BassCliff
Professional
Greetings!
The short drive out to this Fletcher Arms (Lake Country) indoor range location is beautiful.
I've never seen the parking lot as full as it was this afternoon. It turns out that there were 24 students in the Defensive Handgun One class today.
In addition to the fundamental steps for presenting from a holster, we also discussed the five stages of situational awareness, peripheral vision, adrenaline dump and other bodily reactions, and books on the subjects at hand like Deadly Force Encounters (Alexis Artwohl), On Killing by Dave Grossman, and The Gift Of Fear by Gavin De Becker.
These are other classes offered in the near future. I've had training in most of these areas except for using my flashlight at night. I'm looking forward to that class. I also plan to attend many of their DSF and Advanced Pistol clinics. Fun stuff!
After the classroom discussion, which was lively and informative, we were led to a secret door behind which was other training areas. This area is used for their home defense clinics.
This was the room where my squad went over the basics of presenting from holster. It seems every instructor teaches different techniques. My instructor, Cameron, seemed to favor the two-handed draw from concealed but impressed on us that we need to also practice the one-handed draw, just in case... you know.
In fact, once we got out on the range we did utilize both methods, simulating a scenario where our left arm was out of commission. Since the class was so large, half of us would be prepping and receiving instructions while the other half was out on the range. We would load three or four magazines with anywhere from 20 to 30 cartridges, depending on the drill, and go over the exercise before entering the range.
I was loading three or four magazines with the required number of shots so that I could practice my emergency or tactical reloads. I used mostly my 10 round magazines so I wouldn't be bouncing my new 16 rounders off the concrete so much. The lanes look a little different without the benches. Such freedom!
We started off with the real basic stuff while standing in the lane. The lane walls are ballistic rated, just in case. But everyone was super safe, we had no major infractions at all. I was in lane #5, my favorite lane!
We used the B-27-IMZ targets for all of our various drills. This is what my target looked like after our first drill of single shots from concealment, seven yards. Yeah, I know, not great but only a couple were barely out of the thoracic zone.
We shot a few drills on this target before we got fresh ones. Then we moved out into the bay. We'd shoot a two shot or a five shot relaxed string, then a few true double-taps.
Sorry, I don't remember the drill just before this target. We also shot Strong Hand Only for one string.
I think this was my target after our "Bill-minus-one" drill. We'd shoot a string of five shots, not rapid fire but as soon as our sights settled. I got lots of practice with my emergency reloads. Good stuff.
We got a fresh target after this. The target below mostly has holes in it from our strong hand only drills, and maybe a few double-tap drills. The wide shots you see were from me not getting things properly aligned after an emergency reload. Drat.
As my squad was debriefing I peeked through the window to observe the other squad.
For our last exercise we worked mostly on the Failure To Stop drill from concealment. It's a fun one.
The instructors would call either "Failure to stop! Gun!" as the command to put two in the chest and one in the head. Or they would just yell, "Head shot! Gun!" for us to put one in the head. Sometimes the timing would be odd, quick, or slow, and added a bit of stress to the situation. One of the instructors complimented me on my emergency reload. How about that?
And after five hours of class and range time, 150 rounds of bang, we were all awarded with this certificate.
We have to practice or train with our holster at least once per quarter in order to stay current and use our holster at these facilities. I don't think I'll have any problem staying current. I'm at one of these locations at least once a week.
Today was a lot of review for me but it was a good thing. This is the first organized classroom training situation I've been involved in since I left California. I was able to refresh some skills and pick up a couple of pointers to help with my pistol manipulation, scanning for threats, recognition and avoidance. I call that a win. Thanks for coming along and letting me share it with you.
Thank you for your indulgence,
BassCliff
The short drive out to this Fletcher Arms (Lake Country) indoor range location is beautiful.
I've never seen the parking lot as full as it was this afternoon. It turns out that there were 24 students in the Defensive Handgun One class today.
In addition to the fundamental steps for presenting from a holster, we also discussed the five stages of situational awareness, peripheral vision, adrenaline dump and other bodily reactions, and books on the subjects at hand like Deadly Force Encounters (Alexis Artwohl), On Killing by Dave Grossman, and The Gift Of Fear by Gavin De Becker.
These are other classes offered in the near future. I've had training in most of these areas except for using my flashlight at night. I'm looking forward to that class. I also plan to attend many of their DSF and Advanced Pistol clinics. Fun stuff!
After the classroom discussion, which was lively and informative, we were led to a secret door behind which was other training areas. This area is used for their home defense clinics.
This was the room where my squad went over the basics of presenting from holster. It seems every instructor teaches different techniques. My instructor, Cameron, seemed to favor the two-handed draw from concealed but impressed on us that we need to also practice the one-handed draw, just in case... you know.
In fact, once we got out on the range we did utilize both methods, simulating a scenario where our left arm was out of commission. Since the class was so large, half of us would be prepping and receiving instructions while the other half was out on the range. We would load three or four magazines with anywhere from 20 to 30 cartridges, depending on the drill, and go over the exercise before entering the range.
I was loading three or four magazines with the required number of shots so that I could practice my emergency or tactical reloads. I used mostly my 10 round magazines so I wouldn't be bouncing my new 16 rounders off the concrete so much. The lanes look a little different without the benches. Such freedom!
We started off with the real basic stuff while standing in the lane. The lane walls are ballistic rated, just in case. But everyone was super safe, we had no major infractions at all. I was in lane #5, my favorite lane!
We used the B-27-IMZ targets for all of our various drills. This is what my target looked like after our first drill of single shots from concealment, seven yards. Yeah, I know, not great but only a couple were barely out of the thoracic zone.
We shot a few drills on this target before we got fresh ones. Then we moved out into the bay. We'd shoot a two shot or a five shot relaxed string, then a few true double-taps.
Sorry, I don't remember the drill just before this target. We also shot Strong Hand Only for one string.
I think this was my target after our "Bill-minus-one" drill. We'd shoot a string of five shots, not rapid fire but as soon as our sights settled. I got lots of practice with my emergency reloads. Good stuff.
We got a fresh target after this. The target below mostly has holes in it from our strong hand only drills, and maybe a few double-tap drills. The wide shots you see were from me not getting things properly aligned after an emergency reload. Drat.
As my squad was debriefing I peeked through the window to observe the other squad.
For our last exercise we worked mostly on the Failure To Stop drill from concealment. It's a fun one.
The instructors would call either "Failure to stop! Gun!" as the command to put two in the chest and one in the head. Or they would just yell, "Head shot! Gun!" for us to put one in the head. Sometimes the timing would be odd, quick, or slow, and added a bit of stress to the situation. One of the instructors complimented me on my emergency reload. How about that?
And after five hours of class and range time, 150 rounds of bang, we were all awarded with this certificate.
We have to practice or train with our holster at least once per quarter in order to stay current and use our holster at these facilities. I don't think I'll have any problem staying current. I'm at one of these locations at least once a week.
Today was a lot of review for me but it was a good thing. This is the first organized classroom training situation I've been involved in since I left California. I was able to refresh some skills and pick up a couple of pointers to help with my pistol manipulation, scanning for threats, recognition and avoidance. I call that a win. Thanks for coming along and letting me share it with you.
Thank you for your indulgence,
BassCliff