Quick Summary of Stasa Weekend Training 23 Saturday and 22 Sunday:
Walter
Denis
Tom
Lou
Frank
One guy from Minnesota
Two guys from Ohio (one of which brought his wife and child)
Walter - 4 Mile hike with level 3 gear in under two hours (including 15 minute rest after two mile hike)...
Denis 4 Mile hike with level 3 gear in under two hours (including 15 minute rest after two mile hike)...
The guy from Minnesota carrying LBE and pack, the two guys from Ohio carrying LBE and pack, and the wife (not carrying and LBE or pack, but did carry the child on her back) also did the 4 mile hike in under two hours...
Lou did the two mile hike...
Everybody sighted in their rifles at 100 yds...
Walter 8 shots out of 10 in a 4" circle from his scoped 6.5x55 Swedish Mauser.
Denis 10 shots out of 10 in a 4" circle from his scoped .223 Savage Bolt Action.
Other shooters qualified level 1 - Denis has the notes.
Bowling pin shoot - 7 bowling pins on table and 3 under table as I recall - four positions left and four positions right - two shooters shoot and move (shooters stay on their respective side (left or right) for safety - shooter on left tells when to advance). Times seemed to be from 2.5 to 4 minutes.
Our visitors from Minnesota and Ohio were competent and very well prepared. They were much impressed with our 100 yd range at Camp Stasa - the only ranges available to them are county ranges (in Minnesota) or private ranges (in Ohio) where tactical shoot and move drills would not be possible.
Anyone considering a .223 semi-auto rifle, and debating whether to get a Ruger mini-14 vs. an AR-15 - get the AR-15. See Tom Peterson and ask him about his experience with his Ruger Mini-14 and how after sending it to the Ruger factory it came back worse...
On the AK-47 variant semi-auto rifle of one shooter from Ohio, the front sight broke off while shooting...
The Leapers AR-15 carry-handle mounted scope on the AR-15 of the shooter from Minnesota would not hold a consistent zero - he finally qualified level one using the iron sights.
Denis and I cleaned up the old fire ring closest to the pit.
We talked to Frank Stasa before leaving - it's ok to fill in pit (which I have been doing one shovel-full at a time).
Mosquitos were very active - DEET spray very necessary...
Walter additional note:
We have some pretty good video footage of some of this event, especially the two-person bounding live-fire. One minor thing I have to complain about is the lack of loud vocal communication between fire-team buddies. Remember, in a live fire exercise, you are not "sneaking up" on anybody, so yelling back and forth is okay. -Lee
