AAR Tactical Response Fighting Pistol
Hot Springs, AR March 14-15, 2009
Instructors: James Yeager, Brian the Aussie, and Corky
Students: 12 Students; 8 were either active duty or reserve LE; 6 were on a tactical team in some function, for 1 person it was their first training
Gear: Glock 19
Brown Bear 115 gr
Tucker “The Answer”
Tucker Gun Belt
Desantis double mag pouch
Mix of Glock and KCI mags
Class:
Saturday started out with introductions, range safety, and the other introductory information for the class. We were quickly on the line and began working on the steps of our draw. We then began shooting the DEA dots; the instructors would call out the dot and the number of shots and give the “Fight” command. After shooting the DEA dots we shot at silhouette targets. Target zones and the number of shots were called out followed by the “Fight” command. After lunch we worked on shooting strong and weak hand only and went over one-handed reloads and clearing malfunctions. We then shot from kneeling, sitting and supine.
Sunday morning was a lecture on mindset, legal, and physiological aspects of a gunfight. This was a very worthwhile lecture and had some important points for people to consider and act on. After lunch we shot the Allen dots. The first 6 dots were shot slow fire under command to work on watching the front sight. We shot the last 6 dots at our own pace. The next drills were shooting while moving and from behind cover. We also worked on shooting from retention.
Observations/takeaways:
You must look at your gear as tools. It had rained off and on Tuesday through Friday leaving the range wet and muddy especially on the left side of the line. All of our mags ended up in the mud and slop throughout the weekend. Shooting from supine we probably spent 30 minute to an hour lying on the ground shooting. By the end of this drill my pistol, belt and mag pouch were covered in mud, I had rocks stuck to my belt, and my mag puch beat up. I was grateful to be using the gear I was and not a sharkskin carry rig with a custom shop 1911, simply because I would have been a lot more reluctant to roll around in the mud.
I have some non-shooting items I need to take care of incase I am ever forced to defend myself or family. I was aware of these before class but had put them off; Sunday’s lecture drove home the point and reinforced the importance to me.
I started Saturday’s class off wearing my normal Carhartt jacket; it has the large deep open pockets. During the draw I became tangled up in the pockets a couple times when pushing the pistol forward toward the target. I could see this also being an issue with some hoodies having the kangaroo pockets. If you wear outerwear that has large open pockets you need to make sure they don’t interfere with your draw from concealment.
The areas I need work were magnified. I was weak shooting on the move and am a target watcher. I was pulling my shots into a neat little group left of the target by not completing my follow through and watching the front sight. I’d raise my head up looking for the bullet hole to see where I had hit. I’m going to supplement my square range shooting with trips to the action pistol bays to work on shooting while moving. I also need to shoot more single handed.
My gear ran pretty well. My holster has reverse J-clips and came unclipped one time making reholstering difficult; once that was fixed it was fine the rest of the weekend. I had one failure to extract towards the end of Saturday. This was my only malfunction of the weekend. Someone did have a squib load with American factory ammo.
Conclusion:
This is a good well-balanced class. If it is your first class it will give you a great foundation and the instructors are helpful if you are having any difficulties. You’ll get to do things that you’ve never been able to do on a square range and the lecture will provide lots of information that your CCW class left out or the internet distorts.
If you’ve trained before you’ll get the basics reinforced and beat into your head. You’ll probably see new ways to do a couple things. I had a couple questions about why they did something different and James was more than helpful in explaining it.
James and the Tactical Response crew kept the class interesting and exciting. It was a good class and I’ll probably take it again to try and master those damn dots.
Hot Springs, AR March 14-15, 2009
Instructors: James Yeager, Brian the Aussie, and Corky
Students: 12 Students; 8 were either active duty or reserve LE; 6 were on a tactical team in some function, for 1 person it was their first training
Gear: Glock 19
Brown Bear 115 gr
Tucker “The Answer”
Tucker Gun Belt
Desantis double mag pouch
Mix of Glock and KCI mags
Class:
Saturday started out with introductions, range safety, and the other introductory information for the class. We were quickly on the line and began working on the steps of our draw. We then began shooting the DEA dots; the instructors would call out the dot and the number of shots and give the “Fight” command. After shooting the DEA dots we shot at silhouette targets. Target zones and the number of shots were called out followed by the “Fight” command. After lunch we worked on shooting strong and weak hand only and went over one-handed reloads and clearing malfunctions. We then shot from kneeling, sitting and supine.
Sunday morning was a lecture on mindset, legal, and physiological aspects of a gunfight. This was a very worthwhile lecture and had some important points for people to consider and act on. After lunch we shot the Allen dots. The first 6 dots were shot slow fire under command to work on watching the front sight. We shot the last 6 dots at our own pace. The next drills were shooting while moving and from behind cover. We also worked on shooting from retention.
Observations/takeaways:
You must look at your gear as tools. It had rained off and on Tuesday through Friday leaving the range wet and muddy especially on the left side of the line. All of our mags ended up in the mud and slop throughout the weekend. Shooting from supine we probably spent 30 minute to an hour lying on the ground shooting. By the end of this drill my pistol, belt and mag pouch were covered in mud, I had rocks stuck to my belt, and my mag puch beat up. I was grateful to be using the gear I was and not a sharkskin carry rig with a custom shop 1911, simply because I would have been a lot more reluctant to roll around in the mud.
I have some non-shooting items I need to take care of incase I am ever forced to defend myself or family. I was aware of these before class but had put them off; Sunday’s lecture drove home the point and reinforced the importance to me.
I started Saturday’s class off wearing my normal Carhartt jacket; it has the large deep open pockets. During the draw I became tangled up in the pockets a couple times when pushing the pistol forward toward the target. I could see this also being an issue with some hoodies having the kangaroo pockets. If you wear outerwear that has large open pockets you need to make sure they don’t interfere with your draw from concealment.
The areas I need work were magnified. I was weak shooting on the move and am a target watcher. I was pulling my shots into a neat little group left of the target by not completing my follow through and watching the front sight. I’d raise my head up looking for the bullet hole to see where I had hit. I’m going to supplement my square range shooting with trips to the action pistol bays to work on shooting while moving. I also need to shoot more single handed.
My gear ran pretty well. My holster has reverse J-clips and came unclipped one time making reholstering difficult; once that was fixed it was fine the rest of the weekend. I had one failure to extract towards the end of Saturday. This was my only malfunction of the weekend. Someone did have a squib load with American factory ammo.
Conclusion:
This is a good well-balanced class. If it is your first class it will give you a great foundation and the instructors are helpful if you are having any difficulties. You’ll get to do things that you’ve never been able to do on a square range and the lecture will provide lots of information that your CCW class left out or the internet distorts.
If you’ve trained before you’ll get the basics reinforced and beat into your head. You’ll probably see new ways to do a couple things. I had a couple questions about why they did something different and James was more than helpful in explaining it.
James and the Tactical Response crew kept the class interesting and exciting. It was a good class and I’ll probably take it again to try and master those damn dots.
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