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YVK
10-10-2011, 06:41 PM
This is going to be a brief one ‘cause I suck at writing long AARs, Todd’s classes have been reviewed extensively, and I am short on time. However, I want to address a specific point of “taking a class as a returned customer”.

Before I go there, I want to thank Mike D for bringing Todd to Utah. I absolutely want to thank Mr. and Mrs. SecondsCount for making this happen at the range of our preference - it was very convenient and allowed for a much better efficiency. Having just taken a class at a location 40 minutes away from a nearest fast food joint, I could certainly appreciate that.

Another word of appreciation goes to fellow students. I adopted a policy of putting a vest/IBA at a beginning of every class I go to. Whether it stays on of comes off depends on my assessment of fellow classmates’ safety. The kevlar went away at a first lunch break during this class.

I also appreciate being in a class with good solid shooters. While Todd’s supply of coins was in no risk of being depleted, there were sub-7.0 runs, one ran of a sub-6.0 F.A.S.T. which unfortunately was “off-record”, there were four perfect scores on dot torture drill and several 49s. For several shooters, progress was evident as class went on.

Now, the “repeat customer”. When I took my first class with Todd, I said I would take another - after I had done my homework, progressed on my own and am ready to take the class again. I am actually quite impressed that Todd remembered me saying it. This is exactly what happened; the timing of Todd coming here was a fortunate happenstance.

Running a risk of being not very original, I am going to quote myself - I will take Todd’s class again after I’ve done my work at this next step. I believe that Todd as an instructor is capable of advancing my learning every time I take his class - if I do my part in the interim. I’ve taken classes from many dudes and there may be one more guy who I think can give me a qualitative push forward every time I train with him, provided I am ready for the push. Some trainers don’t pay much individual attention, often times because they can’t due to class structure; some don’t diagnose errors accurately; some say you have a problem but don’t tell you how to fix it. Whether one subscribes to what Todd is teaching is a matter of personal choice, but you can’t argue with professionalism, efficiency, high levels of individual attention, immediate error recognition with suggestions how to correct them, and constant validation of taught material by showing that it works. This concludes my AAR/endorsement/whatever you call it.

Side “project”: owing in part to discussions about sticking to one gun vs. “rotation”, I planned a potential side project if my performance with a primary were reasonable. This partly materialized after we ran one unofficial round of F.A.S.T. at the end of day one, and after I sneaked in just under 7 on the first F.A.S.T. of day 2. This allowed me to run an unofficial F.A.S.T. with a P30, and then use my 1911 for the rest of day two. Just to make sure, I don’t have a daily rotation pattern, I bring only one gun to the range, and I always have a designated primary. In practical sense, I shoot 1911 a few months per year ‘cause a) I like 1911, b) I can’t shoot Glock 19 as well as 1911 when I go long, c ) I convinced myself that shooting a harder recoiling gun is beneficial to my overall skill set. Otherwise, I shoot my primary unless it is down for maintenance or there is another reason. In objective terms, YTD round count for 1911 is 1500, for P30 is 900, and for primary (G19) is close to 7000. Last time I shot P30 or 1911 was in May.

Result: 1.7 second drop on F.A.S.T with P30 , clean run. 1 second drop on F.A.S.T. with 1911, one head miss (really shouldn’t be held against, it was a close miss low and is fully explained by POA/POI similarities and differences between the three guns). I had bad reloads on both runs owing to different mag pouches and different mag pouch position, and overall suckage of my reloads. Interpretation is left to reader’s discretion. One can say that there was a significant drop in performance, and it is true. An opposite opinion is that I was able to turn in an intermediate score with two guns other than my primary, all with different ergos and triggers, without having shot those two for five months.

P.S. I was a lucky one to get a tiny preview, so to say, of upcoming CUSS class http://pistol-forum.com/showthread.php?1746-VA-C.U.S.S.-November-2011. I wish I could take it.

ToddG
10-11-2011, 10:26 AM
P.S. I was a lucky one to get a tiny preview, so to say, of upcoming CUSS class http://pistol-forum.com/showthread.php?1746-VA-C.U.S.S.-November-2011. I wish I could take it.

Now that's funny. :cool:

Congrats on earning your well deserved spot on the F.A.S.T. wall (http://pistol-training.com/fastest/fast-wall-of-fame), dude. I tried to put the announcement at pistol-training.com (http://pistol-training.com/archives/5464) in cyrillic but apparently the World Wide Web hates commies. It kept coming up ??????? ???? ??? ???????? or something like that.

I'd also like to second the big the thank-you to Mike D. for hosting the class even though a prior commitment kept him from being able to participate on the second day, and to Mr. & Mrs. SecondsCount who gave up their weekend to watch the rest of us have fun while they acted as Range Officers for the class per the facility's policy. We also would have been stuck going to McDonald's for the class dinner Saturday night if not for Mrs. SC!

Hope to see everyone again next year in SLC. Mike and I are already setting a date.

Zhurdan
10-11-2011, 04:03 PM
Phenomenal experience!

