Written by LAV, the host of Tac TV for the Sportsman Channel Blog, is a great primer for those interested in taking their first firearms training course. It might also be a sanity check for those who have taken a class or two from some of the less-than-stellar “trainers” taking people’s money. It’s well worth your time to go and read it.
As we reported last month, Chris Costa has established his own school and now there is a fully featured website to tell you all about it.
Chis Costa explains his training philosophy on the site:
“Costa Ludus conducts training for the game of life, where the knowledge and skills learned in training may one day translate over to the streets or battlefield, determining life or death. We train others with the understanding that life is bigger than us. We understand the sacrifices that others make on a daily basis for our freedoms – that is why we take training so seriously.”
The site does a great job of going over the various courses offered by Costa Ludus and offers a training schedule allowing you to register directly for each training iteration. Another handy feature is that the schedule offers links directly to host venues for course registrations not handled by Costa.
However, one of the most interesting sections of the website is entitled “Syndicate.” It covers the firearms and gear that Chris relies on and many fans will pour over this page looking for the items they have seen him use in classes.
Finally, they’ve got some pretty cool shirts in both long and short sleeve versions.
Overall, it’s a great looking site and certainly worth your time to explore, so head on over.
Red Stitch Tactical is a Veteran Owned Small Business that designs and manufactures a number of different steel target platforms, including a very simple but well designed dueling tree that can mount up to six targets. The newest Red Stitch AR 500 dueling tree is rated for rifle rounds – it will withstand .223, M855 5.56mm, even 12-gauge slugs. You can see their target systems on their website or on Facebook. For you gyrenes and former gyrenes, the man running Red Stitch Tactical is a former Gunny. Oh, and if you want to buy one before Christmas, enter SSD or let them know you read about them on Soldier Systems and they’ll give you 10% off.
6 Target Dueling Tree; Plate after several hundred rounds.
-DR
The Red Stitch Tactical 2-Plate Dueling Tree.
Panteo Productions has introduced Make Ready with Travis Haley: Adaptive Kalash. With over 100 million Kalashnikov variants produced it is the most widely proliferated military rifle in history. For those operating overseas, chances are good you will run onto one and for those of us here CONUS, they are inexpensive and readily available.
Haley discusses various models you will encounter and goes over correct loading techniques, safety manipulation, and dealing with malfunctions. Additionally, he addresses common misconceptions surrounding the use of the AK platform at long ranges are addressed, along with establishing a zero that works for your situation.
Make Ready with Travis Haley: Adaptive Kalash will begin shipping at the end of December and pre-orders are already being accepted by Panteao.
Chris Costa is considering adding a second Carbine course to his lineup with Falcon Ops Group. The dates are set at 2-4 Jan but at this point they haven’t finalized whether it will be a Carbine I or II class. If you are interested, head over to falconops.net and let them know your opinion. These will be Costa’s first courses after leaving Magpul Dynamics.
Instructor J.D. Potynsky’s background includes service on an ODA in 3rd Special Forces Group at Ft Bragg, Program Manager and Country Manager in Iraq for a 200 man Private Security Contract, and time as Director of Training for TigerSwan before founding Northern Red.
This is a two day pistol and carbine gunfighting course and everyone I’ve talked to speaks highly of the course and instructor. He usually has a buddy or two along to help with run courses and they will be some of the best shooters out there. You will definitely get your money’s worth. Contact support@greygrouptraining for specifics.
While this course runs several times per year, the next iteration is 3 and 4 December at Trigger Time in Carthage, NC.
store.greygrouptraining.com/2-DAY-GUNFIGHTER-PIST-CARB
Center Mass Inc. (Patrol Rifle Competition, remember?) has announced they are developing and will be teaching a Law Enforcement Designated Marksman Certification Program. They describe it as a “natural progression for law enforcement patrol operations. The NPRC has taught us a very clear lesson over the years…And that lesson is, if you want to win, you need magnified optics. The writing is on the wall in our opinion, that many law enforcement professionals will soon be turning to magnified optics. To this end CMI has combined elements of our acclaimed law enforcement patrol rifle and sniper training programs to develop the Law Enforcement Designated Marksman Certification Program.â€
CMI has led the way in patrol rifle training for a decade and a half, and authored the NTOA’s Patrol Rifle Training Manual. Their sniper training programs are endorsed by the American Sniper Association.
This class is a 2 day, 16 hour course designed to “enhance a patrol rifle operator’s ability to place accurate fire upon targets that are partially exposed or hostage takers encountered during patrol operations using magnified optics. This level of training is the next progression for law enforcement patrol rifle preparation…â€
For more information, visit Center Mass Inc.
This article originally appeared on the BOLO Report.
Available soon in Bluray, Magpul Dynamics presents “Art of the Tactical Carbine” (both Vol I & II). In addition to the 1080i remastering, there is some additional content including Vol 1 Bloopers and the fabled Lost Chris Costa Interviews.
