Dave Harrington Combat Speed Pistol 10/1-2/2011
Date: 10/1-2/2011
Location:
The Beaver Valley Rifle and Pistol Club
Beaver Falls, PA (about 20 minutes from the Pittsburgh International Airport)
Instructor:“Super” Dave Harrington
Cost/Required Materials:
$450. I was able to sign up for the class with a 20% promotion from Grey Group so the cost was $360
2,000 rounds of ammo ($180x2=$360)
I live in Pittsburgh to I traveled to the range daily from my home.
Total cost less food: $720
Prerequisites:
Quoted as
Quote:
“Anyone attending Dave's class should have a solid background in handgun shooting. Attended prior training, shoot often on their own, shoot competitively, prior Mil/LE handgun training, etc.”
TD1:
Dave started out with some discussion and bullseye work. He gave us a great amount of detail on some how/why and a few different (but similar) takes on many things. The first shooting drills were on some NRA bullseyes (5 bull) at 5, 10, and 15 yards (10 rounds per bull, 50 rounds per distance) as a grouping exercise. Not only was it a warm up but it was a good evaluation of where people were. There was feedback provided to those who needed it. After that we moved on to a triple bull drill with left hand only, right hand only, and two handed strings of 10 rounds required from around 15 yards. Much emphasis was placed on taking the time needed to get accurate shots. Dave discussed the difference between a single shot and a string of fire with respect to this drill.
Following the accuracy/grouping work Dave went into what is needed to make the shot and showed us a few different things concerning grip. He had us perform the “V-block” drill as he calls it which showed that sometimes you are more accurate with minimal contact. The intent, as I gathered, was to show that the shooter can do a lot of things to miss.
Other drills throughout the day included alternating hands, left and right, shooting on steel. We performed a few itterations shooting 3 and 4 magazines worth. Dave really stressed competence with your left hand, right hand, and two handed.
Prior to breaking for dinner we had some discussion about the range being open until 11pm. We decided to have a night session, in the cold drizzly rain. This started with some lighting technique discussion and discussion on night shooting in general. Major point: People don’t do enough of it. We started shooting on steel without lights to show that it was not too terrible with minimal ambient light, but target ID is lost. This was done to show capability only. We mixed in the lights and used the steel available to run some drills shooting across a dozen or so plates. The performance of handheld versus a weapon mounted light was noticeable. I ran it both ways just as a refresher for handheld lighting techniques. I carry with a WML about 95% of the time. To close we did a walkback drill, in the dark. With minimal ambient light and WML’s the top shooters made it back to ~70 yards on a TacStrike ¼ scale target.
TD2:
Day 2 started out colder and wetter than day 1 but we got over it quickly. We got right to shooting at the steel from 15-25 yards away with a lot of repeats on single hand shooting. Beyond those skills Dave went more in depth than I have ever heard on front sight tracking and feedback. Many shooters were waiting to hear the ding on the steel and were having issues. At 25 yards with a bunch of shooters on the line it is hard to tell when you get your hits, and more importantly, the front sight should be all the feedback needed (unless of course it is moving around on your gun). A lot of Dave’s competition experience came into play here and throughout the day he stressed how competition can help people develop as shooters.
Day 2 was also about a lot of manipulations, more than other classes have been. We did lots of loading the gun and firing single shots or two shots. There must have been 30 reps of draw-load-one shot. As the pace picked up I had developed a good rythymn so Dave jumped in line beside me and we did a few head to head reps. It doesnt seem often that the instructor challenges a student like this but it was a pretty cool feeling. Even cooler was holding my own and getting one or two.
Before discussing reloads it is worth mentioning the range. All of the prior classes I had at this range were shot on a nice grass surface. There is some expansion going on for this section and the extra 40 yards gained on the range has not had the chance to be planted yet. In addition with our wonderful weather the range was partially flooded earlier in the week. It was pretty soupy to say the least. It was unavoidable to drop mags into the muck, but we did. We went over a few different types of reloads and did a fair amount of drills for each type.
To close off the day Dave told us he likes to leave time for the students to dictate what we will do. This was pretty cool as it gave guys a chance to go over something they may have not gotten at the time or needed more reps. Our time was spent with a left handed walkback drill, in the rain. We had done one earlier in the day two handed. The top shooters went 10-15 yards past their earlier.
Issues:
I had replaced the sear housing block in my carry gun, M&P FS 9mm and have been trouble free for 400-600 rounds. During the class I shot ~1500 rounds from this gun prior to issues. I had one FTF only after stuffing a pile of mags that had been dropped on the ground during some manipulations work. I cannot hold fault to the gun as there are a few ways adding dirt and grit to a pistol can lead to the FTF. An immediate action cleared it. Not too soon before this the front sight had appeared to be off. I noticed that at distances beyond 7 yards I was starting to miss, with two hands where as I was able to hit without issue at 25 yards left hand only. After a quick check the front sight appeared to be drifting. Compensation worked for both myself and Super Dave. I finished up the drills with the intent to look into drifting it and peening it in place. Soon after the front sight shifted back and was easily removed on the line by hand. I called it and took the gun out of action for the day and finished with a G17 RTF2 with a Grip Force Adapter. No real issues to speak of jumping to the Glock with the GFA. In the past, without the adapter I had struggled off the draw.
Changes to gear:
None other than correcting whatever the issue is between my front sight and slide, replacement or peening it in place.
Thoughts a week later:
I entered the class not sure what exactly to expect and left ready to take another Super Dave class. I would be doing an injustice trying to use any more words. One thing to note, I included the price of the class to show a little more pieces of the puzzle. Most of my previous classes had round counts that were under a third of what we shot this weekend and my thoughts remain what they are.
Class pic:
http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6049/...69ed7e7d_b.jpg
