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gtmtnbiker98
11-03-2014, 01:09 PM
Rangemaster Combative Pistol Course

On November 1st and 2nd I was privileged to host Tom Givens of Rangemaster for his Combative Pistol Class at the Clinton County Farmers and Sportsmen Association, Wilmington, Ohio. We had a total of 12 students with a mixed background, ranging from computer programmer, attorney, airline pilot, to long tenured street cops. We were a mixed bag of awesome.

TD-1:

Due to the less than ideal range temperatures (I am always to blame) we knocked out the class course work in the morning, allowing for the range to heat up to a nice warm 35 degrees. Yes, there was wind, what good does the cold weather do absent a decent 20 mph cross wind in the face?

We started the range portion of TD-1 with several diagnostic drills. Tom was readily observant up and down the firing line, diagnosing and correcting any and all issues that present themselves on the various circle, triangle, or other IALEFI type target(s) a mere 7 yards away. It’s funny, just when you have one of “those moments” where you hope nobody seen it, Tom was quick to state, “I don’t miss anything.” But of course.

TD-1 can best be summarized by a day with various drills that reinforced shooting basics, mindset, and corrective diagnostics. I shot a total of 346 rounds of 9mm ammunition. My largest take away from TD-1 was that of having the proper mindset. You have to be determined and willing before needing the skills to survive a life-threatening encounter.

http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/dd254/gtmtnbiker98/IMG_0651_zpsfb1cdeea.jpg

TD-2:

Unlike TD-1, the weather for TD-2 had promise. The sun actually shined and the range temperature actually exceeded 40 degrees. By mid-morning the weather was actually pleasant. The focus for TD-1 was mindset, moving targets, divided attention skills, and the need to hit with accuracy.

I must say nobody can give a presentation like Tom Givens. I mean if you can get bored, lose attention span, or fall asleep during his lecture, you are in the WRONG PLACE. The southern humor and casual “drive by” remarks were awesome. Most of the subtle “drive by” remarks were so subtle that if you wasn’t paying attention you would have missed it. AWESOME. The comedy value in his presentations and overall demeanor is well worth the price of admission and the firearms training is free.

The range portion of TD-2 was very well conceived and Tom explained the reasoning behind each drill. I really gained a lot from Tom’s delivery and the “in your face” examples on why he does what he does. Not only does he tell you how to do things, he tells you why! Nobody questions his level of experience and methodology they are prima facie.

During one of the drills, commonly referred as the Casino Drill where you load three magazines with 7-rounds and you engage a target with numbered and colored triangles, squares, and circles Tom did the “ole audience” trick. After several repetitions of the Casino Drill, I was pretty warmed up. But nothing changes things more than self-induced stress, peer pressure, and the ability to perform a train wreck, ON DEMAND. Reflecting back to TD-1 Tom emphasized why he taught the power stroke reloading technique instead of using the slide release during emergency reloads. Well, being the ‘gamer’ that I am, I always rely upon the upward pressure of the magazine insertion to force my thumb to apply downward pressure on the slide release to expedite my reload. Well, during the drill, you know, when everybody is watching you and Tom says, “hey watch this guy, he’s good” – well that’s when the wheels fell off.

Relying on my “bad habit” of engaging the slide release, of course my upward pressure resulted in a premature slide release and you’d never guess what happened. Yes, most of you have already figure this one out. My slide went home on an empty chamber. The slide failed to strip the top round from the magazine. What makes matters even worse, after taking remedial action by racking the slide the slide failed to strip the top round a second time. WTF? Well, it usually helps to fully seat the magazine before attempting to load the weapon, right? I must have missed that part of the exercise. So yes, even when you think you are infallible on the firing line, just remember, we all practice for a reason. Oh, and of course, when Tom asked me what happened, I had to admit to not using the power stroke to load the weapon. Of course, he already knew it, he was right behind me.

My blown exercise in front of the class really reinforced why I need to quit gaming and do the things presented by more knowledgeable people. Yes, I’m going to change my reload method.

http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/dd254/gtmtnbiker98/IMG_0653_zps7b432578.jpg

My total round count for TD-2 was 529 rounds. A total of 875 rounds were fired during the class with 0 stoppages and 0 failures. During one segment of the range instruction I would estimate that we fired 300+ rounds in an estimated 20-minutes. With 9 magazines on hand, I struggled to keep them topped off in order to complete the exercises. I really enjoyed this fast paced drill and really forced the fundamentals of divided attention, trigger control, recoil management, and overall weapons manipulation. The reason I bring attention to the number of rounds fired in a small time frame is recent claims of the HK VP9 getting hot when shot.

I ran an HK VP9 and fired as fast as I could keep the gun fed through an estimated 300 rounds in an approximate time span of 20-minutes. I carry AIWB using a leather holster. I only felt subtle warmth from the gun when holstered and the primary reason for noticing that is due to the outside weather and that I was rather excited in having some warmth during the day. At no time did the HK VP9 become hot to the touch, nor did it over heat, cook off a round, or melt – as exaggerated on the Interwebs. To date, I have an accumulated 8,212 rounds through my primary VP9 with no stoppages and cleaned a total of five times per my log.

