In September 2024 when I was covering the United States Practical Shooting Association National Collegiate Championships that were held at the Hillsdale College John A. Halter Shooting Center for the very first time, I learned from the Hillsdale Action Pistol Head Coach Adam Burlew that there might be a brand-new specialized shooting program for students taking place in 2025.
This new class would be centered around the excellent Springfield Armory SA-16A2 — the company’s semi-automatic-only version of the U.S. military M16A2. Springfield Armory — which has long been a big supporter of the Hillsdale College Collegiate Shooting Programs — had just donated 12 brand new SA-16A2 rifles to Hillsdale for that very purpose.
Springfield Support
If you never heard of the Halter Shooting Center, you owe it to yourself to see all the shooting activities open not only to Hillsdale students, faculty, staff and supporters, but also open to the general public (with the purchase of a membership). The Halter Center is located on approximately 109 acres and features Olympic Trap and Skeet Fields, a 100-yard rifle range, six action pistol bays, an archery range and a soon to be completed indoor/outdoor pistol and rifle shooting facility — which will come in handy during Michigan winters.
For several years now, Springfield Armory has been supplying the Hillsdale Collegiate Action Pistol Team with various pistols for use in their competitive shooting program — the Echelon and Prodigy 9mm pistols being the current favorites among team members. They have also provided gear, accessories and PR for the shooting programs, and supported the Hillsdale Collegiate team as it became a National Championship Team.
With last year’s donation of the aforementioned SA-16A2 rifles to the Hillsdale Collegiate team, Coach Burlew began developing a shooting program that would be particularly well suited to a full-length AR-15 rifle with iron sights and equipped with a sling.
The resulting 16-hour Modern American Basic Riflery Course is designed to teach students traditional rifle shooting from three shooting positions — standing, sitting, kneeling and prone — at distances out to 100 yards — over an eight-day period. During the last four days of the course, some basic “move and shoot” drills are run in the nearby action pistol bays.
Why “Traditional” Rifle Shooting?
Today, many shooters feel the need to “trick out” their AR-15 type rifle with various types of optics, adaptors, stocks and other devices in order to “shoot well”. Because of these modern AR-15 accoutrements, the art of learning to shoot with an open-sighted rifle for competitive or sporting purposes is being lost. I believe learning to shoot well with open-sighted rifles should be the foundational starting point for anyone wishing to learn to shoot accurately and with confidence.
The use and mastery of iron sights develops the shooters concentration to a greater degree than the use of any optical sight can. The shooter learns to manage the sight picture and target in conjunction with the sights while maintaining a sharp focus on the front sight while keeping it properly centered within the rear notch or “peep” aperture.
When using a red dot or other optical type sight, the shooter places the red dot over the proper area on the target and holds it there while initiating the trigger pull. While an optical sight is faster to get on target than with iron sights — at least on a rifle — the same level of concentration is not developed. Mastering iron sights prepares the student to handle any other firearm they work with after that.
Course Overview
The Modern American Riflery Course is run over a period of four weeks, with two-hour classes taught each Tuesday and Thursday . The class is comprised entirely of Hillsdale College students. I was able to observe the second day of the course on April 8th and, as usual, came away impressed with the students, instructors, course and objectives.
This Modern American Riflery Course is suitable for students with limited or more extensive experience with the AR-15. There is always something you can learn from a new or different instructor, and there is nothing wrong with “getting back to the basics” to really master a particular firearms system.
Shooting Sports Coach Adam Burlew is an experienced law enforcement officer and firearms instructor. He also works for the Hillsdale Security and Emergency Management Department. Adam has taken three Hillsdale Collegiate Action Pistol Shooting teams to National Championships, and his teams won all three — including the inaugural National Championship that Hillsdale hosted in September 2024.
