We are serious at DTI about your safety and survival, and we don't want you to waste your time and ours with unrealistic and impractical equipment. You will need to supply your own rifle, shotgun, and pistol, slings, magazines, and ammunition. If you do not have your own equipment, contact the course sponsor or DTI directly.
You will also need all your required safety equipment, including
We also recommend sunscreen, non-prescription pain reliever, necessary prescription medications, Band-Aids, water/sports drinks, and snacks.
Understand that the place we will be shooting is relatively isolated, and your ability to purchase needed items is extremely limited. Therefore, MAKE SURE YOU HAVE EVERYTHING YOU WILL NEED WITH YOU WHEN YOU ARRIVE.
Each student will need six hundred rounds of rifle ammunition, and fifty rounds of handgun ammunition. Remember, this is a Urban Rifle (and/or Shotgun) Course, not a Sniper Course. We will accept most medium and heavy, autoloading and bolt-action, military rifles and riot shotguns.
Military rifles, modified to fire 22LR, are acceptable. Sporting/recreational rifles in 22 rimfire are not acceptable.
Lever action, and all other sporting (non-serious) rifles, are not recommended.
Military, bolt-action rifles are acceptable
Pistol-cartridge-firing rifles, such as the Beretta CX4, are acceptable.
Full-auto capability is acceptable, but all fire during the program will be semi-auto only.
Slings are mandatory on all longarms, as we will be running a hot range.
High-magnification, high profile, close eye-relief optics are unsuitable to our purposes. We do recommend military iron sights or low-power, low-profile, forward-mounted optics.
Students should be advised that their rifles and shotguns will see strenuous, rugged, heavy use and may get scratched up a bit. Pretty guns are best left at home.
When your rifle uses detachable, box magazines, you will need at least two if they are high capacity (twenty rounds or greater). You will need at least three magazines if they are low-capacity (ten rounds).
When you bring an SKS or a Garand, you will need at least eight clips or stripper clips.
For your pistol, you.ll need at least three magazines (at least two speed-loaders), a sturdy gunbelt, a high-quality, concealable belt holster, magazine/speed-loader carriers. Our pistol work will be from a concealed draw, so make sure your pistol and equipment are genuinely concealable and suitable for continuous, daily wear. Handguns will be carried by all students during every segment of the Rifle/Shotgun Program.
We recommend that you bring new, jacketed, factory ammunition.
The course will be outdoors and will entail physical activity, so you will need to dress appropriately (long pants, long-sleeve shirt, sturdy shoes). You may get dirty, so wear something heavy-duty but inexpensive. Neither sweat-pants nor shorts are acceptable.
You will also need a suitable gun case, so that you can safely carry your longarms on and off the range.
Recommended rifles:
AR-15/M-4 (Stoner System), 223 Caliber (5.56X45):
We recommend telescoping stocks, so length can be adjusted to suit
Gas-Piston, 223 Caliber (5.56X45)
Pistol Caliber Carbine:
M1 Carbine (30 M1):
We recommend only 15-round magazines for the M1 Carbine. 30-round magazines are unsatisfactory.
Gas-piston rifles in 7.62X39 (30/Soviet):
Gas-piston rifles in 6.8mmSPC:
Gas-piston rifles in 7.62X51 (308):
Gas-piston rifles in 7.62X63 (30-06)
When shotguns are included inn the Course, we recommend twelve or twenty-gauge pump guns and autoloaders only. Double-barrel and single-shot shotguns are unsuitable for our purpose.
Your shotgun must have a stock, either fixed or folding. "Stockless" shotguns are not appropriate.
You will need seventy-five rounds of buckshot and ten slugs.
We recommend 00 buckshot in the standard, nine-pellet loading. Federal, Remington, Winchester, and other reputable manufacturers produce this load in great abundance, as it is the standard used by most police departments. However, other sizes of buckshot are acceptable (4, 3, 2, 1, 0, 000).
Standard "Forester" slugs are best, but we will accept any brand or type of shotgun slug.
We do not recommend any "magnum" shotshell loadings, nor do we recommend any "reduced recoil" shotgun round in twelve-gauge. Magnum loadings are uncomfortable to shoot and offer little benefit in return. "Reduced recoil" shotshells fail to operate many autoloading shotguns.
However, in twenty-gauge, magnum loads are acceptable.
We do not recommend birdshot for anything but sport and recreational shooting.
