Chuck R.
Member
In the course of my lifetime I've taken roughly 14 or so defensive oriented shooting classes (shotgun, carbine, handgun, low-light, & injured Shooter) in addition to the 23 years of Army training and a LE academy. Past few years I've averaged a class or 2 a year, mostly because I enjoy taking classes and it lets me keep up with the new stuff. I also compete in IDPA and 3Gun.
Last year after finishing another couple classes I slowly came to the realization that the odds of me ever making use of this training was slim, and due to age, lifestyle etc. getting slimmer. Odds of being engaged in an active gun fight, about 0%, odds of shooting a match next month (actually tomorrow night) 100%. So I decided to re-orient my time/disposable income to something I would make use of.
This past SAT I took Merle Edington's Competitive Performance - Phase 1 Class at Mill Creek Rifle Club in Desoto, KS. His Bio's on the site, BLUF: Special Ops background, founding member of AMU competition team, Grand Master in a couple disciplines, won a bunch of chit. He's also a nice guy and pretty funny, instructs very well (which is really the important stuff).
https://shootingsolutionsllc.com/
Topics covered in this class were: freestyle shooting platform, definition of sight picture/alignment and it practical use (or not!), ergonomics of gun fit, placement of equipment, ammunition choice, steel target engagement, and the need for speed vs accuracy. Class was primarily geared towards USPSA shooting, so some of the equipment, engagements, reloads etc. are not aligned with IDPA rules, but the meat of the class was practical for IDPA or any other handgun action shooting dicipline.
Class lasted about 8hrs till the rain came in, I went through just over 600 rds.
Equipment used: CZ75 SA Accu-Shadow Lite from the custom shop, my standard IDPA holster and mag carries, my normal match reloads of 147grn at power factor.
This was different than defensive shooting, but really when you piece it together not that dramatically different. Similar concepts of "seeing what you need to see, to make the shot you need to make" (quote I've stolen from a previous instructor (Jabo Long) was apparent throughout the class. Stressing efficiency of movements (reloads, draw, footwork) was even more evident than in most of the tactical/defensive classes I've taken.
Very, very, good instruction on recoil management and the 'extra' sight picture to reduce splits while maintaining accuracy. Some fantastic instruction on target transitions, especially wide transitions found in matches utilizing your knees to drive the upper torso.
Stuff I had issues with:
Reloads, I'm "OK" at reloads, but one issue this class identified (and we did a lot of reloads) was that I'm not re-establishing my grip very well after the reload. This results in some C & D hits (1s & 3s in IDPA speak) after reloading is complete. I got caught multiple times with an air-gap between my firing and support hand.
Table pick-ups/starts, learned a new technique to do this, and I'm just not getting it. It's something I'm going to have to spend some time on.
I shoot too fast, relying on a cadence or rythm rather than watching the sights. It's like I'm doing "hammers", but extending the distance past being acceptable for what should be 3 sight pictures. This causes me to drop points going from zero's to 1s on IDPA TGT, rather than staying on the sights. I shave a couple .01s or .001's time on some tgts and on other's it's costing me 1.0s in points down, or worse 5.0 for popping a no shoot.
So, overall a very worthwhile class for competition, and if you just want to shoot well and fast. One note about the students in this particular class that's different from other classes I've taken. Without an exception, these guys (12 total with one woman and 4 junior shooters) could shoot...there were no basic marksmanship issues. A couple of the juniors, were flat out awesome.
So now like after every class I've taken I've got some stuff to work on.......
Last year after finishing another couple classes I slowly came to the realization that the odds of me ever making use of this training was slim, and due to age, lifestyle etc. getting slimmer. Odds of being engaged in an active gun fight, about 0%, odds of shooting a match next month (actually tomorrow night) 100%. So I decided to re-orient my time/disposable income to something I would make use of.
This past SAT I took Merle Edington's Competitive Performance - Phase 1 Class at Mill Creek Rifle Club in Desoto, KS. His Bio's on the site, BLUF: Special Ops background, founding member of AMU competition team, Grand Master in a couple disciplines, won a bunch of chit. He's also a nice guy and pretty funny, instructs very well (which is really the important stuff).
https://shootingsolutionsllc.com/
his is a group pistol instruction class of 8-12 students and approximately 8 hours in length.
The class is focused on practical shooting fundamentals that will help improve competitive performance. We will work through the primary aspects of Fundamentals and their application in the competitive shooting world. Along with the work on each of the topics below, we will spend time discussing the evolution of the fundamental, and why the correct application is so important to the competitive shooter.
Topics covered in this class were: freestyle shooting platform, definition of sight picture/alignment and it practical use (or not!), ergonomics of gun fit, placement of equipment, ammunition choice, steel target engagement, and the need for speed vs accuracy. Class was primarily geared towards USPSA shooting, so some of the equipment, engagements, reloads etc. are not aligned with IDPA rules, but the meat of the class was practical for IDPA or any other handgun action shooting dicipline.
Class lasted about 8hrs till the rain came in, I went through just over 600 rds.
Equipment used: CZ75 SA Accu-Shadow Lite from the custom shop, my standard IDPA holster and mag carries, my normal match reloads of 147grn at power factor.
This was different than defensive shooting, but really when you piece it together not that dramatically different. Similar concepts of "seeing what you need to see, to make the shot you need to make" (quote I've stolen from a previous instructor (Jabo Long) was apparent throughout the class. Stressing efficiency of movements (reloads, draw, footwork) was even more evident than in most of the tactical/defensive classes I've taken.
Very, very, good instruction on recoil management and the 'extra' sight picture to reduce splits while maintaining accuracy. Some fantastic instruction on target transitions, especially wide transitions found in matches utilizing your knees to drive the upper torso.
Stuff I had issues with:
Reloads, I'm "OK" at reloads, but one issue this class identified (and we did a lot of reloads) was that I'm not re-establishing my grip very well after the reload. This results in some C & D hits (1s & 3s in IDPA speak) after reloading is complete. I got caught multiple times with an air-gap between my firing and support hand.
Table pick-ups/starts, learned a new technique to do this, and I'm just not getting it. It's something I'm going to have to spend some time on.
I shoot too fast, relying on a cadence or rythm rather than watching the sights. It's like I'm doing "hammers", but extending the distance past being acceptable for what should be 3 sight pictures. This causes me to drop points going from zero's to 1s on IDPA TGT, rather than staying on the sights. I shave a couple .01s or .001's time on some tgts and on other's it's costing me 1.0s in points down, or worse 5.0 for popping a no shoot.
So, overall a very worthwhile class for competition, and if you just want to shoot well and fast. One note about the students in this particular class that's different from other classes I've taken. Without an exception, these guys (12 total with one woman and 4 junior shooters) could shoot...there were no basic marksmanship issues. A couple of the juniors, were flat out awesome.
So now like after every class I've taken I've got some stuff to work on.......