I shot a 4" 1911 the first day and struggled. The class really made it apparent that I have a lot more to learn. Shot day two with a G32c (Todd didn't appreciate the fact that his teeth were rattling out of his head when he stood near me). Shot quite a bit better, but noticed that I'd picked up some nasty habits lately (eye sprinting) so it's back to the range for me to work on what I absorbed. I won't say I've "learned" it yet as I believe that is a process, not just exposure.

Todd is a great teacher, excellent shooter, funny(but looks aren't everything) and very engaging. I very much appreciate the time you took to point out the rough spots. What I learned this past weekend will definitely go into my rotation and not into a drawer.

Thanks again Todd and also the rest of the shooters, it was a great weekend.

Zhur

dsa
10-11-2011, 04:07 PM
Nice AAR, YVK. I would also like to extend my thanks to Mike D. and the SecondsCount family for everything they did. The phrase "you don't know what you don't know" was ringing in my ears as I drove home Sunday night after class. I thought I was doing a press out before class, but quickly discovered I was not after watching Todd demo the opening run of the FAST drill. After listening to Todd break it down to the basic fundamentals (and drilling them over the course of the weekend) I think I have a grasp on it. I really wanted that advanced rating; however, I wasn't able to put together any clean runs when they counted. Maybe next year; I will definitely be a repeat customer. Off to the range for some press out work...10K more reps or so and I think I will have it. Thanks again to Todd and the rest of the class I had a great time!

GJM
10-11-2011, 09:11 PM
Definitely a class worth taking, made even better by the nice bunch of shooters.

Todd has a nice way of presenting the material, and that made for a pleasant two days. If I could wave my magic wand, I do wish Todd could fit some steel targets into his travel luggage, as the immediate feedback of steel helps when you are trying to aim fast and hit fast. Look forward to shooting with Todd again.

SecondsCount
10-12-2011, 02:43 PM
Congrats to YVK and Corey on making Advanced. I am particularly proud of YVK since we have trained together on occasion this year and the hard work paid off for him.

When the opportunity came up to have Todd at our range I jumped at it. While standing around and making sure people don't do stupid things is a bit boring, getting the opportunity to watch and listen to Todd instruct was well worth it.

The important part was that everyone who came out shot safely and the Mrs. and I appreciate that.

Todd, we are looking forward to next year when you come back, especially Scott who wants a rematch! :cool:

GJM
10-12-2011, 09:47 PM
Thanks again for you both volunteering your weekend to watch ten others shoot. Glad your son and Mocha could accompany you on Sunday.

Pennzoil
10-13-2011, 06:42 PM
Nice AAR YVK.

My Goals going into class:
1. Safely complete first 2 day class Hit
2. Learn how to improve my draw and reload speed specifically along with learning to hit targets faster Hit
3. Qualify to be able to take AFHS next year Hit
4. Relax and have fun as this was my Mancation this year Hit
4. Turn in my best FAST time Miss

Equipment used:
-SW M&P 9mm FS with thumb safety - FSS Apex trigger & warren tactical sights
-CCC Shaggy with heat guard & leather snaps
-CCC BMC
-under amour shirt
-Wilderness frequent flyer belt

Host & RO's
Like others said earlier Michael did a good job of providing just the right amount of communication which included a change of ranges with a list of pro's vs con's. From the list provided I think it was a great change. Only slight negative at the range was being so close to the public range with a lot of noise at times making it difficult to hear. Out of habit I usually double up on ear protection so I just ditched the ear plugs and went with only electronic muffs for the remainder of the class. Also the RO's Mr & Mrs SecondsCount did a great job. I couldn't imagine being at the range watching everyone shoot for two days.

Utah Area around Class:

I traveled to the class from Arizona so figured I would add in that the area around the range and hotel are great. I arrived a couple of days early to check out Utah and relax. I put on a good 6 pounds over the week so I'll just say that the restaurant selection is good. It'll be awhile before I'm ready to travel for another class but will definitely try to make it up to Utah for one again.

Regarding hotels there is a good selection of hotels in the area. That said I would recommend staying away from the Hilton Garden Inn Layton due to the fire alarm waking me nightly at 3:40 am which had me standing outside in front of the fire department in my leopard print thong:eek: with only my range bag for comfort. I'm probably getting a free hotel stay out of it and a couple of firefighters numbers but still don't recommend this route.


Class:

I really enjoyed the class and the fellow shooters in the class as it was a great bunch of people. If I lived remotely close to that range I would be begging the Utah guys to let me train with them. You can tell immediately that Todd puts a ton of organization/thought/planning into everything from gear, course curriculum, and shooting order.

I shot my best FAST run for in the class on the first run out of the four you do during the class. In the end I think I over thought the new draw/press out/reload during the drill while swinging for the fences and forgot a little thing called the front sight intermittently. I imagine Todd probably has a statistics on students improvement over the class and I'm positive that I'm an outlier. The different drills through out the 2 days really helped me learn where I'm at as compared to where I want to end up. I think the pace of the class was good, repetition of drills and the amount of material was also just right.