To wrap up this AAR, I can pretty much say that this was one of the most enjoyable classes I’ve taken over the years and I’ve taken a lot of classes. My experience started with my service in the Marine Corps and have served in law enforcement from the State, county and municipal levels. I’m a current law enforcement firearms instructor with several hundred hours of professional firearms instruction. To say that Tom’s class is among the best I’ve seen speaks volumes to his delivery, professionalism, and knowledge.

I hope to provide a permanent venue for Tom Givens and Rangemaster here in Ohio and I am currently solidifying plans to bring him back to Wilmington, Ohio in 2015 and beyond. Tom is a credit to the firearms community and one that we should all experience throughout our shooting endeavors.

BJJ
11-03-2014, 07:04 PM
Thanks for the AAR. That class is first on my list to take when it can work out.

If you don't think Tom would mind, can you explain why he prefers the power stroke. I assume because it's more of a sure thing?

gtmtnbiker98
11-03-2014, 07:26 PM
He prefers the hand over slide (what I call the power stroke) due to it being universal to all pistol types. Whereas all pistols have slide releases, they differ in location. The hand over slide or power stroke is universal, since every pistol has a slide and this method will work on any design. It is important to note that he doesn't by in to the gross and fine motor skill argument, so that doesn't factor in to his preference. His method is especially suited to those with different firearm types.

Hope this helps.

Tom Givens
11-03-2014, 11:37 PM
This was an excellent class, largely due to having 13 motivated students who already had some good base-line skills to build on. That Guy was conspicuously absent.

Time flies when we're having fun, but I have to correct the notion that we shot 300 rounds in 20 minutes. We shot a bit extra on TD2 to make up for weather related issues on TD1. We fired a bit over 500 rounds in about 6 1/2 hours of range time. All were in drills that were timed, scored and evaluated. I don't just blow ammo into the berm at any time.

The overhand rack slide release is our preferred method because it works better if the gun, magazine, or ammo are dirty, bloody or otherwise fouled. The slide latch works fine when standing on your hind legs with a clean gun, ammo and magazines. Also, as Eric pointed out, the slide latch is in different places on different guns. We explain our rationale and let students use whichever method they think works best for them. As Eric noted, using the slide latch release caused a catastrophic malfunction under stress, which I see fairly frequently. YMMV.

gtmtnbiker98
11-04-2014, 06:12 AM
Sorry about the over estimation, Tom. It sure seemed like we burnt through a lot during the Casino Drill. To the point I had to run to the car for extra ammo.

Dagga Boy
11-04-2014, 08:00 AM
Great AAR. One of the best things about Tom's classes is the "why" factor. Tom can give you plenty of the why and how he got to what he teaches. That is very important. There are a bunch of instructors out there that I consider friends, mentors, peers, and respect the heck out of. I don't agree with everything every one of them teaches as we sometimes get to the "why" via a different route. The key is that people like Tom can efficiently discuss the route they took. To me, this is what really separates "good" instructors from the "great" instructors, and Tom falls into the "great" instructor category.

So........there is a performance standard for the VP9 in Tom's class. Hopefully you kept that up ;). We need to get HK on Tom's "recommended list":cool:.

gtmtnbiker98
11-04-2014, 08:48 AM
Out of 875 rounds I used only three or four band aid's (as Tom would call it) so I hope I kept the "standard" high. I really liked the Casino Drill and just ordered a bunch of those DT-2A Color Discretionary targets from LE Targets for my department's upcoming training on the 14th.

BJJ
11-04-2014, 08:56 AM
The overhand rack slide release is our preferred method because it works better if the gun, magazine, or ammo are dirty, bloody or otherwise fouled. The slide latch works fine when standing on your hind legs with a clean gun, ammo and magazines. Also, as Eric pointed out, the slide latch is in different places on different guns. We explain our rationale and let students use whichever method they think works best for them. As Eric noted, using the slide latch release caused a catastrophic malfunction under stress, which I see fairly frequently. YMMV.

Tom,

Thanks for explaining your position.

Some time ago I converted to using support thumb to release the slide on reloads. Despite having practiced that way for over a year, when I shot a pistol match in rainy weather with temperatures in the high 40's, I went back to power stroke with no conscious thought. I think my hands were so cold, that it just felt like a much more positive way to release the slide.

John Hearne
11-04-2014, 08:12 PM
I really liked the Casino Drill and just ordered a bunch of those DT-2A Color Discretionary targets from LE Targets for my department's upcoming training on the 14th.

If you really want to drive your coworkers crazy, don't just buy the DT-2A, get the DT-2B and DT-2C so they can't memorize the target.

gtmtnbiker98
11-04-2014, 08:56 PM
If you really want to drive your coworkers crazy, don't just buy the DT-2A, get the DT-2B and DT-2C so they can't memorize the target.That's a great idea!

