Never A Victim
Marksman
Below is my review for a recent firearms training course I took entitled "Lights, Sights, and Lasers" taught by Wes Doss of Khyber Interactive Associates. I'm sure some people reading this will get their feelings hurt, but I always try to point out the good and the bad when I do these type of reviews. Enjoy.
Lights, Sights, and Lasers-Khyber Interactive Associates. 11/09/2015 Wabash, IN
The following review is for a low light course taught by Wes Doss of Khyber Interactive Associates. This course was taught in Wabash, Indiana on November 9[SUP]th[/SUP], 2015. This course was free and was only open to military members or current law enforcement officers. The gear I used was a Rock River LAR-15 with a Streamlight TLR-1 mounted light. This course was a sponsored event; the most notable sponsor was XS Sight Systems. This course was 8 hours in length but was broken down into two parts: classroom portion and range shoot. The entire shooting portion of this course was in low light conditions.
I literally had no idea what to expect with this course. A “free” course that advertises the use of lights and lasers almost always sounds like a definite sales pitch. Big flashy product names, enough gear to make Chris Costa look like a caveman, and countless hours of an instructor talking about which widget will make you look the best in those Facebook pictures that we all post after a day at the range.
This class was none of that. It was not an 8 hour sales pitch.
The first part of the day was a 4 hour lecture. Before you get lost in the idea of a 4 hour presentation, let me assure you, it was well worth it. Well, if you were a cop, that is. This course was limited to police officers or those in the military. With virtually zero military references it became pretty apparent, this was geared for law enforcement. Over 4 hours we were introduced to and reminded of police shootings where mistakes were made, either because of poor judgement, lack of adequate lighting, or both. This course was very statistic heavy, which is good because who doesn’t like facts? Wes Doss has a PhD, and it shows. I found myself taking page after page of notes. The section on light output (lumens vs foot candles) was very informative. At the end of the presentation, Wes had a discussion about what gear or caliber is the best. It was a relatively quick talk that began and ended with the idea of reliability being paramount and everything else was preference.
After a short meal break we returned to a rapidly setting sun. Getting our rifles and ammo, we headed to the range. While I will gladly admit that the classroom portion greatly exceeded my expectations, I must be honest when I say that the range portion of the day did not. I’ve taken other low light courses from different commercial firearms companies, and based on those experiences, this low light range was lacking. Maybe it was the short amount of time at the range, but I didn’t leave the range feeling like I had learned much. Again, this is my experience, so I wouldn’t expect everyone else who was there to have the same opinion. The low light drills consisted of courses of fire from the 5, 10, and 15 yard line, with a competition at the end of the class. The first moment of confusion was when Wes instructed all of us to turn off our optics and fold down or back up iron sights, effectively taking our sights away from us. I found this a little odd considering the class was called “Lights, Sights, and Lasers” but I went along with it. The results were exactly what I thought would happen if someone quit using their sights-I couldn’t hold a respectable shot group to save my life. The 5 yard line was decent, but stepping out to 10 and 15 yards was horrible. And I was trying to make this work, I really was. To my understanding, Wes’s theory was that in an ambush type of gunfight, you won’t have time to acquire your sights, so getting used to not using them was preparing you for this type of encounter. Wes is very smart and I have a lot of respect for him, but I completely disagree. I’m a firm believer that you should be making every attempt to use your sights anytime that you can. The range portion ended with a multiple target engagement competition, and the winner went home with some nice prizes. At the end of the competition I was told to “unload, show clear.” I displayed an empty chamber, then I quietly stepped off the line and loaded my rifle amid a few weird looks from other students who were standing defenseless with an unloaded gun.
I learned a lot throughout the day. I learned that most violent encounters will happen in low light conditions. I learned that if you have a weapons mounted light/laser/strobe combo, you will always hit one of those options when you desperately need the other. When you need your light, you will hit the laser and when you need the laser you will hit the strobe. I learned that if you don’t have a light mounted to your long gun you will be considerably slower at getting on target and getting effective shots off than someone who has the light mounted to the gun. And most importantly, I learned (and was reminded of all day) that people do things differently, think differently, and teach differently. For this lesson, I am most thankful.