I have had a number of opportunities to work with and interact with Coach Burlew’s students and team members. The students highly respect him and have an excellent rapport with him — which helps explain why the Hillsdale teams have been so successful. Adam also competes with the students in the championships so he not only “talks the talk” he also “walks the walk”. It is hard to inspire excellent performance if you aren’t able to demonstrate it yourself. This rapport also explains why this new course will be a big success as well.
Course Syllabus
Coach Burlew provided me with his Modern American Riflery Course syllabus so I could get a feel for how the course will operate across the four weeks of time.
The course overview is as follows:
Objective: To teach students basic marksmanship of rifle shooting utilizing the Springfield Armory SA-16A2 rifle. Topics to be covered include nomenclature of the rifle, operation of the rifle, cleaning and maintenance, external ballistics, zeroing and marksmanship from the prone, seated, kneeling and standing position.
Class Schedule: Classes will be held Tuesday and Thursday from 3p.m. to 5p.m. for four weeks (16 hours total). The compressed time frame increases knowledge and skill retention through frequent exposure.
Safety Brief: Safety briefs will be conducted at the beginning of each class covering the four firearms safety rules, cease fire procedure, 911 communications, emergency transportation vehicle and route to the hospital.
Course Overview: The first day of the class begins in the classroom with a discussion of safety and getting familiar with the rifle both externally and internally. We’ll discuss the functioning of the rifle, how the sights work and how to zero the rifle. All subsequent classes will be held on the range. The students will learn proper shooting positions, zero their rifles and discuss the ballistics of the cartridge. From there, the students will continue to practice from the prone, seated, kneeling and standing position. The students will be taught how to properly clean and inspect their rifles and will be required to do so throughout the class. As the class progresses the students will engage in competitions as both individuals and teams. Competitions will consist of both timed and untimed marksmanship events.
At the conclusion of the course, the student will be familiar with the rifle and its function along with a basic knowledge of how to operate and maintain the rifle safely and effectively.
Course Design
As you can see, the Modern American Riflery Course is not a “combat shooting” or defensive shooting tactic’s course. Rather, it’s a precision shooting course that teaches the ins and outs of the AR-15 rifle, its operating system, safe handling and maintenance.
The initial focus of the course is on precision shooting, while the latter portion of the course introduces some basic competitive rifle shooting concepts. Hopefully some of these newer shooters will become interested in competing for Hillsdale’s teams in the future.
The targets used for initial training are traditional round “bullseye” type competition targets manufactured by the American Target Company. The main one I saw used Tuesday was the 100 Yard Military Type Target. There can be no insinuations made that these targets are anything other than traditional bullseye marksmanship targets.
The courses of fire are designed to teach safe handling and how to deliver precise tight groups of shots on target at different distances. Springfields SA-16A2 is the perfect platform for a class like this. Slow fire was the order of the day for that class, and Springfields SA-16A2 was more than up to the task at hand.
At the Range
The class session I attended was the second session of the first SSD-193 Modern American Riflery Class offered at Hillsdale. There were 12 students in the class, and at least two of the students were members of the Hillsdale Action Pistol Shooting Team.
Each student was provided with an excellent Springfield Armory shooting mat, which came in handy because the Roger Ailes range was just dedicated in September of last year, and the surface consisted of dirt and light gravel.
Prior to getting their rifles, Coach Burlew reviewed safety procedures and rifle operation. Once that was done, the students got their rifles, ammunition, shooting mats and targets they moved down to the 25-yard line.
It was a cold and windy Michigan afternoon — which appeared to bother me a lot more than the college students who were doing the actual shooting in lighter clothing than I was wearing. It certainly showed that the students were used to attending college in a state known for its winter weather.
All students were issued a 30-round magazine — which is military standard for M16A2. The shooting position students fired from during the class was a modified prone position — actually it is the same prone position that I use due to my deteriorated shoulders. This prone position utilizes the rifle’s structure for support rather than the shooters elbows and frame.
In this modified position, the shooter lies with their belly flat on the ground. If they are right-handed, their right leg should be in a straight position to the rear in line with the rifle and the left leg positioned out at a 45-degree angle. This gives the shooter a comfortable platform that they can maintain for extended periods of slow fire shooting.
