SUMMARY:

This report provides a comprehensive review of the recent training class from multiple sources of insight and performance data. Trainee feedback was actively collected and analyzed to understand their individual perspectives, challenges and takeaways. Additionally, I’ve incorporated my own instructor observations gathered throughout our time together, with particular focus on engagement, progression, and skill application during drills, exercises, and match conditions.

Performance in the match setting was critical to assess how effectively the trainee executed learned skills under pressure, and to identify any recurring gaps or strengths in real time. Taking this all into account, I’ve developed a personalized training plan for each individual. These plans are informed not only by the data collected during the course, but also by my own personal experience as a competitor and an instructor.

The goal moving forward is to ensure that each trainee continues to build on their strengths while systematically addressing areas for growth using methods that are practical and tangible. All training elements have been tested and yield a form of measurable results. Training means more than identifying problems but offering no solutions. This plan is a practical guide for the next steps in achieving your goals. It is a standalone tool by itself, but I have also integrated links to relevant training within my Virtual Instructor Program where it would help correlate and add direct context. If you don’t have a membership yet, it would help, but is not required. If you’re interested, everyone from class will receive a 50% off opportunity to get access to that program along with notification of this report.

If anything in this report is not clear or requires further explanation, please reach out.

OVERVIEW:

Thank you again for joining this class! It was very rewarding to watch you connect the dots and make progress throughout our time together. Each trainee comes to the event with varying levels of skills, abilities, strengths, weaknesses, and how much room they have to grow. In addition, everyone learns at their own pace. That said, you may have walked away with one little insight, several huge breakthroughs, or something in between. No matter what, this training was not an ultimate solution, but a place to better equip yourself as you continue on your journey. Everything you picked up, changed, validated, or completely rebuilt will need to be practiced and worked to get the results you’re striving for; the work is not done!

We reviewed basics, enhanced fundamentals with advanced techniques, refined sophisticated skills such as movers and tripod operation, as well as dissected deep cerebral topics such as spotting and wind reading. We exercised drills to lock in specific muscle memory, and also to expose you to new concepts. Topics the class asked for and were covered were:

1. Wind

2. Spotting

3. Positional Techniques

4. Tripod Techniques

5. Mental Planning & Stage Prep

6. Time Management

After each topic was covered in class setting, we took it to the firing line to hone in on the physical skill and techniques behind each topic. I was happy to see everyone participate even when the guidance didn’t necessarily make sense or seem significant at first. As an advanced shooter, there are some philosophies and simple concepts that are staples for progress, for ALL. A few of the mantras throughout the training were:

1. “Small changes can make large improvements” – lots of the teachings are subtle differences that can significantly clean up your execution, giving you better first round impacts, spotting, consistency, etc.

2. “Pause” – As simple as it is, this is often the critical missing piece to consistent performance. Rushing through the process may work for a while, but eventually you will face an issue and likely moved too fast to properly manage it. 

3. “Slow down and process what just happened” – Similarly to the one above, this focuses on the follow through in the shot process. Are we actually watching with an attentive brain as we make the shot? Or are we just waiting for the bullet to land so we can quickly cycle to the next shot?

We covered a LOT of material. As we discussed in class, not every insight needs to be incorporated into your process, but take as much as you can and see what yields the best results. No matter how our 2 days unfolded for you, the goal is to take what we covered, combine it with some pointed critique, and propel you on a guided path forward toward your next goals. Let’s get into your personal report!

SHOOTER GENERAL:

You come into this with some moderate experience, but some significant hurdles that are holding you back. Getting to watch you shoot was very valuable because I see what we need to work on, and I think you will get some large jumps in performance following this guidance. Big picture, if we can get your equipment streamlined, and your mental drive stronger/more confident, you will improvement in leaps and bounds.

STRENGTHS AND SUCCESSES:

Self-diagnosed Pre-Training Survey:

• Willingness to Learn-

  From you pre-training survey, you correctly identify this quality. You certainly do have a healthy willingness to learn, and it showed throughout the whole weekend. More of my own observations to support this in the next section.

Instructor Observations:

• Attitude and Approach to Learning-

  a. Your attitude as a seemingly very happy person with a positive demeanor is awesome! As much as this might sound insignificant, it is crucial. With the dynamic activity we’re trying to learn in being a horrible learning environment by nature, EVERY single barrier to learning we can remove the better. Having negative, disconnected, or dismissive attitudes will bring the learning process to a grinding halt. You don’t have those issues, and it will help you prevail. The only time I saw a hint of resignation was when your equipment was stopping you in your tracks; and that’s understandable. Even in those moments, don’t let anything stop you if you can help it! Stay in the fight, ask if you can borrow equipment, don’t be shy! More on this little point coming up…

  b. Willingness to learn and receive instruction is great - anytime I offered ideas you were willing to listen, try, and give everything a fair chance. Some people very quickly draw conclusions and make decisions out of ego, and you don’t have that problem! It makes for better learning, AND a more enjoyable communication process from an instructor perspective.

