2018 Event Hosted By

8th Annual SniperFest Training & Competition
SniperFest brings together shooters from all over the state- and beyond, to train, interact, and compete while building a sense of comradery and open communication between agencies. The first two days are filled with debriefs, lessons learned, focused training blocks, and presentations from subject matter experts. Day three is a competition where participants can push their limits to win prizes from our amazing sponsors.
Students and instructors come in from all over the country to engage with one another in a challenging but enjoyable environment.
Sniperfest 2018 is … Read More

Our team was filmed teaching during the ABC WFTV9 interview with Orlando Police- SWAT teams practice sniper response at Camping World Stadium
“Orlando police snipers fired shots inside Camping World Stadium…”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8X1arxbpro&feature=youtu.be

 
Originally published by ABC WFTV9 on Jun 14, 2018
Visit the ABC WFTV9 website
Interested in learning more about this class?  Visit the Police Sniper Response to a Public Venue page!

Lafayette, LA – Becoming SWAT- Public Venue Training
Every operator with the Special Weapons And Tactics team, as well as each of the eight members who work SWAT full-time at the Lafayette Parish Sheriff’s Office, has already proven himself as deserving of a spot on the squad–but a lot more goes into becoming SWAT than just making it through the tryouts.

Team assessments for LPSO made it evident that high-stress situations are not only part of daily life on the job for SWAT operators, stress is a pretty big part of their training too.

“Train in the real world, under realistic conditions. Put … Read More



Watch a video compilation on our featured course- Police Sniper Response to a public venue created and taught by Mark Lang and his team.

The PSRPV™ Course is an advanced course and is NOT for the beginning Police Sniper. The course is conducted in a true advanced manner and students will need to show proficiency at every stage. PSRPV™ was designed to be the cornerstone for Public Venue Response and Deployment for SWAT teams. Optimally designed for a Police Sniper that is experienced and/or in an instructor role and has excellent skills of marksmanship and fieldcraft. The course is … Read More

SNIPERFEST 2017The 7th Annual Sniperfest Training & Competition was hosted by the Arizona Tactical Officers Association together with Tacflow and Strategic Armory Corps. It was held in Phoenix, Arizona with Day 1 at the Tacville Training Center and Days 2-3 at CowTown Range. Teams came from all over the valley, California, Nevada, and the Army National Guard.
Speakers included:

Phil Hayes-/ MCSO, USMC Scout Sniper- Wind
Mark Lang/ Dallas SWAT, Tacflow- 50Cal Overwatch
Freddy Osuna/ USMC, Greenside Training- Man Tracking
Rob Furlong/ Canadian Army, Rob Furlong’s Marksmanship Academy- Longest Shot (TAC50)
L3 NVG & Thermal

2017 Sponsors
COWTOWN RANGE ARIZONA
PATRIOT … Read More

By Mark Lang
For law enforcement agencies in the United States that have helicopter support, there is one potential program that, if properly developed, has the potential to bring major incidents to a successful end. Many SWAT commanders will tell you they want as many options as possible on the table during a tactical operation, and while an aerial platform does not guarantee success, it increases the likelihood.
An aerial platform (AP) is also referred to as aerial gunnery, aerial marksmanship or aerial platform interdiction. All of these terms are simply defined as the placing of accurate rifle fire from a hovering, … Read More

Mark Lang of Tacflow Academy discusses the importance of suppressors with law enforcement snipers.

Mark Lang is a Tacflow Lead Sniper Instructor as well as the lead instructor and developer of ‘Police Sniper Response To A Public Venue™’. He was a member of the Craft International training team until 2015. The PSRPV™ course was created to fill the gap that exists at sporting venues across the world that have minimum security and that could be the target for attack by domestic or international terrorists. Along with his co-instructors, they have established a standard to which Police Snipers and their SWAT teams … Read More

By Mark Lang
For too long, the .50-caliber rifle, or “Light Fifty,” has lived a meager and secretive existence in the equipment rooms of many SWAT teams around the country. Sitting in a hard case with only a box of ball rounds to its name, many operators have forgotten they even have the rifle. Whether the weapon was seized, donated or purchased, the SWAT .50-caliber has gone neglected and under-deployed for years. Immediately recognizable as the largest caliber weapon system by virtue of its bold stature and design, it is finally carving out a definitive place on the use-of-force spectrum for … Read More

