Apex Defense Tactical Rifle and Pistol 102 class

Variable

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Mocksville, North Carolina
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This is a three part class, morning is pistol, afternoon is rifle and then a combo of both pistol and rifle mid afternoon. The latter end was, for the most part, practicing what happens if the rifle goes click and your target is less than 25 yards. You pull pistol and engage. Problem solved.

Having been to many of Apex's classes i was surprised by a few things.

Round count: We shot a lot more than a typical 101 class. I think i did close to 300 pistol from 9-noon and and maybe more of rifle when that time came. I did shoot a bit extra, mostly because i hate to to see unused dots on 8x11 sheets of warm up drills.

Gear: It was cold so we all get a bit of experience seeing how are gear worked in the cold, gloves or no gloves, what does the glove do to your shot placement? And we learned what we didn't like about our set-ups. Once again, we see equipment failures. Lots of them. Guys you need to stress your gear... You need to find out what works and what doesn't before it is life or death right? It's important. Train hard and see what sucks and fix it.

I do not like the placement of my AR sling. Aero puts the hole next to the lower receiver on the rail. It is exactly in the way during a reload, I've noticed it before, but when going for speed reloads it a huge PITA. It was also interesting to see guys like Roland! shooting irons. I need a new front site post for my flip up Magpull sights, i cannot see the front sight worth a damn. I am hoping the Trijicon MRO ( i plan to get) has faster acquisition that the Romeo5. But my take away was, if its up close and personal, is the red dot faster with a rifle? I am not so sure. Certainly Roland! was fast with irons and accurate! May be a no brainer for some of you, but i have always had an optic on my rifle and only practice BUIS through the optic. Just getting the dot in my field of view and on target seemed to be a little slower. Maybe its just a training thing and i need work on it. But it was interesting.

New stuff:
I saw several new drills and new stuff on malfunctions that were very clever. Ryan is to be commended for keeping things fresh and adding new things. I think 6 hours is PLENTY for the class length. But we go another two just to make sure i can barely get out of the car when i get home and walk bent over to the door.

If you haven't taken a class at Apex you really should save your pennies and go. We are EXTREMELY fortunate to have this type of very affordable and varied training in our area. I've been shooting a long time and i can tell you what Apex is doing is uncommon. They have classes every weekend folks. You want to up your game you really should get out there. Plus it is a lot of fun. Most of the folks who show up are all cut from a very similar cloth so we all tend to jive pretty well. At least that is my experience, some people may wish i wasn't there for all i know lol.

Anyway, that is my review. Hope it makes someone think and go train!


V
 
This is a three part class, morning is pistol, afternoon is rifle and then a combo of both pistol and rifle mid afternoon. The latter end was, for the most part, practicing what happens if the rifle goes click and your target is less than 25 yards. You pull pistol and engage. Problem solved.

Having been to many of Apex's classes i was surprised by a few things.

Round count: We shot a lot more than a typical 101 class. I think i did close to 300 pistol from 9-noon and and maybe more of rifle when that time came. I did shoot a bit extra, mostly because i hate to to see unused dots on 8x11 sheets of warm up drills.

Gear: It was cold so we all get a bit of experience seeing how are gear worked in the cold, gloves or no gloves, what does the glove do to your shot placement? And we learned what we didn't like about our set-ups. Once again, we see equipment failures. Lots of them. Guys you need to stress your gear... You need to find out what works and what doesn't before it is life or death right? It's important. Train hard and see what sucks and fix it.

I do not like the placement of my AR sling. Aero puts the hole next to the lower receiver on the rail. It is exactly in the way during a reload, I've noticed it before, but when going for speed reloads it a huge PITA. It was also interesting to see guys like Roland! shooting irons. I need a new front site post for my flip up Magpull sights, i cannot see the front sight worth a damn. I am hoping the Trijicon MRO ( i plan to get) has faster acquisition that the Romeo5. But my take away was, if its up close and personal, is the red dot faster with a rifle? I am not so sure. Certainly Roland! was fast with irons and accurate! May be a no brainer for some of you, but i have always had an optic on my rifle and only practice BUIS through the optic. Just getting the dot in my field of view and on target seemed to be a little slower. Maybe its just a training thing and i need work on it. But it was interesting.

New stuff:
I saw several new drills and new stuff on malfunctions that were very clever. Ryan is to be commended for keeping things fresh and adding new things. I think 6 hours is PLENTY for the class length. But we go another two just to make sure i can barely get out of the car when i get home and walk bent over to the door.

If you haven't taken a class at Apex you really should save your pennies and go. We are EXTREMELY fortunate to have this type of very affordable and varied training in our area. I've been shooting a long time and i can tell you what Apex is doing is uncommon. They have classes every weekend folks. You want to up your game you really should get out there. Plus it is a lot of fun. Most of the folks who show up are all cut from a very similar cloth so we all tend to jive pretty well. At least that is my experience, some people may wish i wasn't there for all i know lol.

Anyway, that is my review. Hope it makes someone think and go train!


V
Thanks for the words about the Irons.
I think truth be told, the holes my AK74 makes are so small, its hard to see if they even hit the target. I was probably missing with 80% of the shots. LOL!

I too, thoroughly enjoyed this class. Lots of shooting. Although, I could have done without your muzzle break ;). Also I have to commend you on hauling that plate carrier and full kit around all day. Not for me.
You're right about how Ryan and the boys keep things fresh. I learned a lot and also had a ton of fun and some laughs.

Seriously, if any of you are on the fence about taking a class, just go and take one from these guys at Apex. You wont be disappointed. There were lots of returning customers at this class. That says something right there.
 
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I never take pictures and i should. Do you have any more? I know i shot some on Rolands! phone of him. I don't know if they came out well or not but i tried!
 
I never take pictures and i should. Do you have any more? I know i shot some on Rolands! phone of him. I don't know if they came out well or not but i tried!
Yeah, the pics were pretty good, thanks.
I used one for my FB profile picture. I was the only one in it though.
Ryan posted a couple on the apex FB page.
I dont want to steal them so if he sees this maybe he can cross post them.
 
Thank you all for kind words. You guys all did amazing. Thanks for the post @Variable . Roland! was amazing with his irons and handgun. Spot on shooting, and I am pretty sure you came within 3 or 4 seconds on one of the drills to my time... I better get to practicing haha. You all ran amazing. Every CFF member out there shot well and improved I thought. We do try to keep changing it up for my CFF repeats making things different every time. You guys become friends, not clients. @Roland! I am not sure how to crop and upload on here, maybe one of these tech guys can teach me one day. HOWEVER, PLEASE feel free to steal from the Facebook anytime. We are a community. @rdinatal it was a pleasure meeting you!
 
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Yeah, the pics were pretty good, thanks.
I used one for my FB profile picture. I was the only one in it though.
Ryan posted a couple on the apex FB page.
I dont want to steal them so if he sees this maybe he can cross post them.

Ryan is technologically handicapped. I think its the all the concussive force from being close to so many guns firing and possibly a low level of lead poisoning. He will need help cropping as he says above. He looks like he could be a System Administrator for a Datacenter but that is just camouflage. He's a wiz with a firearm though!
 
Ryan is technologically handicapped. I think its the all the concussive force from being close to so many guns firing and possibly a low level of lead poisoning. He will need help cropping as he says above. He looks like he could be a System Administrator for a Datacenter but that is just camouflage. He's a wiz with a firearm though!
Just the way I like it. Incognito. No one ever suspects a thing! :)
 
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