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View Full Version : Pat McNamara TAPS Pistol, 6/30 & 7/1 in Castro Valley, CA



DocGKR
07-03-2011, 02:42 AM
First of all, I would like to thank Grey Group Training, as well as the staff at Chabot Gun Club for arranging this outstanding training opportunity way out here on the West Coast.

Pat McNamara has the same background as several other well known instructors, such as Larry Vickers, Kyle Lamb, and Brian McKibben. As such, aspects of the training they each offer shares certain common traits—especially an emphasis on accuracy at all distances and emphasizing critical thinking during training rather than relying on rote dogmas.

Mac is one of the most intense, experienced, and thoroughly practical instructors I have had the pleasure of working with. His initial safety briefing, a task that can descend into either mere lip service or tedious overzealous minutia, was simple, effective, and absolutely to the point--be sure to know the status of your weapon at ALL times. Later in the course he discussed the need to pre-visualize what you are going to accomplish in practice, competition, as well as on duty. He also reviewed the old chestnut of “training like you fight”; in his opinion this does not always mean fully kitting-up for training, but rather implies always training with the right mind set. Several of us dropped our last shots during various drills; Mac mentioned that this was a symptom of mentally stopping too early, akin to giving up before the fight is finished. Follow through equates with checking your work through the sights when in a gun fight. He also emphasized that if you are not capable of performing a task correctly in training, why would you think you can do it for real in combat.

I’ll start with some basic items that many courses cover. Mac strongly suggested using the slide release when reloading from slide lock and NOT ever using an overhand grip to drop the slide. Likewise he emphasized always working the slide from the back grasping grooves using a slingshot grip for manipulations such as malfunction clearances or when chambering a cartridge with the slide closed--again discouraging the use of a hand-over-slide grip. Over hand can block the ejection port causing malfunctions and can lead to gloves/skin getting caught in the ejection port--Mac offered real world examples of both occurring to folks. As also recommended by many folks including Paul Howe, Mac states that if you have a weapon with a safety, make sure it stays ON until you have an acceptable sight picture just prior to firing. He also wants the safety engaged when reloading, including both 1911's and AR15's--this really does not take extra time, but may prevent problems he has witnessed in real life. Like others, he recommended the thumb forward grip, with strong hand pressure to control recoil in conjunction with the hands creating circumferential clamshell type lateral pressure fully encompassing the grip with the weak hand in the common 45 deg downward cant. Mac stated he uses adjustable rear sights on ALL of his pistols, including those he has taken into combat. He is unequivocal that an acceptable sight picture is required for EACH shot at ALL distances—no point shooting. In contrast to some courses, Mac did not spend a lot of time on malfunction clearances, as he felt with pistols that “tap, rack, bang” solves the majority of problems and we did not need to waste class time on an issue that almost all students can easily resolve. His recommended shooting stance was the typical slightly bladed fighting position with weight on the balls of feet and knees slightly bent. We did not spend a lot of time discussing turns or movement—when you need to move, move; likewise, if you need to turn, turn (leading with the head, then toe). If you need to shoot and move, fire when you have an acceptable sight picture and don’t get caught up in unimportant details like where your feet are. Keep things simple, like the intuitive way children naturally perform “tactical” tasks.

There were quite a few very accomplished shooters in the class with a significant number of dialed-in LE officers, some students with past military experience, along with several civilian shooters. Mac primarily shot a SA 1911 customized to replicate his former unit work pistol, along with having a G17 available. Student pistols were the usual mix of Glocks, Sigs, 1911’s, along with an XD and a couple of M&P’s. The biggest problem pistol turned out to be an M&P9 that I had loaned out to an experienced LE firearms trainer to test during the class; it had previously digested 1600 rounds without a malfunction, was properly cleaned and lubed at the start of the first day, but unexpectedly suffered multiple failures to extract during this class. On the other hand, during the two day course, I fired approximately 800 rounds through an M&P45 w/Apex Duty Kit and RMR02 with no problems except on one reload where the slide stopped about a ¼” out of battery, requiring a slight thumb push to close; as this occurred only about 3 hours into the class and never happened again, I suspect it may have been due to a slightly out of spec WWB FMJ round. This was my first multi-day class with an M&P45—it proved accurate, controllable, and quite capable of shooting rapidly and reliably. First day I experimented with a basic Comp-Tac vertical belt holster--worked fine; second day I used my normal Fricke Gideon Elite holster--worked great, as usual. Eagle triple FB mag pouch. Oh, this class once again reminded me that standing near a pistol shooting .357 SIG is not fun and that many shooters progress faster and are better served with a 9 mm than a .40S&W…

http://www.10-8forums.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php?ubb=download&Number=7573&filename=IMG_0623.jpg

The class format offered an interesting balance between precision and speed, along with several competitions between students to add a bit of stress. Typically we would shoot one drill requiring slow, longer range precision shots followed by a drill demanding rapid closer range shots sometimes coupled with movement. All drills emphasized keeping the shots in the A-zone on IPSC targets, in the black on 25 yd bullseye target, or on C-zone size steel targets.

