Commence FireArms Training Academy 2-day "Basic Rifle" AAR

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Commence FireArms Training Academy 2-day "Basic Rifle" AAR

Post by TSiWRX »

Commence FireArms Training Academy 2-day "Basic Rifle" (AR15) AAR -

Two weekends ago, I attended my first true AR15 course at Commence FireArms Training Academy (CFA): http://www.commencefire.com/home/home.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Those who frequent Ohio-based firearms Forums may already be familiar with Keith and Cindy Campbell's operation from previous reviews/AARs/threads both here and on the BFA Forums:

http://www.ohioccwforums.org/viewtopic. ... mence+fire" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://forums.buckeyefirearms.org/viewt ... ire#p90079" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.ohioccwforums.org/viewtopic. ... e#p4183419" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.ohioccwforums.org/viewtopic. ... mence+fire" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.ohioccwforums.org/viewtopic. ... e#p4011960" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

^ A search on the Forums will provide many more glowing recommendations for CFA, but I think the above will suffice.

The CFA "Basic Rifle" class was designed as a true novice/introductory-level class to one weapon in-particular: the AR15. Structured as a two-day class, the first provided one full day of classroom instruction, which was paired with a full day's worth of live-fire range instruction on the subsequent training day (TD). Classroom instruction took place at their Pearl Road facility (http://www.commencefire.com/facility/facility.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;) in Cleveland, while the range portion was on the "back/private range" of A&A Shooting and Hunting Club in Garrettsville, approximately an hour east of Cleveland via US-422 East. Both days run from 9AM to 4PM, with a half-hour for lunch (student provided), making each TD ~6.5 hours long.

TD1 began with, as-usual for their classroom sessions, the instructors clearing each of the AR15s brought in for dry exercises. CFA encourages legal concealed-carry and lawful open-carry, and in this case, we were asked to bring a sidearm for weapon-transition exercises, but for the classroom session, we were simply asked to keep our sidearms on our bodies and undisturbed - that if time allowed, we would clear our sidearms and go into transition exercises. Each AR15 and any long-gun magazines were inspected and re-inspected by several instructors, cleared and flags inserted into the action, and after insuring that no live 5.56/.223 ammunition was present in the lecture room (either students or instructors), dummy rounds distributed for later use. "Safe directions" were also delineated for our muzzles. Even as class officially began after those checks, we found that the topic of "safety" actually occupied the first 5 slides of Keith's presentation, and we went over once more both safety as it related to our classroom day as well as the verbal safety commands to be parroted and the physical actions to be taken on the range on TD2.

The morning block then covered, in-detail, AR15 nomenclature and basic field-strip.

Prior to the nomenclature lecture, Keith asked each student - there were 11 of us (all male between the ages of 21 to 50: I'd honestly wish for more diversity, but then my wife would probably make me get another hobby :P ) - to give a quick self-introduction and a quick once-over of the AR(s - a couple of us brought two rifles, in-case of catastrophic failure). Keith stated that his purpose for this was not only so that he could get to know each of us a little better, but to also get a feel for where our knowledge-level happens to be when it came to this weapon platform. For me, this class was the first time I would truly "run the gun," and what's more, I was using it as a method to prove/vet several critical pieces of equipment (belt, magazines, magazine holder, sights/optics) as well as personal preferences (gun setup [chiefly, the fore-end handstop/vert-grip/light], sling, magazine placement/orientation on-body). Here, Keith also discussed why he'd limited this class to AR15s only: basically, what this boiled down to was a desire simply to keep things consistent and easy-to-manage for both students and instructors alike.

After the nomenclature block, we were presented with our first challenge: field-stripping the AR15. To give us the proper motivation, he showed us how fast the awesome 11-year-old McKenzie handled this task:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irykjLjuKo8" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

As Keith took us through a step-by-step that occupied a total of a dozen slides (again, the lead-off, in CFA tradition, was a slide dedicated to and reiterating the need for safety), we each disassembled and then re-assembled our AR15s. Tricks and tips were presented that were helpful to a beginner like myself, and Keith and his AIs were there to help throughout. Basic cleaning was also covered, and Keith demonstrated the awesome C.A.T-M4 tool (http://www.catm4.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;) - no, he doesn't make commission from them or even have any to sell us, but yep, pretty much every one of us said that we were going to get one after we saw how easily he cleaned the entire bolt carrier group (BCG) of a classmate's well-used weapon.

