AAR Hoffner's Moving Shooter Moving Target !

[Bill]

An adventurous trip for sure, we start out with three of us in a caravan Saturday morning heading to Victoria Texas about 2 hrs SW of Houston. About an hour form Victoria headed down 59 at 6am we encountered 50 mph winds and a total of 8 inch of rain in 2 hours. A call from the owner telling us there was no way to put up targets so head to I-Hop for a briefing. We met our group, a total of 11, had our breakfast and chatted before heading to the range. We left for the range about 8:30, just as the front had pushed out leaving cool temps and a little light rain. Of course that does not last long this time of the year, can you say HOT AND HUMID

About the range: It belongs to Dr Dennis Tobin, who sold his house in town and moved out to his property in the country. It has three bays 180drg and a 100 yard rifle as well. His berms are 15 ft tall and are the best I have ever seen, his bay are like putting greens and have lighted 20x40 covers, there is also a back berm to help keep winds down. Complete with tables and power, but his shooting gallery is hard to top. We got to use the motorized radio controlled robot which was a blast.

Saturday was started with the basics, even though everyone has experience its a good idea to make sure we are GTG and on the same page as this was not a beginner program. We all were squared away which makes for a fast class. We went through basic stationary drills and onto movement drills in different positions. This was not a class for doughnut eating couch potatoes. Eleven is a small class and keeps the flow at a fast rate. We shoot 700-800 rounds Saturday. And it was not doing 30 round burst but just a lot of hard work. We were able to gauge our speed through timers and accuracy by our scores to see how well we progressed. We shot from kneeling ,prone,weak side strong side, rifle flat on the ground, around buckets as well. We also worked some two man moving tactics too

Sunday greeted with clear skies, humidity, and some sore body's. but we were still eager to rifle up and shoot. The focus on day two was moving targets, we had a sled system were it could be pulled through a maze of targets ( friendly's) while shoot the target, not only was this good shooters training we took turn pulling the sled with ropes which were anchored at the corners. You got to do a 40 yard sprint the while huffing and puffing it was your turn to go shoot, we rotated two at a time so you turn came up before you were fully recovered. We also did this while moving with the moving target. MORE RUNNING. Dr Tobin brought out his robot the Jihadist and we got to chase it down while keeping a fighting distance. So you had to backstep while firing at a good pace. IT WAS FUN
We also got to go shoot 100y at steel plates for some accuracy training, and at the end of the day we celebrate by shoot unlimited rounds into a box on the berm to celebrate its demise

Anyway, it was fun and hard training at the same time, I came home wore out and stinky, after a good shower I sat back and thank God, its good to be home. I also know that this type of training is important, no its not cheap but I can not put a price on protecting family, its worth it !!