• Quick Adaptation of Improvements-

  Correlating to the attribute above, you are able to get big “light bulb” moments frequently, see the significance, and work them into your repertoire. You will see large scale improvements if you work these discoveries into practice, further engraining things into your natural approach to engagements.

REFINEMENT OPPORTUNITIES:

Self-diagnosed Pre-Training Survey:

• Stability –

  Your pre-training survey addresses stability as your main weakness. I see that this may be a major factor, and in making confident shots it must be mitigated as a top priority item! After watching you on my triggercam rifle, I saw you were certainly capable of reaching a nice stable position, but maybe after a lot of work. More on some of these topics later, but I think you have equipment setup issues, fundamental gaps, and a physical timid-ness with the rifle that can be addressed to lock this part down for good.

Instructor Observations:

• Equipment–

  You don’t know what you don’t know, so this is where help from more experienced people and more exposure to top level gear is going to help you. Get behind as many others’ rifles as you can, see what works, see what feels good, and watch them shoot. Look for things that your system does NOT keep up with or do well on such as mag loading - Think, “why do I have to force my mag up really hard when others don’t?” Things like that - keep a detailed and analytical eye when others are shooting…

• a. SCOPE POSITION - I believe we already addressed this, but I would encourage you to triple check your scope positions on all rifles, and use my scope setup videos as a guide. You really don’t want to have to goose-neck into the scope to find a good sight picture, as this will cause strain, muscle engagement, and trembling in the rifle. Beyond that, it will cause you to lose length and flexibility in the rest of your body, promoting more of a strained stretch with support arm and back-blading behind the rifle. The scope should be checked from a prone position and then a positional stance, looking for natural sight picture in both scenarios. Every scope has a forward-aft window, and usually you can find a position that allows prone (head further forward) and positional (head further aft) to fall within the spectrum of full sight picture.

  b. BAG CONFIGURATION - Your bag is not my favorite, but it’s not a problem by any means. From one to the next, some bags settle easier than others, and yours is in the middle. The heavier canvas has a little more natural fabric wobble. You don’t have to change this right now, but you will have to be more mindful of how you set up in it. You will want to really saw the rifle into that bag, and use your support arm to make sure you’re cinching everything together. A passive support hand will not get you want you want. It might seem okay at first, but you’re leaving something on the table. The more you use that bag the more it will break in and get better. Leave it on the ground and literally kick it around every time you pass it. Use it every opportunity you can, don’t baby it - use it on rocks that poke into it and stretch the fabric a little, fold it back open the reverse way, be aggressive with it, and it will relax more. DON’T overhead smash it to the ground like a medicine ball, it’s too aggressive and will blow open - ask me how I know :)

  c. SHOOTER INTERFACE WITH RIFLE - You are a little too much on-for-the-ride with the rifle. Right now, you seem like you’re connected to the equipment, but not in command of it. If you’ve heard “drive the rifle,” I would encourage you to think about how you’d want to be buckled into a race car - strapped in tight, one with the car. Every piece of your body should be definitively working in a specific way, and if you don’t have specific knowledge of what you’re looking for, there’s your answer! You should know exactly where you want the buttstock, where your hands go and how much pressure you like, and how you stack your body into a solid position. My fundamentals videos are your ticket here, and you will want to review that material a few more times as you venture out to the range.

  d. MAGAZINES - Your one mag is likely out of spec, since almost every other mag worked fine. Measure it and compare if you want to really figure it out, and you can possible get accurate mag to swap it out if it’s truly off. Either way, YOU have to review your set up and diagnose what’s good or bad. Rule of thumb, everything should be smooth! Even a more experienced guy in class will have this in his report since his bolt was catching every time he’d drive it forward. Bolt should run smooth, rounds consistently feed, mag slide right into locked in position, no crazy bolt lift after the shot, etc…

  • VIP VIDEO SUGGESTION:

    • https://www.carusoprecision.com/vip-core-skills/v/scope-setup-maintenance - scope placement section and visual check of appropriate eye relief

    • https://www.carusoprecision.com/vip-core-skills/v/fundamentals-shooter-interface - Review the portions of the video where we support arm connection and getting square behind the rifle.

    • https://www.carusoprecision.com/vip-core-skills/v/positional-shooting - There is a section that similarly breaks down how I join up to the rifle while paying attention to my support hand.

