This past weekend, I attended an Ernest Langdon Beretta specific handgun class, hosted by Joyce and Bill Wilson at their Circle WC Ranch in Texas. I first met Ernest in 1995 at a USPSA match in Virginia, but haven't since had the opportunity to shoot with or take a course with him. When I learned of this course, I jumped at it because of my interest in Beretta and TDA pistols, the positive feedback I have heard from friends that have trained with Ernest, and the balance Ernest strikes between tactical training typified by when he was Chief Instructor of the Marine High Risk Personnel program, and his pursuit of pure technical shooting skills in national level USPSA and IDPA competition.
The shooting facility at the Circle WC Ranch is world class. While Bill Wilson primarily manages the ranch for trophy hog hunting, it is clear Bill has spared no expense in creating what most of us would only dream of in a private shooting facility. I arrived mid-day Friday, and with the class not starting until Saturday morning, Bill, Ernest and I got to do some shooting, including such drills as the Bill Drill 2, FASTest, and then an informal IDPA match. While we didn’t have a cover vest with us, Ernest put down two mid 3’s clean FAST runs. Bill “schooled” me in the IDPA match, which I guess shouldn’t be surprising given his history with IDPA.
We had 15 shooters assembled Saturday morning, shooting what else -- a range of Beretta 92 pistols including Centurions, the Vertec, 92G-SD, Elite II’s, garden variety FS and M9 models, and Ernest’s favorite hybrid pistol consisting of a Vertec upper on a M9A1 lower. All shooters trained with OWB holsters, although Ernest and I came to and left the range with our Beretta pistols in JM Custom Kydex appendix rigs. We had a wide range of shooting experience represented in class, ranging from relatively new shooters up through Bill Wilson, who obviously has been at this for quite a while. A treat was Beretta USA was represented by two factory executives, both shooting the course and providing Beretta technical information, including allowing us to shoot various Beretta handguns, the 1301 shotgun and their newest 5.56 carbine. I suspect by mid-day Saturday, they were tired of hearing “dovetailed front sight” and “G lever.”
Given the objective -- teaching an intermediate level handgun course, plus including a focus on Beretta handgun specific information, I wasn’t sure how Ernest was going to be able to pull this off in just two days. Obviously this wasn’t his first rodeo, because Ernest skillfully went from the general, down into the weeds when required, and then back out so we weren’t bogged down.
Day one started with precision work, and then through the range of weapon manipulations, shooting from the transition, the presentation, reloading, and finished with precision work. Each shooter put about 400 rounds downrange on day one, and that was probably an appropriate round count, as many were mentally exhausted by day’s end. This course was much more than just a shooting experience, as it featured the Circle WC ranch, which is nearly the size of Rode Island. For dinner Saturday night, we traveled in multiple Jeep and Polaris Ranger type vehicles nearly a half hour over to the spread owned by Bill’s nearest neighbor, who along with his son was attending the course. It was classic Texas ranch fun, with catfish, hush puppies, fries and slaw washed down with indigenous adult beverages. The setting was fantastic, right down to the rubber rattlesnake left in the grass to accost those that had an extra beverage and left their Surefire lights in their shooting bag.
Day two started again with shooting precision dots, including right and left hand only, and quickly progressed to shooting on the move. At this point, a discussion point between Ernest and Bill Wilson, became one of those light switch moments for me. The temptation for me, while shooting on the move, is to want to break the shot “right then” when the sights are aligned. A demo reinforced that the sights can be significantly misaligned, and the hit still made IF the shooter is smooth on the trigger. I tried this, paying much more attention to a smooth trigger press and accepting just general sight alignment, and was rewarded with some of the best hits on the move I have ever made. Throughout the day, it was great to see various shooters, under Ernest’s tutelage reach their own light switch moments, resulting in massive performance jumps for them. At lunch, the Beretta factory guys broke out a 1301 Tactical 12 gauge shotgun, and we had a ball on the plate rack with it. That shotgun is WAY fast and easy to shoot, and we had zero stoppages with any of the rounds fired. After lunch, Ernest demoed the Tueller drill, and in the process cleverly stressed each shooter by making them stand before the entire class and make one draw to an eight inch circle on the PACT timer. It has been a while since I found just one draw so stressful. In no time, the day was almost over, and we finished up with more precision work shooting dots at 7 yards. We ended up right around 800 something rounds per shooter for the two days of class. There were a number of tired shooters, but smiles all the way around on account of what folks learned in just the two days.
The rough count, including some pre and post class shooting was 11,000 rounds through 19 different Beretta 92 pistols without a single stoppage. I just can’t remember a class with so many pistols, and so many shooters without a single stoppage -- which speaks to the inherent reliability of the 92, especially as I didn’t see a single pistol cleaned over the weekend. Attending the class, and great shooters, were Bill’s son Ryan who manages Wilson Combat day to day and the two gunsmiths who do the bulk of the Beretta custom work at Wilson Combat. I can’t wait to get a 92A1 headed their way for a G conversion and the works. The Beretta representatives, who were both excellent shooters, passed out one of their nifty coated, sand resistant magazines to each student. For those who haven’t looked at these magazines, I was impressed, as they have a very NP3-like coating, and special side channels to cause sand to migrate out of the way. We also got to shoot the ARX 100 carbine, and shoot and shoot, until the barrel was steaming. It ran 100 percent and had some very innovative design features.
As students headed off, Bill Wilson was raring to go with a post class competition. I have corresponded with Bill about African hunting and Beretta pistols for nearly 15 years, but this was the first time I had met him in person. He is a piece of work -- think big kid, excellent shooter, and non-stop competitor rolled into one person. We shot until we were exhausted, doing all sorts of silly things. Plate racks for speed, plate racks per Bianchi rules, support hand only at 65 yards, off hand at 100 yards, and countless other drills. Just when I thought we were too tired to go on, there would be a latest challenge that Bill would turn into best two out of three, and be writing each result down. I am glad we weren’t betting a dollar a test, or I would have needed to borrow money to get home. When it is time to perform, Bill seems to shoot even better than when he isn’t competing.
Sunday night, it was just Ernest and me in Bill’s stunning lodge, packed full of African trophies, and we got to discuss some of the fine points of Ernest’s vast knowledge of Beretta pistols and the mods that make them work best. I suspect we will be hearing more about innovative Beretta products associated with Bill and Ernest in the future. Ernest also showed me an OWB concealed vest draw technique, that was worth the effort of the entire course. I really appreciated the course, the Wilson’s ranch, the camaraderie of my fellow students, and the chance to experience some Texas style ranch hospitality over a glorious spring weekend. If you get a chance to train with Ernest Langdon, I definitely recommend that you do it.
Ernest Landgon with his hybrid Vertec upper/M9A1 lower and the brass we made over the weekend:
The Circle WC Ranch guest lodge great room:
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Thanks for the excellent report.
Originally Posted by JHC