Somewhere in here we also had our lunch break - there's a number of fast-food joints right around their Pearl Road classroom, with a Burger King within easy walking distance. Lunch was the responsibility of individual students, but for the few of us who stayed behind, Cindy even generously offered some home-cooked pasta & meatballs!

In the interest of time, we had a "working lunch." A few of us decided to tour the room and check out each others' and CFA's gear (since this was a true novice/beginner-level class, rental AR15s, magazines, and even magazine-holders were available, and a number of students took advantage of these opportunities in order to further educate themselves before making their own purchases), while the cadre performed some quick upgrade work on a student's weapon. Once all students returned, Keith drilled us on the above field-strip procedures - including basic function-check - again and again, until even the greenest among us were more than proficient at the task. Before the real start of the afternoon session, we also insured that our guns were lubed and ready for tomorrow's range exercises by addressing the lubrication portion of the gun-care equation.

The afternoon session was dedicated to weapon manipulation.

Starting off with a discussion on basic marksmanship as it applies to the AR15 platform, Keith stressed that his goal is to get us all proficient at using the ironsights - that we'd get to our red-dots if time allowed towards the end of TD2, but that at this level, it was his duty to make sure that we come away from this two-day class confident in our skills to execute shots with our irons.

This progressed to a clarification of the "load and make ready" as well as "unload and show clear" commands for tomorrow (yet again, we once more went over the essential range commands). Students were asked to perform these basic functions using their cleared ARs and dummy rounds. This block then ended with the AI demonstrating the basic positions from which we will be shooting (standing, kneeling, seated, and prone), as well as how to achieve and recover from each position in an aggressive, "fighting" manner.

From there, weapon considerations such as basic accessories as well as zero distances and basic ballistics were covered. For the purposes of this class, Keith presented to us the reason why he preferred the 50(/200) yard zero and asked us to standardize tomorrow to this setting.

The classroom day, TD1, then ended with a 4-slide presentation on the commonly seen malfunctions of this platform (with Keith again stressing the need for proper lubrication) and an open call for any further questions.

[ Aside: For those who don't know, CFA's classroom is an impressive facility (see hyperlink previous). Each student had his own full-sized table to lay out his AR(s) and gear, and we were each given both a hardcopy of Keith's PowerPoint presentation as well as a CFA pen to take notes with. 12-oz. soft-drinks and bottled water can be had from their refrigerator for only $0.50 each, and there's also coffee and a microwave. Clean restroom facilities are provided, separately, for men and women. It's not a bad place at all to spend 7+ hours for any of their classroom sessions, be it Ohio Concealed Carry or otherwise. ]

As the class packed up, Cindy gave us a reminder for what the print syllabus required of us for live-fire tomorrow: two 20 or 30-round AR magazines, 500 rounds of .223 or 5.56 ammo (and yes, Keith did discuss this ammo/hardware consideration as a part of TD1, and went on to specify his preference for no steel-core ammo for engaging steel targets), magazine holder(s) for said magazines, as well as 100 rounds for our sidearms, a strong-side holster, and our sight adjustment tool (in the previous iteration of this class, there were some students who arrived with non-standard sights, which slowed down the class as they did not have the necessary sight adjustment tools, so this was a big point that Keith and Cindy kept hitting upon, in hopes that TD2 would get off to a good start).

TD2 started the following morning at 9AM. As with most of CFA's live-fire courses, it took place on the "back/private range" of the A&A Shooting and Hunting Club in Garrettsville. As Keith stressed from TD1, he really wanted the class to get us up and going ASAP so that we can get sighted-in and into the meat of the live-fire coursework. Towards this end, again as-usual, Keith's impressive group of AIs efficiently and eagerly set up the range while Keith took us yet again through his stringent safety protocols, and reminded us again of the line commands, including the all-important "Check Safe," which was to be parroted by all students, obeying with a manual/visual check of the gun's status.

As soon as the targets were up, Keith selected half the students to get started with zeroing at the 50 yard line. This line of 6 shooters was again divided into two, with a spotter for each set of 3 students and two AIs tasked with monitoring safety and making sight adjustments (based off of non-verbal spotter instructions, to prevent biasing the students taking the shots) for each set.

A quick aside here: you can do the math, the instructor-to-student ratio is impressive. It's perhaps one of the most impressive aspects of Keith and Cindy's operation of CFA - we had 11 students on the line, with 6 instructors. This level of both safety oversight as well as near-private-lesson tutelage and guidance is something that the students can *always* count on with CFA's classes, from the lowliest "Shoot with the Instructor" basic pistol marksmanship courses to their fastest-paced "Advance" courses.

