What to bring to your first course

Show up ready to learn

Even if you’ve been shooting for years, come ready to be a student. Steve Holland went through Scout Sniper Basic School as a Staff NCO, senior to most of the room, with Phil and Jon as his instructors. No bravado about being the senior guy. Phil calls it “a level of humility that was absolutely phenomenal.” On known-distance qualification day Steve spotted for six shooters, and all six passed. Phil named him the class’s High Spotter.

We’re not here to dump our brains on you, either. We’d rather you leave with five things you can repeat on your own than fifty things you’ll forget by next week. (More on our training philosophy.)

Be honest about where you are

There’s a difference between what your rifle can do and what you can do with it. Steve Holland breaks it down in his rifle troubleshooting walkthrough: “Mechanical accuracy is the limitations of your rifle in its entirety. Practical accuracy is you plus gun equals what.” Your rifle might be capable of half MOA. That doesn’t mean you are — not yet. And that’s the whole point of showing up.

Don’t come trying to prove something. Come trying to learn something. Our instructors aren’t ballisticians or engineers — they’re shooters, same as you. The coaching is straightforward, no BS, and based on what actually works on the range.

The mental game matters

New shooters don’t expect this: when the timer beeps, a lot of what you know goes out the window. Wind calls you were nailing in practice suddenly disappear. Your process falls apart. That’s normal — and that’s exactly why we train it.

One of the biggest things you can do is talk to yourself. Out loud. Will, a PRS shooter who joined Phil and Jon on our competition tips episode, does it at his local matches: “I actually talk to myself out loud on the clock.” When he misses, he says out loud that he needs more wind, and the next shot gets it. Verbalize your wind call before you send the round. Give yourself a standard at each position, the way Will does: “My wobble has to always be inside the plate. If I’m not inside the plate, I’m getting off the prop and I’m figuring out why.” It sounds weird until you try it. The goal isn’t to get rid of pressure. It’s to build a process that holds up under it.

One thing at a time

People always say “slow is smooth, smooth is fast,” and there’s a reason it sticks — that’s how progress actually happens. To be a good shooter you need to be methodical. Work on one thing at a time. Get better at one thing at a time. Take that approach and your processing speed starts getting faster on its own. Don’t rush the process. Trust the process.

It’s the same idea Steve uses when diagnosing rifle problems: if your groups open up, don’t change three things at once. Change one. Test it. Write down what you find. Don’t throw money or guesswork at the problem. Gear, positions, ammo, technique — same approach across the board. That’s why the notebook is on the checklist: what you capture during class is what makes your practice at home actually useful.

Misses are data

You’re going to miss. That’s part of the deal. What matters is figuring out why you missed — was it the position? The wind call? The trigger press? Something mechanical? Every miss tells you something, and we’re here to help you read it and fix it, not just move on to the next shot.

We’re all here for the same thing

As Phil says, “we’re just regular people — dads, husbands, significant others, sons, brothers.” There’s no ego on the line. Everyone there, instructors included, is there to get better. Celebrate the hits, help troubleshoot the misses, and leave the place better than you found it.

Showing up prepared isn’t about having the most gear on the line — it’s about removing every excuse between you and the training. The paperwork is done, the rifle has a rough zero, the solver is loaded, the notebook is in the bag. Now the whole weekend gets spent on the only thing that matters: making you a better shooter.

And if you’re unsure about anything — caliber, optic, whether your gear makes the cut — reach out before the course. We’d rather answer questions now than have you show up unprepared. See you on the range.