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AAR: Magpul Dynamics SPR/DMR SoCal 04/17/19

titus7

Sergeant
Full Member
Minuteman
Jun 1, 2008
177
0
43
Ridgecrest, California
Hey Guys I just got home from the Magpul Dynamics SPR/DMR course here in SoCal. A big thank-you goes out to both Caylen and to SoCalsheepdog for coordinating this whole class and to everyone else who participated for making it a fkn blast!

To start let me say that I am a civilian with no prior professional firearm training, and I am in no way shape or form affiliated with Magpul or Caylen Wojcik. That being said I was real worried, one that I would look like an ass because of my lack of experience, and two that my lack of experience would hold up the rest of the class. I can tell you that due to Caylens demeanor and his style of instruction, my worries/fears were put to rest within the first couple of hours of the class. Like I said I am a civilian, but I have traveled and trained all over the country for my line of work and I have never had an instructor with so much enthusiasm and dedication to actually training his students to really understand the material being taught and the practical application that goes along with it. Other than the fundamentals and information that we learned, there was one thing that really impressed me with this class. What impressed me most was its ability to be a great confidence booster, and yet a humbling experience as well.

Confidence Boosting - learning/understanding/applying the fundamentals, understanding my reticle and being comfortable dialing my turrets, confident in my ability to send rounds down range...accurately, even more important is understanding how/why I missed and correcting for a follow up shot.

Humbling experience - I need practice...I need to slow down my pace until I have honed the fundamentals into becoming second nature, need to practice more, I need to get out of California or become LEO, and last but not least...I need to practice.

I’m not going to go into all of the things that we covered, if you want to know take the class, but I thought I would post up this AAR and start this thread for anyone who is on the fence about taking a class with Caylen. I can tell you that I have already set it up with the "ol budget"(another name for my wife) to take both of his Precision Rifle courses next year.

If anyone has any questions or if any of the other guys from the class want to chime in please feel free
 
Re: AAR: Magpul Dynamics SPR/DMR SoCal 04/17/19

I don't think you really have to leave California to be able to get better at shooting. It's an annoyance gun wise in California but has plenty to offer outside of just shooting that not many other places can give.
 
Re: AAR: Magpul Dynamics SPR/DMR SoCal 04/17/19

I know that I was just saying that it would be nice to get away from the high cost of everything, the bs laws(all of em) and the stupidity
 
Re: AAR: Magpul Dynamics SPR/DMR SoCal 04/17/19

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: titus7</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I’m not going to go into all of the things that we covered, if you want to know take the class, but I thought I would post up this AAR and start this thread for anyone who is on the fence about taking a class with Caylen.</div></div>Caylen is excellent at explaining things, he has a personality that makes one feel very comfortable when listening to him, and he has credible experience as an instructor and Sniper.

People wanting to take the class might want to know what was covered and how thoroughly, though, as that is one of the functions of an AAR.
 
Re: AAR: Magpul Dynamics SPR/DMR SoCal 04/17/19

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Graham</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: titus7</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I’m not going to go into all of the things that we covered, if you want to know take the class, but I thought I would post up this AAR and start this thread for anyone who is on the fence about taking a class with Caylen.</div></div>Caylen is excellent at explaining things, he has a personality that makes one feel very comfortable when listening to him, and he has credible experience as an instructor and Sniper.

People wanting to take the class might want to know what was covered and how thoroughly, though, as that is one of the functions of an AAR. </div></div>

Ok good point so here it is:

<span style="font-weight: bold">Day 1</span>:Obviously the first thing we covered was safety. Then we went over some definitions and a list of components that make up precision shooting and what they mean in relation to each other. Weapons, optics, ammunition, consistency of the shooter, muzzle velocity, ballisitic coefficient, etc.....Very thorough. Then we covered zeroing your rifle/optics quickly followed up by physically doing so on everyones rifle. We spent the rest of the day stretching our rifles out starting at 100m and by the end of the day everyone had hits at 630m.

<span style="font-weight: bold">Day 2</span>:We dove straight into the importance of understanding everything about wind and mirage. Went over the usefulness of tools like weather meters and ballistic computers/apps. The great thing about Caylen is that you dont feel like you are at an infomercial. He explains to you what the various tools are used for, helps you set each one of them up, teaches everyone how to be profficient in using them during hands on while shooting, and then he makes it very clear that you dont have to have all this gucci gear to become a good marksman. He also makes it very clear that if you are going to use the extras, to not become dependent on it. After live fire excercises and lunch we were back in school learning about range estimation, how to build range cards and how to use our data books, and various shooting positions. To finish off the day we did more live fire excercises utilizing everything that we had learned over the past two days.

<span style="font-weight: bold">Day3</span>: We jumped right into everyone checking the zeros on their rifles and setting up for drills. We did several drills thoughout the day, time and distance drills, along with stress drills, followed by a feedback session and awards.

