Controlled Chaos Arms Tactical Rifle Class AAR

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Controlled Chaos Arms Tactical Rifle Class AAR

Postby GNCAaron on Mon Dec 15, 2014 11:45 pm

Greetings fellow MNGunTalk members,

My name is Aaron, and I live in the twin cities metro area. I recently took Controlled Chaos Arms (CCA) Tactical Rifle class. It took place down in Iowa, at the Brownell's range in Searsboro. There were only two other students besides myself, so we had a lot of individual attention from the instructor. Rick Largesse, our instructor, is a veteran SWAT cop in the Des Moines area. Not only is he squared away with a pistol and rifle, but he is gifted at sharing what he knows with his students. He's not there to show off, he's there to make us better. I am definitely better now than I was before I left for the class.

The class was a long one-day only event. Class started at 8am, and went until around 7pm, with an hour lunch break. We started by confirming zeros with our rifles from 100 yards in the prone, and then moved to a little bit of seated and kneeling shooting from 100 yards. Beyond that, most of the day was spent between the 10 and 75 yard lines. CCA also offers a basic rifle class, which I took as well, and that class really focuses on marksmanship fundamentals and various shooting positions from 25 to 100 yards. The tactical rifle class is much more dynamic, and I was glad I had taken the basic class first.

Part of the class was malfunction clearance drills, which are definitely more difficult to do with an AR-15 versus any pistol. Tap and rack is the same, but tricky stuff like bolt-override malfunctions and stuck cases require practice to master, and I'm glad we went over it. We also went over reloads. I wore a Blackhawk 4-mag chest rig, and it worked well. Rick wears a battle belt with his pistol, pistol mags, and a rifle mag, and that works well too.

As the day progressed, so to did the difficulty of the drills. We did several multiple target engagement drills, as well as a bunch of shooting on the move. It looks so easy on YouTube, but doing it in person is quite difficult. Add to that the dreaded shot timer, and a real challenge presents itself quite quickly. Of course, practice is the key to success. These types of training courses can only do so much in one day. The real work is left up to us to continue to practice at home on our own time. Only then will we continue to improve.

The class finished up with a night shoot, which was illuminating (sorry, couldn't resist). Shooting at night with a rifle with a light attached is actually pretty simple. Light on, shoot, light off, move. Rick had a Surefire X300 at the 12'oclock position on his rail in-front of his back up iron front sight, and that was probably the best setup between all of our rifles.

At the end of the day, everyone was safe, we learned a lot, and we had fun. I had taken the basic rifle class with one of the other two students, so it was nice to see a familiar face. We all had about the same level of skill, so we had fun competing with each other throughout the day. Overall, I had a great time.

In 2014, I took pistol courses with Ben Stoeger, Ken Hackathorn, Frank Proctor, and Craig Douglas. I've also taken pistol classes with Tactical Response, Rob Pincus, John Farnam, Mike Pannone, and Rick from CCA (I've posted AAR's on here for many of them). I'm squared away with a pistol, but rifle was, and still is, new to me. In 2015 I'll be taking rifle classes with Larry Vickers and Mike Pannone. As of now, CCA is the only school that I've taken rifle classes with, but based on my experiences with Rick, and comparing his teaching style and level of competence to other instructors I've trained with, I confidently put him on the top of my list of approved trainers. I've been fortunate to be able to take a lot of great training in the past few years. Having CCA so close to home really is great.
GNCAaron
 
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Re: Controlled Chaos Arms Tactical Rifle Class AAR

Postby UnaStamus on Thu Dec 18, 2014 9:01 pm

Rick knows his stuff, and with other courses he also has Keith Romp instructing. CCA has a solid program.

You are going to the Vickers course in 2015, so I will see you there. Patrol Tactical is hosting the training, and they also put on their own training to boot. Dave (Member here s/n: Dave@huldraarms) and Mike run a solid program. If you have questions about the upcoming Vickers course, you can PM Dave.
I would also throw some love towards 10-32 Solutions and Milwaukee COPS, which are two groups that partner a lot over in Wisconsin. They have a solid curriculum that is a little bit different with some longer range carbine marksmanship opportunities.

CCA, Patrol Tactical, 10-32 Solutions and Milwaukee COPS are all excellent outfits, and they offer higher grade training than some of the trainers you listed above (not all, but a couple). Considering that the ones listed above are "national level", that's saying something about opportunities we have here. All of them offer excellent rifle programs.
I would recommend that you take a look at EAG Tactical, which Keith Romp and Polk County Sheriff's Office will be hosting again next year. I may be down for that one as well, if I can swing it with my schedule.
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Re: Controlled Chaos Arms Tactical Rifle Class AAR

Postby Dave Timm on Mon Dec 22, 2014 9:32 pm

The guys from CCA are great shooters and guys. I had the pleasure of meeting the at a shotgun course a couple of years ago. There are a lot of great training opportunities around the area as Una Stamus mentioned.

Aaron which vickers course are you going to? We are hosting him in Brainerd this summer, I don't have an Aaron on the list so want to make sure wires didn't get crossed. We are also hosting Dave Spaulding in 2015 and working on 2016 already too.
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Re: Controlled Chaos Arms Tactical Rifle Class AAR

Postby GNCAaron on Tue Dec 23, 2014 11:16 pm

Hi Dave,

I'll be taking the Vickers Rifle/Pistol course in Omro WI, on June 27-28, set up through Alias. Thanks for the double check though. I'll keep an eye on your website for future training opportunities.

Thanks again,
Aaron
GNCAaron
 
Posts: 73 [View]
Joined: Thu Oct 11, 2012 8:10 pm
Location: Chaska, MN

Re: Controlled Chaos Arms Tactical Rifle Class AAR

Postby Dave Timm on Sat Jan 03, 2015 1:45 pm

GNCAaron wrote:Hi Dave,

I'll be taking the Vickers Rifle/Pistol course in Omro WI, on June 27-28, set up through Alias. Thanks for the double check though. I'll keep an eye on your website for future training opportunities.

Thanks again,
Aaron


Sounds good, you'll enjoy training with LAV. Please sign up for our mailing list on the website for the updates.

Dave
Learning Firearms - Training and Firearms Industry Video Production
http://www.learningfirearms.com
Timm Arms Co.
Firearms and NFA Sales & Transfers, Gunsmith & Armorer Services
http://www.timmarms.com
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