Class Review: AAR: ONSIGHT FIREARMS TRAINING Pistol Skill Builder Workshop , Hyannis
ONSIGHT FIREARMS TRAINING
Pistol Skill Builder Workshop
Cape Works, Hyannis MA
July 21, 2020
Instructor: Ben DeWalt
Location: Cape Gun Works, Hyannis, MA
Time: 6:00pm – 9:30pm
Weather: Inside Range: Range #2
Round Count: 300 +/-
-----
Ben did the introductions of himself and we went around the room introducing ourselves. We had our safety and medical briefings and went through the procedure if we had a training accident.
We started off with cold guns, going over the holster draw and how to clear our cover shirt correctly. I enjoy basic fundamental classes as I can always prefect my technique and learn something new.
We loaded our guns at 25yds and shot center circle inside the chest on a Henderson NV PD Qualification Target. Ben would say we were only as good as our first cold shot, in a real-world encounter there would be no warm ups. It made sense to me, this was a humbling way to start off the class. We moved closer to and ran the same drill from five and seven yards working on our grip, sight alignment, and trigger press. We were told we don’t squeeze or pull the trigger as those actions will move the sights….we prrrreeesss the trigger with one smooth action without moving our sights. Ben told us to really tighten up our pinkies in our grip. That made a huge difference for me. That was a new thing.
Before each drill, Ben would explain it, demo the entire drill, and explain it again. I like that teaching approach. I like to hear the instructions and then see it being done correctly. We analyzed our target misses as possibly killed good guys by accident. Ben made you really think about what happened on each shot, the real world has consequences. Don’t be a good guy active shooter!
We worked mostly five to ten yards from the target, Ben worked with each of us coaching us on the proper grip showing proper grip and balance was more important than trigger press. We integrated movement in our draw so we would be getting off the line of attack as we would draw our pistol.
We constantly changed out targets, Ben would analyze your target and discuss how we each could improve. Ben found the right way to get each student to push their skill a little past their comfort zone so each of us was learning. He did it in a professional, kind, patient way treating each student with respect and no one was made to feel embarrassed or humiliated on the line. Not all instructors are like that. Ben is a professional teacher and he has the experience, confidence, and competence to know how to get more out of you than you think.
We did some precision two handed shooting in the two inch dots on the left side of a Langdon Tactical Pistol Skills target and did one hand (both strong and weak side) in the two inch dots on the right side. Ben showed us his preferred technique for one handed shooting and how to control the recoil with certain parts of your hand. GOOD STUFF!
The three and a half hours passed really quickly, we cleaned up the range and debriefed on what we learned and what we needed to practice. It was a very good class, I really like Ben. He is super knowledgeable, skillful, funny, humble, and sometimes appropriately inappropriate. As the day goes on his jokes go downhill. He is a down to earth dude, that is easy to talk to fun to be around. I like to say I think Ben DeWalt and OnSight Firearms Training is one of the best training companies and best-kept secrets within the training community. Absolutely take his class if you have the opportunity.
##
An observation: I have taken a lot of pistol classes from many different instructors since 2013. Small concealable pistols are tough to shoot well, they take a lot of practice to shoot well and to fight with. My observation has been watching dozen of students, many hundreds of hours of classes try to shoot “concealable” smaller guns accurately under a small amount of self-induced stress and they are not happy with their results. Give them a full-size gun (G19, M&P, SIG320) and they improve immensely. A full size grip is not as easily to conceal or as comfortable, but if you need to use the gun, you will be able to hit your intended target and not kill anyone that does not need to be shot. Don’t become an active shooter! Smaller guns are for advanced shooters with a lot of skill in my opinion. The more experience I get behind the gun, the bigger my ccw gets. At one time my EDC was a Shield, it is now a full size M&P. With the correct holster and correct belt I have found most people can conceal and be comfortable with a full sized gun.
https://i.imgur.com/DwewSYv.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/9RKpzY9.png
