From April 15 to 17 I had the opportunity to take Suarez International’s M4 Sniper - DMR Course in Coleman Texas (Hemphill Ranch). The focus of the class is learning to use a standard M4 rifle to engage targets at the rifle’s maximum effective range (~600 yards). The material of the class of based on the Army’s Designated Marksman training so you can get an idea of what our Joes are being taught.
Just in case you don’t know: I’m not using an M4 in the class. I’m using a FN SCAR 17. We actually had a variety of weapons from various M16/AR15/M4 variants, a FAL, and an AK being used by the photographer.
Facilities
Hemphilll Ranch is an amazing location that provides the perfect environment for this type of training. We had no trouble setting up a 600yard range and could have gone further if time had permitted.
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As a bonus they fed us! The first night they brought in smoked ribs, beans, salad, baked potatoes and garlic bread. For desert we had some kickass brownies and peanut butter cookies. Saturday night though was where they established themselves in a league all their own: steak! What they served was better than Del Frisco’s, Ruth’s or any other high end steak house. I have to find out where to get that meat and buy a few tons of it. It was seriously the best steak I’ve had. And I’ve had a lot of steak.
The bunk house we stayed in had internet access that was good enough to post pictures and do some surfing, but not good enough to let me actually work. In my opinion it was perfect b/c I did not want to get sucked in to the computer as I’m likely to do. I also did not have cell service (Verizon) at the bunk house. If I went out to the road or somewhere else I could get a call out. There is a phone at the bunk house though. In my opinion this is a major feature of the location not a bug. The last thing I needed was a client calling me while I was trying to relax and learning something… not everday useful.
In today’s environment of pillow biting political correctness, nanny state hyper vigilance and dooshbag attorneys suing over the slightest foul smelling fart: having access to a facility like this is a godsend. There is enough room out here and enough variation in terrain to allow us to do nearly anything imaginable. If you have the chance to go out there take it!
What could have gone better:
· Directions to the Ranch. Yeah it is right off of 283 with a big ole arch over the road, but having never been there before you have no idea whether or not you have gone far enough or too far and then arriving in the dark makes it even more fun. Then…Hemphill Ranch isn’t small so even after crossing over the cattle guard you still have a few miles to go with no idea where you are really going. No biggie, everybody eventually figured it out.
· More written material for preparation so we can spend more time in the field. There was a lot packed in to the 3 days, some of it could have been provided through a reading list. For instance:
o The 21st Century Sniper: A Complete Practical Guide
o Green Eyes and Black Rifles: Warriors Guide to the Combat Carbine
o Fry The Brain: The Art of Urban Sniping and its Role in Modern Guerrilla Warfare
And other books and the various military field manuals that are available
Specific things that would have been nice to add in this ‘pre-study’ package would be range estimation techniques (mil-dots, dead reckoning, flash to bang, etc.), gear setup considerations (ALICE, MOLLE, etc.), team movement, natural point of aim, trigger control, breathing and camouflage. Keep in mind this stuff was covered, but not in depth and what I’m suggesting is supplementing it before hand to allow the class to either go deeper in to it or get to the field faster.
· Assistant for the instructor. The class had a fast pace, but because the ranges were not setup beforehand we occasionally had to pause while we got the target frames setup. An assistant could have run ahead to setup the range(s) while the classroom work was being done. Again, this would have allowed us to either shoot even more (we went through a lot of ammo) or gone even deeper in to the content.
· I stink at shooting from offhand. I can rock it from prone or sitting. Offhand though....I’m not much of a threat. I’ll be working on that.
What went really well
· By Sunday morning I was shooting groups half the size at twice the distance as what I was shooting the weekend before (I’m now making groups smaller than 2.5” at 200 yards). Some of this was just lots of shooting over the weekend. But there was a lot of discussion and coaching on things like natural point of aim, breathing, and trigger control.
· At this point I’m absolutely certain that I can hit head size targets at 200 yards all day long even with strong winds. I’m also confident that I can make upper body hits at ~600 yards, again with strong winds.
· I have my gear nearly sorted out. I made changes to the pouches on my belt to allow me to get prone without jamming internal organs out of place. I also moved my knife from my pocket to a pouch on the harness where I can get at it easier and again not have something jamming in to me as I take a shooting position (especially sitting).
· I also discovered that my 4-16 power scope is not ideal for this type of work. During the entire class I never moved it from the 4 power setting. So I basically had a 2lbs telescope on my rifle that I had cranked all the way back. The scope itself worked great and I love the mil-dot reticle (more about it later) but it is too big and weighs too much for my rifle. Also, I had the scope custom built with adjustable turrets: big mistake! Transitioning from my rifle to handgun always caused at least one of the turrets to roll killing my zero. Not good. My ideal scope is probably a 4 power optic with a mil-dot reticle. This scope will go on a bolt action rifle I’ll get later.
· I don’t believe Mr. Chambers is a huge fan of mil-dot reticles, but I like them. In a lot of cases I actually use the mil-dots as my aim point by placing the dot on the target. However, in cases where you have wind (try 40mph swilling gusting wind) with a target 600 yards away so you have to hold over you won’t be a mil-dot. This is where my experience with racing motorcycles came in handy – reference points! If you are good at follow through after you break the shot you’ll see where your impact was so you can adjust. At 600 yards I observed that my shots were 1 mil-dot to the left and 4+ low. I compensate by moving up and to the right and observing what is there (say a bush) and fire again. If I’m on target then I’ll use the bush as my aim point, otherwise I adjust again finding another reference point to aim at.
· The instructor – John Chambers – was excellent. Getting to spend 3 days with him both in class and out was great. His knowledge and experience in this area of practice is formidable. Basically, if he suggests you try something: do it. He will not lead you wrong. He also has great stories to tell and they are worth listening to.
· The group of people that attended the class also made the experience what it was. I feel that I’ve made new friends who I hope to get to train with again in the near future (9/11 AK class!).
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Summary
For personal reasons this weekend was exactly what I needed on a lot of different levels. Three solid days w/ very little cell service and just a few minutes of computer was great. The result of the class is that I’m a lot more accurate at shooting that I was before. If you are given the opportunity to take this class I highly recommend it. Especially if you can do it at Hemphill Ranch. I’m sure the other places are nice, but Hemphill really is that good.
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