• Fundamentals –

  Overall your fundamentals are okay, but each main area needs some attention. Your shots showed a lot of rifle movement, and this will be a huge issue when working on spotting and building confidence during an engagement. You need to control the rifle so you can see what’s going on.

  A few things I noticed overall are being bladed, bones not stacked, and a very relaxed connection with the rifle itself. Again use the fundamentals videos for more context, but you want to be square, bones stacked, legs straight or at 90 degrees where able depending on heights, support hand firmly in control of the rifle, head in a comfortable position. During the dot drill, I watch you change your support hand position 5 times. You weren’t sure if you wanted to hold the side of the scope, the top of the scope, the side of the forend, etc. You need to analyze this and come up with a firm determination of where your hand naturally can go where it can be effective in managing the rifle. Not on for the ride, but steering and in control. Trigger control needs to be smooth and consistent - you were 50/50 on pinning it back after the shot or snapping your finger off. Record yourself and pick it apart, repeating drills targeting each piece as you go. trigger cam footage will definitely help you in this process, but add a trigger hand side external camera if you can as well.

• Time Management/Efficiency of Movement‍ ‍

This is a big one and it’s exciting because there’s a lot of easy adaptations you can make. The gains here can be rapid (pun slightly intended). As much as I wouldn’t make it a top priority, there’s a bunch of low hanging fruit here that you can easily grab.

• Knowing your way into a solid position without fumbling-testing-readjusting… quick, assertively built rifle and body position, like second nature!

• Without having to think about the position, you can focus over the barrel for quick target acquisition as you’re lowering into position behind the rifle.

• Layering task load - as you build, you’re acquiring target, and as you settle into the glass on target you breathe out as you close the bolt, and shoot. Way faster than a separate thought and action for each step. This only comes with confidence behind the rifle

• Assertive movement - thinking of your martial arts - try to move less like Tai Chi and more like a boxer - quick, measured, intense movement without losing control. If you’re meditating between actions or movements you’re going to be too slow! And at this stage, being fast isn’t my concern, but if there’s too much hangtime before the shot, bad things will start to happen. Fatigue, second guessing, or a subtle killer - chasing perfect perfection! The goal is perfection always, but we settle for excellence. My positions are rarely perfect. But if you sit too long in a real time shot sequence, you’ll be tempted to fix, and fix, and then fix some more - fatigue, loss of focus, bad shots… Sounds like a contradiction but you need to efficiently get into an excellent position, immediately decide is something majorly needs fixing, and then make a solid shot.

If you can nail down those two small technical changes, I see you finishing stages with higher confidence, and in much smoother times.

• Physical and Mental Drive –

  Overall throughout the course you were more on the timid side with your equipment. I see this caused by a reduced confidence, tied in with a relaxed personality. Your demeanor is awesome so I’m not saying it’s bad! But that combination is something to be mindful of. The result can be a long term, too-passive execution. My goal for you would be to see you having more confidence and sureness in what you’re about to do, and being more assertive with your actions. This will only come from defined training to build that confidence. When you find that next level, you’ll spring into position, not need to make lots of adjustments, and you’ll quickly know what shot you’re about to take and what to do depending on how it goes. Right now, it looks like you’re learning as you go in every engagement - which is true at this point! But you can drill that in on your own time, and be more decisive on your plan with confidence BEFORE you start a real time engagement. This is not priority number one, but just something I wanted to throw out there. It will naturally develop over time as you practice, but if you’re paying attention to it, you will get further, faster.

VIDEO REVIEW:

This video of your dot drill exercise reveals some of your current stumbling blocks. The big obvious one is the long time it

takes to get into your scope. The frequent back and forth speaks to not only an incorrect/uncomfortable set up, but also a

lack of familiarity. Building that position should be like sitting in your car and putting it in park - fluid, second nature. The

next item to focus on in the future is the same situation of uncertainty with the support hand. Find a spot that works every

time, and know that’s where you’re going to go, other than an exceptional position. That hand shouldn’t be hanging out,

but more steering, controlling, and restraining the rifle by gripping firmly between the bag and the forend. It’s stuff we’ve

already covered above, but if a picture is worth a million words, this should help a lot too!

TRAINING PLAN:

Overall the goal will be to hit the range when you can, and target specific items - then beat them up until they become more fluid and natural. This will be one thing at a time, not 5 topics in one range day. It will take some discipline to stay focused even if it gets mundane, but I know you can stay on track if you want to improve!

The following section is a combination of range-day timeline AND items to work on. Take these things and try to incorporate them in a compounding way that will stack benefit on top of benefit. This is designed to give you maximum results in the areas of improvement you need.

