The advanced sniper class follows the very successful three day format that Scott and Brett have been using for the past few months, and, consistent with all of Scott's more advanced classes, he focused on problem-solving, rather than pure mechanics. And, like all ITTS classes, we had a mix of difficult and demanding evolutions, and just plain old fun. An example of the former was an evolution on the hostage rack that was about timing, judgement, and the ability to wait for the right shot even after your eyes have begun to water and neck to ache. An example of the latter was the final half hour of the class, in which we managed to expend about forty bucks worth of match ammo basically plinking at an oversized tin can.

I had to miss the first day due to an unavoidable business meeting that ran long, so I'm hoping that another student can fill in the blanks for that day.

The second day was a night shoot, that began with work on the mover. For those who haven't worked with this system, it's a very simple, but versatile horizontal clothes-line type of arrangement, but with a variable speed motor, which allows the speed to be set anywhere from a slow walk to automobile speeds. Scott had some good tips for modifying the prone position to allow smoother tracking, though this is the sort of thing that can only be achieved through constant practice. There were several other evolutions involving engaging targets in two different non-working cars, also using a new contraption that allowed Scott to set up a hostage target in one car, and then remotely move the “shoot” target out from behind the hostage. The final evolution required the class to move into position covertly, again engaging targets in the vehicles.

The third day was a lot of fun. Scott has a rapid-deployment drill that allows the entire class to engage four different moving targets, from four separate locations simultaneously. It's a great evolution because it forces your two-man team to sprint into position, then get set up, get your pulse under control, and then WAIT for the scenario. You don't know what you're going to be confronted with: this time, one target rack held a hostage, one had two hostiles, and the others had a mix of shoot and no-shoot targets. Really teaches teamwork, being sure of your target, and general thinking about what the heck you're doing. This day, there would have been a few runs up “hostage hill”. The bulk of rest of the day was spent in unknown-distance shooting – the group did very well, with quite a few one-shot hits.

At the end-of-class wrap-up, Scott asked that we post our comments, positive and negative on the website, prompting this post. I've listed some of the things that I thought were most positive, and don't have any real negative items. Coming out of this class, the only substantive suggestions I'd have would be:

1.The three-day format is excellent, but it would help if some classes could start on Saturday and end on Monday, with others on the Friday-to -Saturday schedule. This would allow folks with different schedules to take advantage of this format.
2.The moving target system is so useful that it would be worthwhile having a day-long course devoted to nothing but working on fundamentals with the mover. This might not be the most fun, but it would certainly be valuable – could even be a two-gun class with the pistol and rifle. Heck it could be a three-gun class with the shotgun, for all I care. I'd just like to get more trigger time on this system.