BassCliff
Professional
Hello my friends,
It was a full class of 12 students at the range tonight. We were not only taking the Advanced Defensive Pistol Clinic but also shooting for the range "standards test" at the end of the class. The instructors were giving out patches and everything. Will BassCliff get a patch? Read on and find out.
The class was supposed to use about 200 rounds and I used 193 of them, 124 grain Blazer through my HK VP9. It was flawless tonight even though I hadn't cleaned it from the last session. I did put a drop of oil on each side of the slide, just in case.
We started with some simple drills, 3-5 to the chest or a head shot upon command, from 5, 10 and 15 yards on the bad guy targets.
My VP9 was treating me pretty well as long as I didn't blast away too fast. That's me in the middle.
At the end of this exercise I had only one hit that was high and right. I hope nobody else got hurt.
Then it was time for a different bad guy target, this time with pivoting and motion, a "tactical stroll".
Again at 5, 10, and 15 yards, we started with a standing pivot, 90 or 180 degrees, putting shots on center mass or head depending on the command. Then we did our "tactical stroll". The entire class was walking between the 5 yard line and the 15 yard line, minding our positions, and firing on command. That's me in the middle again.
At the end of this exercise we got to check our targets. Wow, even from 15 yards this VP9 lets me put hits on center mass pretty quickly, and head shots if I take a little extra time.
For our next exercise, Ashley put up new targets for a variation on the Givens Casino drill.
I shot this drill way too fast for the distance we were shooting, about 12 yards. It was a simplified drill, just one on one, two on two, three on three, etc, until you had to reload, then continue until you've put that many hits on each number. I was all over the place.
For some reason I seem to like the blue targets better. We ran the drill in reverse from 7 yards and I managed to run that drill clean. The instructors were complimentary.
Then we did something that was really fun, but I didn't get a chance to take any pictures. The next exercise was a "found gun" scenario. Suppose you had to pick up the gun of a fallen comrade and use it in a fight. Could you shoot it? Reload it? We placed our guns and magazines on tables in front of us and then did a round robin, firing three shots from everyone's gun. Half the class had Glocks, most of the rest had Sig, one Canik, one Shadow, and my VP9. Everyone had a red dot except me. Most were Holosun and a couple of Vortexx. I did pretty good with all those dots. I think they really help on those dinky little carry guns with 3" or 3.5" barrels. I had to reload a couple of times with a strange gun but managed pretty well. Controls are pretty similar across all platforms. I think my paddle release fooled a couple of students.
Next came the standards test. This is a standards test for our local range. It looks something like this.
There were two targets, using 2 magazines with 5 rounds each. Course of fire: Draw, getting off the "X", 3 hits to the chest, 2 to the head. Slidelock reload while getting off the "X", 3 to the chest and 2 to the head on the second target, search and assess. The times are in seconds for each patch. One second penalty if a hit is out of the "kill zone" and a 3 second penalty if it is outside the silhouette completely. OWB students started with a half second penalty because they did not have to defeat their garment.
There were two students who qualified for the "advanced" patch (under 8 seconds), one intermediate (under 10 seconds), and a few "class standard" (under 13 seconds).
This was my first time shooting this test. For my first run I shot it clean but took 13.2 seconds. My instructor was quite pleased with my accuracy and mechanics. Those that wanted could have a second run. I think the whole class took a second run. I shot my second run in 10.38 seconds but had one hit just outside the kill zone on the second pair of head shots. But even with my one second penalty I still qualified for a "class standard" patch. Yay me!
I would liked to have run it clean but that's what pactice is for, right? It was a fun evening and I look forward to the next time this class is given. They're talking about doing this one every month. It's a little more expensive than the other clinics but worth the money. One of these days I'll have to put down my pistol for a little while and take some long gun instruction. One of the instructors here is a regional champion skeet and trap shooter. So much to shoot, so little time.
Hey, you guys have been great! Thanks for putting up with me. Blessings to all.
