Today, I’m in Louisiana going through Day Two of a training class at Range Ready, the training facility that’s also the home of the Gresham media enterprises a/k/a Gun Talk Media. It’s a busy two-day session, led by Range Ready’s Chris Cerino.
Yes, the Top Shots Cerino. I frequently forget that before Top Shots turned him into a celebrity, Cerino was a trainer, shooter and police officer. But it was Top Shots that brought Cerino, Iain Harrison and Caleb Giddings into the industry.
They’ve all kept their media presence, but have become established in the business side, too.
Taking this class, however, gives me the chance to check a lot of boxes. In addition to the training, I’m seeing the Gun Talk Media facilities for the first time. I’ve wanted to visit, but schedules simply hadn’t worked out -until this class. It’s one of Gun Talk’s Experience classes, where the 20 or so students from around the country have the opportunity to experience training as well as the experience of an event with an instructional component similar to the events run for media by manufacturers.
We’re getting the chance to spend time on Ruger’s Small Frame AR (SFAR), the .308 caliber rifle they’ve kept inside a true AR-style and size frame. They class guns are equipped with EOTech’s Vudu 1x6 SR-1 riflescope. New product evaluation with other students is one of the best ways to see how equipment works -or doesn’t work- with “average” shooters. It’s especially valuable when the class includes shooters who’ve never fired AR-style rifles.
Chris Cerino and EOTech’s John Bailey (top) explained Mil-Rads in terms the class could understand. The match that makes 50 yard adjustments require double the “clicks” sounds mysterious, but it proves true as the SFARs and their scopes are ultimately joined as a shooting unit. Ruger’s Paul Pluff (below) explained the challenges of fitting a .308/7.62 caliber into a rifle package that weighs under seven pounds -nearly the same weight as the 2.23/5.56.
It’s pretty heady stuff when the experts in the class include Paul Pluff, Ruger’s Director of Media Relations (no stranger to our longtime readers) and John Bailey, EOTech’s VP of Marketing. Having known both for nearly two decades, their wealth of practical information has made the learning curve far less steep for all my classmates (and me).
Cerino’s training emphasis is on the practical, understandable elements of shooting well. As he explained to the class, fundamentals of everything from weapon maintenance to good shooting, are the essential building blocks of good shooting. Walking us through the detailed strip, clean and reassembly, he and his training team shared tips that made it far simpler to strip, lube and easily reassemble brand-new rifles.
Yesterday afternoon range sessions accomplished two things: established the zeroes on the rifles (top) and validated the training and coaching suggestions offered by Cerino (below).
We didn’t hit the range until after lunch yesterday. But when we did, it was a series of drills designed to help us get into shooting positions (starting with prone), then moving to what is reportedly the simplest position: sitting. Don’t know about anyone else, but sitting is decidedly not my strongest shooting position.
But the sessions proved the accuracy of the Ruger SFAR and the optical quality of EOTech’s VUDU scopes.
Tomorrow, we’ll be on the range all day. Shooting from 20 to 100 yards to establish the variables every shooter needs to know in order to use their rifle successfully.
We’ll keep you posted.
—Jim Shepherd
