Team Blaster/Controlled Chaos Arms Precision Rifle 1 Class AAR
On October 10-11 2015 I was fortunate to attend the Team Blaster Precision Rifle training sponsored by Controlled Chaos Arms held at the Brownell’s range near Grinnell Iowa. The class was taught by Rob Ormond, a member of Team Blaster. Class size was small at 5 students, which made for an excellent student/teacher ratio.
Rob has impressive credentials, including but not limited to being a former member of the Marine Corps and a sponsored professional shooter competing in tactical long range rifle competitions. This was the second class I had taken at this location with Team Blaster, the first being larger and with Tony Gimelle (owner of Impact Data Books) also instructing. I usually don’t double up on the same class, but felt I had received good value on the training I had received in the first go round. I can also state without reservation it made me a better shooter, and one week after that first class I shot the best group of my life applying what I had learned from Tony and Rob.
As stated earlier the training was sponsored by Controlled Chaos Arms located in Baxter Iowa and owned by Michael Ware. During the run up to the class Michael was quick to reply to my questions, and even fielded a phone call while he was on vacation. The class was well organized, the range outstanding, and Michael was on site both days checking on our progress and addressing any needs the class had. While Michael and Rob were very professional, they were also very friendly, and the atmosphere made for a pleasant, stress free learning environment.
The class was a mixture of novice precision rifle shooters, hunters, law enforcement, and others who just wanted to learn how to run their rifles at distances beyond 100 yards. Rifles used were all bolt action, and calibers ranged from 300 Win Mag, 308 Win, 6.5 Creedmoor, to 223. Everyone was easily able to get good dope out to 500 yards, and with Rob’s assistance everyone was hitting the steel targets at distance. We shot a mixture of paper targets at 100 yards to 200 yards, with steel targets set up at 100 to 500 yards. Target size ranged from sub-MOA to around 3 MOA depending on the distance and drill (example: KYL drill 1”-1/4” dots, 1” cold bore @ 100yards, 2” and 3” dots at 200 yards, ˝ IPSC @ 500 yards, 4” and 6” plates at 100 yards thru 400 yards, the larger plates having a 1 MOA circle in the center). The training is set up in blocks where Rob would have the students gather round and he would explain the drills and principals involved. Student would then move to the range and put into practice what was just explained.
Some (but not all) of the topics covered were: Terms and definitions, wind observation methods and formulas, how to calculate wind holds and values, near, mid, and far wind, range estimation, the different types of scopes and their reticles and adjustments, parallax, correctly setting up the diopter, determining cheek weld and proper scope positioning, how to measure scope height and its effect on close and long shots, what the spotters duties are and the terms used, precision rifle cleaning, hold overs and hold unders. Rob also spent a lot of time insuring everyone understood their natural point of aim, and the fundamentals of marksmanship. Rob has eyes like a hawk, and on two screw ups I personally made (failure to properly adjust parallax at the 200 yard confirmation target and forgetting to dial the proper elevation while working back from 500 to 400 yards) he was immediately at my firing position asking what I had done and confirming I had caught the mistake and corrected for it. Rob insured the lesson was learned and understood, but in a mentoring way rather than in a military manner. The shooter next to my position was using a really neat M40 clone with a Leupold LR/T with M3 turrets (Mil reticle and 1 MOA adjustments). He was really nervous about the math involved with the hold overs and hold unders converting from MOA, but Rob explained it to him and he was soon making hits out to 500 yards and back. I could see from his expression he was having a blast, and he later commented he would never have been able to do anything like this before the class.
I have recently started shooting some local PRS type matches, and had lots of questions for Rob about barricade and positional shooting. Rob was a wealth of knowledge, and never seemed to get annoyed at my constant questions. In addition, along with another student I had forgotten a sling for my rifle. Rob loaned us a couple of his slings, along with loaning other students some of his other personal gear (rear bags, etc).
On Sunday Michael brought out one of his rifles (Badger M2008 action with a Mike Rock 5r barrel in 6.5cm, a Manners T4-a stock, Atlas bi-pod, CCA/Kepplinger set trigger, Surgeon bottom metal, AICS mags, Vortex Razor hd2 scope 4.5-27, and an ammo box of Hornady 6.5 Creedmoor ammunition) for us to try at the end of class. Most of the other students and I gave it a try, and had a blast shooting this rifle as it was extremely accurate. It was so good I made a headshot on the 500 yard ˝ IPSC plate, using Rob’s dope from his competition rifle, within just a couple shots. It made me look like a rock star, lol.
In summary, this is just a short synopsis of the weekend class, but will hopefully answer any questions someone might have about training with Team Blaster or Controlled Chaos Arms. Again, I can state without reservation I am a better shooter for having trained with them. There was talk at the end of training about Michael sponsoring a Precision Rifle 2 class. I hope he does, and I will be one of the first to sign up for the class when it happens.
