I just attended Central Cascade Precision’s July 15-18, 2010 Precision Long Distance Rifle course after finding this school here on Sniper's Hide.
I’ve done precision rifle courses with two other schools and those were excellent courses and I learned valuable things from each of them. But until now I had gaps in my understanding and experience at ranges over 600 yards, and lacked complete confidence that I was developing and practicing my skills in the most effective manner. No more. The CCP course covered everything I needed to take my skill set to the next level, and tied that together with what I had already learned at the other schools.
More importantly, I now have a solid enough understanding of the basic and intermediate principles and mechanics of long-range rifle that I can practice on my own without introducing or reinforcing bad habits. I think that’s a key point – I got my first precision bolt-action rifle about 10 months ago and have been to several classes since and have expended approx. 1,300 rounds of factory match .308 (no time yet to hand load). Looking back after the CCP course I can see that I had wasted a lot of money sending rounds downrange without a solid understanding of what I was doing, and without knowing the best way to record data. So to anyone new to it as I was, I would recommend spending the money on training (before) you spend too much on gear and ammo.
Thanks to previous training, I already had a solid base of marksmanship fundamentals coming to the course. Caylen (CCP owner, lead instructor) covered those fundamentals in the course (you can never cover them enough) but what made this course different for me was the amount of time spent learning to read and call wind, and operating in shooter/spotter teams. The CCP range is like a test lab for weird wind conditions: with wind coming from different directions at the same time, and constantly changing throughout the day. The presence of tall grass and different size trees across the range allowed a “real-world” learning experience that wind flags on a bare range can’t match.
The unknown distance portion was also very useful, having to Mil targets and doing the math under time pressure was a blast. As a math phobic this was something that seemed daunting until now. No more, now I find myself milling objects at work and in my home just for fun.
There were a lot of little things that were each worth the cost of the training, one was a simple way to quickly determine “ocular alignment” to make setting correct cheek rest height a fast and simple affair. I won’t describe it here since it was not presented in any previous training I’ve had, and I’d rather let Caylen teach you or write about it. There were many more, but since there are other reviews of his course online and a syllabus on the CCP site, I won’t go into a complete breakdown of the plan of instruction.
I should also mention that there were a few very experienced rifle shooters in the course and they were very happy with the pace and instruction.
The range (about 35 minute drive from Yakima, WA) was absolutely gorgeous -- situated in a valley with a grass floor and surrounded by rolling hills and forest. Steel targets were placed in the grass as well as in the tree line. We shot from different positions every day, which is a nice change from shooting from the same static firing line on a fixed range. Classroom sessions were conducted under a pop-up canopy, and the range allows firing positions in almost any direction to experience different wind, angle, and lighting conditions.
Equipment: I was shooting Federal 175 grain Match from a Surgeon Scalpel in an AI 2.0 stock. Conditions where very dusty and I did not do a full clean on my rifle during the course. The rifle performed flawlessly under rough conditions, zero malfunctions or issues…I love my Surgeon. The whole course was a blast but the high point for me personally was getting on the 18”x24”1,000-yard target for the first time with one spotter and then putting three rounds into a 5” group with 8mph full value wind. I used a Tactical Intervention Specialists Quick-Cuff sling (recommended by Caylen), and a Nightforce 5.5-22 x 56mm 2nd Focal Plane scope with MLR reticle. The scope was excellent and the Zero-Stop feature saved my bacon at least three times. This scope needs to be at 22x to mill targets, which was not an issue as the max magnification allowed me (I believe) to take more accurate measurements at the distances where mistakes are easier to make and have a bigger affect. But all things considered I would prefer a 1st FF scope and matching spotting scope for this type of course. But like I said, the 2nd FF scope did the job. There were a mix of rifles in the class including CZ, Remington, and GA Precision.
Caylen is a top-notch instructor and did an excellent job of meeting the needs of 9 students with a wide range of ages, fitness, and experience. I was challenged throughout the course but not to the degree that it prevented me from learning something from every round fired. Caylen has substantial real-world experience gained in Iraq as a USMC Scout/Sniper and as an instructor with USMC SOTG Special Missions Branch and as a result his class is short on fluff and theory and big on practical solutions that lead to rounds on target. I highly recommend him as an individual and as an instructor. If you are looking for quality training on the West Coast then you should add Central Cascade Precision to your short list.
