ARMY RIFLE QUALS IMPROVE SCORE

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I know someone who just completed Army boot camp as a Reservist.
Their rifle score was Marksman. That breaks my heart. Is there any particular instructor or rifle classes you would say send them to this person or class before their next qual that would definately help them improve their score.
The point of departure would be KY so it would be nice if the class was within a days drive.

[Yute]

I teach preliminary marksmanship instruction for my unit.

Aside from shooting fundamentals, the new Army qual forces the Soldier to be more familiar in both how their weapon works, and how their gear is set up. You have to know how to clear malfunction/prevent malfunctions from occurring as there are no alibis. You have to have your mags staged on your body in a way you can easily access them, and in different positions (prone, kneeling, standing). Invest in good pouches.

Dry fire is essential, particularly with all your gear.

People throw shade a the EST (electronic simulator) all the time, but I've always found it a good predictor of performance. Try to go through the EST as many times as your unit allows you. Also has aircon so why wouldn't you want to be in there.

You have to establish a good zero. If you can't group to the 6 MOA standard, work on your fundamentals. Consistency is key. Ideally it should be to group within 4 MOA. Don't let someone clear you off the Zero range without a good zero otherwise you will not qual.

Be familiar with hold unders. Because we use a 25/300m zero, holding under is helpful for the 150-250m targets.

USE THE BARRICADE FOR SUPPORT. When shooting kneeling and standing supported, I am leaning my entire weight onto my rifle, anchoring my magazine against the barricade. The barricade will not tip over. It makes a huge difference for the 200-300m shots when my heart is pumping.

Because of the dynamic nature of the qual, wearing armor, etc, I find the use of iron sights is a significant penalty. Using the CCO (Aimpoint) is significantly easier, using the RCO (ACOG) is basically cheating. Unfortunately it will be up to your units on what you get.

Sometimes the lanes don't record hits. Some of the ranges have very difficult targets to see and have foliage that obscure more than what is specified on the TC. Some ranges have green targets than blend into the background, others have orange ones that can be seen 500m out. While we all want to get expert, sometimes there are factors beyond our control that only the big green weenie has a say in.

[LittleLebowski]

Appleseed or a basic carbine class.

[JHC]

I know someone who just completed Army boot camp as a Reservist.
Their rifle score was Marksman. That breaks my heart. Is there any particular instructor or rifle classes you would say send them to this person or class before their next qual that would definately help them improve their score.
The point of departure would be KY so it would be nice if the class was within a days drive.

That's a great idea and to be encouraged.

I'll tell you how I did it for the purpose of a testimonial that it will help vs a prescription of how I did it.

Both our lads are active duty Army.

The elder was a passionate serious student of the pistol and carbine. Dry fired a ton, shot on the North Georgia team, competed in AMU events and local matches (3rd one year at All Army at Benning, behind two E-7s from the Benning Ranger Batt, won a match or two at the Creekside facility in NW GA). I didn't worry about him.

His little brother was pretty "meh" about working on shooting growing up until he got serious about enlisting 11B. I found I could only train him up to mediocre no matter how I tried. I took a page from what I learned about a hitting instructor from youth baseball and booked two days private instruction with Frank Proctor who is not such a bad drive from here. Basic rifle instruction, CQB carbine stuff, gun handling etc and pistol. And it was transformative. His improvement was dramatic and he was able to build on those learnings and acquits himself quite well. He's "good" with a pistol whereas his older bro' is very good and can burn me down at anything at any range any day of the week. But the younger Infantryman runs a carbine like he was born with it grafted onto him.

100% endorse doing what you're thinking.

[UNK]

I teach preliminary marksmanship instruction for my unit.

Aside from shooting fundamentals, the new Army qual forces the Soldier to be more familiar in both how their weapon works, and how their gear is set up. You have to know how to clear malfunction/prevent malfunctions from occurring as there are no alibis. You have to have your mags staged on your body in a way you can easily access them, and in different positions (prone, kneeling, standing). Invest in good pouches.

