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.
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.