BRTC http://brtc-mission.com/
2 Day AK Operator
Feb 23&24, 2012
Wampum, PA
I am currently located in NE Ohio and have been disappointed with the lack of training facilities with in reasonable driving distance of the Akron/Cleveland area. Luckily for me I am working in law enforcement and it tends to allow me a few more training options than others. My personal training regiment is to attend 3-4 live fire courses a year in various disciplines, primarily handgun, carbine and precision rifle. The past few years I have been hoping to find a foreign weapons class or at least an AK class and broaden my skill set. Though it always seems that these types of classes were at the wrong place and the wrong time until I discovered BRTC. I read about BRTC on this forum and was elated when I found out they were a short 80 minute drive. So the planets aligned and their 2 day AK Operator class fell on my days off and I jumped on it.
The course called for 1000 rounds but the class size was small so I was able to put in more reps of several drills and pushed my round count over 1200. I shot Wolf 5.45 60grain and found it to be very reliable and accurate. I shot a little less than 50 pistol rounds all of which was Wolf 115gr 9mm. I have had a lot of success with the Wolf 9mm 115 for training and during this class I had no issues with it.
I shot an Arsenal SLR105 5.45X39, with standard iron sights, fixed stock, SOLAR Tactical safety mod. I used a VCAS sling, which was attached with my home brew mod which I will detail in a different post. I used 7 mags, four circle 10, two circle 21 and one circle 25. All of the mags have some use on them and early on I had some failure to feed issues with two of the circle 10 mags.
Pics of the SOLAR safety mod....
I donned an Eagle LE Carrier with soft armor and hard plates. On the vest I had three HSGI Taco mag pouches, Tactical Tailor- dual pistol pouch, cuff pouch, bang pouch, radio pouch, ATS med pouch. Pistol belt was a Spec Ops belt, modified HSGI drop leg w/6004 (Glock 17 & X300). Over all my kit is pretty standard for me and what I usually carry at work with a few exceptions. The TACO mag pouches are the newest addition to my kit and I love them. I typically carry an M4 at work but the TACO allows me so much versatility and the ability to work with various weapon system while using my typical personal kit.
I took this class knowing BRTC was offering the “basics” and I was fine with that. Though the class size being small allowed me a ton personal attention and the ability to have details criticized which was great. Rather than get lost on the firing line of a larger class the lead instructor, Buck, was able to pick apart the little things and really worked on my weak points. I went in to the class with a decent base line and Buck essentially gave me the tools to make me run the AK fast and efficient. We went through all the standard drills of any good carbine class. We covered various topics and was relieved when Buck came across with an open mind and the attitude that there are many ways to accomplish a specific task.
I typically do not train with shot timers too much and get turned off when I attend training where everything is focused on completing a drill by X amount of time. When Buck pulled out the shot timer I thought, “Here we go”. Though Buck introduced the timer with a more diagnostic approach. The times were broken down to identify the where the problem was and where the efficiency was rather than just blasting away in X seconds. I liked that, I liked knowing there was a reason for the timer rather than just pushing me to shoot fast. In the end I found a really good rhythm in presentation, accurately engaging multiple targets and efficiently reloading.
During the training I mentioned to Buck that my goal was to broaden my skill set so that I can improve as an instructor and that I consider foreign weapons a weak point in my skill set. So on day 2 we felt confident that we covered the drills and I trained to a standard we were both happy with we moved on to other weapons systems. Buck gave a great FAM fire on the CZ58 and PKM. That was a great bonus.
In the end I walked away with more than I expected. BRTC has a great facility, great instructors, no bull shit curriculum, and the willingness to improvise depending on the student. I would recommend this class to anyone looking to improve on or who is just starting out with the AK series.
2 Day AK Operator
Feb 23&24, 2012
Wampum, PA
I am currently located in NE Ohio and have been disappointed with the lack of training facilities with in reasonable driving distance of the Akron/Cleveland area. Luckily for me I am working in law enforcement and it tends to allow me a few more training options than others. My personal training regiment is to attend 3-4 live fire courses a year in various disciplines, primarily handgun, carbine and precision rifle. The past few years I have been hoping to find a foreign weapons class or at least an AK class and broaden my skill set. Though it always seems that these types of classes were at the wrong place and the wrong time until I discovered BRTC. I read about BRTC on this forum and was elated when I found out they were a short 80 minute drive. So the planets aligned and their 2 day AK Operator class fell on my days off and I jumped on it.
The course called for 1000 rounds but the class size was small so I was able to put in more reps of several drills and pushed my round count over 1200. I shot Wolf 5.45 60grain and found it to be very reliable and accurate. I shot a little less than 50 pistol rounds all of which was Wolf 115gr 9mm. I have had a lot of success with the Wolf 9mm 115 for training and during this class I had no issues with it.
I shot an Arsenal SLR105 5.45X39, with standard iron sights, fixed stock, SOLAR Tactical safety mod. I used a VCAS sling, which was attached with my home brew mod which I will detail in a different post. I used 7 mags, four circle 10, two circle 21 and one circle 25. All of the mags have some use on them and early on I had some failure to feed issues with two of the circle 10 mags.
Pics of the SOLAR safety mod....
I donned an Eagle LE Carrier with soft armor and hard plates. On the vest I had three HSGI Taco mag pouches, Tactical Tailor- dual pistol pouch, cuff pouch, bang pouch, radio pouch, ATS med pouch. Pistol belt was a Spec Ops belt, modified HSGI drop leg w/6004 (Glock 17 & X300). Over all my kit is pretty standard for me and what I usually carry at work with a few exceptions. The TACO mag pouches are the newest addition to my kit and I love them. I typically carry an M4 at work but the TACO allows me so much versatility and the ability to work with various weapon system while using my typical personal kit.
I took this class knowing BRTC was offering the “basics” and I was fine with that. Though the class size being small allowed me a ton personal attention and the ability to have details criticized which was great. Rather than get lost on the firing line of a larger class the lead instructor, Buck, was able to pick apart the little things and really worked on my weak points. I went in to the class with a decent base line and Buck essentially gave me the tools to make me run the AK fast and efficient. We went through all the standard drills of any good carbine class. We covered various topics and was relieved when Buck came across with an open mind and the attitude that there are many ways to accomplish a specific task.
I typically do not train with shot timers too much and get turned off when I attend training where everything is focused on completing a drill by X amount of time. When Buck pulled out the shot timer I thought, “Here we go”. Though Buck introduced the timer with a more diagnostic approach. The times were broken down to identify the where the problem was and where the efficiency was rather than just blasting away in X seconds. I liked that, I liked knowing there was a reason for the timer rather than just pushing me to shoot fast. In the end I found a really good rhythm in presentation, accurately engaging multiple targets and efficiently reloading.
During the training I mentioned to Buck that my goal was to broaden my skill set so that I can improve as an instructor and that I consider foreign weapons a weak point in my skill set. So on day 2 we felt confident that we covered the drills and I trained to a standard we were both happy with we moved on to other weapons systems. Buck gave a great FAM fire on the CZ58 and PKM. That was a great bonus.
In the end I walked away with more than I expected. BRTC has a great facility, great instructors, no bull shit curriculum, and the willingness to improvise depending on the student. I would recommend this class to anyone looking to improve on or who is just starting out with the AK series.
