Armory Sponsor
Posted: 11/28/2005 3:13:24 PM EDT
|
The 26th and 27th of November I attended the police shotgun operator course offered through the Administration of Justice department of Glendale Community College. The class was conducted on the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Firearms Training Division range. The instructors were Don Burke and Mike Branham, they are both full time instructors for MCSO and AZPOST. I appreciated their instructional method, it was not dogmatic at all and they kept the class serious but fun. I believe this is important (so long as the quality of information given does not suffer), as students will usually remember more of what they learned if they enjoyed the class and will be more likely to attend another. Having the class on the MCSO range was very beneficial, as the instructors made use of expensive training equipment conducting the class, including a remote controlled moving target base, and remote controlled targets that present themselves upon command. We were also able to use county owned vehicles for doing teamwork drills, simulating arriving on scene of a crime. The class was made up of 4 law enforcement professionals, while the rest were private citizens. Everyone in the class had experience in practical action shooting, taken multiple firearms training classes before, or both. As a result the class progressed much faster than the instructors had anticipated and it allowed us to do more advanced drills including teamwork and threat assessment. We also did some competitive drills to induce stress on the shooter. These included man vs man shoot-off elimination 3 rounds in your shotgun, 3 plates and one set of stop plates...losers were eliminated from the stack. Paul won this drill shooting his SST-590 and Glock. Another drill was 6 steel plates that were to be engaged from 3 positions of cover as you could see them, lowest time won. Jason won this drill with his 870. Buck Shot Patterning was done at 7, 15, 25, 35, and 50 yards. Shotguns pattern dramatically different from other of the same type, even with the same ammunition. Some types of ammunition pattern dramatically better than others. It was clear that it is important for the operator to understand how his shotgun performs with the type of ammunition he uses. Engagements with Slugs were done at 25, 50, and 100 yards. We shot slugs at 200 yards mostly as an experiment to see what the guns were capable of...the over whelming verdict, past 100 yards use a rifle. The threat assessment and teamwork drills done on Day 2 were the most valuable for me. We engaged targets that featured people holding various objects...some were weapons, some not. Some of the weapons people were holding did not make them a legitimate threat at certain distances. I.E. 35 yards away from a woman with OC canister = no shoot. Doing this drill in broad daylight with these targets made it easy to understand from an LEO perspective how easy it can be to interpret someone holding a cell phone or wallet as a threat if they don't respond to verbal commands to "drop it" Deploying from a vehicle as teams was also very interesting. Communication when working with other people is key...teams learned this quickly as those who communicated completed the drill smoothly, and those that did not had difficulty. Overall this was an excellent class, but the best part was the price. For $90.00 you’d be hard pressed to find the same level of instruction with equivalent facilities offered anywhere. Pictures:  Class Photo back row: ranger mike, azcop, innocent_bystander, notgrownupyetsbr556, a320az, artful, ariz_sig, slap_iron front row: mesa cop, az_ranger, cat_mechanic, sinistralrifleman  left to right: Paul, Myself, and Joe with our SST adapter equipped shotguns   Shotguns used in the class  Basic shooting and loading drills   Turning and presenting the shotgun to the Threat    Shooting on the move.   TRANSITION!   Shooting around cover.   Shooting Slugs at 100 yards.   Instructor controlled moving target.   Threat assessment targets   Shooting clays at the end of the class to practice on moving targets and for fun. www.cavalryarms.com/training/2005-11-26-27-GCCshotgun/GCCshotgun1.html Full gallery. I have some videos to edit and upload later. |
|
Timed course of fire, engaging steel targets as they become visible advancing to 3 positions of cover: www.cavalryarms.com/training/2005-11-26-27-GCCshotgun/GCC-01.wmv Man vs Man shoot off. 3 Rounds in shotgun to start, 3 steel plates per shooter, stop plates in the middle. www.cavalryarms.com/training/2005-11-26-27-GCCshotgun/GCC-02.wmv Shooting at the instructor controlled moving target www.cavalryarms.com/training/2005-11-26-27-GCCshotgun/GCC-03.wmv Two man teams engaging red hostile targets next to white no-shoot targets with slugs, exiting from vehicle www.cavalryarms.com/training/2005-11-26-27-GCCshotgun/GCC-04.wmv Two man teams engaging red hostile targets next to white no-shoot targets. Driver has handgun only, passenger has shotgun. Teams drive to cover and exit vehicle. www.cavalryarms.com/training/2005-11-26-27-GCCshotgun/GCC-05.wmv Two man teams, driver has pistol, passenger has shotgun. The instructor with remote control presents targets to the teams. Teams assess targets to determine if they are a threat, and engage as necessary. www.cavalryarms.com/training/2005-11-26-27-GCCshotgun/GCC-06.wmv |
Armory Sponsor