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BOOMER SHOOT 2003 Clinic

Saturday 3, May

by Gene Econ

Eugene has written up his After Action Review (AAR).  Whether you attended the clinic or not, I think you will find this very informative.

Previous After Action Reviews (AARs):

Hello again fellow Boomer Shooters. This will be the fifth year of our Clinic and I am pretty pleased to be invited back for another day of good friends, good experiences, and some serious marksmanship work.

This year has had its ups and downs but I have been staying busy with the Army and with some civilian marksmanship contracts. I do travel to conduct clinics so if your club or some of your friends want a few days of coaching and training – we can work something out and have a great time of it.

As the Army is pretty busy right now – I can’t introduce my Assistant Instructor to you as of yet. I’ll know within a few months when things settle down a bit.

I took heed of last years Clinic Lessons Learned and plan to divide the clinic shooters into two groups so we can be more focused on training in terms of ability. Don’t let this scare any of you away – this isn’t the Army. At the Clinics I run, we have fun and learn something of practical value. Once divided into two groups – we will focus our attention on achieving two things. For the less experienced group – we will focus on marksmanship skills and getting solid zeros for the impact areas Joe establishes – so you can blow up Boomers with confidence in your skill and equipment. For the more experienced group – we will focus on refining skills and decision making so more explosions can occur the following day – with less ammunition fired.

What skills will we work on? Here is the part that makes such clinics unique. We will work on skills that you as individuals identify for us. This is a clinic and not a block of instruction. We will take the day as it comes with the end state I want accomplished – zero’s and confidence in ones marksmanship ability and equipment. 

As in all the past clinics – we will be shooting in teams of two so it will benefit anyone who hasn’t attended such a clinic to read the After Action Reports for the last four Boomer Shoots to learn a bit about shooter / observer dialogue and the equipment that goes along with such team shooting. The observer generally learns more about shooting than the shooter, and using the two-man team allows us to learn much more about marksmanship than keeping you in the prone for hours at a time firing ammo without learning something from every shot taken.

This year I will be bringing five steel IPSC targets and five twelve inch diameter steel plates that I had made for the rifle so we will have enough steel of varying sizes to challenge shooters and to get some solid zeros. The IPSC steel targets are big enough for iron sight work if any of you want to shoot with irons. Joe will supply one large Boomer and two small Boomers per shooter which may be placed in any of Joe’s approved firing areas so you can blow up a couple of targets at the end of the day. 

We have always had a great time at these clinics with everyone gaining in experience, knowledge, and friendship. As with all the clinics I have run – if you have questions then please ask them. I answer E-Mails so send away. Reading the AARs from the last shoots will give you all some extremely valuable information and if you are new to the Boomer Shoot I recommend you read them. Not only do they have good advice but also they let you get a better view of how challenging and fun such a shoot is.

DETAILS, DETAILS, DETAILS

COST: $70.00 per shooter. This will cover all targets, a small information and data book that we will use at the clinic, and a CD consisting of a ‘Marksmanship Trainers Guide” that I authored and use with the Army as well as a draft Army marksmanship manual that is pretty good although it is still in draft form. If you want a hard copy of these manuals they will cost you about fifteen dollars per manual so you best contact me a good month out so I can get them printed. If you want to register for the clinic – you can e-mail me and follow on with a check to the address at the bottom of this bulletin. 

NUMBERS: I am giving out twenty slots for this clinic. We can’t fit more shooters on the line and I would be remiss if I allowed more than twenty, as the quality of the clinic would be diminished.

AMMUNITION: We will use no more than 80 rounds of ammunition per shooter for the Clinic. Bring good ammunition for the clinic. Good ammunition eliminates our questioning ammunition ability if we need to troubleshoot some marksmanship problems.

ABILITY GROUPS: I want to break down the clinic into two ability groups. Note that this is much more than saying “Beginner and Advanced”. It could very well be that we have an outstanding bunch of shooters and the dividing line will be based on how I see shooters working through our assessment and – honestly – asking the shooter his opinions. Again – this isn’t the Army so have no apprehension. We will do two things at 100 yards and follow up with some honest feedback prior to dividing into groups.

1. I will ensure your known zero is not on your rifle – then give each shooter ten minutes to re-zero with unlimited shots taken at 100 yards. We will use the Birchwood Casey 5 ½ inch diameter ‘Shoot-N-C’ target on a clean backing for each shooter. The 10 ring on this target is 1-½ inches in diameter and the 9 ring is 3 inches in diameter. You can use any type of rest you want, any position, any sight, but you will shoot it by yourself with no coaching. Spotting scopes are up to you but normally we have enough of them so every shooter can have one if he needs it. I must determine if you can call your shots and adjust your elevation and windage accordingly.
2.  Following this ten-minute zeroing exercise – we will re-face all targets with the same Birchwood Casey 5 ½ inch diameter ‘Shoot-N-See’ targets then fire ten record shots in ten minutes time. Remember that the 10 ring is 1-½ inches in diameter and the 9 ring is 3 inches in diameter. 3 inches at 100 yards is pretty big unless we have some seriously bad weather. Right now I am looking at those who shoot a 95 or more going into the more advanced group but I can’t make such a decision until I see the weather conditions. This is a grouping and scoring type of evaluation and shows me how consistent your shooting is. 

We will divide into groups according to the above two issues and your honest opinions 
concerning where you think you can get the best experience and training.

DIFFICULT ISSUE: In the past – clinic shooters have asked if someone who isn’t shooting can attend the clinic. This is a difficult issue for me as there is nothing secret about what we do or learn, and I love the sport of marksmanship as much as any other serious shooter. Please understand that what I am doing at the clinic is my job as much as some of you are Boeing or Microsoft employees – teachers – lawyers – police officers etc. Thus I can’t justify this clinic being free. If someone wants to take part in the clinic as an observer for you but not a shooter – he or she will be registered and will have to pay the $70.00 cost. If wives, family, or girl friends want to watch then I encourage them to do so, but please – from behind the firing line. I hope you all understand this issue from my perspective as an instructor and in terms of safety and efficiency.

ADVICE IS FREE: Joe runs a great shoot every year. Please read the AARs from the last clinics, as they will give you a good idea of what a Boomer Shooter deals with while enjoying this unique event. I am always available to answer questions from anyone who is going to the shoot even if you don’t go to the clinic. 

Again my thanks to Joe for allowing me to run another clinic and I hope to see old and new friends this year. It’s a great event and we have a great time.

Gene Econ
511 Hidden Forest Drive SE.
Lacey Washington
98513
(360) 459-3848
eaecon@comcast.net