Dagga Boy
11-04-2014, 09:03 PM
Kind of funny on this stuff. I have been a big "support thumb" or "overhand" proponent due to the guns I carried. I had tons of issues with trying to "pre-load" the slide release on HK pistols in the past. With the VP9 I have found the lever for me is perfectly placed to stage my thumb high on the slide using the ejection port for reference. If it doesn't auto forward, I have been 100% on using the strong thumb on the VP9. It bore out well in Tom's class with zero issues, and I won a couple iterations on the Casino Drill. Us old revolver guys are actually good at counting rounds as a near habit. One of the biggest things I like about going to other people's classes is to test stuff under pressure and on unfamiliar courses of fire to figure out what works. In this case, for a change, the lever is perfectly placed for me.

Now, for non-dedicated folks, I am a proponent of the overhand and teach it like Tom does. We like a single way to do admin and tactical loads and malfunction clearance. As folks get deeper in, we add more efficient means like the support thumb method and then to the staged strong thumb.

gtmtnbiker98
11-04-2014, 09:10 PM
Kind of funny on this stuff. I have been a big "support thumb" or "overhand" proponent due to the guns I carried. I had tons of issues with trying to "pre-load" the slide release on HK pistols in the past. With the VP9 I have found the lever for me is perfectly placed to stage my thumb high on the slide using the ejection port for reference. If it doesn't auto forward, I have been 100% on using the strong thumb on the VP9. It bore out well in Tom's class with zero issues, and I won a couple iterations on the Casino Drill. Us old revolver guys are actually good at counting rounds as a near habit. One of the biggest things I like about going to other people's classes is to test stuff under pressure and on unfamiliar courses of fire to figure out what works. In this case, for a change, the lever is perfectly placed for me.

Now, for non-dedicated folks, I am a proponent of the overhand and teach it like Tom does. We like a single way to do admin and tactical loads and malfunction clearance. As folks get deeper in, we add more efficient means like the support thumb method and then to the staged strong thumb.
Up until my train wreck, I hadn't had any issues like I experienced periodically with my P30(s). What I think really happened is that I simply failed to get the mag fully seated. I attempted two hand over slide manipulations with no success, then when I finally slammed the magazine the gun worked. Imagine that. My disaster was totally the Indian and not the arrow.

John Hearne
11-04-2014, 09:16 PM
ToddG had me playing around with using the slide catch lever to forward the slide in my AFHF class. I hadn't shot any good times on my record FAST attempts and it came down to the last one. I had planned on using the slide catch lever but of course, my gun did not lock back on empty. Fortunately, I spent almost no time processing the error and just ran the slide. It always frustrated me because I figured it cost me at least .10 if not .20 to fix it and that was more than the margin my shooting buddy beat me by.

http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb374/ajp3jeh/th_103632713000698_54763.mp4 (http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb374/ajp3jeh/103632713000698_54763.mp4)

The above link works but doesn't preview for some reason....

gtmtnbiker98
11-04-2014, 09:23 PM
ToddG had me playing around with using the slide catch lever to forward the slide in my AFHF class. I hadn't shot any good times on my record FAST attempts and it came down to the last one. I had planned on using the slide catch lever but of course, my gun did not lock back on empty. Fortunately, I spent almost no time processing the error and just ran the slide. It always frustrated me because I figured it cost me at least .10 if not .20 to fix it and that was more than the margin my shooting buddy beat me by.

http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb374/ajp3jeh/th_103632713000698_54763.mp4 (http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb374/ajp3jeh/103632713000698_54763.mp4)

The above link works but doesn't preview for some reason....That's a solid FAST, run!

halodog
11-08-2014, 10:16 AM
Great AAR Eric. Definitely one of the best classes I've been to as well. My round count was 740 for the two days. Enjoyed shooting next to you - impressed with the new HK VP9. Tom's reload process makes a lot of sense if you're in a gunfight. Also liked that on TD2, Tom stressed the need to move left/right before shooting when you're inside a car length. Tom also gave an outstanding analysis of the lessons learned from the 1986 FBI shootout in Miami. Many lessons learned that can apply to self-defense shooting. Best quote from Tom "the range programs you for what you'll do in a real life gunfight".

gtmtnbiker98
11-08-2014, 11:05 AM
Great AAR Eric. Definitely one of the best classes I've been to as well. My round count was 740 for the two days. Enjoyed shooting next to you - impressed with the new HK VP9. Tom's reload process makes a lot of sense if you're in a gunfight. Also liked that on TD2, Tom stressed the need to move left/right before shooting when you're inside a car length. Tom also gave an outstanding analysis of the lessons learned from the 1986 FBI shootout in Miami. Many lessons learned that can apply to self-defense shooting. Best quote from Tom "the range programs you for what you'll do in a real life gunfight".Hope to see you next year, I plan on making Rangemaster a fixture at CCFSA.