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Mother Nature just couldn't hold out for one more day, could she? Day 1 was sunny, clear, and about 72 degrees. Day 2 was sunny, clear, and about 75 degrees. Today, the rain started during breakfast and is still coming down, at 8:00pm. It never completely stopped all day, and was pretty heavy at times. There were 20 students that stayed around for level III, and only 1 did not bring rain gear. The school took care of him.
We started the day shooting steel targets from 7 yards. They were torso size steels. It involved drawing, and taking up the slack during the press. First, singles, then double taps, triple taps, and finally, multiple targets. Shooting multiple targets in a row is a lot of fun. Never had an opportunity to try that before.
Then it was time for shooting on the move, like yesterday, but this time moving in a square pattern. To the front, then side, then backward. It's difficult to remember to keep moving during magazine changes. Your feet just wanna stop.
The next exercises were aimed at preparing for the live fire houses. The drills were switching hands, single hand shooting, both strong and weak side, and non-dominant eye shooting, which doesn't seem important until you're in the house. Also what they call "Gooseneck" shooting, which is shooting with the gun held in very close to you so that it doesn't enter a room before you do.
Next was coaching on how to clear the house. They call the main techniques "slicing the pie" and "the dropout". Footwork was critical, and the demonstrations were almost not believable, but we all got a chance to try it for ourselves, and it's very interesting how much of a hiding assailant you can see before becoming visible yourself.
Then to the "live fire house". I don't want to say too much about it, because it would ruin the experience for anyone thinking about attending the classes here, but I can tell you it was VERY stressful, and quite draining. The way it works is that one student clears the house with an instructor right there with him. When done, the next student clears the house, but the previous student follows along (with a second instructor to keep him safe), so there are actually 3 people BESIDES THE SHOOTER in the house. Yes, it's done with live ammunition. There are also no-shoot targets that you encounter along the way. You challenge them with voice commands. The instructor is the voice of anyone your challenging. One very interesting observation: There is no roof on the house, just walls, doors, furniture, etc., but as soon as you open that first door, you don't even notice the rain. Or whether your breathing, or even pissing yourself.
There were a few misc. drills today too. The two most interesting were "Furtive Movement" which is designed to give you experience dealing with people on the street that just seem like trouble. You know, the guy that wanders up to you saying stuff like "Hey, can I ask you something, why you backing away from me, I just wanna talk to you for a minute, you're not very friendly are you?" and so forth, all while trying to get uncomfortably close. Another one they called "The Elephant", but I don't know how it got that name. It's designed to give you experience sorting things out after you've been clocked upside the head. It works like this: All students guns are "roped" to make them safe, but with hammers back or strikers cocked, so there would be an audible click if the trigger was pressed. The drill was done with 5 student at a time, but could be any number. 4 make a semi-circle around the remaining 1, and are about 25 feet away. Instructor starts counting slowly, while the student in the middle bends over, points to a spot on the ground, and starts going around it, just like that forehead on the baseball bat thing. The instructor takes about 10 seconds the get to 3, and while this is going on, he points out 1 student to draw their gun and point it at the one in the middle.When the instructor reaches 3, the dizzy student stands up, has to locate the one with the gun, draw, and fire (click), while the other 4 are all advancing on him. Yes, we pointed real guns at each other and pulled the trigger. It's a difficult thing to bring yourself to do, but a roped gun cannot chamber a round.
Lastly, we were all timed in 2 drills. The first was a draw and fire on a steel target from 7 yards. The last was a draw and fire on 3 steel targets at 7 yards. My best time was .76 seconds for 1 target, and 1.88 seconds for 3.
My round count for today was 412. Total for 3 days was 1033.
Overall, I'm very satisfied with the training. I really feel like I really got my money's worth, and would do it again if given the chance. There is no comparison to the quality of this education vs. the CCW class I took in NC. The stuff taught here could actually work. And I couldn't say enough about the instructors. I think most of them are LEOs, and really have the skill to pass their expertise along. Lot's of people are skilled at doing, but fewer are skilled at training like these fellers are. It was very evident that the owner, John Benner, and all the instructors really care about the welfare of the students they train. You don't often find that.
About the training...
