Day two of the March 2007 LMS Defense AK 101 course, taught by Paul Gomez and Yancey Harrington at the Casa Grande Police range, moved to longer distances, movement and pulling every skill together into a plan. See Day 1 for the course details.
Zeroing
- An early start on the long-distance side of the range, with a lecture on zero and why to zero an AK at 50 meters.
- The AKM manual’s tables and charts, and why they are useful.
- Students zeroed at short range, then moved back to 100 meters. Four used optics and the rest irons, including XS big dot and Champion night sights. AK sight tools brought stray rifles back on target.
- A rifle’s advantage is distance, so long-range practice and a good zero matter.
Movement and positions
- Shooting while moving is dangerous, so it was taught slowly: lecture, then dry drills, then live fire forward and back in two small groups, finishing with walking-and-shooting drills.
- After lunch: supine, kneeling and sitting, and moving between them. A fight often starts after you have been hit, knocked down or pushed, so starting from your back is not unusual.
- Changing position scrambles your bearings. Students scanned at each step from supine to standing to make sure they were not moving into someone’s line of fire.
FASTTT
The rest of the day combined every skill into a plan of action for a fight with an AK in hand:
- Fire
- Assess: do you need to shoot again, or get away?
- Scan: more threats, friends, witnesses, cover?
- Tactical reload
- Treat injuries
- Talk to the environment: call for help, tell friends your position, call out to witnesses
Cinder block demonstration
- One block each was shot with 5.56×45, 5.45×39 and 7.62×39. The 5.56 and 5.45 damaged their blocks but did not go through in one shot; the 7.62 crumbled its block.
- With pistols, 9mm and .40 were stopped, while .45 ACP crumbled a block in three shots.
- Lesson: a cinder block wall may not be cover against a rifle.
Observations
- Two full days, with lots of information and trigger time. Reviews were positive from new and veteran students alike.
- Both instructors are completely at home with the AK and get the information across without wasted time.
Takeaways
- Zero your AK at 50 meters and confirm it at 100.
- Practice getting up from the ground while scanning.
- Memorize FASTTT: the fight is not over when the shooting stops.
Originally published on After Action.net on March 21, 2007. Rebuilt from the archived report; the original photos were not preserved. See every class in the Training Log, or share your own training experience.
(Visited 1 times, 1 visits today)