Sig Sauer Academy - Rifle drills for precision marksman review
Due to the specialized nature of the skills, the precision rifle classes are not often taught. Lucky for me, I came across a one day class being taught by Sig Sauer academy - Rifle drills for precision marksman - and decided to take it, since due to my range restrictions I only had access to 50,100 and 200 yard ranges.
Based on the name of the class, I did not expect to see much classroom. It would be spent mostly in the field shooting the rifle at various distances.
The course did not disappoint me.
There were supposed to be five people including me, but the other three students did not show up. So it was me, another gentleman and our instructor John. John has been a local SWAT member for over a decade, as well as being in charge of their sniper training. He is very laid back, and extremely professional. I was shooting RRA Varmint A4 with 18" bbl with Magpul PRS stock and MIAD grip. I had a Nikon Buckmaster 4.5-14X Mildot scope with 1/4" adjustments mounted inside ARMS rings and Harris 9-13" swivel bipod. For ammo I was using PPU 75 grain match .223 ammo.
Vic was shooting a rack grade SAI M1A rifle with SAI scope with a BDC calibrated for .308 168 grain bullet. He was using a mix of his handloads and Hornady TAP.
After a brief introduction we drove down to the 100 yard range and set up our gear and targets. The first exercise was confirming 100 yard zero. Despite my rifle being already zeroed at 100 yards, I had to come down and to the right a few clicks. I was able to get a group of about 1" in diameter. Not bad for me as a shooter and for the semi-auto rifle I was using.
Since my bipod is 9-13", I found it too tall to shoot off the bench. So I improvised by stuffing an old butt pack with a used sweater and put the rifle, bipod folded, on top of it. This provided good support and enough elevation to make it comfortable. I also had difficulty supporting the rear stock of the rifle since the pistol grip makes it a little difficult to wrap the left arm around the stock. Instead, I took two empty boxes of ammo, put them into a M4 magazine pouch, and used it as a riser with my stock - allowing me to to have a stable platform at the correct height.
While I would load 5 rounds in a magazine, I noticed that Vic was only loading 1 round into his. He said that he has experienced slam-fires when using factory ammo with his M1A and single loading was a way to be safer. He believes that commercial ammo's softer primers cause this issue. However, having owned a M1A I never experienced this and suggested that he get in touch with SAI to check this rifle out.
John was also kind enough to let us put a few rounds through SSG 3000 rifle in .308 that was equipped with Zeiss 6.5-20X scope with their BDC reticle and turrets graduated in 0.5cm. The scope was impressive with a bright image, and solid adjustments. However, the reticle appeared a little busy with all the BDC stadia.
After confirming our 100 yard zeroes, we moved to the 50 yard line. We practiced shooting from different positions. First up was standing, unsupported. I didn't do well with this position, despite my AR being relatively light weight compared to something like an M1A. Having never practiced this position with my rifle, there was a lot of wobble, scattering my group across 3". Then we used a shooting stick and my group noticeably shrunk since the rifle was partly supported. After that, we did squatting position with triceps resting on the knees. I found this position very stable and shot very well with it. This was followed with kneeling. Shooting prone from 50 yards didn't show any new surprises, and we moved back to 100 yard line to fire a few groups.
Since we were experiencing some issues with group centering, John suggested scope tracking exercise. For those not familiar - here is a short summary. There are four targets are the corners
of a 7" X 5" rectangle. You start the drill by aiming at the top left corner. After the first group, adjust the reticle seven inches to the right, and fire another group, still using the left most corner as the aiming point. You adjust your reticle to cover each corner, while still aiming at the top left. This will show if the scope's turrets are consistent. My scope tracked well, and the last group was only a bit off to the left. Vic's scope produced an interesting pattern, with groups being closer together than expected.
After coming back from lunch, we quickly re-confirmed our 100 yard zeroes and moved back to 200 yards. All shooting from 200 yards was done prone and we had to do some adjustments to get a decent group. Once this was accomplished, we setup some steel targets and moved back to the 300 yard line.
