Stock and Barrel Club - AR-15 For Defense 1

[MasonK]

AR-15 For Defense 1 ($125)

Pros: Close quarter drills beyond the firing line, practice shooting while there is another muzzle 18” from your head, great instructors (Kevin and Tom).

Cons: Very basic. Like YouTube-for-beginners-video basic. This was a con for me, but there was only one other student that had even fired an AR before the class. I saw three people go from not knowing how to shoulder the rifle to competently running moving drills inside of three hours.

Overview: Learn how to hold, shoot, safety, and clear an AR-15 with safety as the main concern. Basic shooting drills to teach close-quarter hold-over, combat accuracy, basic mechanics of shooting while moving slowly.

Takeaways: I learned that when I move backwards at an angle, I have practiced incorrectly. Kevin helped me correct my movement and gain better economy of motion. The other major thing I learned was that I had gained a lot of muscle memory training with my AR10 for the past 2 months and those skills do not translate to my AR15s because my 15s don’t have fully ambidextrous controls. In just 2 months I have gotten so used to pulling the charging handle with my right hand that I instinctively tried to do it and obviously failed. Once again, training class taught me something more important about my personal habits than what the class was actually teaching me.

My Experience: This is really a testimony to instructors Kevin and Tom. The three students totally new to rifles needed a lot of help and they gave it to them. While this made the class go long and a little slow, it shows that they really cared about teaching people up to a higher level. I’d rather have a 2-hour class take 3.5 hours and three rookies be actually competent with a rifle than 2 hours where they didn’t learn anything. While I was more advanced than the class offering, there will eventually be a class where I’m the one who needs more help and they will take that time with me. The class was a lot of fun. Getting to run practical CQ drills on moving targets cannot be overvalued. They don’t shoot back, but it’s more realistic than shooting in a bay, sitting down, no faster than 1 round per second (or 30 seconds as allowed at some ranges).

Recommendation: If you are brand new to rifles, take this. If you are unsure about your bad habits that you’ve developed and want to find any basic issues you didn’t know you had, take this. If you don’t fall into these categories, SKIP IT.

[yukonjasper]

Helpful, thank you.