The Bluegrass state was just graced with a lot of talented AK shooters this weekend!
This class was held at Knob Creek range this weekend, which has a great facility to host these types of classes. The weather was perfect this weekend-not too hot as everyone had feared. Also, it didn't rain frogs as predicted (we've had our share of unpredictable weather for past classes).
The students that came had a variety of backgrounds, but were all very skilled shooters and quick learners. Some students came with prior training in different methods, but were very open and adaptable to the material that Randy Harris taught. There was an interesting mix of gear/rifles in the class- chest rigs, shoulder bags, and belts. Each setup had it's pro's and con's, and I think every shooter gained some knowledge about their rigs.
The class started with Randy giving a history/overview of the AK and it's variants/calibers. We then progressed into lots of dry fire manipulations including positions, manual of arms, reloads and malfunctions, transfers and pistol transitions. Retention of magazines was emphasized, with good explanations on why this is important.
After lunch we loaded up and zero'ed our AK's. There was a mix of Eotechs/Aimpoints/iron sights, but the class came prepared, and zeroing was done very quickly, with minor adjustments to a few rifles. We moved right into shooting out of positions like contact ready/close contact ready, sul, etc. We practiced the "caveman Eotech" and started making snap shots very successfully. We ran a good amount of repetitions in different positions, exploding off the X, half/full transfers all the while emphasis of proactive reloads. We wrapped the day up with transitioning to pistol, then a recap of what material was covered in the day.
The second day we progressed to more shooting from multiple positions, getting up and down all the while shooting. We then added in moving into positions, advancing into prone and such. The class picked up this material very quickly.
We then set out some barricades and changed gears to some team work. From this point, we preceded all new drills with some dry fire runs to get on the same page. We practiced two man peels, peels with teams of four, then finally culminating to a four man movement drill that incorporated peels/movement/covering fire/communication. Teams did well of making reloads to minimize lulls in suppressing fire, and transitioning to pistol if caught in a lull. We were "encouraged" to not shoot the barricades, which added the stress of checking your firing angles when engaging targets.
We finally made use of the barricades in practicing shooting and moving to cover. Again, emphasis on reloading from behind cover, and not crowding barricades was helpful. Everyone went through individually, then in teams of two. The was the ultimate culmination of a two day class- shooting, moving, and communicating. We set up some good "Somali pirates" targets (have fun with what's available!) complete with a no shoot hostage.
The class was a blast! This is my second time in the KRG class, and between the weather, the caliber of students, or the new curriculum, everything worked out great for some great learning/practice.
I will commend the students one more time- I think if not for the talent and enthusiasm of every single person in the class, we would not have progressed so far so quickly. I would train with any of you any time.
-Jeff.
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