With some help from John and the ballistic table I printed before, I got on target after firing one group. Later, we fired at steel plates. John had us do the following drill: There were three pairs of steel poppers in blue, yellow and orange color. He would call out a color, we would locate it and fire at it. So there we are, laying prone at 300 yards. John calls out: "Orange". I calmly located a yellow popper and slowly press the trigger back. As soon as the shot breaks, I realize "oh ****!" I engaged the wrong target. Vic, however, was on the money and the orange popper fell down. This just goes to show how important it is to pay attention to the smallest detail in precision shooting. After finishing off the poppers we engaged steel targets and both of us had very good groups - you can see my group on the photo.
That concluded our time at 300 yards and we moved off to the 500 yard range.
There, John showed us a little surprise - Sig academy provided us with Blaser Tactical 2 rifle in .338 Lapua to try out.
Once again, getting on target only took us a few rounds since we had confirmed zeroes at 300 yards. John was spotting for me and Vic. I fired two groups of 5 rounds each, with all hits being on the steel target. Vic had some trouble getting on target since he was using the BDC in his scope. He said the reticle had to be off target - low and left in order for the shots to hit.
Now it was time to "bring out Old Painless" - Blaser Tactical 2 in .338 Lapua. Since we needed to confirm its zero, John got behind the rifle, while I was spotting for him. It tooks us about 6 shots to get the rifle on steel. After that it was just a matter of maintaining proper form, sight picture, and follow through to guarantee a hit. One thing that helped is the integral monopod, which made for a very stable platform. It had a Leupold Mark IV scope with illuminated reticle mounted on it, which provided a very clear image. The action on the rifle was also unique. It was a straight pull, with no need to rotate the bolt. By using the monopod I was able to score five hits for five rounds fired. Vic did the same.
After a brief clean up and policing, it was time to wrap up this course. I found it to be a time well spent. Being able to fire from various distances under the watchful eye of a sniper instructor was a great experience. It is a great class for anybody who knows basic long range rifle theory and needs trigger time, since perfect practice makes it perfect. I picked up a few tips, gained more confidence in my rifle and my abilities and got to spend a great day shooting long distance.
Photos
Due to the specialized nature of the skills, the precision rifle classes are not often taught. Lucky for me, I came across a one day class being taught by Sig Sauer academy - Rifle drills for precision marksman - and decided to take it, since due to my range restrictions I only had access to 50,100 and 200 yard ranges.
Based on the name of the class, I did not expect to see much classroom. It would be spent mostly in the field shooting the rifle at various distances.
The course did not disappoint me.
There were supposed to be five people including me, but the other three students did not show up. So it was me, another gentleman and our instructor John. John has been a local SWAT member for over a decade, as well as being in charge of their sniper training. He is very laid back, and extremely professional. I was shooting RRA Varmint A4 with 18" bbl with Magpul PRS stock and MIAD grip. I had a Nikon Buckmaster 4.5-14X Mildot scope with 1/4" adjustments mounted inside ARMS rings and Harris 9-13" swivel bipod. For ammo I was using PPU 75 grain match .223 ammo.
Vic was shooting a rack grade SAI M1A rifle with SAI scope with a BDC calibrated for .308 168 grain bullet. He was using a mix of his handloads and Hornady TAP.
After a brief introduction we drove down to the 100 yard range and set up our gear and targets. The first exercise was confirming 100 yard zero. Despite my rifle being already zeroed at 100 yards, I had to come down and to the right a few clicks. I was able to get a group of about 1" in diameter. Not bad for me as a shooter and for the semi-auto rifle I was using.
Since my bipod is 9-13", I found it too tall to shoot off the bench. So I improvised by stuffing an old butt pack with a used sweater and put the rifle, bipod folded, on top of it. This provided good support and enough elevation to make it comfortable. I also had difficulty supporting the rear stock of the rifle since the pistol grip makes it a little difficult to wrap the left arm around the stock. Instead, I took two empty boxes of ammo, put them into a M4 magazine pouch, and used it as a riser with my stock - allowing me to to have a stable platform at the correct height.
