Training Courses NE Pennsylvania - Rockwell Tactical class Report

[UnitedFan]

I attended a class put on by Rockwell Tactical over the weekend, Long Range Marksmanship 101. This class was geared towards the new long range shooter. The class was two and a half days with the first half day, Friday, being classroom instruction covering safety to ballistics. I honestly stumbled on this through the lead instructor for this class. The gentleman's name is Jason Delgado. I recommend looking him up to see his credentials. Having the opportunity to shoot with him was a fantastic experience. An added benefit was Jason's spotter, Jesse Davenport, from their Marine Corp deployments attended and assisted the class. While I am not a new shooter I have been limited to 700 yards at my home range, New Holland Rifle and Pistol Club. So, the opportunity to shoot to 1100 was my primary draw. I could not be happier that I took the course. The range portion is held at Shooter's Gauntlet. Beautiful country in this area. Was able to run the Jeep pretty good up some fairly ragged old logging roads to get to the shooting deck. I enjoyed the entire event so much that I may go back next month and shoot the same course with another rifle. Again, the 1100 yards is a draw for me. Make no mistake. I am not glossing over the level of instruction. It is first class. I learned some very valuable techniques that I simply had not been exposed to before. The entire weekend was just a great time. A bit over three hours from West Chester. Beautiful country. Saw a part of the state I had not been exposed to before. Fantastic instructors and range facilities. If a great weekend that includes great instruction, seeing some beautiful country and a great facility sounds appealing check out Rockwell Tactical website. A word of caution. This is a new offering so it does not show up on the course offering list. It is however, listed on the calendar of events. I believe the next class is mid May. I believe there are dates posted further out as well. My understanding is there will be an advanced marksmanship offering in the future.

Note: I have no affiliation with Rockwell. I honestly had never heard of them only to find out they have put on classes at my home range.

Cheers

 

[UnitedFan]

A few pics at Shooters Gauntlet to give some idea of the area. The current max distance is 1,100 yards. My understanding is this will be stretched out to 1,500 in the not too distant future.

 

[Jeffd]

Contact info and location please?

 

[UnitedFan]

Contact info and location please?

Jeff,

Here is what I know. Classes are thru Rockwell Tactical, http://www.rockwelltactical.com. This particular class is held at the Shooter's Gauntlet facility, https://www.shootersgauntlet.com. I stayed in the small town of Towanda, Pa. Shooter's Gauntlet is located about 20 minutes from there. Keep in mind access is via an old logging road. For those with 4 WD it is actually fun off roading to get there. Nothing technical. Just nice getting off the beaten path.

 

[Jeffd]

Thanks

 

[UnitedFan]

Very welcome.

I should clarify, 4 WD is not needed. Clearance is.

 

[Ruggedtouch]

Very welcome.

I should clarify, 4 WD is not needed. Clearance is.

Looks interesting for a New Jersey guy. I didn’t find it on their website but what is the class size for the Long Range course?

 

[UnitedFan]

Looks interesting for a New Jersey guy. I didn’t find it on their website but what is the class size for the Long Range course?

Yeah, that was one of the things that was a bit annoying. The class I attended was apparently the first LR Marksmanship class they have put on so the listing of courses does not include LR Marksmanship 101. Take a look on the calendar of events which I think is under the training tab. I believe there is another class in Mid May. I was looking for an Advanced Class or a 202 class and saw the 101 course listed on one of the weekends. I will go ahead and put this out there. You may not receive any correspondence until the week of the class. I sent a couple of emails but did not get a reply. Then, I received a group email to all who had registered. It all worked out. One thing we did recommend was that they should advise the students what hotel the instructors were staying at for convenience. We ended up meeting there before the Sat & Sun range sessions so staying there would have been convenient. I personally stayed at the Fairfield Inn which was 10 minutes or so away.

I do not know what the max class size is to be honest. In our class we had 4 shooters which honestly was great for us. There were two Corpsman present who did some shooting. The pic would lead one to believe there were a lot of shooters.