I recommend the Remington 870, the Mossberg 590/500, the Benelli Supernova pump-action shotguns, the Remington 11-87, the Benelli M2 and M4 (1014) and the Beretta Extrema II autoloaders. There may be other good choices, but these have shown themselves to be well qualified. Remington and Mossberg shotguns are available in both twelve and twenty gauge. The Benellis mentioned above available only in twelve gauge.
Several manufacturers have attempted to fabricate shotguns which attempt to combine an autoloading and pump-action operating system in the same gun! I find these shotguns tedious, hopelessly complicated, and difficult to learn. Not recommended!
Discussions of rifle "accuracy" have been the source of much confusion when it comes to the topic of defensive shooting and defensive rifles. Reasonable and acceptable accuracy in a utility/defensive rifle means that the weapon will shoot inside a eight-centimeter (three-inch) circle (from a machine rest) at a range of one-hundred meters. This degree of accuracy is more than adequate for nearly any imaginable defensive shooting situation, yet can be attained without adversely affecting the reliability, durability, or carryability of most rifles. In fact, most factory rifles are readily capable of that kind of accuracy right out of the box. On the other hand, an "ultimate accuracy job" on a factory rifle, that is, one where everything is sacrificed for the sake of the greatest possible accuracy (eg: two centimeters at one hundred meters) is best left to esoteric target rifles. In order to achieve that degree of accuracy, the gun itself must become bulky, temperamental, and extremely sensitive to rough handling, lack of meticulous maintenance, and dirty environments. That degree of accuracy is unnecessary in defensive shooting, and the sacrifices necessary to achieve it are obviously unacceptable.
Do insure that your rifle is properly sighted in, if possible. It should shoot dead-on at forty meters. We will provide the opportunity to adjust your rifle's sights, but, if all that is done ahead of time, you will be able to simply confirm the sights or make the last few, fine adjustments, instead of starting from scratch with a rifle whose sights are way off.
Do bring your defensive handgun, holster, magazines and at least fifty rounds of handgun ammunition. We will be doing transition drills, and you will be armed with a handgun as well as a rifle all the time you are on the range.
Do bring suitable eye protection. You will not be allowed on the range without it. All students will be required to wear safety glasses all the time they are on the range. We recommend that you bring two pair of safety glasses, one dark tinted for the daytime portion of the course, and one clear set for the low-light shooting. Prescription glasses are acceptable when they provide adequate coverage and protection. Reading glasses and "Granny glasses" are not acceptable.
Do bring suitable hearing protection. Severe and permanent hearing damage can occur when hearing protection is not used on a firing range. Therefore, we require that adequate hearing protection be worn by all students all the time firing is taking place. Ear muffs and ear plugs are acceptable. Both, worn simultaneously, are sometimes necessary for those with sensitive hearing.
Do bring rain gear. Our range training proceeds regardless of the weather. As you can well imagine, warm clothing and good rain gear are indispensable.
Do bring sunscreen lotion. Sunscreen should be used daily on all exposed parts of the body, particularly the face, arms, hands, and neck.
Do bring a bottle of non-prescription pain reliever, and a box of Band-Aids. Headaches are not uncommon, and hands tend to get beat up.
Do bring plenty of water/sports drinks and snacks.
Don't bring contact lenses. We may have high winds and blowing dirt and sand at the range. Your contact lenses will quickly become unusable and will have to be removed. When your eyes require corrective lenses, bring regular eye glasses (see above), and leave your contacts at home.
Don't bring expensive, uncomfortable, impractical clothing, nor shoes, to the range. There will physical activity required of every student at the range. Clothing and shoes take a beating! Wear practical, sturdy, comfortable outdoor clothing and shoes. Sweat pants, tight slacks, and shorts are all not recommended. Your trousers must have belt loops that will accommodate a heavy gunbelt.
The following checklist contains information intended primarily for female students attending our Defensive Firearms Training, although some of the points enumerated on this checklist apply to all students:
"How do I use a toilet when I am in possession of a rifle or shotgun?"
Once you are inside the rest-room, stand facing away from the toilet and unsling your longarm. Keep your finger in register, manual safety ON (rifles), and the muzzle pointed downward, as you place the weapon between your feet after you have lowered your trousers. Sidearms go between your feet also. It is permissible to place the longarm against the wall so long as it is close, and you maintain direct control over it.
When you are finished, tuck in your shirt and buckle your belt. Holster your
pistol. Then, pick the longarm up. Keep your finger in register, manual safety
ON(rifles), and the muzzle pointed downward.