The gear I used was just a Tyr Tactical/VTAC Brokos Belt with HSGI Tacos. Everyone else ran chest rigs but my belt worked for me.
The rifle I shot was a home built 18" 5.56 AR and it ran like a raped ape:
Noveske Upper receiver
Noveske Lower receiver
Noveske 18" Spr barrel
BCM BCG
Magpul ASAP
Magpul Moe+ grip
Magpul ACS-l stock
KAC URX3.1 rail
JP lpk
Geiselle sd3g trigger
Magpul BAD lever
Magpul MS3 sling
Magpul RSA
Nightforce NXS 2.5-10x24 mil dot
Larue SPR 1.5 qd mount
Larue Harris bipod
20rd Pmags
Here is a cell pic of it with a leopold scope that I sold.
2012-03-07_23-18-03_741.jpg


 
Re: AAR: Magpul Dynamics SPR/DMR SoCal 04/17/19

I used Black Hills Mk262, Mod 1 5.56mm 77-gr. 630m was the farthest(range limitations and time constraints). The class was definitely as much fun as it was a learning experience. The only thing that I left wishing for was for more of the same, which is why if I still have a job next year, Ill be going to the rest of Caylens classes.

Id highly recommend this class to anyone, especially new shooters who really want to learn and understand their weapons systems and gear. That was another benefit of the class which Im pretty sure every class is, and that is a gear shakedown. Lets you actually train with what you have and learn/see what others have, ya know.
 
Re: AAR: Magpul Dynamics SPR/DMR SoCal 04/17/19

Just following up to this thread for Magpul's excellent SPR/DMR 3-day course. I had some of this typed up after the class, but never finished it until now.

First up, the course was fantastic. I'll admit, I was a little worried that on day one, it was going to start out being more tactical and less fundamental, but those fears were quashed. There was lots of theory and then practical application while utilizing the fundamentals on Day 1 that arrested my fears.

I came to the class with minimal distance-shooting experience. I had only just bought my SPR-ish rifle (and a cheap $300 optic) a few months earlier and taught myself some very basics about how to read the reticle and how to adjust for distance. I was looking forward to a more structured training plan.

FWIW, this guy's gear list pretty much matched what I ran into. I did wish I had knee pads for the first time ever, but it wasn't really that big a deal:

http://www.snipershide.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=3183425&#Post3183425

The range: Pala (just south of Temecula...just north of San Diego). This worked out well, overall, with plenty of steel and distance to work with (for 5.56). An extra bonus was that the shooting area was covered, which was nice since the weather was clear (and warm) all three days. We had the added bonus of wind flags throughout the range which made it easier (for better or worse) to read/cheat the winds at the distance you were shooting at.

Weapons: Initially, all but one student (out of 6) were shooting 5.56, and I think all but one of those were shooting 18" barrels. One guy had gun issues on Day One and switched to his .308 OBR for day two (and then his bolt broke...on a Larue! Larue took care of him, though). He switched back to 5.56 for Day 3.

I was shooting a 18" Noveske Lightweight Stainless that never failed me. This was my second Noveske upper and I continue to be a fan. Even during the more "rapid" fire events, the gun continued to be more accurate than I was if I forgot the fundamentals. I was a little worried about the light weight profile, but it wasn't an issue. I was also using an IOR 2.5-10x FFP which I was VERY happy with. I never went below 4x (so I didn't have to deal with the "tunnel vision"), and spent most of the time at either 5-6x or 10x. Very repeatable and held the zero throughout the course (with a Larue 1.5" mount). Ammo was Black Hills 77gr.

Evolutions: Many were already covered in Titus' post. The first day was lots of fundamentals...proper form behind the rifle, LOP and eye relief, trigger control, etc. Personally, I struggled initially getting comfortable behind the rifle...for about the first half of the day, but thanks to Caylen, he worked with me to find out what I needed to adjust to get straight (LOP and then optic for me).

One of the evolutions that I found helpful was the natural point of aim drill. Just lying there, relaxing (other than your hand on a bag), closing your eyes and pulling the trigger. It was a good drill to make sure you were set and not introducing error.

The day ended with getting dope...or more accurately, finding out if your computer tables (we all used Shooter) were correct (which of course they weren't). As mentioned, we shot out to 630m (close to where 5.56 goes trans-sonic), adjusted our shots and then worked backwards to figure out our muzzle velocity. Another great technique to learn and one you could even apply even if you can only shoot a shorter distance.

Day two is a little fuzzy, but as mentioned, we started off checking our zero and then practiced ranging/range study and then some unconventional shooting positions.

Day three was putting it all together. Throughout there was some friendly competition (adds some stress) while shooting from unconventional positions as well as during the stress drill. I really enjoyed the stress drill, which consisted of putting 16 rounds in a pile away from the gun, running to pick up one round, run back to the weapon, load (through the ejection port), shoot at 16 different targets, one at a time, at 100m from the prone, and then repeat. It was a great test to see if you have all the other fundamentals down besides the breathing (which was the hard part).

The day ended with a debrief, some recognition for the various evolutions and certificates.

I learned a LOT and enjoyed the course. Everyone in the class was great and if someone had an issue, everyone would help, be it for gear issues or techniques.
 
Re: AAR: Magpul Dynamics SPR/DMR SoCal 04/17/19

Ah that was a GREAT class. Learned alot about gear and how things can go wrong. It was nice that the class was small so the instruction was more one on one that there would have been with a larger class. I had some equipment issues ( see post above ) but I worked threw that and moved on. I walked away a much beter shooter and with some serious work on my fundimentals. Learned what I need to work on and changes that I need to make in both the way I train and what equipment I purchase. I also learned that things can and will go wrong. Its about how you deal with them and move forward. Caylen kept saying that its a thinking mans game. I learned that it is for sure!