Hone your carbine skills with Trace Armory Group.

Chad and I spent a half-day with John Boyette brushing up on our carbine skills. I was a rifle coach for a few years in the USMC many years ago and have pursued knowledge on the AR platform before and after. As far as John’s carbine class, I can honestly say I enjoyed it and even picked up a few things. When given the chance, always take classes from a reputable instructor to improve your abilities.

We started the day by reviewing the four rules of gun safety and what to expect from the class. We then checked our gear and verified zero at twenty-five yards.

Treat all guns as if they are always loaded.

Always assume all guns are loaded, even if you know it’s not. Safely verify that a gun is unloaded whenever it is out of your sight or handed to you, even if the person who gave it to you checked. 

Keep your finger off the trigger until you are ready to shoot

Index your finger along the gun’s receiver and outside the trigger guard until your sights are on the target.

Always keep the gun in a safe direction.

Point the gun in a predetermined safe direction so that in the event of a negligent discharge, the bullet would be stopped safely with no chance of causing injury or damage.

Know your target and what’s beyond it.
Consider the height and angle of your target and what lies beyond eliminating any chance of the bullet causing any injury or damage after it has passed through the target.

John addressed all questions before the live fire began.

Once again, I donned the quality High Speed Gear Battle Belt, and you can find that review by following this link. My carbine of choice for this class was the Colt 6933 SBR, and you can read that review by following this link and using the B&T Infinity X silencer. You can read that review by following this link. The optic of choice was the Meprolight M22, and you can read that review by following this link. Overall, it was an excellent kit; it all performed without issue, as expected. Chad chose the Colt 6920 rifle, another quality rifle. We opted to train with Defender Ammunition, which performed as expected without issue.

Our gear and technique were squared away once all the safety parameters were covered. We started the class with malfunction drills and then switched over to tactical and combat reloads. I was a little confused about the order of the class, but once the live fire drills commenced, it all began to make sense. As students experienced issues, be it the need for a reload or, on a few occasions, clearing a malfunction, they were able to work the problem and not take away time from the instructor or class. I like the way this was structured as much of the class was taught at the firing line with John demonstrating as need be then we went straight to the drills.

We ran a series of drills encompassing mechanical offset at the three-, five-, and seven-yard lines, then stepped on the gas a bit for combat-accurate real-world drills encompassing movement. The class lasted about four hours, consumed nearly three hundred rounds, and was well worth the time and expense.

I appreciate John’s proficiency not only with instruction but also with the carbine, and I will attend further classes when they are available. Check his website for such listings. If you are so inclined to hone your shooting skills, which are perishable, by the way, I strongly recommend Trace Armory Group.

By Hunter Elliott

I spent much of my youth involved with firearms and felt the call early on to the United States Marine Corps, following in my father's and his brother's footsteps. Just after high school I enlisted and felt most at home on the rifle range, where I qualified expert with several firearms and spent some time as a rifle coach to my fellow Marines. After being honorably discharged I continued teaching firearm safety, rifle and pistol marksmanship, and began teaching metallic cartridge reloading. In the late 1990s I became a life member to the National Rifle Association and worked with the Friends of the NRA. Around that time my father and I became involved with IDPA and competed together up until he passed away. I began reviewing firearms for publications in the mid 2000s and have been fortunate to make many friends in the industry. Continuing to improve my firearms skills and knowledge is a never ending journey in which we should all be committed. I am also credited as weapons master on a few independent films.

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