A few days ago I got back from the Barbour Creek Shooting School and I thought people here might be interested. Apologies for length.
The BCSS is on a large piece of land in EuFaula, Alabama. It has a few central buildings including an office, ktichen, dining area, and four rooms for boarding, and a separate house for overflow (I was overflow, so I stayed in the house). There is a shooting area that includes standard targets and life-size animals with highlighted killing zones over a bit more then 1000 yards. The animal targets are really well done--the killing areas are basically hung behind cutouts in the target and are white, so they both mark and swing when you hit them. There is a heated and air conditioned shooting house that you shoot from, with big cutouts for both bench shooting and prone shooting. It is ridiculously nice. All shooting is done with school-made rifles, 6.5cm, suppressed, so no or little hearing protection is required (I wore plugs, about half of the people did). There is a separate classroom near the shooting house.
I took the two day Level One class, and to give context, I am probably more of a beginner then anyone reading this. I had never shot beyond 100 yards. There is also a level two class that goes into more realistic hunting situations. Each day started with breakfast (I won't repeat this, but all food was excellent), then class from 9-12. The first day focused a lot on equipment and reading the wind, the second on ballistics and hunting related issues. The instructor (James Eagleman) is ex-military sniper/instructor, and was great. He noted that they don't take money from anyone so feel comfortable just telling you what they think about specific manufacturers, and did. I came away learning a great deal from both days.
The highlight was the afternoons spent shooting. Though I was probably the most inexperienced shooter, the rest of the class was also new to this--they were mostly hunters who viewed 300 yards as crazy long. We all laughed when James said we would start at 400 yards, as anything shorter was too easy. But we did, and he was right. Day 1 was spent doing bench shooting, using nice front rests and bags with ears. As soon as you were willing to trust the equipment, and listen to his wind calls, you hit everything, including 3.5" clay pigeons at 1000 yards (in a few tries). It was pretty shocking. We learned to use Sig rangefinders with applied ballistics for this.
Day two was using a bipod and more simple rectangle shooting bag. This is what I was really interested in--could I do this without the rest? First shot, prone, perfect hit on the 1000 yard out elk. I was as surprised as I was happy. We finished that day shooting other rifles they made, including 6.5 prc and 300 prc. It was fun. You could also shoot your own rifles during this time.
I should note, as you probably all know, reading the wind is the hardest part. He would help us with this, having us look through his spotting scope when it really captured mirage, but warned us that this was not something you learned in two days, it took a lot of practice. Shooting was done in pairs (shooter/spotter) so you got time to work on it, but I would not expect to leave the course with that mastered. It was a good start, though.
In summary, I would guess just about anyone reading this would have a great time at the course--it really was a lot of fun, and the area was a really nice place to spend a few days. Everyone at the class with me said they learned a great deal--to a person, after day one they said "I could leave now and got more then my money's worth", and day 2 was in many ways better. Given my experienced, I would say that no one should feel that they are too inexperienced for it. Maybe if taking 1000 yard shots is like brushing your teeth it might not be much help, but for you there is level 2.
I can't recommend it enough. When I can I will return for level 2.
The BCSS is on a large piece of land in EuFaula, Alabama. It has a few central buildings including an office, ktichen, dining area, and four rooms for boarding, and a separate house for overflow (I was overflow, so I stayed in the house). There is a shooting area that includes standard targets and life-size animals with highlighted killing zones over a bit more then 1000 yards. The animal targets are really well done--the killing areas are basically hung behind cutouts in the target and are white, so they both mark and swing when you hit them. There is a heated and air conditioned shooting house that you shoot from, with big cutouts for both bench shooting and prone shooting. It is ridiculously nice. All shooting is done with school-made rifles, 6.5cm, suppressed, so no or little hearing protection is required (I wore plugs, about half of the people did). There is a separate classroom near the shooting house.
I took the two day Level One class, and to give context, I am probably more of a beginner then anyone reading this. I had never shot beyond 100 yards. There is also a level two class that goes into more realistic hunting situations. Each day started with breakfast (I won't repeat this, but all food was excellent), then class from 9-12. The first day focused a lot on equipment and reading the wind, the second on ballistics and hunting related issues. The instructor (James Eagleman) is ex-military sniper/instructor, and was great. He noted that they don't take money from anyone so feel comfortable just telling you what they think about specific manufacturers, and did. I came away learning a great deal from both days.
The highlight was the afternoons spent shooting. Though I was probably the most inexperienced shooter, the rest of the class was also new to this--they were mostly hunters who viewed 300 yards as crazy long. We all laughed when James said we would start at 400 yards, as anything shorter was too easy. But we did, and he was right. Day 1 was spent doing bench shooting, using nice front rests and bags with ears. As soon as you were willing to trust the equipment, and listen to his wind calls, you hit everything, including 3.5" clay pigeons at 1000 yards (in a few tries). It was pretty shocking. We learned to use Sig rangefinders with applied ballistics for this.
Day two was using a bipod and more simple rectangle shooting bag. This is what I was really interested in--could I do this without the rest? First shot, prone, perfect hit on the 1000 yard out elk. I was as surprised as I was happy. We finished that day shooting other rifles they made, including 6.5 prc and 300 prc. It was fun. You could also shoot your own rifles during this time.
I should note, as you probably all know, reading the wind is the hardest part. He would help us with this, having us look through his spotting scope when it really captured mirage, but warned us that this was not something you learned in two days, it took a lot of practice. Shooting was done in pairs (shooter/spotter) so you got time to work on it, but I would not expect to leave the course with that mastered. It was a good start, though.
In summary, I would guess just about anyone reading this would have a great time at the course--it really was a lot of fun, and the area was a really nice place to spend a few days. Everyone at the class with me said they learned a great deal--to a person, after day one they said "I could leave now and got more then my money's worth", and day 2 was in many ways better. Given my experienced, I would say that no one should feel that they are too inexperienced for it. Maybe if taking 1000 yard shots is like brushing your teeth it might not be much help, but for you there is level 2.
I can't recommend it enough. When I can I will return for level 2.
