I really liked Cirillo's class. Cirillo gave a very personal, very hands-on class, with lots of individual feedback and plenty of time for questions. He didn't hurry us from skill to skill, but made sure we had time to assimilate one lesson before moving on to the next one.
I think Cirillo's main goal is to give his students confidence, the kind of confidence that could make a difference in a real encounter. Certainly as a guy who's seen dozens of elephants, he's got plenty of credibility to say the things he does.
During the visualization drills ("don't consciously look for your sights, just visualize the bullet going right into the center of that target and let your subconscious mind find the sights for you"), Cirillo commented that Jeff Cooper would probably throw him out of church for his heresy. But he was quick to point out that we were looking at the sights, just not consciously. I suppose so, but my hits said otherwise (eg, all over the target).
Another drill had us shooting with taped-up sights, then with smeared glasses. Again, these were all confidence-builders designed to let the students know that they could get their hits even if things were not 'perfect' in one way or another. And for the most part, we did.
Cirillo kept saying that trigger control was more important than a perfect sight picture. Certainly my own targets agreed with his assessment. This emphasis on trigger control was exactly what I needed, as my targets testified. I also loved the low-key way he taught the skills -- no stress except the inherent stress of doing a good job learning the skill.
The downed defender drills were very useful and kind of fun, though they were a bit painful for me to do. I've been nursing some tendonitis in my left shoulder, so I really had to tune in and concentrate while lying on my shoulder and during the left-hand-overhead shots. Fact is, I'm pretty sure my target wouldn't have looked so good if I hadn't had to concentrate so hard on what I was doing in order to tune out the pain. In any case, the downed defender skills seemed to be a fairly important addition to the skills box -- especially as the lesson learned wasn't so much how to shoot in the particular position we were shooting in, but that we could shoot from an awkward position and still get our hits as long as we could still see the sights.
Downed defender positions were as follows:
I got a little frustrated with Cirillo's teaching style in spots. He would sometimes get halfway into his explanation of what we were supposed to be doing or learning, and then wander off into a story illustrating the point. The stories were great and I wouldn't have missed them for the world ... but, um, I often could have used the rest of the explanation of the skill, too. Usually I could figure out how to fill in the blank spot in his instructions -- but not always. From the questions other students were asking, I wasn't the only one feeling that way.
As far as Cirillo personally, how could you not love the man? He's extremely charming, gregarious, and has great stories. On the other hand, he's also (as a friend of mine pointed out) probably the scariest person you'll ever meet. I mean, here's this nice old geezer, friendly and sweet. You meet him and think, "ah, he's a really nice guy." And he really is, but this nice old guy has killed a whole bunch of people and freely talks about it without any apparent remorse or ill feeling.
Cirillo is also my new hero. He mentioned that he took Andy Stanford's class two years ago, and "learned a buncha new stuff." He added that some of the stuff he learned in Stanford's class is stuff he wished he'd learned 40 years ago. Cirillo is 72 years old, and still learning new things, still growing and changing. Definitely an inspiration.
If Jim Cirillo ever teaches a class in your area, I'd recommend you go take it. It was well worth the weekend.
pax
Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young. -- Henry Ford
I think Cirillo's main goal is to give his students confidence, the kind of confidence that could make a difference in a real encounter. Certainly as a guy who's seen dozens of elephants, he's got plenty of credibility to say the things he does.
During the visualization drills ("don't consciously look for your sights, just visualize the bullet going right into the center of that target and let your subconscious mind find the sights for you"), Cirillo commented that Jeff Cooper would probably throw him out of church for his heresy. But he was quick to point out that we were looking at the sights, just not consciously. I suppose so, but my hits said otherwise (eg, all over the target).
Another drill had us shooting with taped-up sights, then with smeared glasses. Again, these were all confidence-builders designed to let the students know that they could get their hits even if things were not 'perfect' in one way or another. And for the most part, we did.
Cirillo kept saying that trigger control was more important than a perfect sight picture. Certainly my own targets agreed with his assessment. This emphasis on trigger control was exactly what I needed, as my targets testified. I also loved the low-key way he taught the skills -- no stress except the inherent stress of doing a good job learning the skill.
The downed defender drills were very useful and kind of fun, though they were a bit painful for me to do. I've been nursing some tendonitis in my left shoulder, so I really had to tune in and concentrate while lying on my shoulder and during the left-hand-overhead shots. Fact is, I'm pretty sure my target wouldn't have looked so good if I hadn't had to concentrate so hard on what I was doing in order to tune out the pain. In any case, the downed defender skills seemed to be a fairly important addition to the skills box -- especially as the lesson learned wasn't so much how to shoot in the particular position we were shooting in, but that we could shoot from an awkward position and still get our hits as long as we could still see the sights.
Downed defender positions were as follows:
- Lying on one's back, head toward the target, with hands over the head (e.g. upside down), 2 handed, 6 shots
- Lying on back, same position, right hand only, 6 shots
- Lying on back, same position, left hand only, 6 shots
- Lying fetal position, right side, gun between the knees, 2 hands, 6 shots
- Fetal position, right side, right hand only, gun between the knees, 6 shots
- Fetal position, right side, left hand only, gun on top of uppermost knee, 6 shots
- Fetal position, left side, ditto to each the above, total of 18 shots,
I got a little frustrated with Cirillo's teaching style in spots. He would sometimes get halfway into his explanation of what we were supposed to be doing or learning, and then wander off into a story illustrating the point. The stories were great and I wouldn't have missed them for the world ... but, um, I often could have used the rest of the explanation of the skill, too. Usually I could figure out how to fill in the blank spot in his instructions -- but not always. From the questions other students were asking, I wasn't the only one feeling that way.
As far as Cirillo personally, how could you not love the man? He's extremely charming, gregarious, and has great stories. On the other hand, he's also (as a friend of mine pointed out) probably the scariest person you'll ever meet. I mean, here's this nice old geezer, friendly and sweet. You meet him and think, "ah, he's a really nice guy." And he really is, but this nice old guy has killed a whole bunch of people and freely talks about it without any apparent remorse or ill feeling.
Cirillo is also my new hero. He mentioned that he took Andy Stanford's class two years ago, and "learned a buncha new stuff." He added that some of the stuff he learned in Stanford's class is stuff he wished he'd learned 40 years ago. Cirillo is 72 years old, and still learning new things, still growing and changing. Definitely an inspiration.
If Jim Cirillo ever teaches a class in your area, I'd recommend you go take it. It was well worth the weekend.
pax
Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young. -- Henry Ford
