AK weekend with Randy Harris

[OHtard]

Just got back to OHIO, after a great weekend of training in the warm weather. I attended the AK marksmanship, AK armorer, and AK rifle fighting. This was my thrid weekend of training with Randy this year, and i must say, I have learned a ton.

Friday morning we started with the marksmanship class. It was a great tune-up for the weekend. covered a lot of positional work, as well as how to pprreessss the trigger. We then moved on to flash sight picture, the "caveman Eotech", and a little taste of what was to come for the rest of the weekend.

Friday night we had the armorers class. the instructor for the class was Derek Underwood. To say he knows AK's would be a huge understatement. He explained the differences between all the various AK models, and variants. We then got into the disassembly, and reassembly. Derek was very patient and, took time to walk every one of us through it. If you have an interest in the AK, and want to fully understand how it works this class is what you need.

Saturday morning we started with a brief safety discussion, and then on to some dry work. We got a good explanation on how to move, why you should move, and why it could save you. "In a game of rock'em soc'em robots with guns, nobody wins" I thought that was a good analogy, so i figured i would throw it in.
After lunch we moved to the range, and started with the noise making. We started by making sure everyone's rifles where sighted in. We then moved up, and started working on engaging targets, reloading, shoulder transfers, and figuring out how much of our sights we need to use to get hits in various situations, as well as working on "changing gears" between burst of fire to precise aimed shots.

Sunday morning started up where we had left off on Saturday night. We worked on shooting from various positions, and doing so from both shoulders. We also spent some time doing transitions to our sidearm.
After lunch we worked on our movement. We then setup some "barriers", and incorporated what we had learned into shooting from behind them while trying not to present a target to the "enemy".

Overall the classes where a blast. Met some great guys, and learned a ton. I can't wait to get down for another one. Thanks again Randy.

[Kevin.W]

This weekend was my first time training with Randy and my first AK class with SI. It was definitely worth the long drive to get some good training with some great guys. Also the generosity of the property owners hosting the class blew me away and I am very grateful. Thanks to Randy for two great classes.

By the way OH I never got around to letting you try out my aimpoint. Maybe next time, if you don't have your own by then that is.
For anyone that wonders at close range the AK irons are fine, and for slow fire at longer range they are also fine, but for fast accurate shooting at medium to long ranges the dot is much easier to use.

[Randy Harris]

Wow...that is probably more than Kevin said all weekend...

He's one of those guys that doesn't talk much...but he's also one of those guys that can let his shooting talk for him....SERIOUSLY.

Hope to see you guys in Advanced AK in the spring .

[lj bluesboy]

Like Joe and Kevin already said, awesome class! This was my first SI class, and Randy didn't fail to impress.

I only attended the AK Rifle Gunfighting on Saturday and Sunday. In retrospect, I should have spent the extra money and taken the armorers class too, but oh well. We started on Saturday morning with a discussion of the AK platform. Randy passed around several examples of AK variants and features, explaining the advantages and disadvantages of features and accessories. It was very informative, and a great intro to many things commonly seen with regards to AKs. We moved on to running drills with our rifles dry, and working on getting off the X, transitions, sight pictures, caveman eotech, mag changes, and carrying and shooting positions. After lunch, we headed back to the range area and verified zeros on our rifles. We moved to applying the caveman eotech concept paired with getting off the X. We worked live mag changes and shoulder transfer drills, and Randy introduced transitioning to pistol at the end of the day.

We hit the ground running on Sunday by starting with getting off the X and pistol transitions. I can say that the 'John-Lennon-look-a-like-hippie-lady' target got her fair share of 7.62 and 9mm holes. We spent a lot of time working shots to the ocular band with both rifle and pistol. After lunch we moved back a bit and took some time practicing shooting from cover and different firing positions. The folding chair Randy put out for use as cover got dinged, but (thankfully for the shooters sake) it was only a flesh wound. We ended with the 'assault course' which required the shooter to move from 50-60 yards out to 5 yards and engage with a pistol from cover.

Total round count for the weekend was ~515, with 160 rounds fired on Saturday and the remainder on Sunday. This was my first chance to put my rifle (a Fuller-worked Arsenal 107) and mags (US Palm) through the ringer and see how they would perform. Both performed flawlessly; I couldnt be happier. My mini-Sneaky worked fairly well as a rifle bag, but I think I'd prefer the SB02 size since it includes an elastic dump pouch that is much more capable than the extra pocket on the mini. I might try and find a small molle dump pouch that wont detract from the sneakiness of the bag in the meantime.

I can honestly say that I could not have come up with a better way to spend a weekend. Thanks a lot to the Phillips family for letting me camp out on the property and giving us a place to learn and grow, and thanks a lot to Randy for coming out and teaching us to be dangerous!

[Kevin.W]

Thanks Randy, I guess I'm like that old Garand poster, "My AK does my talking" .
I'm interested in the advanced class but right now that's a big maybe with work and all. We'll see.

[bmp_sbi]

Glad everyone had a great weekend. Sergei did lose his house keys out there on the range or somewhere. We looked off and on for an hour yesterday and couldnt find them.
I hope he had a way to get in when he got back to NY.
Glad that the camping worked out. It is roughing it....but that may add to the flavor of AK training. I think Kevin had the best deal with dibs on the horse trailer living quarters.

[mhouston5]

This was also my first time to train with Randy and SI. This was also my first experience with an AK that has just been sitting in my gun safe for a year. I can't say enough about the training I received from Derek (Armorers course) and Randy. They were knowledgable, professional and patient. I will try to add different comments than the previous excellent reviews. I liked the format - most of the shooting was at shorter distances and allowed me to shoot, move, reload, transfer and transition to pistol repeatedly. This burned in proper motor skills for further development at home.

Take Aways:

Wood furniture gets dinged up pretty quickly during transition drills.
Fuller rear sights give a much faster sight picture.
Red Dots make target acquisition much easier especially when transferring.
The sneaky bag concept is excellent. It worked well with my carry gear and stayed put during movement when using the waist strap. It was also easy to adjust if your position required offhand use, etc...

I am the guy that dinged Randy's folding chair Thankfully he didn't ding me!

My gun now sports polymer furniture, Ultimak rail, and an Aimpoint M2. I met some great guys and hope to run into them again in future classes.

Mick Houston
Condition One Firearms Academy