Shot carbine course (skill builder) yesterday. It was a very hot and humid day on the range. It was overcast most of the day, but rain early and virtually NO breeze made it for a very humid day. Of course it had to rain at this location and with this training group. Almost tradition.
Shot about 400 rounds rifle and some pistol mixed in. There was opportunity to get more reps and rounds in, but I think it was a good round count for me. I would say al quality training rounds. We ended the day shooting steel, but time was short. I definitely could have run a bunch more ammo shooting steel if we had more time.
Shot my new BCM upper with LPVO. It was the second time shooting this setup with the first being to zero. Overall, the setup is excellent and the glass is awesome (for the price, it better be
). I would say a decent first impression in a training environment. No "wow, this is super awesome", but also not "meh, I'll stick with previous setups". Will definitely be shooting this setup more, but this setup was also primarily for some specific reasons and not necessarily primary for the context of yesterday's class.
Some highlights/notes:
1) Need more time with the LPVO, particularly tighter consistency with mounting the gun from various ready positions. At 1x, it's decently forgiving on eye box and head position, but not nearly as forgiving as a 1x red dot (Aimpoint, EoTech, etc). I expected this, but also different experiencing in training when there are some "stressors" added in.
2) The LPVO setup is quite heavy. I didn't think it was that much more than my primary setup with EoTech, but my arms were smoked by the end of the day. There were series of strings of fire where my delts were on fire and actually started trembling. Being out of shape/practice with shooting the AR like that was part of it, but a much younger shooter (who shoots pretty often) in my relay said similar. I weighed both guns this morning and the LPVO setup is 9.8 lbs and my EoTech setup is 8.8 lbs. I thought the weight difference was going to be more, but still 1 lbs is a decent amount. I didn't have the light mounted, so the setup will only get heavier.
3) The LPVO reticle seemed to help tighten up shot grouping. At 1x, the center dot is easy to pick up, but the vertical line below the dot seemed to help tighten lateral dispersion. Your eyes naturally picks ups on what level and or vertical as well as tries to align and/or center things. I assume that helped. I did notice after many shot strings that the lateral spread was pretty tight. I was also playing around with using that portion of the reticle to help with holdovers as well.
4) When we were doing shot strings on multiple targets, the LPVO seemed fine shooting both eyes open. Or at least not much different in view from my EoTech. However, I did notice that when arm fatigue set in, it affected my holds. Seemed to get sloppy with more shots dipping low.
5) I'm seeing the effects of "aging eyes". When we were doing some rifle to pistol transitions, I noticed that the change in focal plane from the rifle to the pistol was lagging. It was the first time I noticed it like that. I've been fighting using reading glasses and have started in the last month or so. We had a candid conversation about this in the even debrief. I had been fighting using reading glasses or even using larger font on my phone. Well, my aging eyes have caught up to me.
Some points to hopefully help maximize one's training time.
6) Try your best to have your rifle setup tested before a class. Last thing you want is to be fighting your gear when there is plenty for your mind to be absorbing. Completely understand that sometimes there isn't enough time to do so for many. Training is also a good time to iron out gear setups as well. However, a malfunctioning gun will definitely hamper your day. My new BCM upper performed flawlessly, but I did have a backup carbine ready to go if something happened. Say I didn't mount the optic properly or anything else. The only tweak I had to do was adjust the sling attachment on the rail to keep the sling away from my support hand.
7) Understand your zero as well as holds. Or at least try to have a confirmed zero at known distance. I had zeroed my LPVO at 50 yards, but the start of the day was dialing in the hold over. Something that KHSC isn't setup well to test and see for yourself. But there were also a couple of shooters who weren't quite dialed in on their zero. Wasn't a big deal when shooting in the 5-10 yard range, but it did show up when we were shooting steel at "longer" distances.
Another fun day on the range with an awesome group of shooters. Hopefully I'll start shooting more consistently on my own as well as with this training group. I was quite sore last night and this morning. Both my shoulders as well as other parts of my body. But all well worth a great day on the range.
PS - Oh yeah, can't forget "FIREBALL!!!" I think some were getting a tan from that brake.