I’ve done precision rifle courses with two other schools and those were excellent courses and I learned valuable things from each of them. But until now I had gaps in my understanding and experience at ranges over 600 yards, and lacked complete confidence that I was developing and practicing my skills in the most effective manner. No more. The CCP course covered everything I needed to take my skill set to the next level, and tied that together with what I had already learned at the other schools.
More importantly, I now have a solid enough understanding of the basic and intermediate principles and mechanics of long-range rifle that I can practice on my own without introducing or reinforcing bad habits. I think that’s a key point – I got my first precision bolt-action rifle about 10 months ago and have been to several classes since and have expended approx. 1,300 rounds of factory match .308 (no time yet to hand load). Looking back after the CCP course I can see that I had wasted a lot of money sending rounds downrange without a solid understanding of what I was doing, and without knowing the best way to record data. So to anyone new to it as I was, I would recommend spending the money on training (before) you spend too much on gear and ammo.
Thanks to previous training, I already had a solid base of marksmanship fundamentals coming to the course. Caylen (CCP owner, lead instructor) covered those fundamentals in the course (you can never cover them enough) but what made this course different for me was the amount of time spent learning to read and call wind, and operating in shooter/spotter teams. The CCP range is like a test lab for weird wind conditions: with wind coming from different directions at the same time, and constantly changing throughout the day. The presence of tall grass and different size trees across the range allowed a “real-world” learning experience that wind flags on a bare range can’t match.
The unknown distance portion was also very useful, having to Mil targets and doing the math under time pressure was a blast. As a math phobic this was something that seemed daunting until now. No more, now I find myself milling objects at work and in my home just for fun.
There were a lot of little things that were each worth the cost of the training, one was a simple way to quickly determine “ocular alignment” to make setting correct cheek rest height a fast and simple affair. I won’t describe it here since it was not presented in any previous training I’ve had, and I’d rather let Caylen teach you or write about it. There were many more, but since there are other reviews of his course online and a syllabus on the CCP site, I won’t go into a complete breakdown of the plan of instruction.
I should also mention that there were a few very experienced rifle shooters in the course and they were very happy with the pace and instruction.
The range (about 35 minute drive from Yakima, WA) was absolutely gorgeous -- situated in a valley with a grass floor and surrounded by rolling hills and forest. Steel targets were placed in the grass as well as in the tree line. We shot from different positions every day, which is a nice change from shooting from the same static firing line on a fixed range. Classroom sessions were conducted under a pop-up canopy, and the range allows firing positions in almost any direction to experience different wind, angle, and lighting conditions.
Equipment: I was shooting Federal 175 grain Match from a Surgeon Scalpel in an AI 2.0 stock. Conditions where very dusty and I did not do a full clean on my rifle during the course. The rifle performed flawlessly under rough conditions, zero malfunctions or issues…I love my Surgeon. The whole course was a blast but the high point for me personally was getting on the 18”x24”1,000-yard target for the first time with one spotter and then putting three rounds into a 5” group with 8mph full value wind. I used a Tactical Intervention Specialists Quick-Cuff sling (recommended by Caylen), and a Nightforce 5.5-22 x 56mm 2nd Focal Plane scope with MLR reticle. The scope was excellent and the Zero-Stop feature saved my bacon at least three times. This scope needs to be at 22x to mill targets, which was not an issue as the max magnification allowed me (I believe) to take more accurate measurements at the distances where mistakes are easier to make and have a bigger affect. But all things considered I would prefer a 1st FF scope and matching spotting scope for this type of course. But like I said, the 2nd FF scope did the job. There were a mix of rifles in the class including CZ, Remington, and GA Precision.
Caylen is a top-notch instructor and did an excellent job of meeting the needs of 9 students with a wide range of ages, fitness, and experience. I was challenged throughout the course but not to the degree that it prevented me from learning something from every round fired. Caylen has substantial real-world experience gained in Iraq as a USMC Scout/Sniper and as an instructor with USMC SOTG Special Missions Branch and as a result his class is short on fluff and theory and big on practical solutions that lead to rounds on target. I highly recommend him as an individual and as an instructor. If you are looking for quality training on the West Coast then you should add Central Cascade Precision to your short list.