Thank you for your indulgence,
BassCliff
It was a full class of 12 students at the range tonight. We were not only taking the Advanced Defensive Pistol Clinic but also shooting for the range "standards test" at the end of the class. The instructors were giving out patches and everything. Will BassCliff get a patch? Read on and find out.
The class was supposed to use about 200 rounds and I used 193 of them, 124 grain Blazer through my HK VP9. It was flawless tonight even though I hadn't cleaned it from the last session. I did put a drop of oil on each side of the slide, just in case.
We started with some simple drills, 3-5 to the chest or a head shot upon command, from 5, 10 and 15 yards on the bad guy targets.
My VP9 was treating me pretty well as long as I didn't blast away too fast. That's me in the middle.
At the end of this exercise I had only one hit that was high and right. I hope nobody else got hurt.
Then it was time for a different bad guy target, this time with pivoting and motion, a "tactical stroll".
Again at 5, 10, and 15 yards, we started with a standing pivot, 90 or 180 degrees, putting shots on center mass or head depending on the command. Then we did our "tactical stroll". The entire class was walking between the 5 yard line and the 15 yard line, minding our positions, and firing on command. That's me in the middle again.
At the end of this exercise we got to check our targets. Wow, even from 15 yards this VP9 lets me put hits on center mass pretty quickly, and head shots if I take a little extra time.
For our next exercise, Ashley put up new targets for a variation on the Givens Casino drill.
I shot this drill way too fast for the distance we were shooting, about 12 yards. It was a simplified drill, just one on one, two on two, three on three, etc, until you had to reload, then continue until you've put that many hits on each number. I was all over the place.
For some reason I seem to like the blue targets better.
We ran the drill in reverse from 7 yards and I managed to run that drill clean. The instructors were complimentary. Then we did something that was really fun, but I didn't get a chance to take any pictures. The next exercise was a "found gun" scenario. Suppose you had to pick up the gun of a fallen comrade and use it in a fight. Could you shoot it? Reload it? We placed our guns and magazines on tables in front of us and then did a round robin, firing three shots from everyone's gun. Half the class had Glocks, most of the rest had Sig, one Canik, one Shadow, and my VP9. Everyone had a red dot except me. Most were Holosun and a couple of Vortexx. I did pretty good with all those dots. I think they really help on those dinky little carry guns with 3" or 3.5" barrels. I had to reload a couple of times with a strange gun but managed pretty well. Controls are pretty similar across all platforms. I think my paddle release fooled a couple of students.
Next came the standards test. This is a standards test for our local range. It looks something like this.
There were two targets, using 2 magazines with 5 rounds each. Course of fire: Draw, getting off the "X", 3 hits to the chest, 2 to the head. Slidelock reload while getting off the "X", 3 to the chest and 2 to the head on the second target, search and assess. The times are in seconds for each patch. One second penalty if a hit is out of the "kill zone" and a 3 second penalty if it is outside the silhouette completely. OWB students started with a half second penalty because they did not have to defeat their garment.
There were two students who qualified for the "advanced" patch (under 8 seconds), one intermediate (under 10 seconds), and a few "class standard" (under 13 seconds).
This was my first time shooting this test. For my first run I shot it clean but took 13.2 seconds. My instructor was quite pleased with my accuracy and mechanics. Those that wanted could have a second run. I think the whole class took a second run. I shot my second run in 10.38 seconds but had one hit just outside the kill zone on the second pair of head shots. But even with my one second penalty I still qualified for a "class standard" patch. Yay me!
I would liked to have run it clean but that's what pactice is for, right? It was a fun evening and I look forward to the next time this class is given. They're talking about doing this one every month. It's a little more expensive than the other clinics but worth the money. One of these days I'll have to put down my pistol for a little while and take some long gun instruction. One of the instructors here is a regional champion skeet and trap shooter. So much to shoot, so little time.
Hey, you guys have been great! Thanks for putting up with me. Blessings to all.
Thank you for your indulgence,
BassCliff
