Firearm Training

I had the priveledge to attend my second course in Defensive Handgun. I took my first course from Shootrite Firearms Academy in Langston, Alabama last June and was very impressed with the instructor Tiger Mckee. He is very dilegent in directing you in all the right ways to handle a hand gun and to handle it for accuracy. This time the second course involved a refresher on what I learned and retained from course #1, then we moved right on to learning to shoot with bystanders in the way of the bad guy. Wow, this was tough and stressful as accuracy was a must. But, also learned to move to get a better shot to make sure no one but the bad guy was injured. Then we moved on to learning how to hold a handgun when behind cover on the left and right side of cover. Some new material for sure, as the hand positions were different than the traditional hand hold on a 1911. The final day it was review of all that we had learned so far. Plus, we started the afternoon session late so I could learn how to use a tactical flashlight in a low light situation. This was the most difficult part of the 3 day training for me. We used lateral movement with the 4 types of flashlight holding postions and how to operate the flashlight properly to not reveal your location for more than 2-3 seconds. After learning the lateral movement way, I was then taught how to use cover like we did the day before in daylight, but, at night it was very different, and took every ounce of concentration to get the proper hit on the bad guy with holding the flashlight along with your firearm. All I can say is, I have taken 34 hours of training in the defensive hangun area and I never knew how much I didn't know until I was priviledged to take these courses. I would urge anyone to take some of these classes if you carry everyday or just have a gun for home protection. It is always good to learn a new skill with something like a gun, it keeps you and your family a lot more safe as you gain the confidence and skills that you can handle many situations that life throws at you. I know I probably missed some of the details that some of you may be interested in, but, you can always check out this facility for training or one near you. I attended Shootrite beings it is just an hour and a half from my home. The web site is Shootrite.org. If you have never had any training, and I know that many on this site are X or active military and have already had this type of training, but, there may be many like myself who have not and the training by a qualified instrutor is highly recommended.

I know of no instructor in defensive hanguns courses that would say, now you never have to practice any more, you are fully trained. After 34 hours of intense hangun training, I am fully prepared to meet most applications. But, I have to say there is one catch, no one, even with hundreds of hours of training, will not be ready unless he hoans all those skills in dry fire excercises. It is said that one learned move in a school will not become muscle memory or ready to use until you have practiced that move 3-4000 times. That means you practice tachtical reloads, empty reloads, clearing manlfunctions of all kinds with your eyes closed, or until you can do them in the pitch dark. Then you will react to an emergency situation with skill and precision and perhaps stay alive. The problem with only reading books and practicing without any oversite is you pick up bad habits that may get you killed. I say this because I was one of those who read and practiced by myself long before I decided to seek some advise on how I was doing. I did learn a lot of moves but, the most important ones, I was slopy and slow. By getting instruction from a dedicated instructor that knows what he is doing, he squared all of the slopy stuff up and with just doing them the right way, my speed picked up dramatically. The same way with marksmanship. One can go to the range and shoot thousands and thousands of rounds and think they are doing pretty good. But, until you are put into a pressure situation where there are bystanders and multiple bad guys, you find out that you may need some help on what to do first. In that way a teacher can help you with your decicion making that is critical and my just keep someone looking on from getting hurt.