AAR - PST101A (Accelerated Basic Pistol) w/ Gabe White - Clackamas, OR 4/28/19)
I took the above class with Mr. White and I think six or seven other students (I think we started with five men and then me and one other woman) on Sunday, April 28 '19. TL;DR - it was awesome, Gabe is a great instructor as is (from what I've seen and heard) universally attested for good reason, and you get a very full 8 hour day at a nice facility that includes basic theory and practice that is useful for and aimed at armed citizens but also has some timed elements and challenges that can carry over to beginner competitors. One gets the sense that this is a gateway to other classes rather than an end in itself - one is being prepared to be able to take other classes, especially 102 (Defensive Handgun Skill Development). I passed the test for entry into 102 and will take that June 8-9 of this year, so obviously I feel positive about what I learned and look forward to learning more.
I used one of my Beretta PX4CCs with a JMCK AIWB holster. Training wise (excluding things I learned in classes around the turn of and in the early part of this century) so far this year since getting back into CCW and shooting competitively, I've taken two excellent competition oriented classes from Keith Tyler. This was the first more serious defensive oriented / armed citizen type class I've taken since I first got licensed to carry in Virginia a long time ago.
We started the day in a classroom setting, with a power point and were given a print off of the powerpoint slides on which to take notes (which I always find helpful). There was a good discussion basic legal concepts and some useful data on things like, how long does it take to get a gun up from threat ready versus retracted ready, an effective illustration of why ready positions let you see what you need to see and actually give you a faster response time than having sights on the target, and so on. That was all new to me. There was also some discussion / review of basic tactics and mindset, and some specific Oregon law which was review for me but always good to review and discuss with a professional.
The range time was fun and instructive, used dry and live fire and was highly 102 test oriented but there was draw stoke work, including appendix specific draw stroke work, reload work, and there was also an intro to malfunction clearance work, which I have not trained on for many many years and therefore really appreciated getting reactivated in my brain (I had forgotten the steps for FTE clearance). I expended about 296 rounds of the stingingly expensive mandatory PSTC Speer Lawman ammo (not a knock, it's their facility and one plays by their rules). Additionally we did some verbalization work - things to say in a home defense scenario, an armed citizen shooting scenario, and some reps on these done on the range with dry and live fire.
It was a good day, well spent with individuals brought together by a common purpose. As I said above, I look forward to continuing to take classes with Mr. White and am already signed up for the next one.
As ever, sorry for word omissions and typos.