So, the way the class was run they paired us up. One student would shoot while the partner would spot. The instructors also spotted but the purpose was for the student to learn how to spot and provide adjustment to the shooter. I liked it. So, based on that a class size of 10 to 12 would be doable based on the shooting pad size. We were advised that in the near future the shooting platform will be located at the other end of the range. I did see the new pad which had overhead cover which will most welcome as things heat up.

I am seriously considering shooting it again with my .338 to get DOPE. As mentioned in my original report my range has a max of 700 so it was great having the op to shoot out to 1,100.

 

[Ruggedtouch]

Yeah, that was one of the things that was a bit annoying. The class I attended was apparently the first LR Marksmanship class they have put on so the listing of courses does not include LR Marksmanship 101. Take a look on the calendar of events which I think is under the training tab. I believe there is another class in Mid May. I was looking for an Advanced Class or a 202 class and saw the 101 course listed on one of the weekends. I will go ahead and put this out there. You may not receive any correspondence until the week of the class. I sent a couple of emails but did not get a reply. Then, I received a group email to all who had registered. It all worked out. One thing we did recommend was that they should advise the students what hotel the instructors were staying at for convenience. We ended up meeting there before the Sat & Sun range sessions so staying there would have been convenient. I personally stayed at the Fairfield Inn which was 10 minutes or so away.

I do not know what the max class size is to be honest. In our class we had 4 shooters which honestly was great for us. There were two Corpsman present who did some shooting. The pic would lead one to believe there were a lot of shooters.

So, the way the class was run they paired us up. One student would shoot while the partner would spot. The instructors also spotted but the purpose was for the student to learn how to spot and provide adjustment to the shooter. I liked it. So, based on that a class size of 10 to 12 would be doable based on the shooting pad size. We were advised that in the near future the shooting platform will be located at the other end of the range. I did see the new pad which had overhead cover which will most welcome as things heat up.

I am seriously considering shooting it again with my .338 to get DOPE. As mentioned in my original report my range has a max of 700 so it was great having the op to shoot out to 1,100.

Thanks so much for all the detailed info, UF.

 

[bleaman225]

I see Nate and SCARlette!

 

[UnitedFan]

Yep! I met Nate for the first time at this event. Great guy. He shared some great ideas on some accessories for the spotter that I have been looking for. Honestly, the whole crew that came in were great guys.

 

[bleaman225]

Yep! I met Nate for the first time at this event. Great guy. He shared some great ideas on some accessories for the spotter that I have been looking for. Honestly, the whole crew that came in were great guys.

Agreed. Definitely a great guy.
Were you looking at the KDG Hub?

 

[UnitedFan]

Agreed. Definitely a great guy.
Were you looking at the KDG Hub?

I did check it out. He had his spotter out there with the Hub. If I had a MK4 Spotter I would have picked one up immediately. Great design and functionality.

 

[Jeffd]

Contact info please

 

[UnitedFan]

If I had a Mk4 Spotter I would have one of these. I was able to see it in person and really liked the functionality. And, I thought the price point was impressive.

KineticDG

 

[claytonm]

For anyone in PA and interested in Rockwell Tactical classes, I can vouch for many of their Carbine and Pistol classes. They have some very good instructors. Jared Ross (lead instructor/owner?) is a really humble, knowledgeable and great guy. I have taken approx 5-6 classes with them on various topics. Occasionally, IMO some of their instructors get a little too into telling stories, but I think that is limited to just a few of their staff/egos, and there can still be good info to glean. I am planning to try to take this LR Marksmanship 101 class sometime in the next year as well (I am a total newbie to LR shooting), and as OP mentioned, this is a new offering for them.

Shooters Gauntlet looks like such a great place, I can't wait to get up there for a class. Most of mine have been in the Lancaster / Central PA area before they had discovered the facilities up there.

If you want to take a class, definitely go for it. As they get more popular, I have seen the class prices rise accordingly. Aside from 101-level classes, there has always been a really awesome ratio of instructors to students in the 201s that I have taken.

 

[Alex V]

I've only taken their CQB class but yeah, they like to tell war stories. Either way, class was informative and worth it. This new offering is worth checking out but damn, that range is 4 hours away lol.