BassCliff
Professional
Greetings Patriots!
This training session was supposed to be at the newer Fletcher Arms facility but they were having a new target system installed and tested. We took our training in the older facility. That's OK. It made for some interesting and fun drills and scenarios. In my stash I found a little ammo can with 250 rounds of PMC Bronze so I thought I'd use it up for this class. I brought an extra box of CCI Blazer just in case I needed it. Sometimes we have variable round counts for these clinics. I ended up just shy of 200 rounds for this session.
On the long range we'll be doing a lot of movement back and forth, pivoting, and shooting from 5, 10, and 15 yards.
Because the class was so large, my group first started on the short range. It has a 17 foot maximum distance.
We shot a couple of Bill Drills, a couple of El Presidente Drills, a couple of Failure to Stop Drills, etc.
These were all timed drills. We've been doing these for months to track our progress. Or in my case, the lack thereof. (We'll see when I get all the numbers.)
After the silhouette drills we switched targets for some cognitive drills.
Depending on the command or scenario, shots were to center mass, head, color, number, shape, etc. For example, sometimes we'd shoot our age, our favorite color, or the last digit of our phone number. I had a few near misses on the numbers/shapes but my times from the draw were good.
Then the class traded ranges. We moved to the long rage for some movement and pivot drills. There were lines at 5, 10, and 15 yards. On command we'd walk to the line, pivot 90° or 180°, and put hits on the target, either center mass or head. The closer we were, the faster we were expected to go. This is 5 yards.
This is 10 yards.
This is 15 yards.
This is what my target looked like at the end of this exercise. The one really bad flyer you see happened after an emergency reload. I rushed and didn't quite have my sights lined up on my trusty XD9. Drat.
The instructors had some special exercises for us after that. They cleared the range while they set it up because they wanted to surprise us.
We worked with "pie"-ing around barriers, multiple targets, and innocent bystanders. We were also instructed to vocalize our way through the exercise.
To add to complexity, we drew cards to get our "special" circumstance. Some of us had to shoot strong hand or weak hand only.
Some of us had to kneel while shooting around the barrier.
For my exercises I had to kneel for the first one and shoot strong hand only with the second. I did well except for the fact that I let myself get too close to the barrier to pie effectively. It's a little disappointing how much I can forget when the stress level is elevated just a bit.
This last scenario was pretty fun. It was like a hallway with a couple of innocent bystanders, a hostage, and at the end, another bad guy hiding behind a bathroom stall. We all "used our words" for this exercise. "Let me see your hands!" "Call 911!" "Let her go! Drop the gun!" As I peered around the last barrier I yelled, "Friendly! Friendly! Lower your weapon!" Of course, the target did not lower their weapon so I defended myself and the innocent bystanders. Instructors and students alike were both impressed that I'd thought of that.
Another little issue I had was gripping with my thumb on my slidelock. Two times the slide didn't lock back on empty. One of the instructors noticed the second time so we chatted about my fat thumbs. He was kind enough to remind me that I could place my thumb on top of the other to keep it away from the slidelock. I guess I needed the reminder. After that it didn't happen for the remainder of the session. I haven't had this issue for quite a while but I was unable to get out for a practice session earlier in the week. Wow, things go away when you don't use them. But all in all, a great session. I'm hoping to get in another practice session this week before my next class on Monday. I'll be ready. Thanks for hanging out and sharing my fun.
Thank you for your indulgence,
BassCliff
This training session was supposed to be at the newer Fletcher Arms facility but they were having a new target system installed and tested. We took our training in the older facility. That's OK. It made for some interesting and fun drills and scenarios. In my stash I found a little ammo can with 250 rounds of PMC Bronze so I thought I'd use it up for this class. I brought an extra box of CCI Blazer just in case I needed it. Sometimes we have variable round counts for these clinics. I ended up just shy of 200 rounds for this session.
On the long range we'll be doing a lot of movement back and forth, pivoting, and shooting from 5, 10, and 15 yards.
Because the class was so large, my group first started on the short range. It has a 17 foot maximum distance.
We shot a couple of Bill Drills, a couple of El Presidente Drills, a couple of Failure to Stop Drills, etc.
These were all timed drills. We've been doing these for months to track our progress. Or in my case, the lack thereof. (We'll see when I get all the numbers.)
After the silhouette drills we switched targets for some cognitive drills.
Depending on the command or scenario, shots were to center mass, head, color, number, shape, etc. For example, sometimes we'd shoot our age, our favorite color, or the last digit of our phone number. I had a few near misses on the numbers/shapes but my times from the draw were good.
Then the class traded ranges. We moved to the long rage for some movement and pivot drills. There were lines at 5, 10, and 15 yards. On command we'd walk to the line, pivot 90° or 180°, and put hits on the target, either center mass or head. The closer we were, the faster we were expected to go. This is 5 yards.
This is 10 yards.
This is 15 yards.
This is what my target looked like at the end of this exercise. The one really bad flyer you see happened after an emergency reload. I rushed and didn't quite have my sights lined up on my trusty XD9. Drat.
The instructors had some special exercises for us after that. They cleared the range while they set it up because they wanted to surprise us.
We worked with "pie"-ing around barriers, multiple targets, and innocent bystanders. We were also instructed to vocalize our way through the exercise.
To add to complexity, we drew cards to get our "special" circumstance. Some of us had to shoot strong hand or weak hand only.
Some of us had to kneel while shooting around the barrier.
For my exercises I had to kneel for the first one and shoot strong hand only with the second. I did well except for the fact that I let myself get too close to the barrier to pie effectively. It's a little disappointing how much I can forget when the stress level is elevated just a bit.
This last scenario was pretty fun. It was like a hallway with a couple of innocent bystanders, a hostage, and at the end, another bad guy hiding behind a bathroom stall. We all "used our words" for this exercise. "Let me see your hands!" "Call 911!" "Let her go! Drop the gun!" As I peered around the last barrier I yelled, "Friendly! Friendly! Lower your weapon!" Of course, the target did not lower their weapon so I defended myself and the innocent bystanders. Instructors and students alike were both impressed that I'd thought of that.
Another little issue I had was gripping with my thumb on my slidelock. Two times the slide didn't lock back on empty. One of the instructors noticed the second time so we chatted about my fat thumbs. He was kind enough to remind me that I could place my thumb on top of the other to keep it away from the slidelock. I guess I needed the reminder. After that it didn't happen for the remainder of the session. I haven't had this issue for quite a while but I was unable to get out for a practice session earlier in the week. Wow, things go away when you don't use them. But all in all, a great session. I'm hoping to get in another practice session this week before my next class on Monday. I'll be ready. Thanks for hanging out and sharing my fun.
Thank you for your indulgence,
BassCliff
Please! Just joking!