jim's class was the first time I could remember anybody showing it to me but I tend to forget things so I could have seen it five or six times and it never stuck.

It made alot of sense to me too. I've worked alot on emergency reloads and almost none on tac reloads (it shows) but I was able to cut the time my gun was empty by almost 70% using this method versus a traditional drop mag-grab reload- insert.

HeadHunter
06-03-2011, 07:15 PM
Sunday began in Claude Werner's class on working with loved ones and the myth of the lone gun man. Claude discussed that we will usually have people with us when encountered with threats and will need to have plans in place for the best chance of success. He introduced problems that others have encountered while working with loved ones and what others have done to over come these problems. We discussed the importance of plans and assigned responsibilities during events and that uncertainties lead to delays in action that could be fatal. Everybody left class with a list of things to discuss with their loved ones to be better prepared.

I will be presenting this again at the GeorgiaCarry (http://www.gacarry.org/) Annual Conference in August. The Convention dates are Fri Aug 5 - Sat Aug 6. I will be presenting on Saturday.