PDA

View Full Version : AAR - Mossie Tactics LLC - Intro to Pistol 7/31/11



Onikudaki
08-08-2011, 10:19 AM
AAR for Mossie Tactics Intro To Pistol July 31st, 2011
http://www.mossietactics.com/

This was a short notice class with a smaller number of students than usual, but this allowed much more 1 on 1 instruction for each student and Buck tailored the class to fit each of our needs. There were 4 students in total and throughout the day Buck had us run various drills that would help improve what each student felt they needed, or what Buck saw they needed, to work on the most. Each drill continued to build off the last and I know we all improved in our shooting by the end of the day. I ran a Gen4 Glock 19 that had a malfunction later on in the day that I will discuss further in the AAR. Other guns used were a HK P30, Sig, HK USP 45 and Buck ran a Gen3 Glock 17.


Buck started off with a brief lecture on firearms safety, the seven principles of marksmanship and his goals for the class. We loaded up and got right to it, starting off at 5 yards shooting at 2 in. circles. This was a balance of speed and accuracy drill; the goal here was to push your speed while keeping all shots within the 2 in. circle. If you are putting all your shots through the same hole, you need to speed things up. If you are throwing shots outside of the 2 in. circle, dial the speed back. We started shooting 6 round strings, and then moved up to 10 shot strings of fire. As we increased the strings of fire we had to focus on not getting in a tempo or rhythm while shooting but maintaining a balance between your own speed and accuracy. Kind of like a crescendo, Buck showed how over ten rounds each shot continues to come faster and faster. However, if your sights are not on target do not press the trigger. If you start to go to fast, make the adjustment to slow down your pace of fire while continuing to put rounds down range that are within the given target zone. As Buck expressed many times throughout the day, you can’t miss fast enough.


From here we moved on to failure drills. We started off with 2 to the body, 1 to the head; we used 8 in. pie plates for the body shots. After each course of fire, we were expected to drop to a low ready and search and assess before re-holstering. Buck explained why we search and assess and also explained the different situation you might use the low ready, high ready, or SUL position. In the end you are breaking that tunnel vision on the target, searching for other potential targets and assessing the situation. Buck then changed things up on us and we started with 1 shot to the head first then 2 to the body. After shooting both versions of the failure drill, Buck explained low percentage/high percentage targets and how we need to change gears when dealing with each. Again, that balance of speed and accuracy. Buck noticed that I was slow at getting my first shot off out of the holster. He ran us through the steps of the draw, and the why behind his 4 count draw. Another great thing about Buck’s methods of teaching is he doesn’t just tell you tell you how to do something, but instead breaks each process down into steps and then explains the why behind it. I never felt like we were being shown THE way to do something but A way that has been proven itself reliable in Buck’s experience as a shooter/instructor.


So after running us through the draw, we began some single shot drills from the holster. Then we moved back to 15-17 yds. and worked on more failure drills. With the increase in distance we again had to re-gauge our speed to fit the capabilities of our accuracy for the 8 in. body shot and especially on the head shot. Buck is very keen on accuracy and continuously stressed this throughout the course. We moved back to the 2 in. targets at some point to focus on accuracy with low percentage targets. Before breaking for lunch we ran a walk back drill that consisted of 2 shots to the body (8 in. pie plate) in 6 seconds, from the holster. I will say that, 6 seconds is a lot longer than I expected it to be. I rushed a shot after the 2nd/3rd round and was out. As Buck explained after the drill if you are given an amount of time to complete a drill, use ALL of it. You can’t miss fast enough..



After Lunch Buck ran us through the out of battery speed reload, and the various ways to execute this dependent upon your firearm. While obtaining the magazine from the pouch, the way you grab the magazine, and insert the magazine into the magwell are pretty universal tasks; releasing the empty magazine and sending the slide back into battery can be firearm dependent or user dependent. Buck went through each, why you might want to use each and let us figure out which worked best for us and our firearm. We now set up two silhouette targets with pie plates for the body shots to include the reloads in our failure drills. We loaded each others magazine with a random number of rounds, so that at some point throughout the drill we would unexpectedly have to execute an out of battery speed reload or two. The drill started with two to the body on the right target, one to the head, then transition to the left target with two the body and one to the head. We ran every variation of this with different shot order commands that you could come up with. These drills consistently kept us on our toes because we were constantly changing gears and having to reload.


We then moved on to the tactical reload. This was something I was not completely clear on and enjoyed getting a break down from Buck on how to properly and reliably perform a tactical reload along with the reasoning behind why you might want to use a tactical reload. To incorporate the tactical reload, we ran various forms of the failure drill and in between transitioning to the second target we would search and assess, tac. reload, search and assess, then continue with two to the body, one to the head on the second target, and repeat. These drills had a lot going on and really required a lot of focus to consistently put accurate shots on your target and be able to perform your tac. reload properly.


Next we started to focus on controlled pairs, to help increase our speed on the body shots, and reloading when necessary. As the day was starting to wind down we ran a few more walk back drills. We ran a support hand walk back drill where Buck showed us a couple ways to draw and transition to the support side, which we then tried each and decided which one we prefer. This is where I experienced my malfunction with the Gen4 Glock 19. I am pretty sure that it was caused by limp wristing as I have not done much shooting support side. The Glock failed to feed the next round and was stuck out of battery. After examining the malfunction Buck had me rack the slide to try and clear it so that we could move on. However when I racked the slide it created a double feed, which called for locking the slide to the rear, stripping the magazine from the gun and racking the slide a few times to clear any rounds still in the firearm. No other problems were experienced with the Gen4 Glock 19 throughout the day. After a strong hand only walk back drill, and controlled pair walk back drill, we had a bit of time left before the end of the class. We decided to have Buck explain the “press out” and work some more on getting that first shot off out of the holster and some controlled pairs.


There really is no equal to getting training from a quality instructor. This might not have been an ordinary intro to pistol class, but I am 110% content with the money I spent on my training with Mossie Tactics. I have already signed up for Carbine 1 next weekend and will continue to train with Buck as often as I can. There is a reason he offers the guarantee that he does, and there is also a reason why no one has asked for his or her money back. I like to call that a clue. I am a little late at getting this written, so hopefully I managed to cover just about everything, but better late than never..


I would like to thank Buck for such a great class and helping me get this class set up on such short notice, also all the students who followed through and showed up for this class. Another thanks to Ian of Cane and Derby, who provided all the students with 10% off coupon codes. (Shameless plug) If you haven’t already given Cane and Derby a look, I am going to provide a link to their website below. They have outstanding customer service and some innovative kydex products that are worth a look. I have no affiliation with Cane and Derby, other than being a satisfied new customer.
http://www.caneandderby.com/