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trigger finger bias, and instruction in manipulating the rifle in
line with the bore, which he told us helped to achieve full control
of the gun making use of the bodys’ mechanical advantage. He
then went on to brief us on the difference between point of
aim and point of impact at differing distances.
He told us that we would not be learning target shooting,
but would concentrate on grouping shots centre mass on the
target; it soon became apparent that the course was not about
target shooting, but about shooting tactically with a rifle or
carbine, safely, and whilst on the move!
Even though Bob is the main man when it comes to the
ARG firearms courses, Paul himself is no slouch having served
on a high level police Firearms Team! He showed us how to
find the reset point on the trigger, and how to bring that into
play with our follow up shots, and then from that point on
everything was shot with pairs!
The morning session concluded with drills on stoppages
and magazine changes, with the emphasis on retaining empty
magazines as you would need to in a maritime environment on
board a moving ship. And then we broke for a well earned lunch.
I always find it incredible that you can meet a bunch of shooters
for the first time and after only a few hours everyone bonds
into a group; lunch break was filled with a lot of discussion and
a good deal of friendly banter, led in the main by Bob and Paul
themselves!
FIRE AND MOVEMENT!
After lunch it was really time to start putting our newly
polished skills into action! We did a quick recap on stoppages
and magazine changes, and then the game was really on. In
Then it was on to drills. Each exercise was first explained and
demonstrated by Bob or Paul, and then we would practice this
with rifles unloaded before going to live fire. First off was single
shot at differing distances to illustrate practically the changes in
point of aim/impact that he had explained earlier. This moved
on from static to turning targets very swiftly. Old style shooting
positions were ironed out by Bob teaching us to make use of a
more modern, body armour friendly “face on” stance.
When he was happy with our progress, Bob then moved us
on to controlled or accelerated pairs. Once upon a time I would
have referred to this as a “double tap”, but Paul explained that
the old “DT” relies on two shots on a single sight picture; this
means that although the first shot will be on target, the follow
up does not necessarily go to the same aim point.
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our four man details we were taught to move safely to a firing
point, then move back again. Bob set up multiple firing points
down the range which we moved to and from, taking our two
shots per point from different positions.
This part of the course is VERY dynamic, and the “building
blocks” from earlier in the day really come into focus. After