Hopefully this is a good choice of subforums for this one...
Howdy y'all.
I'm a guy that just came back to concealed carry. And one that, until the recent CHL class, has never had any formal handgun training. You have already defined the type, gets CHL, shoots a few times at best yearly etc. I used to be that guy to some extent, I shot more, although with little focus beyond shooting pop cans off the fence...
I got my first licence to carry back in 89, New Hampshire. At that time it was fill out a form and mail it to the town council iirc or some such. Either way it wasn't what it is today here in Oklahoma.
The CHL class here left me knowing without a doubt that I really needed to look into more training and education. I grew up in Scouting so I had a decent firearms safety education and over the years have always had firearms, so they haven't been strange and new to me for a long time.
So... Here I am (a few months back). Just completed my class and I knew I needed to take it a further. I'd not yet even received my license but I had made some decisions. I began with trying to educate myself. I have my own shooting area where I live, and an indoor range membership locally. So I shoot. In fact I shoot alot. Practice makes perfect right... Wrong.
I practiced doing something I had no solid foundation in. Hence my shooting just wasn't up to snuff.. I came to the conclusion that I needed instruction.
Of course being the intelligent, somewhat egotistical guy that I am I figured that I'd be fine if I could just see what others who were successful shooters were doing. So I land on YouTube. I won't waste time listing all the "wrong" things I found, but I did find Jeff Cooper, I did find Mas, I did find SouthNarc etc. Im lucky in that I'm pretty cynical and not too bad at sorting through the fluff, so I got away from most of the crap quickly and down to business. I recalled Mas's name from some books and magazines back in the 80's. So I investigated a bit deeper and found myself pretty happy with what I found, which in turn eventually led me to the others, and here.
Fast forward to today. I've decided to begin with a follow up to my CHL class (called SDA here in OK). This "Beyond the SDA" class is supposed to delve deeper into self defense law, have more range time and shooting instruction. I am planning on following that up with time spent on courses with several members/trainers here. I've read most of the highly recommended books listed in other threads. I've found in them, both new information and perspectives as well as understanding and validation of things I already did/do correctly. In no particular order I really feel I gained a lot from Rory Miller's books. De Becker's The Gift of Fear was outstanding validation for "that gut feeling" that has served me well over the years. Givens's Fighting Smarter was the closer that helped me see the direction I believe I need to go with a training plan. So I'm going to lay out my current and future plans and am hoping I may find some constructive feedback on these things.
Past:
NRA instruction and lots of range time
Oklahoma SDA class
26 years handling firearms without serious incident (rifles, shotguns, revolvers, semi autos.)
Worked in Security, Fire Fighting/EMS
Previous CHL and Concealed Carry license.
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Current:
Have solid, proven (to me) weapons, and top end leather.
Focus on fundamentals. Using ToddG's collected postings at
http://pistol-forum.com/showthread.p...-for-Beginners
Focus on fundamentals as outlined by Tom Givens in Fighting Smarter (pg 101) skills a private citizen should work toward competency in.
Class/ Beyond the SDA, and range time with instructor.
Have enrolled with US Lawshield and am investigating one other program as a supplement/enhancement.(IMHO its money well spent YMMV)
Current Goals:
Gain greater competency and confidence with my choices of weapons for CC.
Gain a more in depth understanding of self defense law in Oklahoma, and those states I have plans to travel in.
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Future:
Continued upkeep of the basics and transition into more advanced drills.
Training with (as time, money allows)
RangeMaster
SouthNarc
MAG.
Possibly others, possibly more in depth coursework beyond basics with those listed.
Goals:
Avoidance/deescalation of/in a potentially bad situation.
Surviving (preferably unaltered / un ventilated) if ever involved in a force encounter.
And having as much possible fun as I can while training/practicing.
And that wraps up my thoughts. What do you folks think?
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