Drills included:

30 rounds: 3 sets firing 2 rounds in 5 sec at 7, 10, 15, 20, 25 yards from the ready, from the holster 2-hand, from the holster strong hand.

Competition to see who could most quickly place 5 shots from holster into A-zone from 7 yds—preferably 3 sec or less.

15 round competition between students at 25 yards: 5 shots 2-hand, 20 yards: 5 shots strong hand, 15 yards: 5 shots weak hand with shooter setting relative target values target zones and being heavily penalized for missing.

12 shot standard El Presidente drill from holster with 2 shots on each of three IPSC targets at 10-15 yards all shots in A-zone, then a mag change and re-engage all three targets with 2 shots each, minimum suggested time was under 10 seconds and preferably under 7 sec.

Several repetitions of 50 round 500 point aggregate on 25 yd NRA B8 bull shot at 20 or 25 yards: 10 shots 2 hand slow fire, 2 sets of 5 shots timed fire in 20 sec, 2 sets of 5 shots rapid fire in 10 sec, 10 shots strong hand slow fire, 10 shots weak hand slow fire. Minimum recommended score of 400, preferably over 450.

Draw from holster with aggressive lateral movement to left while placing 1-3 shots on target A-zone.

50 yard on IPSC target: 10 shots 2-hand, 10 shots strong hand, 10 shots week hand requiring all 30 shots on target paper, ties broken by looking at number of shots in A-zone.

Draw from holster and fire as many shots accurately into A-zone as possible in 4 seconds, preferably at least 7 shots, 10 or more ideal.

Last Man Standing competition: 3 shots from holster into A-zone at 7 yds, last person to fire or anyone with misses become a spectator until one person is left.

Drill fired at 15 yards from behind/under/around various barriers with 2 shots into A-zones on three targets partially obscured by no shoot hostage targets.

T drill requiring shooting while advancing forward from 15 to 7 yards and then moving laterally, while simultaneously shooting at least 2 shots into the A-zone on each of three target spaced about 7 yards apart.

3 shots from holster on steel at 15 yards, with first hit under 1.5 sec and 0.25 or under splits.

Double elimination walk-back competition on steel.

Another multi-shot drill on steel targets that required critical thinking skills to be successful…

I truly appreciated that Mac shot ALL of the drills and competitions with the students; I was able to learn a lot by just watching how he approached various situations.

While not part of the class, Mac imparted his experience and wisdom on a variety of shooting topics, including the use of simm/reality based training. He also mentioned that he prefers a 5.56 mm DI 16” barrel AR15 with a long FF rail and RDS (w/flip up 3x magnifier as a useful addition) for the majority of his carbine use, including indoors for CQB; he specifically mentioned LaRue and DD AR15’s as working very well for him.

Shooters above the basic level who can consistently hit the bull at 25 yards and are capable of drawing and firing at least 3 accurate shots in 5 seconds should find this a VERY worthwhile class. Pat McNamara is an adaptable, creative, engaging, highly knowledgeable instructor who I look forward to training with again. I especially want to take a carbine course with him. Thanks to all who made this possible!

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Here is Pat McNamara's website: http://www.tmacsinc.com/

In addition, links to a couple of his video's...and yes, that is pretty much how he is when teaching and shooting in class:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w69N5gsxvpM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_0i3JSNwc0p

Jon C
07-03-2011, 07:14 AM
Mac lives about 200 yards from me and I am lucky enough to get to pick his brain pretty much whenever. I highly recommend taking one of his classes. Having trained with just about everyone at this point, Mac is definitely in my top 3.

DocGKR
07-03-2011, 01:14 PM
Jon--I definitely concur with your assessment!

Some questions have come up about Mac's position regarding using the safety during reloads. If you watch the video link, you will note that Mac engages the safety on his AR15 for each reload--didn’t seem to slow him down at all and as he mentions, if can forestall accidents, many of which he has witnessed first hand and described during the class. As Mac stated about using the safety, “It can only be an enabler, never a disabler” with weapons that have an ergonomic easily manipulated safety like a 1911, AR15, Mk17/SCAR-H, etc…I had no problems engaging the safety on my M&P45 for reloads during the class—piece of cake. Obviously on a weapon like the M9 or M11 with an un-ergonomic safety/de-cocker, Mac says to NOT use the safety/de-cocker when doing a reload, as it would be a “disabler” and leave you in a worse position.

vmi-mo
07-03-2011, 02:51 PM
Those videos show his teaching style very well. Energetic, intense and attention catching.

