Fred Fuller
Moderator Emeritus
Organization: Yavapai Firearms Academy Ltd. (YFA) - http://www.yfainc.com/
Location: Durham Pistol and Rifle Club (DPRC), Mebane, NC - http://dprc.org/
My wife and I hate to let a year go by without a visit to one of Louis Awerbuck's classes - Louis is one of those trainers who gets to be habit forming, as evidenced by the number of repeat students in this class. We were concerned we might not be able to make it this year due to family concerns, but fortunately things worked out for us to attend yesterday's one-day Refresher Handgun class at the DPRC range near Mebane, NC. Thanks to the efforts of DPRC member Jim Parris, Louis has been offering training at DPRC almost since the time Louis first took YFA's show on the road about two decades ago. Louis is one of those wayfaring trainers known in the trade as itinerants, who need only a suitable flat range and whatever gear is commonly available or that they carry around to teach classes. This approach saves prospective students major travel costs, and for those within commuting distance of the chosen training site, can save on lodging and meal costs as well. It's a model that those on a budget should look into for opportunities to train with a nationally or internationally known trainer without long trips or breaking the family budget.
The class took place under lowering skies thanks to the approach of Tropical Storm Beryl, in typical warm and muggy NC summer weather conditions. The temperature was in the upper 80s, not as hot as it often is here this time of year but plenty warm enough. The usual summer weather pattern brought us a short downpour in midafternoon, sufficient to move the class under the range shelter for a short while and wilt the cardboard target backers. But it didn't last long and we were soon shooting again. Many of the students had spent several days under Louis' tutelage already last week, as there was a 3-day basic carbine class on the schedule for this visit also.
There were fourteen shooters in two relays of seven in this class, which meant that things moved along pretty briskly and everyone still got all the individual coaching they needed. The majority of the class members were male (12 of 14), most were shooting service pistols (1911 patterns or polymer frame semiautos) housed in IWB or OWB holsters with no cover garments and exposed magazine pouches. My wife was working out the details of carrying and using her new S&W M&P .357 SiG in a Wilderness Safepacker, obviously not the fastest draw rig in the East, but a good option for the multiple modes of carry she had in mind when the package she wanted (which includes a Crimson Trace Lightguard white light and CT LaserGrip) was put together. She wanted Louis to help her work out a functional drawstroke for wearing the Safepacker on her belt, and it didn't take long for them to arrive at a workable approach despite Louis' repeated references to "that damn briefcase" she was wearing on her belt. The other female shooter in the class was carrying her usual EDC Kahr .380 in an elastic belly band rig at the right kidney, which offered excellent concealment. Her spare magazines were carried in her left front pants pocket. One male shooter was carrying in CCW Breakaway shorts, the first time I've encountered this particular item of clothing. And your humble moderator was carrying his usual oldphart 642 with CT Lasergrips in the usual Don Hume pocket holster in the right rear pocket, with Safariland speedloaders in the right front pocket. This time around, mine was the only wheelgun ("real gun" in Louis-speak) in the class. Students expended 200 to 300 rounds each in this class.
While Louis was in exceptionally good humor during this class, despite the overcast skies, he started out with a somber note. And his opening statements in the class were borne out in the kind of drills we ran in the course of training. One of the best reasons for training with someone who travels all over the country, teaches hundreds of students a year, and watches hundreds of thousands of rounds go downrange each year is the perspective they bring to the training they offer. Sometimes that perspective has to do with what firearms/ammunition/accessories/tactics are working well or poorly. Sometimes that perspective has to do with what's going on in what's often referred to as 'the bigger picture.' Louis emphasized to each student in this class that if ever they took training seriously, now was the time to do it because the likelihood of needing to put that training to use on the street or in the home seemed to him to be increasing. And our drills in this class emphasized speed of presentation and accuracy of shot placement in increasingly complicated and cluttered target arrays to an extent I've not seen in any of his prior classes. The emphasis on tactics included more training at close range up to and including contact range, methods of keeping family members secure as shooting situations evolved, emphasis on no-shoot targets in the foreground and background, etc. It was, all in all, a sobering totality from a man who has seen his share of trouble already in this lifetime.
Louis brings several exceptional talents to the line as an instructor. His most valuable capability IMHO is that he is a consummate diagnostician, identifying a student's problems quickly and capable of offering a variety of potential solutions depending on what a particular student needs. While some schools depend on multi-million dollar training facilities, Louis needs only a suitable flat range and what he can carry in the back of a full size pickup truck with a tonneau cover. And the most valuable capacity Louis has as far as I'm concerned is his ability to impose ever-increasing levels of stress on students as a class progresses. Familiarity with performing under stress at any level can only help in situations where the stress level is imposed by real world situations. And it's better to get a first time acquaintance in dealing with stress while you have a pistol in hand while in training than on the street or in the home. That imposition of stress is hard for most shooters to manage while practicing on the flat range alone or with familiar fellow shooters of comparable skill levels, in my experience.
There's a possibility that Louis will be back at DPRC on the anniversary of 9-11 for a repeat engagement, possibly another session of Refresher Handgun, perhaps a session of Refresher Shotgun. If you're in the Central NC area and already have a basic class under your belt, keep an eye on the YFA schedule at http://www.yfainc.com/schedule.html to see if this firms up.