I'll be honest Todd is a character and it took me awhile to get used to him on the first day which may have been in part to having to standing outside the Hilton for a half hour that morning with fireman. By the second day I was used to Todd and standing outside the Hilton for a half hour in the morning with fireman. I think the firearms instruction was great through out the entire class and I enjoyed the joking/sarcasm. After the last drill for the class I asked Todd what are the main items I should work on and he listed two right away which helped me prioritize what to work on in practice.

I think it is good class for anyone serious about pistol training or if they carry a CCW if they pass the class prerequisites. If my training budget was endless I would attend this class again in the future but with my training budget and also considering I'll have to travel to class I'll probably try to attend one of the other classes Todd offers like AFHS, GetSOM, CUSS, or Appendix workshop. Once I have worked on what I took away from this class.


My Training Conclusions:

Draw & Reload Speed:

My draw & reloads were horrible going into class and I was at a plateau for the last month or two and actually started getting worse just before the class. The speed of my draw & reloads during the class were still bad but I learned how to improve both during the class it's just going to take work. During my practice today at the start my speed was still bad but technique felt good & hits were good so I worked on speeding things up. I worked draw and reloads while doing just drill 1 & 2 from the 99 drill 20x and was able to break my plateau. I was able to hold the faster pace while maintaining accuracy.

My average draw to first shot before the class was 2.04 and Todd's parting advice for me was I was slow to gun and trying to make it up on the press out. So I worked on getting fast to the gun and slowing down the press out with an average of my last ten runs during practice was 1.81.

My average reload before class was 3.02 with a huge amount of variation due to poor technique. The average of my last ten runs during practice with trying to add speed with new technique was 2.67. I feel confident they will continue to shrink if I do my part and I'm pleased to finally see a path to faster times.


SHO & WHO Accuracy:

I always struggled with these two and had a huge improvement during this class. I'm confident with both SHO & WHO now. I can't pinpoint what the change was or when it happened but I'm pleased either way.


Ability to Control Recoil:

Before this class I struggled with controlling handguns under recoil as well as I thought I should. I seen the largest improvement here. Between tweaking my grip and body position I feel like the gun isn't moving at all. Huge change for me. Now I need to work on seeing the sights faster.

SOM & multiple targets:

This class was a good introduction for me and laid a good foundation towards working on these in the future once I meet my other goals. Going to try and make my schedule work to be able to get into some form of competition to help work on this.

Gear Conclusions:

Gun: FSS kit worked great no issues during the class and gun ran without issue.

Holster: I love the shaggy holster but got leather snaps on my latest one just to try it out and I'm going to order a kydex loop for it today. I had one of the snaps come undone multiple times during the class.

Mag Carrier: BMC worked Great but in cold weather seemed to slide around on my belt but back in Arizona always stays in place. Going order a BMC with a dimple in the kydex to help it stay in place. Thanks to GJM for the tip.

YVK
10-13-2011, 08:22 PM
Pennzoil, having driven to Phoenix for a class, I know when I say that it takes dedication and determination to go such length (12 hours one way for those who don't know) to take a class. Strong work!

The leopard print thong is a problem, though. This is a shooting and weapons manipulations class, for heaven's sake.
MultiCam, dude, multicam.

Pennzoil
10-13-2011, 10:05 PM
Good call on the MultiCam YVK! I'll add it to my to buy list for the next trip to Utah.

Corey
10-14-2011, 07:33 PM
Been busy all week but wanted to chime in. Great class! Thanks to Michael for getting Todd out here and Mr and Mrs Seconds count for pulling RO duty. Thanks you Todd for another great class. Congrats to YVK for earning a pin. That is a very nice 1911 you have.

I did the AFHF in Phoenix last year with a 1911. This year I ran with a new M&P 9mm. A double stack gun is definitely easier to reload quickly, but the gun does require better trigger control than a 1911. I had a lightbulb coming on moment that helped me get my crouch figured out and smoothed out my press out a little. This was when Todd had us get in position on a target and keeping the sights on the target bring the gun back as close as we could to our face. Then we adjusted leaned forward more to see how much closer we could bring in the gun. I have been using that to check my position while dry firing this week.

After last years class I made a concerted effort to hold my gun higher during reloads. That effort showed in this class, now I just have to remember to bring it in closer as well. After my first run on the barrel drill Todd told me I did a perfect reload on the move. I took a moment to memorize exactly how I did it so I can try to keep duplicating it.

I learned more about finding my limits with speed and accuracy (good thing the backstop was a mountain when I ran the Triple Nickel:o) and took some notes to help me as I practice on my own. It was a great experience with a good group of shooters. Everyone was safe and had a good attitude. I didn't see "that guy" in the class ever. Hope that doesn't mean it was me.:)

YVK
10-14-2011, 09:10 PM
This year I ran with a new M&P 9mm.

New or not, you still confirmed advanced, shot the best FAST and one of the best, if not the best time on the move. Todd and I have been exchanging some emails in the aftermath of the class, and he mentioned that consistency is one of those things that separates top shooters vs good shooters. Scoring advanced during two consecutive AFHF classes seems pretty consistent to me. Awesome performance, Corey, and that 1911 graced by Cooper's hand was a very nice one too.