RANGE DAY ITINERARY:

This is a general timeline of how I’d organize the range visit. Items 1-3 are all done within first 30 minutes, and then progress to the drills, targeting that day’s main focus area…

1.      Review forecast before going – come up with a guess of min-max wind hold you’ll need at say 800 yds.

2.      At Range - Check zero/chrono/adjust kestrel.

3.      Drills – start with the cold wind call at distance.

4.      Work through other drills in this plan, and don’t be afraid to add/substitute what you need.

5.      Mid day, when the wind has the most potential, stop your other drills and repeat a full wind analysis, ending in another semi-cold call at a farther target.

6. Then, back to drill main focus area with remaining time.

7. Take notes!

DRILLS:

• Cold Wind Call:

1. EVERY TRIP OUT, make this your first plan after checking zero. The hard part of this drill is that everyone loves the satisfying feeling of hitting every hundred or so, validating data. But you can do that later! The other challenge is that there’s nothing on the line, it’s not a match, so it’s easy to jump the gun and get impatient.

2. Don’t rush, take in every detail, study the area, and average your wind across the field of fire.

3. Finalize your call, and take a poke.

4. Hit or miss, reverse out of the shot and analyze what you could have seen better.

   • See if there is a single indicator you could’ve used during the shot sequence that would’ve been the best source of information.

   • DON’T SKIP THIS STEP - This is where the learning happens!

5. It’s a long term gain, sow progression drill. Things won’t necessarily change overnight, but it’ll take the already solid wind calling you have, and help you start to hone in on more specific details. 

   • A second level drill would be to switch to only doing this on the rifle

   • Give yourself a few minutes tops, then one minute, then make your first shot within 20 seconds.

   • 800+ yards is fine, does not have to be 1000…

• Fundamentals:

  Practice our specific individual fundamental techniques, aiming to control the rifle and manage recoil.

1. Slowly build a sound position, settle in

2. Take a shot, analyze muzzle jump, STAY ON RIFLE

3. Vertical jump - adjust your shoulder engagement to lower, or build position, get on target, and lastly drop/roll shoulder up from underneath buttstock, then close bolt/shoot.

4. Lateral jump - move rifle closer to center of chest, check body square vs. bladed.

5. Address issues, cycle the bolt, repeat the shot looking for improvements.

6. After finding improvements, step off, document findings, and repeat drill implementing new actions.

7. This will be like a build and break drill, but slow and calculated. Progressing to the next drill with more fluid movements will come after you feel major improvements here.

• Efficiency Drill 1:

  Using this standard drill mainly to iron out your bag stability improvements, efficient position building, and check for complete equipment control throughout…

1. Think of the build and break drill from the class

2. 15 seconds, then 12 seconds, then 10 seconds…

3. Pick a standard target - .4 wide, non-painted steel preferred

4. Sturdy prop, different positions available. Pipe fence was a great example

5. On the clock, build a swift and complete position, and shoot 2 shots on target

   • Bag down, rifle down

   • Drive it forward while lining up barrel to target

   • Settle QUICK AND FIRM into the bag as you acquire target in scope

     • Mag well buried into bag for rudder support

     • Forcefully and abruptly sawed/shimmied into position in target area

     • Finish building connection behind rifle

     • Make final shimmy onto exact POA

   • Push out a breath as you close the bolt

   • Hyper focus on target, make the shot!

   • Spot, RESET in the bag, cycle another round, make second shot!

6. Evaluate your progress on building an effective position quicker without compromising fundamentals.

• Strive to have a solid grip, saddle the rifle against your body when making big movements, and be aggressive with your strength in managing the rifle – You are in charge, not the rifle!

7. Choose another time limit, and repeat

8. AFTER TAKING A BREAK TO RECOVER PHYICALLY, REPEAT THIS DRILL IN ANOTHER POSITIONAL HEIGHT

9. PROGRESSION - EVENTUALLY DO BUILD/BREAK DRILLS USING MULTIPLE DIFFERENT POSITIONS BACK TO BACK ALL TOGETHER - FIND A FLOW FROM ONE POSITION TO ANOTHER.

• Spotting Drill 1:

Do this for the first several shots, until you have lost the element of surprise on your wind call. Once you know confidently know where your shots are landing and where the next ones are GOING to land, you move to drill 2. Next phase will allow you to re-introduce the element of surprise to make your brain have to analyze the point of impact again from a fresh perspective… But for now:

1. Start on completely sturdy props and use un-painted steel

2. Use a big/small array, maybe a KYL Largest and then Smallest (or one of the smallest)

3. Make perfectly stable and bag-settled position

4. Take several seconds before the shot to study the target and backdrop

5. Prepare for expectations of what you’ll see with a hit or a miss

   • Depending on your vision, consider more emphasis on plate movement and statistics (how likely you expect to be over or under on your windage).

