misANTHrope
Member
After many months of putting it off, I finally went and took my carry class, with these guys. As an aside, I may be working with them soon to overhaul their website, 'cause it's sorely needed (bonus for me!).
For those NC residents looking for a class in the Raleigh are, I highly recommend FTA. The instructors are knowledgable and professional (but not afraid to poke fun at themselves)- and after watching Ken Dodd shoot the qualifying course of fire, I can attest that the man can shoot the hell out of a 1911.
The classroom portion was predictably somewhat dry, especially for someone like myself who's already quite familiar with firearms, and who's also researched the NC statutes on deadly force; nevertheless, I learned a few things, got some good cop stories, and got to ogle some nice firearms.
The shooting portion was a lot of fun. I honestly shot quite a bit better than I expected to. Once again, Ken, Greg, Merrick, and Ed were professional, and also got in a little bit of pressuring to make things a little more realistic. I shot a round with both my SA XDSC and my Ruger P94, both of which I'd shot quite a bit before. Thing was, the majority of the shooting I'd done was at an indoor range, slow-fire- what amounted to target shooting. I anticipated that being in a classroom-type environment, shooting from either the low ready or the presentation, would erode my shooting, but I shot about as well as I had before, minus pressure.
I learned on the range that the XD is a really natural point-shooting gun, and very easy to shoot well. I also got a practical lesson on why it's important to practice disengaging a manual safety. I shot the XD first, and thus established firmly the muscle memory of simply drawing, aligning, and pressing the trigger. In the next round, the first few strings were fired from the low ready, where I had plenty of time to remind myself to flick the safety off as I got on target- and it worked fine. Then we got to the first string fired from the presentation. I did the presentation great, but when I squeezed off my first round, all I got was a click and a weird-feeling trigger pull. Brief confusion led into the realization that I was on safe! Only time I had that problem, but it was a humbling experience. That's the kind of thing that makes the life/death difference in a fight.
Monday I'm going downtown to fill out the crap. Anyone looking for a NC class should give these guys a holler IMO.
For those NC residents looking for a class in the Raleigh are, I highly recommend FTA. The instructors are knowledgable and professional (but not afraid to poke fun at themselves)- and after watching Ken Dodd shoot the qualifying course of fire, I can attest that the man can shoot the hell out of a 1911.
The classroom portion was predictably somewhat dry, especially for someone like myself who's already quite familiar with firearms, and who's also researched the NC statutes on deadly force; nevertheless, I learned a few things, got some good cop stories, and got to ogle some nice firearms.
The shooting portion was a lot of fun. I honestly shot quite a bit better than I expected to. Once again, Ken, Greg, Merrick, and Ed were professional, and also got in a little bit of pressuring to make things a little more realistic. I shot a round with both my SA XDSC and my Ruger P94, both of which I'd shot quite a bit before. Thing was, the majority of the shooting I'd done was at an indoor range, slow-fire- what amounted to target shooting. I anticipated that being in a classroom-type environment, shooting from either the low ready or the presentation, would erode my shooting, but I shot about as well as I had before, minus pressure.
I learned on the range that the XD is a really natural point-shooting gun, and very easy to shoot well. I also got a practical lesson on why it's important to practice disengaging a manual safety. I shot the XD first, and thus established firmly the muscle memory of simply drawing, aligning, and pressing the trigger. In the next round, the first few strings were fired from the low ready, where I had plenty of time to remind myself to flick the safety off as I got on target- and it worked fine. Then we got to the first string fired from the presentation. I did the presentation great, but when I squeezed off my first round, all I got was a click and a weird-feeling trigger pull. Brief confusion led into the realization that I was on safe! Only time I had that problem, but it was a humbling experience. That's the kind of thing that makes the life/death difference in a fight.
Monday I'm going downtown to fill out the crap. Anyone looking for a NC class should give these guys a holler IMO.
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