Saturday, October 16, 2010

Quick notes from Day One...

I am well on the way to being beat up. An all-steel 5" 1911 with a checkered frontstrap in a high round count course will give you a workout.

This is a shooting class. This is not a warrior combat ninja tactical training class. The emphasis is definitely on making fast, accurate hits safely with a pistol; I do not believe that shooting from rollover prone while chucking flashbangs through a second-story window is going to make it onto the curriculum by tomorrow night. If making fast, accurate hits safely with a pistol is a skill that you think might come in handy when doing warrior combat ninja tactical stuff, well, it just might be worth looking into, no?

In the last two years I've taken a course with Todd Jarrett and two with Louis Awerbuck, just to give my frame of reference, and I have to say that Todd Green is a phenomenally good instructor. He takes separate, discrete skills, like letting your front sight drive your shooting tempo, the press-out, a good draw, and a fast and smooth reload, and gradually plugs them together like Legos over the course of the day so that, by the close of Day One, they're all dovetailing into a seamless whole and you're doing stuff you couldn't have done that morning. I saw an I'm-not-exaggerating-here DRAMATIC increase in the quality of my shooting between 9AM and 5PM, despite the fact that my hands were shaking like a palsy victim by dinnertime.

And yes, I am Todd's Special Needs pupil, dammit. Oh, well. If I already knew it all, why would I need to go to school?

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am always on the short bus. Despite that really fantastic people agree to train with me and teach me what they know.

It may be because of my friendly personality, or possibly because I don't mind helping setup in the morning and cleanup at night.

Tango Juliet said...

'Tis good to out of your comfort zone. Even if it lands you in the Special Needs area.

Anonymous said...
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Steve Skubinna said...

If it's easy, you won't learn. Sorry if that sounds facile, but you only progress when you push yourself.

PA State Cop said...

If'n it makes you feel any better, I'd be right there on that bus with ya.

Fred said...

My gloves aren't seeming so silly now are they? ;)

I need to get into some classes... maybe I can convince the Army to send me to some. Sounds like all sorts of fun.

Rob Reed said...

Tam,

I was the "that guy" in one of Steve Fisher's rifle classes once I've been at the bottom edge of the experience base in more than one other class. No shame in that, as that's part of learning.

Rob (Trebor)

Anonymous said...

I took ToddG's AFHF course earlier this month in Culpeper. Thankfully I didn't put any bullets where they weren't supposed to be, but I'm pretty sure I was the low-speed, high-drag student of the group.

Having said that, Todd did a great job teaching me which end the loud noise comes out of while at the same time pushing the better shooters to do great deeds.

I came away from the course having learned two things for the price of one: one obviously being how to shoot faster and get better hits, and an extra bonus lesson that I really need to practice my accuracy A LOT more than I thought I did.

All in all, it was money well spent. I came home 1K+ rounds lighter, dead tired, and a better shooter. Can't ask for more than that.

Außenseiter said...

Workouts...

synonymous with shooting for me. The course I attend, we exercise with 20 lb weights before we start punching holes in paper. Usually, my arm muscles hurt for several days.

20 pounds isn't much, but try holding that in one outstretched hand.

Unknown said...

My "combat pistol" course back in 1980 was some 750 rounds in three days and one no-lights night session. A bit tiring but not bad.

With practice, shot-reload-shot with a 1911 is quite doable in one second. Dry firing at home, I'd stand behind the couch for the sake of magazine lips and point/click/reload on the talking heads on the TV.

Front sight, press and DVC...

Art

Steve Skubinna said...

I still sometimes do an old USMC dry fire drill with my 1911. Put a pencil in the barrel, and sight in on a paper target maybe an inch away.

Dry fire until your hand gets tired. Surprising how such a simple, maybe even stupid drill helps with sight picture and trigger control.

Anonymous said...

Day 2 is another day all together.
May the force be strong middle aged jeditta.

Gerry

og said...

For a fee, I could attend classes you attend to make you shine next to the fat guy in black.

atlharp said...

What I have always seen is that when people starting making mistakes when they have to pick up the pace is due them not staying relaxed and tensing up. Staying relaxed when shooting, especially when shooting at speed is a skill that is developed over long period of time. It's good to be progressing when you shoot especially when you see that improvement in the span of a day.

I love his Pistol Training site. It was and still is a massively informative site on solid shooting skill. I would love to take his class.