Lights, Sights, and Lasers-Khyber Interactive Associates. 11/09/2015 Wabash, IN
The following review is for a low light course taught by Wes Doss of Khyber Interactive Associates. This course was taught in Wabash, Indiana on November 9[SUP]th[/SUP], 2015. This course was free and was only open to military members or current law enforcement officers. The gear I used was a Rock River LAR-15 with a Streamlight TLR-1 mounted light. This course was a sponsored event; the most notable sponsor was XS Sight Systems. This course was 8 hours in length but was broken down into two parts: classroom portion and range shoot. The entire shooting portion of this course was in low light conditions.
I literally had no idea what to expect with this course. A “free” course that advertises the use of lights and lasers almost always sounds like a definite sales pitch. Big flashy product names, enough gear to make Chris Costa look like a caveman, and countless hours of an instructor talking about which widget will make you look the best in those Facebook pictures that we all post after a day at the range.
This class was none of that. It was not an 8 hour sales pitch.
The first part of the day was a 4 hour lecture. Before you get lost in the idea of a 4 hour presentation, let me assure you, it was well worth it. Well, if you were a cop, that is. This course was limited to police officers or those in the military. With virtually zero military references it became pretty apparent, this was geared for law enforcement. Over 4 hours we were introduced to and reminded of police shootings where mistakes were made, either because of poor judgement, lack of adequate lighting, or both. This course was very statistic heavy, which is good because who doesn’t like facts? Wes Doss has a PhD, and it shows. I found myself taking page after page of notes. The section on light output (lumens vs foot candles) was very informative. At the end of the presentation, Wes had a discussion about what gear or caliber is the best. It was a relatively quick talk that began and ended with the idea of reliability being paramount and everything else was preference.
After a short meal break we returned to a rapidly setting sun. Getting our rifles and ammo, we headed to the range. While I will gladly admit that the classroom portion greatly exceeded my expectations, I must be honest when I say that the range portion of the day did not. I’ve taken other low light courses from different commercial firearms companies, and based on those experiences, this low light range was lacking. Maybe it was the short amount of time at the range, but I didn’t leave the range feeling like I had learned much. Again, this is my experience, so I wouldn’t expect everyone else who was there to have the same opinion. The low light drills consisted of courses of fire from the 5, 10, and 15 yard line, with a competition at the end of the class. The first moment of confusion was when Wes instructed all of us to turn off our optics and fold down or back up iron sights, effectively taking our sights away from us. I found this a little odd considering the class was called “Lights, Sights, and Lasers” but I went along with it. The results were exactly what I thought would happen if someone quit using their sights-I couldn’t hold a respectable shot group to save my life. The 5 yard line was decent, but stepping out to 10 and 15 yards was horrible. And I was trying to make this work, I really was. To my understanding, Wes’s theory was that in an ambush type of gunfight, you won’t have time to acquire your sights, so getting used to not using them was preparing you for this type of encounter. Wes is very smart and I have a lot of respect for him, but I completely disagree. I’m a firm believer that you should be making every attempt to use your sights anytime that you can. The range portion ended with a multiple target engagement competition, and the winner went home with some nice prizes. At the end of the competition I was told to “unload, show clear.” I displayed an empty chamber, then I quietly stepped off the line and loaded my rifle amid a few weird looks from other students who were standing defenseless with an unloaded gun.
I learned a lot throughout the day. I learned that most violent encounters will happen in low light conditions. I learned that if you have a weapons mounted light/laser/strobe combo, you will always hit one of those options when you desperately need the other. When you need your light, you will hit the laser and when you need the laser you will hit the strobe. I learned that if you don’t have a light mounted to your long gun you will be considerably slower at getting on target and getting effective shots off than someone who has the light mounted to the gun. And most importantly, I learned (and was reminded of all day) that people do things differently, think differently, and teach differently. For this lesson, I am most thankful.
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