WAB
AH ambassador
@cbvanb and I recently attended Barbour Creek's Level 1 and Level 2 courses in Eufala, Alabama. Following is a synopsis of our time there.
General:
We stayed on-site for a small additional charge. I highly recommend that you do so as it gives more time to visit with the other students and instructors. The accommodations were comfortable and the food was very good. The school is located about 15 minutes outside Eufala.
Level 1 Course
This course was two days, taught by James Eagleman. James is former sniper with a strong background in math and physics. He marries shooting math and physics to produce what is likely the most accurate long range shooting approach in existence. The Level 1 course is all about learning his technique for reading wind with shots from 550 to 1,000 yards. I won't spill the beans, but his wind reading approach uses mirage and rain to a level of accuracy that is truly incredible. In the level 1 course you will use school rifles which are Barbour Creek suppressed 6.5 Creedmoors with Track scopes. To give you a sense of how good this technique is, at the conclusion of the school, each shooter is required to make three kill shots on each target from 550 to 1,000. @cbvanb and I both cleaned the course with 18 kill shots and no misses. We called the wind for each other and obviously got it correct!
The level 1 course included James' ballistic app. I went into this thinking that I would learn from the course but continue to use the applied ballistics app. Man was I wrong. James' app is so far superior to applied ballistics that there is absolutely no way I was staying with the old app. You can actually use James' app to correct the inherent errors in the other app!
Level 2 Course
This course was also two days but was held in hill/canyon country to produce cross/quartering/following and frontal wind shots in heavily contoured terrain. Shots ranged from 550 yard to a mile. In all honesty, the 6.5 CM becomes unstable beyond about 1,450. My 6.5 PRC with a better bullet selection would have been capable of hits to a mile. Lesson learned!
The highlight of this class was a shot I called for @cbvanb. It was 1,450. I gave him the holdover, read the wind, and told him to push right 9 MOA. He centered the bullseye. At that point James Eagleman just grinned, gave us the thumbs up, and said 'you guys get this stuff!' We were both very consistent in various wind conditions to 1,450 with hits made to 1,550. With adjustments we are making to our equipment, I am looking forward to going back and making that one mile shot!
Thoughts:
I have no interest in hunting at these ranges. However, this school made me a much better shot. At this point, 600 yards is a chip shot with my 6.5 PRC.
If you are interested in this school, invest in a very good spotting scope. Mid grade scopes like Leopold just do not have what it takes to read mirage effectively. @cbvanb and I shared his Swarovski BTX 30x90. It was outstanding. James uses a Swarovski BTX 30x65. I have just purchased a Swarovski BTX 30x65 for my own work.
The 6.5 Creedmoor gets a lot of crap. I was absolutely amazed at the capability of this round at range. Note, the school does not promote this round for long range hunting, stating that it is realistically limited by energy to somewhere around 800 yards.
Bullet stability is a critical factor. I was using the 143 gr Nosler AB LR. This bullet loses stability at about 1,300 yards in my rifle. I have switched to the 143 gr Norma Bondstrike. This bullet is stable to a mile. James' app calculates bullet stability.
If you enjoy pushing yourself, consider this school!
General:
We stayed on-site for a small additional charge. I highly recommend that you do so as it gives more time to visit with the other students and instructors. The accommodations were comfortable and the food was very good. The school is located about 15 minutes outside Eufala.
Level 1 Course
This course was two days, taught by James Eagleman. James is former sniper with a strong background in math and physics. He marries shooting math and physics to produce what is likely the most accurate long range shooting approach in existence. The Level 1 course is all about learning his technique for reading wind with shots from 550 to 1,000 yards. I won't spill the beans, but his wind reading approach uses mirage and rain to a level of accuracy that is truly incredible. In the level 1 course you will use school rifles which are Barbour Creek suppressed 6.5 Creedmoors with Track scopes. To give you a sense of how good this technique is, at the conclusion of the school, each shooter is required to make three kill shots on each target from 550 to 1,000. @cbvanb and I both cleaned the course with 18 kill shots and no misses. We called the wind for each other and obviously got it correct!
The level 1 course included James' ballistic app. I went into this thinking that I would learn from the course but continue to use the applied ballistics app. Man was I wrong. James' app is so far superior to applied ballistics that there is absolutely no way I was staying with the old app. You can actually use James' app to correct the inherent errors in the other app!
Level 2 Course
This course was also two days but was held in hill/canyon country to produce cross/quartering/following and frontal wind shots in heavily contoured terrain. Shots ranged from 550 yard to a mile. In all honesty, the 6.5 CM becomes unstable beyond about 1,450. My 6.5 PRC with a better bullet selection would have been capable of hits to a mile. Lesson learned!
The highlight of this class was a shot I called for @cbvanb. It was 1,450. I gave him the holdover, read the wind, and told him to push right 9 MOA. He centered the bullseye. At that point James Eagleman just grinned, gave us the thumbs up, and said 'you guys get this stuff!' We were both very consistent in various wind conditions to 1,450 with hits made to 1,550. With adjustments we are making to our equipment, I am looking forward to going back and making that one mile shot!
Thoughts:
I have no interest in hunting at these ranges. However, this school made me a much better shot. At this point, 600 yards is a chip shot with my 6.5 PRC.
If you are interested in this school, invest in a very good spotting scope. Mid grade scopes like Leopold just do not have what it takes to read mirage effectively. @cbvanb and I shared his Swarovski BTX 30x90. It was outstanding. James uses a Swarovski BTX 30x65. I have just purchased a Swarovski BTX 30x65 for my own work.
The 6.5 Creedmoor gets a lot of crap. I was absolutely amazed at the capability of this round at range. Note, the school does not promote this round for long range hunting, stating that it is realistically limited by energy to somewhere around 800 yards.
Bullet stability is a critical factor. I was using the 143 gr Nosler AB LR. This bullet loses stability at about 1,300 yards in my rifle. I have switched to the 143 gr Norma Bondstrike. This bullet is stable to a mile. James' app calculates bullet stability.
If you enjoy pushing yourself, consider this school!
