Rifle Training With Buck Doyle | Day & Night Shooting | Episode 2

Day Two Overview and Training Goals

Day two at Follow Through Consulting in Folsom, New Mexico builds on the previous day’s fire and maneuver fundamentals. Students already understand points of domination, engagement areas, and basic movement, so the focus shifts to applying those skills in a new environment. The range now includes a thick tree line, snow, and varying contrast on targets. These conditions introduce additional atmospherics that affect how targets appear and how shooters must adapt. After completing both a day shoot and a night shoot with night vision on day one, participants return ready to observe, learn, and see how well their fundamentals hold up under more complex terrain and lighting.

Visual Challenges, Optics, and Safe Movement

Instruction turns to visual and environmental factors that influence rifle shooting. With bright sun reflecting off snow and light coming from behind the shooters, red dot optics can produce halos as light enters the rear of the optic. Students are reminded to scan the environment and check their gear, since conditions differ from a flat, controlled home range. Eye protection is adjusted to prevent fogging by creating a small gap between the face and lenses. Movement safety is emphasized: in mud and slick terrain, shooters keep a full firing grip while moving, rather than a straight trigger finger extended along the receiver. A cautionary story illustrates how falling with a straight finger can drive it into the trigger, causing an unintended burst, especially when combined with thumbs riding the selector lever.

Stage One: Bounding, Mud, and Elevation

The first course of fire on day two uses short bounds between cones with multiple targets. Shooters engage three A-zone targets from the first cone, delivering two hits to each, then move back to another position and engage a larger steel target at roughly the 11 o’clock direction. All three A-zone targets are visible from the initial cone, and the drill is run twice per shooter. Conditions include mud, ice, and cold at an elevation of about 7,634 feet, which increases breathing and perceived exertion. Targets appear closer than they are and present relatively small aiming areas, reinforcing the need for solid mechanics. Minor rifle issues, likely related to lubrication, surface during the drill, but the focus remains on safe movement, maintaining control of the rifle, and keeping the support hand over the gun to prevent it from tipping in the mud and snow.

Stage Two: Four Points of Domination

The next stage introduces four distinct points of domination on a single A-zone target. As shooters move from one position to the next, the angle and exposure of the same target change, forcing constant reassessment. Each new point of domination presents different visual information, requiring adjustments in hold and sight picture. Shooters are reminded to keep the hand over the rifle during transitions and to avoid letting the muzzle dip or the rifle tip as they move. The drill reinforces that what appears at the first position will not look the same from subsequent positions, so shooters must process new angles, distances, and environmental cues rather than relying on the initial view of the target.

Using Cover, Avoiding Trees, and Night Considerations

Students are cautioned not to use trees or unknown structures as support. Leaning on branches, dead trees, or unstable walls can lead to falls, muzzles striking the ground, or entire structures collapsing, especially when visibility is limited at night. The guidance is to avoid using environmental objects unless they were placed and verified by the team. This becomes more critical during night shooting, where a branch that seems solid may snap and send a shooter to the ground with the rifle pointed into the dirt. The instructors stress scanning for right angles and managing muzzle direction while moving and engaging, reinforcing that safe weapon carriage and awareness of surroundings are as important as accurate hits on target.

Caliber Choices, Malfunctions, and Switching Rifles

Later in the training, one shooter switches from an 8.6 rifle, described as a prototype that has seen thousands of rounds, to a friend’s 5.56 Honey Badger. With the 5.56 rifle, steel targets are hit more consistently, recoil is lighter, and the shooter is more familiar with the caliber. The earlier 8.6 setup experiences malfunctions believed to be related to ammunition or possibly a feed ramp issue. Engineers are examining that rifle, as other 8.6 rifles are not showing the same problems. The change of rifle highlights how caliber choice, platform familiarity, and equipment reliability affect performance, especially when combined with the environmental challenges and positional shooting emphasized throughout the day.