Rifle Gunfighting with Randy Harris

**mattmann** · 03-11-2013, 01:32 PM

Well folks its regretfully over. I hosted a class in tunica, ms and it was this past weekend. I basically started this thread to give my experiences and to praise the Suarez instructor Randy Harris. The class was a two day fighting rifle class. Like I said before it took place at a outdoor range in tunica, Mississippi. I honestly didn't know what to expect as far as range officers and what not but it was a great experience. They didn't at all breathe down our necks, brought out water, and even let us stay a little late Saturday and start early Sunday. The weather was absolutely horrible. Saturday it was great as far as temperature but the freaking wind was blowing about 25mph and blowing the target stands and targets to pieces. But we managed with anything from screw boxes, ammo cans, and cases of water to hold down the targets....it was redneck engineering at its finest lol. Saturday started off with the basic safety stuff that everyone needs to know. Up until lunch it was a dry fire class. After lunch we started working on off hand rifle manipulation and it was a awesome learning experience. I will tell you know from experience keep your thumb down on off hand ak manipulation. Saturday night we all met up at Paula Deans for dinner and got to know each other a lot better. Its pretty awesome that you go in to something not knowing people and end up feeling like you've known them for years. I don't think Randy will look at people from arkansas the same though. Sunday we got started an hour early not to mention the time change that already took an hour. It was cloudy with 35-40mph gust that were almost knocking us over much less our targets. We were rushing like crazy trying to beat the big storm front that was supposed to hit between 3-4pm. Well it came about 3 hours early. Even though the weather sucked we stayed and fought it out. This was a great time to test out what works and what don't from chest rigs, arrangements of equipment, optics, guns, all the way down to your hearing protection. I was so happy that I didn't skip on a quality optic on my ak. I can honestly say that aimpoint is worth the money in my book. At the end of the day we had a great class and great instructor. I really appreciated the fact that he tried to do some dry fire practice as well as live fire drills to conserve as as much as possible. I think everyone walked away with way more knowledge than before and a confidence with a rifle we didn't have before. Overall from my view we had a great turn out and I can't wait for the next one.

Sent from my DROID RAZR

**AlwaysVigilant** · 03-11-2013, 03:06 PM

Wow, you typed all that on your phone!

**mattmann** · 03-11-2013, 03:42 PM

With fingers the size of King Kong lol.

Sent from my DROID RAZR

**Josh Ward** · 03-11-2013, 05:07 PM

I must agree with Matt. Facility was nice, the range folks basically let us "do our thing"

As far as the class goes - 2 thumbs up Definatly have some take aways to work on in my personal training. The weak side weapon manupilations and team work were the highlight for me. Randy did an excellent job presenting the information and keeping the class moving in a positive way.

Yes, the weather blew chunks. However, I for one appreciate the fact that we all pressed forward, its not going to be sunny, no wind, and 70, when you need your gun for "real".......

**Goodspeed(TPF)** · 03-11-2013, 05:08 PM

Originally Posted by AlwaysVigilant

Wow, you typed all that on your phone!

I was thinking the same thing, lol.

Nice write-up mattmann.

**thenar eminence** · 03-11-2013, 05:41 PM

I must agree...the wind was most annoying. I, however, did appreciate the experience of training in the rain. I learned what works, what doesnt, how i will need to modify my own practice to incorporate fowl weather practice, and appreciated the additional stress placed on us. I also am happy to know that quality gear can hold up under bad weather conditions. No problems cramming muddy TSD mags in my S&W M&P TS, nor was rain or fog an issue with Leupold VXR Patrol. I must admit it did add twice as much time to my cleaning when I got home, though. Not used to mud and water everywhere in my gear when I get home from a range session.
As a matter of gear, I feel like I saved the class tuition worth of money on gear. I know now what I need, what works, how to modify existing gear, and what I need to focus my energies on when I make my next purchases. I was very thankful that I took this class before I became married to a bunch of gear that I would have been upset to have wasted money on.
Randy was also a great instructor. He is very knowledgeable about his subject matter, very approachable, flexible to individual needs, and changing situations. It says a lot about a guy who lost an hour due to changing time zones, losing an hour due to daylight savings, and staying at a casino who will agree to starting his sunday class early in order to get in as much training as possible before the bad weather. It says even more about a guy who will stick with it and slog around in the cold rain and mud to give us all a great experience. I would highly recommend Randy as an instructor and have already bragged to several friends and family members. We may have opened a new market.
I also learned a ton from the great group of guys I had the privilege of sharing the range with. I learned a lot about practice and gear from listening to those who have been there and done that. What a great tribe to learn from!

**ChTheo** · 03-11-2013, 06:40 PM

Hello Gentlemen (I use that term loosely)

This is Chuck. First of all it was truly a pleasure meeting you guys and training with you. It's nice to know there are like minded individuals out there from Mississippi to Mexico to Korea and even aquatic regions secured by Mer-men.

I enjoyed the class and walk away with a lot of useful information. It was also helpful that Randy was able to bring with him hurricane katrina so that we were able to test our gear in severe inclement weather. (thanks Randy)

I appreciate the fact we continued to train in the extreme weather. During this time we were executing our team movement drills, so not only were you required to focus on the targets downrange, communicate with your teammates, and make sure your gear was running well, but you also needed to adjust to the wind, rain and mud.

The facility was very nice and let us do our thing. That's always a bonus.

A big thanks to Randy for your straight forward approach and logical explanations. Your reasoning behind the techniques you teach are sound and allow you to understand the why.

I look forward to training with you guys in the future. Hopefully we'll see each other in Ky.

Chuck