By Mark Lang
If you were to Google the term ‘Millennial’, you would come up with varying definitions of the time frame that exist for those Americans. A Millennial, according to the Pew Research Center, is anyone 18 to 34 years old in the year 2015. Therefore the oldest Millennial was born in 1981 and the youngest in 1997. Last year, the Millennial generation became the largest generation in the American workforce. As with any occupation in present day America, we are seeing the impact of the Millennial generation in law enforcement. When looking at present day SWAT, specifically, multi-generational teams … Read More

By Mark Lang

In the aftermath of the suicidal bombing at the Manchester Arena in the United Kingdom, many in the venue industry find themselves asking the hard questions that undoubtedly come after such an attack. What if this occurred at my venue? A terroristic attack has always been a possibility at any U.S. venue, albeit low by some accounts in the industry. What conclusions can be drawn to this attack overseas? Any illusions this is only contained in Europe would be foolish. What happens overseas most likely will occur here in the United States on some scale even with the … Read More

Instructor Mark Lang’s article- Taking the High Ground, the Police Aerial Platform was featured in Edition 6/2016 Safety & Security International Magazine
READ PDF ARTICLE

An often overlooked asset is an agencies aerial asset (helicopter), which can serve as an aerial engagement platform with tremendous accuracy and effectiveness. Tacflow Academy’s Aerial Platform Course allows for high levels of accuracy from crawling and medium speeds in aerial assets by incorporating a proven mathematical formula and associated shot placement graph. The course also covers mission planning, rapid deployment, aircraft set-up, aircrew/shooter roles, and safety considerations when utilizing the aerial asset as a shooting platform. Students should utilize .223/.308 type rifles with red dot type optics for optimal performance and precision rifles (sniper rifle) as an additional option … Read More

The Arms Room held a live interview with VIDEO at TacVille Training Center with Rigo from Tacflow, talking about the need for force-on-force training and the realities of home defense.

Video Recap of our Annual SniperFest Training and Competition designed and spear headed by Lead Instructor Mike Puente. This event has grown to include participants from all over the country, and Tacflow is proud to work along side the Arizona Tactical Officers Association to continue to put it together.
This event is made possible through the generosity of many like minded people coming together to support it with their time, finances, and gear. THANK YOU to everyone who helped make this year possible!

Javier Soto from AZ 3TV interviews Instructor Mike Puente during the 2016 SniperFest Training & Competition.

PHOENIX (KSAZ) – War based video games like Call of Duty take you on a virtual battlefield and give you a small taste of what it is like to be a soldier.
Now a brand new facility in north Phoenix takes that concept to a whole new level. Letting you use realistic weapons and tactics to carry out missions.
It goes beyond paint-ball, it’s like being inside of a video game. Welcome to Tacville Training Center, a brand new indoor facility in the north valley where civilians can get access to training and equipment used by the elite military and law enforcement … Read More

By Mark Lang
Tactical Edge/ Spring 2015
In March 2008, the FBI and Department of Homeland Security issued an assessment asserting that stadiums and arenas are potential targets during events.  Further, it was stated, “it’s just a matter of time before terrorists target a major sports event.”  Open- air venues where fans gather to watch sporting events or concerts are extremely vulnerable to attack.
In January 2009, DHS issued an assessment report titled “Threats to College Sports and Entertainment Venues and Surrounding Areas.”  This report expounded on public transportation and infrastructure as a target of attack if the venue is perceived as being … Read More

by Mark Lang
With the recent (June) attack of the Dallas Police Headquarters and subsequent use of a 50 Caliber Rifle to stop the threat, many SWAT officers around the country are reexamining when is the last time they have had any substantive training specific to the employment of their 50 Caliber rifle and whether they will be prepared if a similar attack occurs in their jurisdiction. For many teams, learning of this directed attack, pursuit, and SWAT Operation with an armored vehicle raises issues and questions that quite frankly have not been pushed to the forefront for some time.