His book which can be purchased on amazon in an excellent resource.

I would not hesitate to get into another class with Pat.


PJ

YVK
07-03-2011, 09:07 PM
Thanks for review.

The safety thing is interesting. I've heard about it with rifles, but not with pistols. I can't quite get it about 1911 - during slide lock reload one can't engage the safety, right (don't have either of my 1911s with me at the moment to check)? Is he taking tac reloads then?

Looking forward to training with Mac in October.

fuse
07-03-2011, 10:10 PM
Is he taking tac reloads then?


Must be.

sent via Android 3.1

DocGKR
07-03-2011, 10:27 PM
Obviously with a 1911 at slide lock, you can't engage the safety, so we are talking tac reloads here. Whenever possible engage the safety when you don't have a sight picture on your target (this includes reloads), but adapt to the situation--when doing an emergency reload under fire when every split second counts, maybe using the safety is not going to help your cause. On the other hand, when things are a bit less hectic and you have other members of your team around you, it might be prudent to flick the safety on when reloading, as it can't hurt and might help. Bottom line is this, if the safety is available and you have the option to use it, do so. If not, don't. Pretty simple and can reduce the risk of problems.

jbmilitary006
07-04-2011, 12:16 AM
Thanks for posting this great review. I have been trying to figure out a class to take when I get back from overseas. He will definitely be in the top of my list.

DocGKR
07-04-2011, 06:44 PM
Lot's of good commentary here as well: http://lightfighter.net/eve/forums?a=tpc&s=7336015661&f=458100756&m=54920502763&r=25820822763#25820822763.

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Here is Pat McNamara shooting his 1911 strong hand at 50 yards, one shot from the holster in 5 sec:

http://www.10-8forums.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php?ubb=download&Number=7575&filename=IMG_0877.jpg

JHC
07-04-2011, 07:29 PM
Must be the best class AAR I've read. Thanks much.

DocGKR
07-15-2011, 12:09 AM
A couple of follow-up items. On the last day of the TAPS class, I dropped out of the walk-back drill earlier than I expected, missing a relatively easy plate shot at 35 yds. I figured I was just tired and flubbed the effort. When I recently went shooting, I discovered that one of the two RMR retaining screws was missing from the M&P45 training pistol I used at the TAPS class, allowing the RDS to wobble just a bit…and yes, the screws were initially installed with blue Loc-Tite. The slide milling by Mark Housel was done nicely enough to provide a reasonably tight fit for the RMR, so even with one screw missing I was still able to make close range hits; it was only at longer distances that the subtle looseness of the sight became critical enough to induce misses. Lesson learned—periodically check the RDS screws, especially after each day shooting in a higher round count class.

With the M&P45-RMR down awaiting the arrival of a new screw, I instead shot a G19-RMR for this recent training session. I ran the same pattern of drills used during the TAPS class, including shooting the 500 point aggregate at 25 yards. I was also curious to see if there was any advantage to using a G17 equipped with an RMR, compared to a G19. Obviously, with iron sights a longer sight radius can be an advantage when shooting at smaller, more distant targets, however this should not matter with RMR equipped pistols. With the G19-RMR I shot a 461 on the 500 point aggregate, the G17-RMR resulted in a 465--basically the same. If the shooter does their job, a G19, G17, and M&P45 all offer acceptable accuracy for duty/CCW use.

In another turn of events, I let my son shoot the M&P9 that seemed to be problematic during the TAPS course. Over the course of 300 rounds of Federal 147 gr FMJ and Winchester M882 ball, no malfunctions of any kind occurred…

Decado
07-30-2011, 08:47 AM
A couple of follow-up items. On the last day of the TAPS class, I dropped out of the walk-back drill earlier than I expected, missing a relatively easy plate shot at 35 yds. I figured I was just tired and flubbed the effort. When I recently went shooting, I discovered that one of the two RMR retaining screws was missing from the M&P45 training pistol I used at the TAPS class, allowing the RDS to wobble just a bit…and yes, the screws were initially installed with blue Loc-Tite. The slide milling by Mark Housel was done nicely enough to provide a reasonably tight fit for the RMR, so even with one screw missing I was still able to make close range hits; it was only at longer distances that the subtle looseness of the sight became critical enough to induce misses. Lesson learned—periodically check the RDS screws, especially after each day shooting in a higher round count class.[/i]

Good tip thanks. I just checked mine they were fine, but I will be sure to check them more often. I have never taken a class from Pat but I do have his book, which is very informative.