Zeroing the class's guns took approximately one hour, including a double-check of the instructors' weapons as well as a person-by-person inspection/discussion of the zeroing targets (Keith had some very well thought-out zeroing targets printed up so as to insure that each student would actually be able to physically see the targets and be able to achieve zero).

Personally, I'd never shot my AR at-distance - and this also included using the iron-sights. Needless to say, I was afraid of being "that guy" that would hold everyone up during even this most basic portion of the morning. Luckily, through a combination of both Keith's visual presentation from TD1 as well as some astute tips from my immediate line-mate, a former Marine (thus giving credence to “Every Marine is, first and foremost, a rifleman. All other conditions are secondary.”), I got on it pretty fast, and my 50-yard zero was achieved with 9 rounds of 62 gr. M855, at which point I was asked to remove the rifle from the rest that I'd brought along (a Caldwell Matrix - http://www.midwayusa.com/product/228392 ... oting-rest" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;, which I'd purchased earlier this summer to help my 8 and 1/2 year old daughter, Anna, start shooting) and to place 6 of my "absolute best shots" on a second zero target, still from the prone. At that point, I must have had a little nervous breakdown as I managed to insert my second 10-round magazine (I brought along a few 10-rounders to make things easier for myself, zeroing from the rest) and failed to release the bolt. :oops: I'd blundered enough at this point that I'd apparently reached a temporary state of mental meltdown...as one of the AIs reached in to help me achieve a better prone position, I strangely flipped the safety on and off several times, ending up with the gun on "fire" when I thought - and reported - that it was "safe." :!: It was only when I glanced down to double check that I noticed my mistake - and uttered an expletive in embarrassment and corrected it. :x After that little mix-up, I was determined to make this my last fault with the safety on the AR: not just for the day, but forever. I ended up shooting OK, but it wasn't until I stepped off the line that I realized I could have perhaps done even better had I realized to use one of my 30-rounders as a monopod, which was a consideration we'd discussed on TD1.

From there, we immediately went in close with a demonstration of mechanical offset. Using a special printed target, Keith had us demonstrating to ourselves the POA/POI differences which we learned about in yesterday's classroom session. As we went downrange and again individually examined targets, Keith reminded us that as the day progressed and as we shot from varying ranges, we needed to keep this mechanical offset - as well as the external ballistics of the 50-yard zero - in mind in order to achieve best performance.

Running the safety as well as ingraining the concept of "on-sights/off-safe/on-trigger" were big concepts even this early in the day. Furthermore, we were constantly reminded of the importance of the post-shoot scan in conjunction with running the safety (although we were limited to the 180 out of safety considerations for the differences in experience levels of the shooters on-line, we were encouraged to scan over our shoulders for a full 360-degree assessment).

Next up were forced emergency reload drills, achieved by loading magazines with a random low number of rounds (2 through 6 rounds). The idea was that we would start to get a feel for the "thump" of when the bolt locked back and/or react to the trigger going dead. This was my second major failure-point of the day: my first magazine stopped after four rounds, so when I loaded my next mag, I triggered off four shots and then literally brain-locked - the gun didn't stop (since that mag had 5 rounds, as it turned out), but I did. :oops: The instructors then proceeded to make fun of me for round-counting (it's totally OK for them to harass me: I've been a frequent-flier at this school over the course of the last three years, and our rapport is at that level, :lol:), which achieved the desired effect of helping me re-focus. Subsequently, I don't think I made another similar mistake through the rest of the day. As a part of reloading drills, Keith also demonstrated to us the differences in ease-of-reloading on a closed-bolt (thus tactical reload, even though this was not covered as a part of the class) between a full magazine of 30 rounds versus a down-loaded-by-two stack of 28.

As the day wore on, we were also introduced to shoulder-to-shoulder transitions and shooting from (and "fighting into/out of") the positions demonstrated in TD1. This is where my last big failure point occurred: never having had any military or law-enforcement experience, the proper use of a sling was totally foreign to me. While I knew that I could perform OK with a single-point sling (yes, I confess - I practice in my basement after viewing and re-viewing Magpul DVDs: as a matter of fact, I've viewed their first and second The Art of the Tactical Carbine sets so many times that the laser in my DVD player has burned holes into the discs), the proper use of a two-point sling really brought out my un-coordinated and un-athletic side.... As I went from kneeling to prone, I 'bout strangled myself with my sling, nearly loosing control of my rifle, and I had to be rescued by my AI, Ryan (who'd taken special time out throughout the two days to coach me on various concerns; again, this shows just how vested CFA's instructors become in the student's success - and the really great thing is that they've got so many instructors on the line that they can really afford to have an "angel" watching a specific shooter).