While I would load 5 rounds in a magazine, I noticed that Vic was only loading 1 round into his. He said that he has experienced slam-fires when using factory ammo with his M1A and single loading was a way to be safer. He believes that commercial ammo's softer primers cause this issue. However, having owned a M1A I never experienced this and suggested that he get in touch with SAI to check this rifle out.
John was also kind enough to let us put a few rounds through SSG 3000 rifle in .308 that was equipped with Zeiss 6.5-20X scope with their BDC reticle and turrets graduated in 0.5cm. The scope was impressive with a bright image, and solid adjustments. However, the reticle appeared a little busy with all the BDC stadia.
After confirming our 100 yard zeroes, we moved to the 50 yard line. We practiced shooting from different positions. First up was standing, unsupported. I didn't do well with this position, despite my AR being relatively light weight compared to something like an M1A. Having never practiced this position with my rifle, there was a lot of wobble, scattering my group across 3". Then we used a shooting stick and my group noticeably shrunk since the rifle was partly supported. After that, we did squatting position with triceps resting on the knees. I found this position very stable and shot very well with it. This was followed with kneeling. Shooting prone from 50 yards didn't show any new surprises, and we moved back to 100 yard line to fire a few groups.
Since we were experiencing some issues with group centering, John suggested scope tracking exercise. For those not familiar - here is a short summary. There are four targets are the corners
of a 7" X 5" rectangle. You start the drill by aiming at the top left corner. After the first group, adjust the reticle seven inches to the right, and fire another group, still using the left most corner as the aiming point. You adjust your reticle to cover each corner, while still aiming at the top left. This will show if the scope's turrets are consistent. My scope tracked well, and the last group was only a bit off to the left. Vic's scope produced an interesting pattern, with groups being closer together than expected.
After coming back from lunch, we quickly re-confirmed our 100 yard zeroes and moved back to 200 yards. All shooting from 200 yards was done prone and we had to do some adjustments to get a decent group. Once this was accomplished, we setup some steel targets and moved back to the 300 yard line.
With some help from John and the ballistic table I printed before, I got on target after firing one group. Later, we fired at steel plates. John had us do the following drill: There were three pairs of steel poppers in blue, yellow and orange color. He would call out a color, we would locate it and fire at it. So there we are, laying prone at 300 yards. John calls out: "Orange". I calmly located a yellow popper and slowly press the trigger back. As soon as the shot breaks, I realize "oh ****!" I engaged the wrong target. Vic, however, was on the money and the orange popper fell down. This just goes to show how important it is to pay attention to the smallest detail in precision shooting. After finishing off the poppers we engaged steel targets and both of us had very good groups - you can see my group on the photo.
That concluded our time at 300 yards and we moved off to the 500 yard range.
There, John showed us a little surprise - Sig academy provided us with Blaser Tactical 2 rifle in .338 Lapua to try out.
Once again, getting on target only took us a few rounds since we had confirmed zeroes at 300 yards. John was spotting for me and Vic. I fired two groups of 5 rounds each, with all hits being on the steel target. Vic had some trouble getting on target since he was using the BDC in his scope. He said the reticle had to be off target - low and left in order for the shots to hit.
Now it was time to "bring out Old Painless" - Blaser Tactical 2 in .338 Lapua. Since we needed to confirm its zero, John got behind the rifle, while I was spotting for him. It tooks us about 6 shots to get the rifle on steel. After that it was just a matter of maintaining proper form, sight picture, and follow through to guarantee a hit. One thing that helped is the integral monopod, which made for a very stable platform. It had a Leupold Mark IV scope with illuminated reticle mounted on it, which provided a very clear image. The action on the rifle was also unique. It was a straight pull, with no need to rotate the bolt. By using the monopod I was able to score five hits for five rounds fired. Vic did the same.
After a brief clean up and policing, it was time to wrap up this course. I found it to be a time well spent. Being able to fire from various distances under the watchful eye of a sniper instructor was a great experience. It is a great class for anybody who knows basic long range rifle theory and needs trigger time, since perfect practice makes it perfect. I picked up a few tips, gained more confidence in my rifle and my abilities and got to spend a great day shooting long distance.
Photos
