Achilles Heel Tactical Firearms Training: Full Review

Finding a good training program isn’t easy, especially with today’s prices. I recently attended a training event by Achilles Heel Tactical, hosted by Black Rain Ordnance in Missouri. It included one day of handgun training and one day with the AR-15 rifle. Over the years, there is one standard I’ve used to judge a class overall. I do this by gauging if the class pushed me to the point of failure, which this class most certainly did.

It’s easy to stand and shoot at a target all day, and it doesn’t improve your skills. The goal of a shooting class is to improve, right? We want to get better and learn something we didn’t know before. My goal is to get more accurate at faster speeds. I work in law enforcement, and it is evident that a faster shooter almost always has the upper hand. Sure, you need to be accurate as well, but it takes a blend of both speed and accuracy for self-defense.

It’s hard to find that balance of speed and accuracy, but both are needed in the real world. I’ve watched experienced and non-experienced shooters at the range, and both hit the targets. While inexperienced shooters tend to miss much more, it’s just not hard to dump ammo at a target. And when you fire multiple rounds, some will inevitably find their target. In the world of self-defense, speed is an important factor as it gives you the upper hand.

Who is Achilles Heel Tactical?

Achilles Heel Tactical was founded by Competitive shooter Rick Crawley in 2017. His organization has grown worldwide and now offers a variety of classes to citizens, military members, and law enforcement. Crawley was a US Marine who deployed three times in support of OIF and OEF operations. Before moving to law enforcement, he served as a squad leader and scout sniper team leader. He also served on a SWAT team and was a firearms instructor during his law enforcement career.

One thing that Crawley noticed in both the military and law enforcement is the lack of training when it comes to speed and moving while shooting. In real life, speed and movement are key factors during self-defense situations. After serving nearly two decades in law enforcement, I can say neither speed nor movement is common during qualifications.

He now emphasizes the need for anyone who carries a firearm to be accurate and fast. During the two-day training event, we were pushed to move faster while hitting the target in every drill. This was an intense course that pushed every shooter to the point of failure. Here are some of the highlights of the Achilles Heel Tactical training program, which focuses on speed and accuracy.

Evaluate Your Shooting With the D.O.P.E Drill

On both days, Crawley started by having us do the D.O.P.E (Data On Previous Engagement) drill. This is a perfect drill to evaluate your accuracy and speed together. The drill is designed to give you a “hit factor” based on your speed and where your rounds land on the target. For this drill, use the following method to score the target: A zone = 5 points, B = 2, and C = 1. Anything outside of that is -10.

Using a shot timer, the shooter fires 5 rounds as fast as possible, getting as many as they can in the A zone. You do this at the 5, 10, 15, 20, and 25-yard lines for a total of 25 rounds. Each time you shoot, record your time and total points before moving to the next set. Once you have completed all five sets, add up all your points and time.

Divide your total points by the total time. So, if you earned a total of 98 points and a total time of 8.19 seconds, your hit factor would be 11.9. The higher the score, the better.

To improve your score, you need to be faster and more accurate. If you shoot a perfect score of 125 but take too long, your hit factor will be lower than someone who shot faster and missed a few in the A zone. We did this drill at the beginning of the day and the end. I now perform this drill every time I hit the range. I like it because the drill gives you honest, undisputable feedback.

Target Focus vs Sight Focus

One fundamental part of the training Crawly covered in this class was learning to focus on the target, not your red dot (or iron sights). This is common sense and sounds easy, but it’s surprising how fast your eyes want to jump to your red dot. Years ago, people would even teach this as a preferred method. Watch the front sight until it rests over your target…

When looking through an optic, our eyes like to look at the bright red dot right in front of our faces. Instead, we should be focused on the target; the dot will go where the eyes are looking. This was something I learned years ago, but I liked the presentation given by Crawley. He used the example of a mouse on a computer monitor.

We don’t stare at the arrow as we move it around on the screen. We look at where we want the arrow to go and move it there. It’s the same idea with a target and red dot when shooting. Crawly covered this topic early in the class before moving to grip and stance.

Transition and 50/50 Drills

One of the worst habits we face when shooting is hit confirmation. We like to know we hit our target before firing the next round. But this causes a small delay in our speed when moving to the next target. One of the drills we performed involved two metal gongs that were 25 yards away and 25 yards apart. With a focus on transitioning from one target to the next, the shooter fires at one and then the other.

The idea, however, is to make both shots sound consecutive with no delay. Many of us found ourselves listening for the “ding” on the steel target before we moved to the next. But this slows us down. To work on transitioning, Crawley had the shooters remove the magazine so only the chambered round remained in the gun. We would then fire at the first target, move to the second, and pull the trigger as fast as possible.

The first round goes bang, but the second time is just the click of the trigger. This helps you see where your muzzle was when you pulled the trigger the second time. This is called the 50/50 drill and is one I found very helpful. You can correct any over or under movement before going back to full ammo for the transition drills.

This is where target focus comes into play. You want your eyes to find the second target as you’re taking the first shot. Bring the dot to your eyes instead of following the dot to the next target. By the end of this training session, most shooters were firing two rounds (one at each target) within one second.

Moving and Shooting

The course only got more intense as we started to focus on moving and shooting. Crawley covered the fundamentals of shooting while in movement. Most of our drills involved firing as we exited a shooting stance to run and vice versa. Multiple obstacles were set up for the shooters to maneuver through while firing at specified targets.

I have only been involved in a few shootings over my career, but I can say both myself and the suspect were moving when each shooting took place. There is rarely an incident where the defender is not moving. Backing away from the threat as you fire or move to cover is a natural response with most people. In some cases, it may even be necessary to move towards the shooter to close the distance as you fire. But there is almost always some type of movement.

Is Achilles Heel Tactical training worth the money?

Before the end of the day, we also performed drills designed for target selection and transitioning to multiple targets. In some cases, the targets were different sizes at various distances. What impressed me was the time instructor Crawley took to stop and watch each shooter during the drills. He would go down the line and watch you shoot, give some feedback, and then move to the next shooter.

Many classes are based on class lectures with no feedback afterward. But with each drill, the instructor would demonstrate the drill, watch us do the drill, and then give feedback. Every instructor has their own methods of teaching, and some are much different than others. But if someone attends an event with an open mind and the determination to learn something, you will. It was easy to learn new skills at this event, and I would encourage anyone who has the opportunity to attend one of the AHT training events. It was pricy, but worth the money.

The post Achilles Heel Tactical Firearms Training: Full Review appeared first on The Mag Life.

Read the full article here