AAR: Keith Tyler Firearms Instruction Handgun 2 Albany OR 4/7/19

(Please excuse word omissions, typos, or a lack of rigor, I'm still working on how to do these, as with everything else)

I took the above class, called "Fundamentals of Competition Gun Handling," from Mr Tyler, Master class USPSA shooter and active LEO, at the ARPC in Albany, Or., on Sunday, 4/7/19. This class is the first followup to the Handgun 1 course I took the week prior, that course being Fundamentals of Marksmanship. This time there was one other woman besides myself, and i would guess maybe six men. There was a range of skill and experience, and room for all of us, even me at the low end.

TL;DR: Great class, excellent instructor, and for me I think the single biggest value was doing and then having a record of a bunch of drills that can help with stuff like draws, reloads, target transitions including from paper to steel to paper and at different ranges, even drills related to stuff like - how best to get a weapon off a table if that's how the stage starts. I got a lot out of class but also I got a book of drills I can work from moving forward, and that might be even more valuable. I will certainly take more classes from Keith if he'll have me, and think you'd enjoy working with him too. This is the second time I just gained a new appreciation of (1) what's possible for the highly skilled; and (2) what I can even accomplish myself if i mind fundamentals and practice.

I brought out new to me USPSA gear (DAA Belt and comp tac holster with a DOH hangar from Stoeger's shop, ghost mag carriers) and my just received Elite LTT to this class - I took the prior class with my PX4CC and daily carry gear. I really like the Elite, obviously, but need some walk around time with this gear setup - I've never used an OWB holster before, let alone one with a spacer, and found myself bumping into tables with the gracelessness and awkwardness that are my trademark / signature.

We started with draws (helpful for me because I haven't done anything with draws, haven't been trained on it previously), and Keith does a good job of basically breaking down complex actions into a "by the numbers" approach you can use to approach the subject and begin to understand the elements. Bottom mount grips, top mounts, draws to sight picture, table top draws, SHO draws, draws to WHO, a bit of work on turn draws (and boy am i graceless at these, gotta keep working).

Then we worked reloads, again with a "by the numbers" analysis that helps break it down. Here again, something I've never been trained in before.

Finally, we did an absolute crap ton of work on transitions. We were taught many many drills, short transitions, really long (wide) transitions, how to move the eyes before the weapon, etc. I mean, if you'd told me i could successfully complete some of these before the class, I would have been like crepes, i need something more elementary. But we all did and we all learned a ton.