Easiest thing: trigger control
Hardest thing: pointing a real gun at somebody and pulling the trigger
Most stressful thing: Live Fire house (by far)
Least stressful thing: Relaxation exercise at end of day 2
Most valuable skill learned: Shooting on the move, and switching hands
I'm looking forward to levels IV and V. Maybe next Spring.
We started the day shooting steel targets from 7 yards. They were torso size steels. It involved drawing, and taking up the slack during the press. First, singles, then double taps, triple taps, and finally, multiple targets. Shooting multiple targets in a row is a lot of fun. Never had an opportunity to try that before.
Then it was time for shooting on the move, like yesterday, but this time moving in a square pattern. To the front, then side, then backward. It's difficult to remember to keep moving during magazine changes. Your feet just wanna stop.
The next exercises were aimed at preparing for the live fire houses. The drills were switching hands, single hand shooting, both strong and weak side, and non-dominant eye shooting, which doesn't seem important until you're in the house. Also what they call "Gooseneck" shooting, which is shooting with the gun held in very close to you so that it doesn't enter a room before you do.
Next was coaching on how to clear the house. They call the main techniques "slicing the pie" and "the dropout". Footwork was critical, and the demonstrations were almost not believable, but we all got a chance to try it for ourselves, and it's very interesting how much of a hiding assailant you can see before becoming visible yourself.
Then to the "live fire house". I don't want to say too much about it, because it would ruin the experience for anyone thinking about attending the classes here, but I can tell you it was VERY stressful, and quite draining. The way it works is that one student clears the house with an instructor right there with him. When done, the next student clears the house, but the previous student follows along (with a second instructor to keep him safe), so there are actually 3 people BESIDES THE SHOOTER in the house. Yes, it's done with live ammunition. There are also no-shoot targets that you encounter along the way. You challenge them with voice commands. The instructor is the voice of anyone your challenging. One very interesting observation: There is no roof on the house, just walls, doors, furniture, etc., but as soon as you open that first door, you don't even notice the rain. Or whether your breathing, or even pissing yourself.
There were a few misc. drills today too. The two most interesting were "Furtive Movement" which is designed to give you experience dealing with people on the street that just seem like trouble. You know, the guy that wanders up to you saying stuff like "Hey, can I ask you something, why you backing away from me, I just wanna talk to you for a minute, you're not very friendly are you?" and so forth, all while trying to get uncomfortably close. Another one they called "The Elephant", but I don't know how it got that name. It's designed to give you experience sorting things out after you've been clocked upside the head. It works like this: All students guns are "roped" to make them safe, but with hammers back or strikers cocked, so there would be an audible click if the trigger was pressed. The drill was done with 5 student at a time, but could be any number. 4 make a semi-circle around the remaining 1, and are about 25 feet away. Instructor starts counting slowly, while the student in the middle bends over, points to a spot on the ground, and starts going around it, just like that forehead on the baseball bat thing. The instructor takes about 10 seconds the get to 3, and while this is going on, he points out 1 student to draw their gun and point it at the one in the middle.When the instructor reaches 3, the dizzy student stands up, has to locate the one with the gun, draw, and fire (click), while the other 4 are all advancing on him. Yes, we pointed real guns at each other and pulled the trigger. It's a difficult thing to bring yourself to do, but a roped gun cannot chamber a round.
Lastly, we were all timed in 2 drills. The first was a draw and fire on a steel target from 7 yards. The last was a draw and fire on 3 steel targets at 7 yards. My best time was .76 seconds for 1 target, and 1.88 seconds for 3.
My round count for today was 412. Total for 3 days was 1033.
Overall, I'm very satisfied with the training. I really feel like I really got my money's worth, and would do it again if given the chance. There is no comparison to the quality of this education vs. the CCW class I took in NC. The stuff taught here could actually work. And I couldn't say enough about the instructors. I think most of them are LEOs, and really have the skill to pass their expertise along. Lot's of people are skilled at doing, but fewer are skilled at training like these fellers are. It was very evident that the owner, John Benner, and all the instructors really care about the welfare of the students they train. You don't often find that.
About the training...
Easiest thing: trigger control
Hardest thing: pointing a real gun at somebody and pulling the trigger
Most stressful thing: Live Fire house (by far)
Least stressful thing: Relaxation exercise at end of day 2
Most valuable skill learned: Shooting on the move, and switching hands
I'm looking forward to levels IV and V. Maybe next Spring.
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