Rangemaster/Tom Givens Combative Pistol Wilmington, Ohio

[Dagga Boy]

Kind of funny on this stuff. I have been a big "support thumb" or "overhand" proponent due to the guns I carried. I had tons of issues with trying to "pre-load" the slide release on HK pistols in the past. With the VP9 I have found the lever for me is perfectly placed to stage my thumb high on the slide using the ejection port for reference. If it doesn't auto forward, I have been 100% on using the strong thumb on the VP9. It bore out well in Tom's class with zero issues, and I won a couple iterations on the Casino Drill. Us old revolver guys are actually good at counting rounds as a near habit. One of the biggest things I like about going to other people's classes is to test stuff under pressure and on unfamiliar courses of fire to figure out what works. In this case, for a change, the lever is perfectly placed for me.

Now, for non-dedicated folks, I am a proponent of the overhand and teach it like Tom does. We like a single way to do admin and tactical loads and malfunction clearance. As folks get deeper in, we add more efficient means like the support thumb method and then to the staged strong thumb.

[gtmtnbiker98]

Kind of funny on this stuff. I have been a big "support thumb" or "overhand" proponent due to the guns I carried. I had tons of issues with trying to "pre-load" the slide release on HK pistols in the past. With the VP9 I have found the lever for me is perfectly placed to stage my thumb high on the slide using the ejection port for reference. If it doesn't auto forward, I have been 100% on using the strong thumb on the VP9. It bore out well in Tom's class with zero issues, and I won a couple iterations on the Casino Drill. Us old revolver guys are actually good at counting rounds as a near habit. One of the biggest things I like about going to other people's classes is to test stuff under pressure and on unfamiliar courses of fire to figure out what works. In this case, for a change, the lever is perfectly placed for me.

Now, for non-dedicated folks, I am a proponent of the overhand and teach it like Tom does. We like a single way to do admin and tactical loads and malfunction clearance. As folks get deeper in, we add more efficient means like the support thumb method and then to the staged strong thumb.

Up until my train wreck, I hadn't had any issues like I experienced periodically with my P30(s). What I think really happened is that I simply failed to get the mag fully seated. I attempted two hand over slide manipulations with no success, then when I finally slammed the magazine the gun worked. Imagine that. My disaster was totally the Indian and not the arrow.

[John Hearne]

ToddG had me playing around with using the slide catch lever to forward the slide in my AFHF class. I hadn't shot any good times on my record FAST attempts and it came down to the last one. I had planned on using the slide catch lever but of course, my gun did not lock back on empty. Fortunately, I spent almost no time processing the error and just ran the slide. It always frustrated me because I figured it cost me at least .10 if not .20 to fix it and that was more than the margin my shooting buddy beat me by.



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[gtmtnbiker98]

ToddG had me playing around with using the slide catch lever to forward the slide in my AFHF class. I hadn't shot any good times on my record FAST attempts and it came down to the last one. I had planned on using the slide catch lever but of course, my gun did not lock back on empty. Fortunately, I spent almost no time processing the error and just ran the slide. It always frustrated me because I figured it cost me at least .10 if not .20 to fix it and that was more than the margin my shooting buddy beat me by.



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That's a solid FAST, run!

[halodog]

Great AAR Eric. Definitely one of the best classes I've been to as well. My round count was 740 for the two days. Enjoyed shooting next to you - impressed with the new HK VP9. Tom's reload process makes a lot of sense if you're in a gunfight. Also liked that on TD2, Tom stressed the need to move left/right before shooting when you're inside a car length. Tom also gave an outstanding analysis of the lessons learned from the 1986 FBI shootout in Miami. Many lessons learned that can apply to self-defense shooting. Best quote from Tom "the range programs you for what you'll do in a real life gunfight".

[gtmtnbiker98]

Great AAR Eric. Definitely one of the best classes I've been to as well. My round count was 740 for the two days. Enjoyed shooting next to you - impressed with the new HK VP9. Tom's reload process makes a lot of sense if you're in a gunfight. Also liked that on TD2, Tom stressed the need to move left/right before shooting when you're inside a car length. Tom also gave an outstanding analysis of the lessons learned from the 1986 FBI shootout in Miami. Many lessons learned that can apply to self-defense shooting. Best quote from Tom "the range programs you for what you'll do in a real life gunfight".

Hope to see you next year, I plan on making Rangemaster a fixture at CCFSA.