Are we training wrong?

It finally hit me.  As much as we try to make things real, and allow people to train in as much of a realistic environment, we may be training them wrong.  Or is it that people are too nice to their training partner?  Or maybe, just maybe, the severity of a true fight does not sink in with our members?

Let me regress.  For those of you who train with us regularly, you know that we are all about realism.  From incorporating scenarios into the drills, to the types of classes we teach, including the weapons classes and our FIGHT/Ground Survival classes.

In all of these classes we try to push the idea of fights being a dynamic situation, one which evolves quickly and in unpredictable ways.  Which is in large the reason we do not teach "katas", or sequences, but rather depend on principals which can then be applied individually by the practitioner.  We also emphasize the aspect of fighting which states that you are not bound to one set of skills.  For example, one of the reasons for this blog post was that during a recent stick fighting class people forgot they also have legs to kick with, fists to strike with, heads to smash with, and so on.

Following this recent weapon fighting class, which included skills and was followed by sparring, a seasoned member who just fought a new guest to the class was amazed that the way he handled the fight.  The problem was that he felt as though he lost to a beginner.  Another issues this member had was the frequent loss of the stick during fighting (he kept having his stick trapped by his opponent).  My explanation was that I saw two issues with the way the fight went:

1. Members who come to these classes typically do an exceptional good job when practicing a skill with a compliant partner, but once they are in a fight they neglect to commit to the strikes.  I am not sure if it is due to a psychological fear of hurt their partners, or that the dynamics of the fight confuse them.  But when a strike is not a commitment, it tends to be slower and weaker making a trap by the opponent easier, whether it is a stick or a kick.
2. As mentioned earlier, people forget about their other tools.  If a stick is grabbed what is topping the fighter from kicking or punching?  They should be using all the tools in their arsenal, not only the "obvious" weapon in their hands.

What we found impressive, and in a fact turned on the light bulb, was that the "new guy" had no such reservations from striking.  Very likely because no "bad habits" were yet instilled, and when placed into a fight, the new person was scared, and eager to strike and strike hard to maintain his safety.

So following this class, and others like it, and after talking to members who did well in scenarios and some that didn't do quite as well I began to think: how do I make sure members do not lose their "fear"?  How do they maintain that edge of healthy resistance while increasing their skill levels?

So I came up with a few solutions:

1. I will begin kicking in the balls any member who does not commit to his/her strike!  I assume it would be a pretty sharp learning curve.  If you are planning on hitting you may as well do it right.  Half-Assing a strike will get you nowhere...fast.
2. Protective gear will be utilized more to help members overcome their initial fear of hitting other human beings.  I agree, striking another person, especially a friend and training partner, is not normal.  But unfortunately we will fight as we train, and just saying "in a real fight I would hit for real" doesn't cut it.  I need to know that you will, and you need to know that you can.
3. Overall increasing the frequency of fighting and scenario based training.  Skills are great, but if we cannot reproduce them under stress they mean absolutely nothing.

Get ready for the next evolution of ICS training!!!

Stay safe,

Tzviel 'BK' Blankchtein

Masada Tactical

Ammunition Review: Fiocchi .223

As most of you know, from time to time we are asked to review various tactical items, from boots to optics, and as of recent also ammunition.

Most recently we were asked by bulkammo.com, an online retailer, to provide our opinion of the Fiocchi .223 (55gr. Soft Point):  http://www.bulkammo.com/rifle/bulk-.223-ammo.

Mr. Steven Otterbacher with BulkAmmo.com was kind enough to send us a few boxes of this ammunition which we gladly took to the range to see what it did.

We chose to test the ammunition on actual trajectory and grouping instead of ballistic impact.  So instead of shooting these rounds into ballistic gels to see how far they penetrate, or how they affect various objects, we just shot all the rounds into targets at various distances.

First thing that was obvious was the flat trajectory.  What that meant is that between 50 meters and up to 200 meters we had to make no adjustments to our sights.  The groups did shift slightly, but were all within the "X" ring.  For tactical application, or hunting for that matter, this means that this round will maintain a flat trajectory regardless of distance and therefore no sophisticated calculations or adjustments to sights and optics are required.

Second thing we noticed was that the groups were small, making the rounds consistent on impact.  The rifle was shot from a prone position, no bench rest was used, which means, that even accounting for human error and movement of the shooter, the rounds were still within a one inch group.  As aspect often overlooked when choosing ammunition is the consistency.  It is one thing to hit a solid group, it is completely different for the shooter to be able to reproduce those hits.  There are multiple variables that can account for inconsistent groups, and if we can eliminate one such variable by choosing a reliable ammunition we are increasing our chances of staying on target.

When shooting this rounds I ran two "tests".  Since I was limited in the amount of rounds I was given, I shot a few out a cold barrel to increase reliability and check performance through a "pure" pipe.  Results were good, but then again they were expected to be.  The second test however was shooting the remaining of the rounds following about 200 rounds of more corrosive ammunition.  The corrosion affects the trajectory due to particles inside the barrel that affect the rifling and the spiral movement of the bullet.  I was pleasantly surprised to find that no significant issues came up.  Not only that, but no miss-feeds or duds occurred either.

After the shooting was done, the rifle was cleaned.  The rounds were fairly clean (excluding corrosion by the previous load), and no residue was left on the action.

I would greatly recommend these rounds for your tactical and/or hunting needs.  These rounds can be purchased at:  http://www.bulkammo.com/rifle/bulk-.223-ammo.

Stay safe!

Tzviel 'BK' Blankchtein

Masada Tactical