I attended the second class (6/17-6/21).
Coming into the course, I was of course hyped, but tempered my expectations as this was my first formal rifle training in almost 20 years. By day 4 I feel confident our entire group was blown away by what we had learned, the dedication of our instructors, the grandeur of the facilities, and ultimately the personal growth we had achieved (we all have plenty of work left to do). I have perused other long range rifle training opportunities previously – what sold me on this course was Shoot2Hunt’s podcast talking about the course curriculum and outcomes, the fact that I actually like Ryan/Jake/Form/etc (based solely on their podcast and online personas, but still), and of course the mystique of Form training us. What I didn’t expect was just how dedicated these guys were to giving us a full courseload, pushing us where we needed pushing and propping us up when it was warranted, and ultimately the value – no way you’re getting more for your time or money than probably any other course out there as a civilian. The instructors care, are passionate about hunting and long range rifle skills, and dedicated +/- 14 hours a day toward our classroom and field training. I am appreciative of them, and you will be lucky to attend this class, seriously.
Previous course overviews pretty much sum up the majority of content so I’ll give a few personal lessons learned and what I’d suggest if I was planning to attend in the future:
I’m mostly self-taught as it relates to long range rifle, and by most accounts I considered myself above average coming into the course. I was quickly humbled in multiple ways, but once the timer comes out, it just gets worse. You are going to learn a lot in the course. Try to brush up on some of the skills previously mentioned in advance, they will sink in better with repetition (you must do them correctly to wire your brain correctly).
Overall, awesome course, awesome people, and one of the best “vacations” I’ve been on. Don’t think about it, just sign yourself up. Come with an open mind and prepare to be reset - you will probably suck but the best part of all of this is you will actually get better.
Coming into the course, I was of course hyped, but tempered my expectations as this was my first formal rifle training in almost 20 years. By day 4 I feel confident our entire group was blown away by what we had learned, the dedication of our instructors, the grandeur of the facilities, and ultimately the personal growth we had achieved (we all have plenty of work left to do). I have perused other long range rifle training opportunities previously – what sold me on this course was Shoot2Hunt’s podcast talking about the course curriculum and outcomes, the fact that I actually like Ryan/Jake/Form/etc (based solely on their podcast and online personas, but still), and of course the mystique of Form training us. What I didn’t expect was just how dedicated these guys were to giving us a full courseload, pushing us where we needed pushing and propping us up when it was warranted, and ultimately the value – no way you’re getting more for your time or money than probably any other course out there as a civilian. The instructors care, are passionate about hunting and long range rifle skills, and dedicated +/- 14 hours a day toward our classroom and field training. I am appreciative of them, and you will be lucky to attend this class, seriously.
Previous course overviews pretty much sum up the majority of content so I’ll give a few personal lessons learned and what I’d suggest if I was planning to attend in the future:
- Firearm safety – we all know it, no excuses for lapses. Refresh yourself, you’re in the field shooting in lots of directions at multiple targets with people, cattle, buildings, etc in proximity to you. This should be everyone’s number one focus
- Zero your rifle before the class so you look better in a future review
- Don’t use non-factory trigger springs (Tikkas). IIRC we had two failures where the trigger housing screw became loose and this condition can cause rifles to fire unexpectedly. I like a light trigger but value human life and firearm safety more
- Form caught me flinching a couple times and I didn’t like it. Bring a .223 and spare yourself some embarrassment. More seriously, bring a .223 so you can eliminate shooter errors caused by recoil and focus on other fundamentals that need work
- Unless you’re Form or Dan, you’re probably not going to shoot a heavy-ish 33” barrel/suppressor unsupported very well. I brought a 6.5 cm 24” CTR w/ my ultra 9 in a Bravo – this was not the best idea, I’d suggest something more moderate (20-22” barrel / 6-7” suppressor / factory stock, rokstok, etc). The rifle shot great in the field, but I was disappointed with my standing and unsupported skillset, just something I need to work on (a lot) with this system.
- Ditch CTR mags. To me, they suck in inclement weather. This was the second time they have failed on me and I brought new mags with me to the course hoping it was just a fluke the first time I had issues with them. I “fixed” them, but we didn’t have rain after I got them running again and would not be surprised if they failed again. To this point, bring a reliable rifle system period – test it before you attend. Problems cost valuable training time.
- Bring trekking poles with the straps still attached. They won’t work as a rest without them.
- Hornady American Gunner in 140 grain HPBT was accurate for me during the course but I had a lot of heavier bolt lifts – a cleaner round might relieve some of this for you. It’s hard to cycle your bolt quickly and keep your eye in the scope when you struggle to rerack.
- Bring a bipod if you must, but you’re going to learn you don’t need one (and won’t use it here)
- Buy or borrow rangefinding binoculars. Handheld monocular variants suck valuable time in the field.
I’m mostly self-taught as it relates to long range rifle, and by most accounts I considered myself above average coming into the course. I was quickly humbled in multiple ways, but once the timer comes out, it just gets worse. You are going to learn a lot in the course. Try to brush up on some of the skills previously mentioned in advance, they will sink in better with repetition (you must do them correctly to wire your brain correctly).
Overall, awesome course, awesome people, and one of the best “vacations” I’ve been on. Don’t think about it, just sign yourself up. Come with an open mind and prepare to be reset - you will probably suck but the best part of all of this is you will actually get better.
