August 17, 2011
By Marco Vorobiev
Marco Vorobiev was a member of the elite Soviet Spetsnaz in Afghanistan in the 1980s. He's a U.S. citizen now and conducts training courses that draw on his special forces training. HeÃll have a new installment every Wednesday.
The rest of the class idles while the instructor helps a student zero his rifle. This is no way to be popular with fellow students. Be sure you're zeroed and that all mounts and rings are tight.
In my experience, most students come with everything on the list. However, several usually will show up with a new gun or equipment.
It's temptation after purchasing a new rifle or pistol to bring it to training course and see how it does. I am all for that. In fact the training course will definitely will put your new weapon through its paces. There is simply no better venue.
Having said that, most of new gun owners who come to class have never fired their guns or even zeroed them properly. There is simply no time to sight-in a new gun during class. Once class starts, participants expect the instructor to devout his time to all equally.
That is when that guy, whose gun cannot hit a side of a barn in the broad daylight can throw in a monkey wrench. I've seen it hundreds of times. Now, while the instructor is trying to conduct a class, he's also giving that guy instructions on basic sighting-in. You want to have fun and learn, not be frustrated and angry. Nobody benefits from this. Here are few tips not to become that guy.
* Before attending any course with a new gun, visit a range with 100-200 rounds of ammo to familiarize yourself with gun operation and to establish zero.
* If using any sighting implement (optical, collimator or otherwise) make sure it is sighted in for the new gun.
* Learn the scope's hold-overs for various distances.
* Make sure the ammo you're bringing to the class is the same ammo you used to sight-in the new gun.
These simple steps will help you to get as much learning as possible from the course and avoid being that guy.
There's nothing wrong with bringing a new gun, so long as you've function-fired it to be sure it's working right and zeroed the sights. Don't wait until you're at the class to find out.