We also quickly touched on transitions to the secondary weapon (including whether the gun needed to go on safe during the transition: hint, with the bolt locked to the rear or the hammer down, can the safety be successfully manipulated?). The handgun-centric nature of CFA showed here: we were asked to deliver two high-center-mass shots paired with a "T-box" head-shot). Here and throughout the day, at the conclusion of each evolution, our marksmanship was examined and critiqued on an individual basis: kudos, encouragement, admonition as well as public lashings were given as-necessary as incentives for improvement, and fun was had by all.

At this point, Keith was satisfied enough with our performance using ironsights to allow us to mount our non-magnified red-dots (magnified optics were precluded from this introductory-level class, regardless of shooter skill/knowledge). The instructor cadre at this point cleared and made-safe all ARs and helped students achieve proper zero of their RDS to the ironsights. Keith again reminded us of what our chosen setup's co-witnessing meant as well as the difference in how to visually engage the target with our dots, and we stepped up to the 7 yard line with fresh copies of the day's initial mechanical offset targets to help remind us of what we needed to do in order to achieve proper marksmanship. From there, we did some faster-paced shooting, including cadence drills, to illustrate the advantages of the RDS under such conditions.

The day concluded with a 75 to 100 yard walk-back drill where students could choose to engage an IPSC-full-sized steel target from any position, including prone. Most found it very easy to successfully engage the target standing even at the 100 yard line. As an added bonus, students could attempt to engage the target with their sidearm at those distances (no, this was not a transition drill, it was just a "for fun" bonus). I very disappointingly failed to successfully engage the target with my full-sized pistol at both the 75 and 100 - while I'd like to blame this on the mechanical malfunction that my gun experienced (lesson learned: must clean the striker safety every 20K rounds or so - this FTF[ire] fault came as I pushed close to 40K rounds without ever having cleaned that area), the truth is that I lacked the necessary mastery of the fundamentals to accomplish this task - shooting the B8 at the 25 is not the same as shooting a much larger target at the 75 or 100: more practice is needed!.

Round count was well less than 250 rounds of 5.56 (this includes the 55 gr. M193 that I shot at the steel), and less than 20 rounds of 9x19. For seemingly as little shooting as the round-count would suggest, I can say with certainty that I did not feel like I didn't shoot enough, at all (and remember, I'm used to classes with round-counts in the 600-700 rds. per day range). What I took away from this class was that I actually did make each shot count: that I can actually use the ironsights on my AR decently well. With the two day class costing $200 for tuition paired with less than $100's worth of ammo expended, this made for a tremendously good value - something which I've come to expect of CFA's offerings.

Overall, I thought this class was an absolutely awesome way to be introduced to the AR15. I'm not a complete novice to the platform, but this was the first time I'd been formally introduced to it and truly "ran" it, and I can say with certainty that this class met and even exceeded the vast majority of my expectations for what an "introductory" level class should entail. What's even more impressive is that this is only the second year that Keith has put on this particular class: I am absolutely certain that by its next iteration, he and the rest of the CFA instructional cadre will have it running even smoother and be even more polished. For novices and beginners on the AR15 platform, I honestly can't imagine a better way to get started.

Room for improvement? I think that the pre-class checklist could be more descriptive and definitive. Certainly, I think that this being only their second run of the course probably has a lot to do with this issue. Not that anyone - myself included - had a problem, particularly as Cindy was so awesome at staying on top of student e-mails and answering our questions before class-date. Nevertheless, as someone who really likes to know what to expect before getting there, I'd just have liked a tighter package, that's all. In terms of the live-fire portion, the only thing I think we covered in class but did not do so live-fire was malfunction remediation. Given the propensity of the AR platform to hickup when run in adverse conditions (Keith and the AIs definitely made sure that weapon malfunctions were not going to affect our learning: mid way through, he walked down the line with a needle-nose bottle of "Ed's Red Gun Oil"), I would have liked to go through a couple of reps of the basics. Oh, and stop with the Chinese food jokes - you're just making me hungry! :lol:

My equipment was as-follows:

- Ares Gear Ranger Belt - which I discovered was more than sturdy enough to support 2x 28-round 5.56 magazines and 2x 19-round 9x19 mags, plus a fully-loaded full-size pistol, without the need to adjust the belt or my pants, at all, over the course of the day. For about half the day an Eagle Industries Dump Pouch (the old one with the half-Velcro top, non-"rollaway") was slaved to my strong side belt loop with a carabiner, just behind the pistol, and contained about 70 extra M855 rounds: this was to feed the low-random-round-count mags for forced-reload drills.
- Raven Concealment Systems OWB Phantom holster, zero cant, w/rear pancake wing; double pistol mag pouch - my typical (OWB) class setup, no issues
- Springfield Armory XDm 9mm, 4.5-inch, Springer Precision trigger, Dawson Precision fiber optic front sight w/Charger rear - now at close to 40K rounds, she presented with repeated FTF(ires) after successfully discharging ~15 rounds during the transition evolution; this was traced to excessive carbon/grime build-up in the striker safety and its housing.
- WWB 115 gr. 9mm Luger - no issues
- Blade-Tech Thermo-Formed Rifle Mag Pouch, x2; Bullets-Facing-Forward w/TekLok mounting - after watching me (bobble a) reload in the classroom portion, I took AI Ryan's advice and ran the mags bullets-rear for the live-fire portion of the class...I've now converted to bullets-rear for rifle mags. (while these Blade-Tech pouches are directional, they still offer very good retention even with the mag ostensibly pointed the "wrong" way)
- Federal M855 and Independence M193 - no issues with either
- Daniel Defense M4 Carbine V5 Lightweight w/Gear Sector handstops and offset light mount, Surefire M600C w/SR tape, Magpul MOE grip and MOE vert.grip, B5 SOPMOD Bravo stock, Geissele SSA trigger, DD factory upright BIUSs, Aimpoint T1 (4MOA) on Larue LT660QD, VTAC wide padded hybrid sling on DD QD swivels - the only change I'd make on this system is the grip, I am pretty certain that my sore right (weapon hand) forearm suggests that a move to a steeper angle grip would work well: currently looking at the BCM grips and the Umbrella Corp. Grip 23
- I fed my M855s through Lancer L5AWM magazines and M193s through Gen2 PMags - both worked well, but I am developing a strong preference towards the L5AWMs as they seem to drop and seat easier in both my DD and my LMT (my backup gun for the class)
- I purchased for the class both a Leatherman Rail AR-multitool and a Multitasker V3. Each proved useful in its own way, and I liked both for different reasons. For those of you searching for a lightweight multitool that you can easily carry on-body, I'd recommend the Rail as it fulfills all of the primary needs for an AR-multitool. For those wishing for a pair of pliers along with a pocket-knife to be integrated into the tool, the Multitasker really does justify its cost well, but it's shockingly heavy. I wore the Rail on my belt as a just-in-case, and the Multitasker stayed in my kit bag or was loaned-out to CFA's AIs.
- Outdoor Research Flashpoint and SKD-Tatical PIG Alpha FTD gloves. They both provided excellent dexterity and trigger control (with either one, I can easily keep a 6-round group inside the black on a NRA B8 at the 25, at a pace of one round per 2-3 seconds), with the latter winning out due to its seriously "bareback" feel. The Flashpoint will probably be appreciated more in a higher-round-count class, and it was also a little warmer, too (weather on TD2 was in the high-40s to low-50s). I also liked its grip texturing a bit better than that of the PIG FTDs: the OR Flashpoints were just a bit "tackier," thanks to the leather.


I didn't encounter as much of a problem with my cross-dominance as I originally feared. The use of ironsights actually was similar to what I experience with how an optic would "pull" my dominance enough towards my non-dominant side that I am able to engage targets at up to 25 yards with no issues. What I actually had more trouble with was that my flat facial profile would allow my shooting glasses (Bollé Vigilante w/RX insert) to slip down my (nonexistent) nose bridge enough that it would occasionally cause a doubling-up of the target/sight image - enough that I had to close an eye to make my sight package work. This was a non-issue with the Aimpoint mounted. I'd have loved to try out a Trijicon fixed-power with a DOCTERsight or other similar micro-reflex sight up-top in much the same manner as Mike Pannone uses a riser to bring his optic up to his non-damaged eye, however, no-one had such a setup at this class.
Allen - Shaker Heights, Ohio
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Re: Commence FireArms Training Academy 2-day "Basic Rifle" A

