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Joshua Mayfield

Reporting back on an old topic: My friends' course was postponed due to weather and the pandemic but we did it yesterday. Weather was picture perfect. Prior to the earlier postponements and after the discussion on this thread I did talk with my friend and he was clear that the round count would be considerably lower than 200 in a best-case scenario. It seemed that he wanted to give a high number to ensure no one showed up short, which I can understand as he is designing this course to be offered to unknown customers. My actual round count for the day was 41. It could have been 35 if I had just shot the minimum. I do believe that as the course is refined the round count will climb but I do not see how it could end up in triple digits without a major redesign.

The pros:
- Range time!
- Some good information. While most of the material was either redundant to or (in 2 or 3 specific points) contrary to instruction in the Practical book series there were a few items that were new to me. My friend has legit credentials and experience as a law enforcement sniper and instructor, so that is the angle he comes from. More on this in a bit.
- A little real practice working MIL and MOA formulas as well as wind drift calculations. While there was nothing in this part that was beyond what is in the Practical book series being given scenarios and having to work them on the spot was positive practice.
- A reminder that I've got a long way to go. I have some friends who, if I shoot with them, I leave thinking that I'm a marksman. There was a real marksman on the range yesterday and it was not me. That was a positive reminder.

The cons:
- The course, as it stands, is neither beginner nor advanced. It tries to straddle the line a bit and part of my feedback to my friend is that I believe he needs to go ahead and make this course the beginner course and either leave it at that or go on and develop an advanced session as well. I hope he develops an advanced course.
- As I said, my friend's background is as a law enforcement sniper. Not a bad thing at all, but there were a couple of points where I knew I would be shooting outside of his instruction because I try (thanks to Nathan) not to indulge or build habits that are not transferable to hunting. It was definitely a bipod and left hand under the butt-stock crowd. My pack stood out like a sore thumb on the range as I shot over it but nobody seemed offended.
- The ranging and wind calculations were all classroom. We got to the range and were told how far all targets were. My first suggestion to my friend is that he keep all ranges a secret until participants range them properly themselves.

All in all a great day. I wore the boonie hat proudly.