What is different is that the base of the 30-round magazine is rested on the ground to serve as a the primary point of support. During firearms qualification at my former police department, I rested the back of my left hand on the ground and cupped the base of the magazine in my palm. This allowed me to maintain a comfortable position and have firm control of the rifle.
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Coach Burlew and I discussed the fact that some shooters and instructors claim that resting the loaded magazine of an AR-15 or M16 on the ground while firing can result in jams. Coach Burlew and I have used and have seen this technique used quite a few times in our shooting careers and never once observed a jam that occurred from shooting in this fashion. I think this use of this prone position really helps a new rifle shooter concentrate on developing good sighting technique and trigger management. The classic prone position can be taught later if desired once these two basics are mastered.
Three-shot groups were fired to work on shooting tight groups and obtaining a proper zero — it’s easier to maintain full concentration while learning with three rounds rather than with 10. As the round count increases for the inexperienced, “slop shooting” can set in. It didn’t take long before tight three-shot groups became the norm for the group.
There were no jams or malfunctions during the training day which helped prove that resting a magazine base on the ground appears to causes no functioning problems. If that were true, the M16A2 would have been useless as a battle rifle as soldiers invariably would use that firing position to stay low while engaging the enemy.
During the checking of targets after firing, I noted that the class had been taught sight adjustment and how to zero in their rifle on the SR1 target using a traditional 6 o’clock sight picture — where the bullseye sits on top of the front sight like a pumpkin on a fencepost. It is the traditional sight picture used for bullseye target shooting with rifles and handguns. A “dead center hold” is often used in combat shooting. The sights are set so that the rounds impact where the top of the front sight touches the target.
The students were having a great time during the course — despite the weather. They were adhering to all the range safety protocols and discovering the fun to be had in precision target shooting in a professionally controlled range environment.
Another thing I observed during the day really did my heart good. Some of the participants had shot M4-type carbines before — but never a true AR-15 rifle. They remarked how they realized they had been missing something. Several of the students were planning on getting their own A2 rifle (hopefully a Springfield) to expand their shooting experience over the long term.
Once the rifles were sighted in at 25 yards, Coach Burlew moved the class back to 50 yards. Again, all firing was done from the prone position on the same targets. The same procedures were used, and it wasn’t long before impressive groups were being shot. One other thing I noticed was that the class must have been paying close attention to the proper operation of the AR-15. If there was any error made on loading or clearing, I didn’t catch it. No voices had to be raised to warn of a safety violation. That was impressive for the first day of live-fire training.
According to the syllabus, the Day 2 class was supposed to end with “Initial shots at 100 yards-Final sight adjustment” which seemed interesting if not just a little mundane. However, Coach Burlew upped the ante by setting up a steel plate target at 100 yards. The students fired from right to left, one round at a time with Coach Burlew observing the target with a spotting scope and calling out the hits along with the “clang” of the bullet on the steel. What a way to end the first day of live fire!
Conclusion
From student comments, I can tell that the Modern American Riflery class was a complete success that day, and will be a complete success by the end of the 16 hours of training. Learning to focus on pure target rifle shooting improves focus and concentration in other aspects of life as well. There was also a great deal of camaraderie that was developed by the end of that session. I can only imagine what the end of the course will be like when the students get to do a bit of move and shoot training. My hat is off once again to Hillsdale College for being supportive of the shooting sports.
One of the students caught up with me at the end of the class and was so enthused that he wanted to provide a quote about the program. He summed up the program and the appreciation of the entire class very well when he said:
“The shooting classes at Hillsdale College have been extremely helpful for me. I am from New Jersey and don’t get opportunities to shoot like this. These classes have given me the opportunity to learn a lot of the basics about shooting that I would not have gotten otherwise. We are also grateful to Springfield Armory for providing the rifles and the gear for this class.” — Mark den Hollander, Hillsdale Class of 2025.
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