6. Take a shot, and freeze to see everything you can, and take a few seconds to process.

7. Make a measured call, not “a little left,” but “0.2 left of center…”

8. Take that call to a small plate and test your call.

9. If it hits – SUCCESS… If it misses, repeat the drill on the big plate and see if you see it better;

   • You will likely have a better expectation the second time because you just saw a miss in the dirt. That’s ok!

   • Let that guide your brain to better interpret the information down range this next shot

10. To reset the level of challenge, take the drill to a significantly different distance and repeat the drill.

• Spotting Drill 2:

Taped Turret, with a buddy or alone, re-introduce the element of surprise and get yourself working hard to spot again once you’ve pretty much figured it out for the current conditions…

1. Have a buddy spin your windage off by up to double what the actual wind conditions call for, and down to zero wind. For example, if it’s roughly 1.0L of wind, allow for anything within 2.0L-0.0.

   • This simulates a big gust or a big lull in wind; a bit much, but still reasonable and good for this drill

2. If you’re alone, it’s less calculated

   • Without looking, spin your own windage a little one way, reset your grip and go the other way. A few clicks this way, that way, this way, etc… Once you feel lost, you’re set!

3. Cover the turret with some painter’s tape - if alone and it’s on the support side, just don’t look!

4. Shoot, spot, measure, correct – analyze results

5. Reverse dissect what you thought you saw versus what actually happened

6. Contrary to the fun speed stage in class, take your time. Accuracy over speed here!

7. Repeat this drill until you can’t miss your second shot, or you’re completely sick of it! At a minimum, do this for 5 cycles.

• Free Time:

1. HIGHLY recommend reverting back to more scope based wind work in second half of day

   • Mirage is up, changes more frequent, challenge accepted!

   • Build a tough panning long distance stage, and put in the time to get a specific plan

   • Make sure you have a plan A, and a simplified plan B using simple additives per target.

   • Test it out and reverse engineer what you needed, vs what you saw or could improve

2. Obviously feel free to do anything else that needs work – don’t skip the tough stuff!

CONCLUSION:

             There are always more drills and beneficial methods you can use depending how you want to attack your focus areas. These are my observations and best ideas for you, but certainly not the end-all-be-all; don’t be afraid to try other things. As I said, you’re in a great spot with a great mentality. If you definitively approach each of these little ideas, I know you’ll be able to pick up a LOT of momentum. For a relatively new shooter, you’ve got some work to do, but you’re in a reasonable spot for where you should be. If you stick with it and become more efficient, you’ll be crushing it.

             I’m open for a follow up if you have any questions. See below for a bonus list of highlighted items from the curriculum that I want to emphasize before your next trip out. Please stay in touch, share your victories big or small, and let’s shoot together again down the road. Thank you and God bless,

Matt Caruso

Caruso Precision

CLASS HIGHLIGHTS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

1.      Get out and train sooner than later, lock in what you learned

2.      Keep your attention within your thirds, G.O.D. - Glass, Observe, Develop

3.      Stick to your processes, in every phase of the day/match/stage/shot sequence; don’t cut corners

4.      Drill your weaknesses even if it’s less fun – “don’t skip leg day!”

5.      First shot = most important shot… make it perfect!

6.      Don’t settle for bad wind angles, use an azimuth or good compass for exact numbers

7.      After a stage, reverse math the wind to derive true wind conditions to carry forward

8.      Other than checking DOPE, don’t shoot clean steal because it makes you weak

9.      IMO spotting is the most important skill beyond having good fundamentals

10.  Prepare spotting expectations based on target environment BEFORE you’re on the clock

11.  Know your min. correction for edge miss (½ target) and blind miss (¾ target) BEFORE on the clock

12.  Plan your toughest target, toughest position as a primary driver of your plan development

13.  Review EVERYTHING on your rifle end to end before saying you’re ready for the clock

14.  Make mental snapshot of last shot before stepping off. Finish process before chatting with buddies

15.  Pause, process, plan, then execute… Do NOT rush downrange analysis

16.  Corrections should have a number, not just a direction… “I was left,” vs “I was 0.4 left”

17.  Move the bag and rifle separately from position to position

18.  Saw into bag before every shot, it becomes muscle memory, costs no time, yields good benefit

19.  Confidence = efficient time management. Take the time before the shot, or you’ll struggle afterward

20.  Move quick, shoot slow