Post by BillytheKidder »

Couldn't agree with you more, regarding that class and Commence Firearms. I took the class last year. If you want to further develop your AR skills (long range), I highly recommend the Civilian Marksmanship Program's Small Arms Rifle class at Camp Perry.
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Re: Commence FireArms Training Academy 2-day "Basic Rifle" A

Post by Mustang380gal »

When I went to Small Arms Firing School last July, some of the AMU guys were recommending Project Appleseed. Allen, you've been everywhere else. When are you getting to an Appleseed?
BillytheKidder wrote:Couldn't agree with you more, regarding that class and Commence Firearms. I took the class last year. If you want to further develop your AR skills (long range), I highly recommend the Civilian Marksmanship Program's Small Arms Rifle class at Camp Perry.

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Re: Commence FireArms Training Academy 2-day "Basic Rifle" A

Post by JustaShooter »

Mustang380gal wrote:When I went to Small Arms Firing School last July, some of the AMU guys were recommending Project Appleseed.
Not to derail the thread, but since you brought it up, when are the 2015 Appleseed dates going to be published? I *will* make it to one this year - almost managed the one coming up in late October at Tusco but things have intervened - again...
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Re: Commence FireArms Training Academy 2-day "Basic Rifle" A

Post by Mustang380gal »

JustaShooter wrote:
Mustang380gal wrote:When I went to Small Arms Firing School last July, some of the AMU guys were recommending Project Appleseed.
Not to derail the thread, but since you brought it up, when are the 2015 Appleseed dates going to be published? I *will* make it to one this year - almost managed the one coming up in late October at Tusco but things have intervened - again...
January or February. That's when the ranges set up their calendars.
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Re: Commence FireArms Training Academy 2-day "Basic Rifle" A

Post by TSiWRX »

Mustang380gal wrote:When I went to Small Arms Firing School last July, some of the AMU guys were recommending Project Appleseed. Allen, you've been everywhere else. When are you getting to an Appleseed?
BillytheKidder wrote:Couldn't agree with you more, regarding that class and Commence Firearms. I took the class last year. If you want to further develop your AR skills (long range), I highly recommend the Civilian Marksmanship Program's Small Arms Rifle class at Camp Perry.

(I am on my phone. Getting quotes to behave on a phone is maddening. )
^ :lol: @ phone posting! :lol: Come-on, no autocorrect mistakes?!!! :P

I'm definitely looking at both Appleseed and the Small Arms Firing School. Long-gun skills is something that I'm sorely lacking.

What's the minimum age for Appleseed? I would *_really_* like to do it with my daughter.
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Re: Commence FireArms Training Academy 2-day "Basic Rifle" A

Post by Mustang380gal »

Age is parents' discretion. I have seen 8 year olds do well. We made my kids wait until 10 based on their attention span. If positions cause safety concerns, they don't need to transition.


Sorry about the rabbit trail.
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Re: Commence FireArms Training Academy 2-day "Basic Rifle" A

Post by sdelam »

I have seen students as young as 7-8 yrs old. As long as they can safely handle the rifle, bring them. Still a few more shoots this year if your willing to head to sw ohio.
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Re: Commence FireArms Training Academy 2-day "Basic Rifle" A

Post by TSiWRX »

sdelam wrote:I have seen students as young as 7-8 yrs old. As long as they can safely handle the rifle, bring them. Still a few more shoots this year if your willing to head to sw ohio.
Mustang380gal wrote:Age is parents' discretion. I have seen 8 year olds do well. We made my kids wait until 10 based on their attention span. If positions cause safety concerns, they don't need to transition.
Oh, wow!

I'm hoping that Anna will be ready by this coming summer.

http://s170.photobucket.com/user/TSi_WR ... g.html?o=0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

^ Her second range trip. It was only at 10 feet, and her CZ Scout's forend was supported on a rest, but I'm still pretty happy with the way she shot. She's 8 and 1/2.

The one at the 12-o'clock was her first shot out of the gun for the day.
The one at the bull was just two wrongs making a right. :lol:
She put in a nice group, though. That was actually 6 shots.

sdelam, thank you for the invite, but for the time being, I don't think that we'll be able to travel. :oops:

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Sorry about the rabbit trail.
^ Please, not at all. It's actually a logical detour. :)
Allen - Shaker Heights, Ohio
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