jem375 said:
Yep, of course all you guys are right about taking classes, I bet all the people in the old days took classes on how to defend their homes against attacks by Indians and other cutthroats.
Sounds like a plan to me. I mean it is only my life. Why would I want to learn how I was making stupid assumptions in a safe environment with no serious consequences? Much better to learn how ignorant I am in an actual life and death fight! Just like the pioneers of old! If I survive, I get valuable training for free without having to pay for it. Super Deal!
Big waste of money and ammo when you will probably never use all that training
Well, if you'll probably never use the training, then you'll probably never need the firearm or ammunition either. Might as well save the money and not buy it to begin with..
and what kind of training is it going to be?. Against a modern Army or against gangs if SHTF happens?
There is a wide range of training available, covering a wide range of subjects. What kind of training it is going to be depends on what kind of training you want to attend. If you attend training that is useless for your situation, then you'll have skills that are useless for your situation. However, there are classes dealing with concealed carry issues, typical criminal attacks, using a carbine or shotgun for home defense, and various other classes that cover aspects of real-life firearms use that happen every day. You can also just train to be better at the gun game of your choice if you view shooting as purely recreational.
And of course the other side benefit of training is the ability to try out expensive accessories in real-world conditions without having to buy it. Want to use an FN SCAR like it was meant to be used? EAG has one for students. Want to know how to keep multiple ARs running trouble free into 5 digit round counts? EAG does it every weekend. Want to play with a $700 Aimpoint? See which weaponlight works best in an actual darkened shoothouse? Training is a great place to try gear and find out what works for you without having to actually buy a $700 optic and hope it works.
I need to know how to fight an enemy when ambushed in a car like a hole in the head, how many people carry a loaded AR in their car anyway?...
Well, if you don't need that skill, maybe you should focus on taking training that does apply to you? However, people spend a great deal of time in vehicles and a lot of crime happens in the vicinity of vehicles. In other parts of the world, roadblock robberies are much more common. However, I don't believe either of the classes the OP is considering address these issues.
But, of course if you think you need the training and are not up to the task of going to the local gun range and shoot fairly often, then of course take a class.
Before I took my first pistol class, I was buying 1,000 rounds of 9mm for $143 and shooting it in a month. I did this for six months under the misguided belief that I was "training." And this was after I had spent years hunting, worked for an SOT, been in the military, and thought I was very knowledgable about firearms. Instead, I was mostly developing bad habits that it would later take tens of thousands of rounds to overcome. And of course, since I was shooting on a local public range, I wasn't able to practice a wide range of things that are useful to self-defense like shooting while moving, shooting rapidly under pressure, drawing and shooting, etc. Of course, that is probably a good thing since I probably lacked the skill and knowledge to do many of those things in a safe manner.
Then I took the pistol class. In 1,000 rounds over 3 days, I did more to improve my shooting than I had in the previous 20 years of shooting. Not only did I get a lot better quickly; but I got to use my skills with things like reactive targets and moving targets. I got to go through a shoot house. I learned all kinds of important lessons that I never would have learned in 20 years of shooting on the range because those problems couldn't have come up in a typical public range environment. Every time I think about the 6,000 rounds I put downrange, I cringe. I think of how much better I would be if I had just gotten good instruction first and learned to execute the fundamentals correctly BEFORE I started slinging rounds downrange at 1,000 a month. Now that I don't have that luxury anymore, I really regret not making better use of my training budget.
And of course, let's analyze what you are claiming:
jem375's recommended course of action: OP takes $440 worth of 5.56 ammo (around 1,000 rounds) and goes to shoot on the range by himself.
BR's recommended course of action: Go get 16 hours of instruction from a man who has been in multiple gun fights over the past 30 years. A man who has experience in combat as a Force Recon Marine and experience in combat as a 20yr veteran of NYPD. In addition to the combat experience, this instructor has shot High Master and has over a decade of experience teaching our own elite forces to fight and shoot with firearms.
Your approach is not going to make the OP a better shooter than my approach. It is not even going to come close. In terms of efficiency and savings, the OP would be much better off eliminating his bad habits early and spending his time developing good muscle memory.
