I figured I would give a little AAR about the class this week. This is my first AAR so go easy on me.
My background is law enforcement for 6 years. This was the first class I had taken in the private sector. I have taken a couple "advanced" LE classes given by my department including our patrol rifle class and advanced pistol.

The class was March 20-21 2009 at Pop Deans in southwest ranches Fl. The weather was great day 1, and overcast with a couple spots of rain day 2.

First the instructors...Lead was of course Chris Costa. Costa has a great personality and a great teaching style. He presents the material in a way that I think applied to everyone..whether you were taking the class as military, law enforcement or a civvy for home defense. Patrick Garcia flew in as the second instructor. He also showed a good amount of knowledge in what he was teaching and worked hard in getting the students past their weaknesses. Both instructors were pretty awesome shooters. Both demonstrated and explained their techniques and the theory behind them.

The class...Day 1 started with a safety briefing. The instructors designated medical guys based on their occupation. We had a couple doctors and EMTs in the class. Safety was emphasized. Without proper safety a great day shooting can turn into one of the worst days ever. Next we went on to zeroing the guns. Most people were pretty close but there was a couple coming out with brand new guns that didn’t want to run. Costa stressed the fundamentals. He went over body positioning, grip, and trigger control. I was always a magwell gripper. After watching his videos and seeing it explained and demonstrated in person I now use the grip they teach. The control just seems so much better. We went over positions. Standing, combat knee, prone and urban prone. This was my first time trying urban prone and while it seemed goofy, after a little manipulation and instruction I was able to comfortably get into position and see the value and application that it was developed for. We also worked on reloads both tactical and speed reloads. They went over the importance of keeping the gun ready to go, bumping up your magazines to the pouches you grab first and maintaining a tactical awareness. All shooting was followed up by scanning and assessing for more threats. The first day also covered malfunction drills. Clearing a double feed and a round that didn’t go off or chamber with tap, rack, bang. The also stressed the importance of doing a press check on all your guns. Between drills they solicited and answered questions on everything from proper positioning…to the type of undys Costa was wearing. Drills shooting from and moving to different positions were gone over constantly. The evening portion of the class dealt with shooting at night. This included different flashlight techniques using both handheld and weapon mounted lights. The day ended with shooting steel from a standing position at approximately 40 yards in the dark. We were allowed to light up the target and get your sights on and then had to turn it off and shoot. This really stressed the importance of trigger control and a good grip and stance. If you were not locked in you would not make the hits.
Day 2 started by re-emphasizing the safety rules. We worked on shooting around barricades and threw ports. We also did some shooting on the move. We started by just moving to position and then shooting, and then shooting as we moved. The moving was pretty much a 25 yard dash and then getting into position to shoot. Got to get that breathing going to make it interesting. We also shot from about 7 yards out to 100 yards including standing shots at 100. Everyone was making their hits. The end of day 2 was focused on pistol and transitions. Costa did a little pistol review and helped people with their grips. He showed us the different ways to transition and we spent some time setting up the gun to go dry, transition to pistol, and then back to the rifle.
My equipment for the class consisted of the following: My primary rifle was my trusty Bushmaster. It has a 16 inch M4 barrel, flattop, Larue rear sight , Daniel Defense Omega 7 inch rail, a tangodown stubby grip, Surefire 6p LED mounted in a Viking tactical mount, 2 stage RRA trigger and a M4 collapsible stock with CAA sidesaddle. Sling was a Gear sector single point. No optics…irons only. The gun performed perfectly. I had 1 malfunction in about 1500 rounds. It was a doublefeed that was caused by an older USGI mag that I was using. I mostly used PMAGS though and never had a single problem with them even after being dropped in mud and water. My pistol was my issued Glock 22 with TLR1 in a Bladetech holster. I wore a tactical tailor MAV with the X rear harness. I had a triple shingle on the left side and 2 singles on the right for primary mags and 2 pistol mags on the left side. It was low profile enough that I could get into all the positions and access my pistol without any problems. I also added two more pistol mages on my belt in kidded carriers. I shot mostly 55grn PRVI mixed in with a little federal value pack and xm193. No ammo failures at all.
I found the class fun, informative and a great value. I worked on my weaknesses and found that my trigger control needs work. The second day when I focused on that I saw my groups improve greatly. I want to thank Magpul Dynamics, Chris Costa, Patrick Garcia, Omi, Ian and everyone else that put this together.I also want to thank everyone in the class for keeping it safe and having a great time. There was some pretty good shooters in the class. The only thing holding me back from taking a lot more classes is funds right now but I will definatly be out there again.

There was a couple people out there taking pictures. If you guys are on throw a couple up so we can see.

Yeah Pics would be greatly appreciated...

Thanks, for sharing. Nice AAR.

The heading is wrong though. It wasn't a pistol class. It was a rifle class...

DOHH!!  Fixed it. Dont know where that came from.

I can't still move properly and my whole body hurts. Considering all that physical workout, that was a very miniscule mistake... Hahaha...

Good shootin with you guys..had a blast...just signed up for carbine 2. Justin said there was 7 slots left...lets do it again

Rich

I was good shooting with you guys .I just signed up for carbine 2 time to practice.

Had a great time too, first ever class of any type for me. But since I bought the DVD ahead of time I should have watched it to get an idea of what this was all about!

The first day was grueling for me because I am grossly obese & out of shape, had too much information coming at me too fast, had never shot a rifle standing up (let alone kneeling or prone), and my right middle finger got "gapped" big time. All I tried to do was to keep the muzzle down and avoid an AD.

By the second day I had a better feel for the trigger reset technique Chris & Patrick expoused, I decided to wear the Oakley gloves, and I felt less insecure about shooting around others.  Chris & Patrick were very supportive, and gave a lot of good tips to each one individually.

I learned a lot, and really enjoyed myself. 1800 rounds of Lake City in a stock 6920 and not a single misfire! But on the second day with gloves I couldn't reach around the Magpul grip with the big backstrap to manipulate the safety efficiently.The chest rig I bought with FAST mag pouches was not set up properly for this class. etc... these were the only downers on the second day.

Most of all I was surprised how competent & congenial the other shooters were. Matt (he of the air cooled tactical pants), Paul, and Ayan each gave me useful tips along the way, and  they weren't the only ones to do so.
Before taking another class I will correct the deficiencies mentioned earlier, and I will practice the drills on the DVD at the range & at home as much as possible.
I allready told Justin Beard that Magpul should consider another Carbine I class here in December or thereafter, as June is out of the question for me. It will happen.

Regards,

Jorge Ravelo