How … Read More

By Mark Lang
The proliferation of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) in the United States has increased substantially in recent years. Originally developed for military use, the civilian and commercial users are seeing unprecedented growth.  Unmanned Aerial Systems is an acronym the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) uses to describe all of the complex systems in addition to the actual air vehicle. You will also hear and read where they are referred to as Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV).  UAS can vary in sizes and are manufactured by companies such as DGI & Intel. Larger size UAS manufactured by Leptron and Raytheon are in … Read More

By Kristy Siefkin, FOX 10 News
PEORIA, Ariz. -Some of the best police and military snipers in the world train year-round right here in Arizona.
Many of them are in the valley this week, to find out who is the best sharpshooter at Sniper-Fest in Peoria, Arizona.
It’s one of the few places that law enforcement, military, and corrections all come together to focus specifically on their sniper shooting skills.
On Monday and Tuesday, they trained with some of the best snipers in the United States. On Wednesday they will learn to use those skills in a competition, mimicking real-life sniper scenarios.
From young officers, … Read More

PEORIA, AZ (3TV)
The 5th Annual Sniperfest is back in Peoria, bringing law enforcement, corrections officers and military personnel together to learn, train and compete in their field. The event started on Monday, April 13 and ends today with the competition portion.
Sniperfest has grown to be one of the largest sniper training events in the country. The competition portion provides prizes donated by the event vendors worth thousands of dollars. Attendees participated in seminars, training sessions and presentations throughout the week.
Speakers at the conference included Rigo Durazo from Tacflow and Craft International, Dr. Lyman Hazelton from NASA, Michael Puente from MCSO, Ed … Read More

by Mark Lang

The Scenario

As the police sniper for your team on a callout you are 85 yards away from your target. The target is in a renovated condo building on the 15th floor. You are armed with your semi-auto .308 precision rifle. You have chambered a purpose built bonded round that you hope and pray can penetrate the glass that you are observing the suspect through. You have no near glass but the far glass may be a problem.  At times the suspect comes directly up to the window but most times is at little off the window. You have … Read More

Members of our team were proud to be invited to the pre-screening benefiting America’s Mighty Warriors in Scottsdale, AZ in support of Debbie Lee. The opening of the movie has been bitter sweet for those who knew and loved Chris, as we know it is for the families and friends of Marc Lee and Ryan Job as well.
As you go to watch movie, remember these guys were real life heroes. Chris wrote the book to be sure their story was told, not just his own.  To support Debbie Lee and her ongoing work with veterans and Gold Star Families, please visit America’s Mighty … Read More

Published on Feb 2, 2012

Navy Seal sniper Chris Kyle stops by to talk about his new book “American Sniper”.

BY MARK LANG
DEC 8, 2014 Officer.com
Any SWAT commander will tell you they want as many options as possible on the table during an operation. It does not guarantee success, but it increases the likelihood of success. One such option is the use of an Aerial Platform (AP). I will refer to it this way but it is also referred to as Aerial Gunnery, Aerial Marksmanship and Aerial Platform Interdiction depending on who you might be speaking with. Aerial Platform is defined as the placing of accurate rifle fire from a hovering, crawling or moving helicopter in support of a … Read More

BY by Mark Lang ON OCT 22, 2014 OFFICER.COM
If you are not moving forward, then in essence you are moving backwards’
This saying is paramount to SWAT operators and the team supervision as they endeavor to be the best they can be. Often overlooked in much of the training and operations is bullet selection and performance.  When was the last time you took  a serious look at the round(s) that your team and snipers use?

A popular belief for the uneducated is that performance on paper equates to proper performance on a human being or a hard target. This couldn’t be further … Read More

by Mark Lang
Officer.com
How much training does your SWAT team do away from your range facility? If your answer is none, then perhaps it’s time to re-evaluate your current training.

Think about the amount of time and training you have spent at your range as you keep pushing yourself to be the best you can. You see the same facilities and invariably do the same type of training over and over. From the flat range to a shoot house or a training tower, you have mixed it up as best as you can in the past, but still find yourself doing the … Read More

AUG TACFLOW™ SACP Combat Pistol Course in Phoenix, AZ for Craft International
We had a fantastic group of students out to Ben Avery Shooting Facility in Phoenix, AZ.  Everyone came ready to learn and had a fun, safe weekend of training.  Students traveled from as far north as Canada and as far south as Mexico City to brave the desert heat.

Instructed by Rigo Durazo and Randy DeHay

Want to join the next SACP Combat Pistol Course?  Check out our schedule page to find out when and where this and other classes are coming up next!

TACFLOW™ SACP Combat Pistol Course
The TACFLOW Structural Alignment … Read More

What could be better than a weekend of firearms training from top tier instructors while enjoying the largest machine gun shoot in the USA? We can’t think of anything! Come join us OCT 24-25 for our Civilian SACP Combat Pistol Course