Dry fire is essential, particularly with all your gear.

People throw shade a the EST (electronic simulator) all the time, but I've always found it a good predictor of performance. Try to go through the EST as many times as your unit allows you. Also has aircon so why wouldn't you want to be in there.

You have to establish a good zero. If you can't group to the 6 MOA standard, work on your fundamentals. Consistency is key. Ideally it should be to group within 4 MOA. Don't let someone clear you off the Zero range without a good zero otherwise you will not qual.

Be familiar with hold unders. Because we use a 25/300m zero, holding under is helpful for the 150-250m targets.

USE THE BARRICADE FOR SUPPORT. When shooting kneeling and standing supported, I am leaning my entire weight onto my rifle, anchoring my magazine against the barricade. The barricade will not tip over. It makes a huge difference for the 200-300m shots when my heart is pumping.

Because of the dynamic nature of the qual, wearing armor, etc, I find the use of iron sights is a significant penalty. Using the CCO (Aimpoint) is significantly easier, using the RCO (ACOG) is basically cheating. Unfortunately it will be up to your units on what you get.

Sometimes the lanes don't record hits. Some of the ranges have very difficult targets to see and have foliage that obscure more than what is specified on the TC. Some ranges have green targets than blend into the background, others have orange ones that can be seen 500m out. While we all want to get expert, sometimes there are factors beyond our control that only the big green weenie has a say in.

Appleseed or a basic carbine class.

That's a great idea and to be encouraged.

I'll tell you how I did it for the purpose of a testimonial that it will help vs a prescription of how I did it.

Both our lads are active duty Army.

The elder was a passionate serious student of the pistol and carbine. Dry fired a ton, shot on the North Georgia team, competed in AMU events and local matches (3rd one year at All Army at Benning, behind two E-7s from the Benning Ranger Batt, won a match or two at the Creekside facility in NW GA). I didn't worry about him.

His little brother was pretty "meh" about working on shooting growing up until he got serious about enlisting 11B. I found I could only train him up to mediocre no matter how I tried. I took a page from what I learned about a hitting instructor from youth baseball and booked two days private instruction with Frank Proctor who is not such a bad drive from here. Basic rifle instruction, CQB carbine stuff, gun handling etc and pistol. And it was transformative. His improvement was dramatic and he was able to build on those learnings and acquits himself quite well. He's "good" with a pistol whereas his older bro' is very good and can burn me down at anything at any range any day of the week. But the younger Infantryman runs a carbine like he was born with it grafted onto him.

100% endorse doing what you're thinking.

Thanks for the input. I think Ive got the info I needed to give this a start. That said further imput is always welcome.

[HCM]

Appleseed or a basic carbine class.

This ^^.

In KY I would look at class with Karl Erickson of Tactical Rifleman - He a retired SF Sgt Major in the Ft Cambell area. While better known for his Youtube channel he and his guys teach solid fundamentals.

http://www.tacticalrifleman.com/

[Yute]

Forgot to add - monopod the magazine on the ground during prone unsupported. It works, is allowed, and doesn't cause malfunctions - I think Pat Rogers told us that back in the late 2000s.

[UNK]

This ^^.

In KY I would look at class with Karl Erickson of Tactical Rifleman - He a retired SF Sgt Major in the Ft Cambell area. While better known for his Youtube channel he and his guys teach solid fundamentals.

http://www.tacticalrifleman.com/

Rifle Zero looks like a great starting point.

[Wake27]

Rifle Zero looks like a great starting point.

That does look like a great start. I’ll chime in with some thoughts tomorrow but they’ll boil down to something along the lines of most of the courses I’ve taken not really helping much because I struggle at 250 and 300. The one you mentioned would probably be more beneficial than many.


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They qualed with irons in boot camp but re qual is usually with the cco a red dot with no magnification. Interesting.