Advanced Tactical Handgun with Ken Hackathorn

[Slavex]

Just home from day 2 of ATH with Ken Hackathorn. And a great two days it was. An instructor that can lay down the "Why" behind the things he wants you to do. His explanations are simple and precise, and provide all you need to know to execute it properly. I'm bit burned out right now from the 5pm -11pm class last night and the 9am to 9pm class today, but suffice it to say Ken is a phenomenal instructor and I'm looking forward to the next two days of Advanced Tactical Rifle(Carbine) with him. Once I get the notes out I'll post a better review.

[Slavex]

What: Hackathorn Advanced Tactical Pistol
Where: Abbotsford BC
When: May 23-24 2011

The class started late Monday afternoon, 5:15pm due to severe storms delaying Ken from arriving the night before. It was a long afternoon and night. We stopped shooting around around 10:45pm with few breaks. Thankfully spot lights on the range kept it lit up like daytime.
Ken is a stickler for accuracy, if you can't keep it in a fist or hand sized group, you're going too fast or aren't manipulating the trigger properly. A variety of drills were used to correct this, my favorite being the 2 person drill where one person holds and aims the gun, and the other person pulls the trigger. However Ken's way was slightly different than other instructors have run it, with Ken the guy holding the gun and aiming still puts his finger on the trigger, and his partner puts his finger over top and pulls straight back. Other instructors don't have the Aimer do that. It definitely gives the Aimer more feedback and a better idea of how a smooth trigger pull should feel, than the other way. Great success and much discussion after this drill amongst the shooters.
Day two started at 9am sharp. Ken, operating on about 3 hours sleep kept us going with no problem. The man is a machine, 35 years of instructing and he can run these classes on pure instinct I bet, yet he still managed to watch and critique every shooter on the line when necessary.
Ken certainly doesn't believe in blowing sunshine up your ass, I you make a mistake, he tells you and expects you to fix it.
There was a bit more downtime on day two, but it was also a longer day 9am to 11pm. Even with 2 meal breaks thrown in, people were definitely feeling the fatigue. The capper to day two was the Snake Drill, for some of us its a drill we've done before, for others? Its a huge step up, you could really see the stress on she peoples faces, and everyone performed well, although a few people did let the stress override their accuracy on the targets. Safety was never an issue though.
After that we moved inside to do our low light portion. This was eye opening for everyone, shooting in the dark is hard and without night sights, even harder. Identify, move, shoot, move was drilled into us, with a variety of flashlight or weaponlight techniques.
Through both days of the class one great, consistent thing was Ken's demonstration ability. Every singe drill or test he put us through he did first. And usually better than anyone else. The guy is simply a great shooter and instructor. Learning the "why" behind the "do", hearing it from a guy who watched it be invented or helped invent it, is amazing. I have never met a person with so much knowledge about guns and shooting. Ken is a walking encyclopedia of gun stuff, and having the chance to train under him is one of the best decisions I have ever made. Given th opportunity I would do this class again and again.
The only small complaint I have is, I would have preferred more repetition on the drills. But I knew the round count going in and we hit it exactly.

[ToddG]

Learning the "why" behind the "do", hearing it from a guy who watched it be invented or helped invent it, is amazing.

That sums Ken up perfectly.