Location: Durham Pistol and Rifle Club (DPRC), Mebane, NC - http://dprc.org/
My wife and I hate to let a year go by without a visit to one of Louis Awerbuck's classes - Louis is one of those trainers who gets to be habit forming, as evidenced by the number of repeat students in this class. We were concerned we might not be able to make it this year due to family concerns, but fortunately things worked out for us to attend yesterday's one-day Refresher Handgun class at the DPRC range near Mebane, NC. Thanks to the efforts of DPRC member Jim Parris, Louis has been offering training at DPRC almost since the time Louis first took YFA's show on the road about two decades ago. Louis is one of those wayfaring trainers known in the trade as itinerants, who need only a suitable flat range and whatever gear is commonly available or that they carry around to teach classes. This approach saves prospective students major travel costs, and for those within commuting distance of the chosen training site, can save on lodging and meal costs as well. It's a model that those on a budget should look into for opportunities to train with a nationally or internationally known trainer without long trips or breaking the family budget.
The class took place under lowering skies thanks to the approach of Tropical Storm Beryl, in typical warm and muggy NC summer weather conditions. The temperature was in the upper 80s, not as hot as it often is here this time of year but plenty warm enough. The usual summer weather pattern brought us a short downpour in midafternoon, sufficient to move the class under the range shelter for a short while and wilt the cardboard target backers. But it didn't last long and we were soon shooting again. Many of the students had spent several days under Louis' tutelage already last week, as there was a 3-day basic carbine class on the schedule for this visit also.
There were fourteen shooters in two relays of seven in this class, which meant that things moved along pretty briskly and everyone still got all the individual coaching they needed. The majority of the class members were male (12 of 14), most were shooting service pistols (1911 patterns or polymer frame semiautos) housed in IWB or OWB holsters with no cover garments and exposed magazine pouches. My wife was working out the details of carrying and using her new S&W M&P .357 SiG in a Wilderness Safepacker, obviously not the fastest draw rig in the East, but a good option for the multiple modes of carry she had in mind when the package she wanted (which includes a Crimson Trace Lightguard white light and CT LaserGrip) was put together. She wanted Louis to help her work out a functional drawstroke for wearing the Safepacker on her belt, and it didn't take long for them to arrive at a workable approach despite Louis' repeated references to "that damn briefcase" she was wearing on her belt. The other female shooter in the class was carrying her usual EDC Kahr .380 in an elastic belly band rig at the right kidney, which offered excellent concealment. Her spare magazines were carried in her left front pants pocket. One male shooter was carrying in CCW Breakaway shorts, the first time I've encountered this particular item of clothing. And your humble moderator was carrying his usual oldphart 642 with CT Lasergrips in the usual Don Hume pocket holster in the right rear pocket, with Safariland speedloaders in the right front pocket. This time around, mine was the only wheelgun ("real gun" in Louis-speak) in the class. Students expended 200 to 300 rounds each in this class.
While Louis was in exceptionally good humor during this class, despite the overcast skies, he started out with a somber note. And his opening statements in the class were borne out in the kind of drills we ran in the course of training. One of the best reasons for training with someone who travels all over the country, teaches hundreds of students a year, and watches hundreds of thousands of rounds go downrange each year is the perspective they bring to the training they offer. Sometimes that perspective has to do with what firearms/ammunition/accessories/tactics are working well or poorly. Sometimes that perspective has to do with what's going on in what's often referred to as 'the bigger picture.' Louis emphasized to each student in this class that if ever they took training seriously, now was the time to do it because the likelihood of needing to put that training to use on the street or in the home seemed to him to be increasing. And our drills in this class emphasized speed of presentation and accuracy of shot placement in increasingly complicated and cluttered target arrays to an extent I've not seen in any of his prior classes. The emphasis on tactics included more training at close range up to and including contact range, methods of keeping family members secure as shooting situations evolved, emphasis on no-shoot targets in the foreground and background, etc. It was, all in all, a sobering totality from a man who has seen his share of trouble already in this lifetime.
Louis brings several exceptional talents to the line as an instructor. His most valuable capability IMHO is that he is a consummate diagnostician, identifying a student's problems quickly and capable of offering a variety of potential solutions depending on what a particular student needs. While some schools depend on multi-million dollar training facilities, Louis needs only a suitable flat range and what he can carry in the back of a full size pickup truck with a tonneau cover. And the most valuable capacity Louis has as far as I'm concerned is his ability to impose ever-increasing levels of stress on students as a class progresses. Familiarity with performing under stress at any level can only help in situations where the stress level is imposed by real world situations. And it's better to get a first time acquaintance in dealing with stress while you have a pistol in hand while in training than on the street or in the home. That imposition of stress is hard for most shooters to manage while practicing on the flat range alone or with familiar fellow shooters of comparable skill levels, in my experience.
There's a possibility that Louis will be back at DPRC on the anniversary of 9-11 for a repeat engagement, possibly another session of Refresher Handgun, perhaps a session of Refresher Shotgun. If you're in the Central NC area and already have a basic class under your belt, keep an eye on the YFA schedule at http://www.yfainc.com/schedule.html to see if this firms up.
