Class:
MDFI Low Light Handgun

Date of Class:
6/12/2015

Class location:
Albion, Michigan

Class Duration:
9 hours, supposed to be 8, but rain played a factor.

Weather:
The weather was between 60 and 70 degrees and rainy. Very rainy!

Gear Used:
Glock 19 Gen 3 with Trijicon HD sights
KCI Glock 19 and Glock 17 mags
JM Custom "The George" appendix holster
Galco single mag carrier
Surefire EB2 Backup
Surefire Fury with Raven Clip and O ring

I choose to use my Glock 19 for the class because it's my go to carry gun and over the course of a year I carry it more than any other gun. The big ledge on my Trijicon night sides came in very handy when doing single hand manipulations in the class.

I purchased the KCI mags over the winter to use as range mags. I knew I should expect issues, but up until the low light class the only issue was one failure to lock the slide catch when the gun went empty. When these mags got dropped in the mud though, they didn't perform as well. The followers were really struggling to stay in the right position. Loading mags I could sometimes turn the thing upside down and have 2 or 3 rounds come out.

My JM Custom The George holster performed great as usual and is my EDC holster. I haven't seen anyone else in MDFI classes run them, but I know it's a quality holster and it's been through a few classes and my own practice.

Light wise I brought my Surefire EB2 Backup and my Fury. Up until about 4 months ago I carried a Streamlight Microstream. It worked great and I loved carrying it, but I realized that as a
defensive light, I should have more. I first bought the Fury and wanted the model that only produces 500 lumens. I ended up being sent the model that is first 15 then 500. I realized quickly, unless I want to change out batteries every other day, I want the 15 lumens. After using that for a bit I decided to try out the EB2 model because I wanted something that on the first click went to 500 lumens. Now I carry both these flashlights individually depending on my mood for the day. I brought both for the class incase one went down and try to see which worked better for shooting with. One thing I found out in class was the O ring on my Fury was difficult for me to get my index finger in when deploying the flashlight. When I carry it I try to stage it so my index finger can easily get in it, but in class when I tried that I often found myself fumbling with the flashlight trying to get my finger in, and that caused some issues for me. I thought the fact my Fury went 15 then 500 would be difficult and the EB2 would blow it away in that regard. I didn't really find it to be much of an issue. I've practiced with it a little bit to click through the 15 to the 500. I found that I do prefer my EB2 though. One, I don't have an O ring on it so I wasn’t fumbling around with that when I deployed it. Two, the button is easier to depress and I get 500 lumens off the bat. While clicking through to the 500 wasn't too difficult, this was much easier. At one point I had to drop one of my Surefires into the mud because I needed both hands to clear out my gun from a serious stoppage (gun was loaded with live and fired casings). It still kept running like a champ!

Overall, I feel I have good EDC gear. Only thing I want to do is have ATEi either install an RMR on my Glock or get top and enhanced side serrations then have SMB do some stippling. At no point did I find myself really needing the stippling, but I know it would help as would the top serrations.

AAR:
I decided to sign up for low light handgun because 1. I wanted to train in low light; 2. the YSINTG class I wanted to take I can't make and there aren't a whole lot of other classes on MDFI's future schedule that would work for me. Going into this class my only handgun classes were Foundation Handgun and Steve Fisher's Critical Handgun Employment. Foundation handgun and CHE showed me how much I really need to improve my trigger control. It is something I have been working to improve which is one reason why I was signed up for YSINTG. It has been improving and thanks to Steve got a lot better after taking CHE. Going into low light I was a little nervous about my trigger control not being up to snuff and my targets having a bunch of holes to left of the intended target area.

The first drill we did was the humbler. 10 shots, 25 yards, no time limit. I made sure to take my time and every couple shots should would bring my gun down and take a rest. I was really trying to get good quality hits. All I ended up doing was putting 6 rounds (all reasonably grouped) into the silhouettes shoulder (high left). One was in the 6” circle. Of course this is not good as I should have put all 10 in the 6" circle, but it's a part of my shooting I need to work on. We then got into some other drills like taping over our sights for instinctual shooting and beginning to deploy our handheld lights even though it was still daylight. Going into the class I knew I would spend basically the entire time shooting one handed as I don't carry a WML and wanted to bring what I carry.

We covered four different handheld techniques. For the longest time I thought the technique of putting one wrist under the other and shooting would be the easiest, because it would give added stability and almost be like shooting with both hands, WRONG! Of all the shots that didn't go through my 6" circle about 95% of them were using this technique. I found I did far better having the light in the FBI or neck index position as I could get a stable one hand shooting platform, which if I hadn't taken CHE probably would have sucked too!
Once we got near dinner time we did see a little bit of rain, but it wasn't bad....at first. By the time we broke for dinner we were getting a decent rainfall. Once we got back from dinner we spent about 10 minutes on the line in a pretty good rainfall and Trek had us go back under the roof because his glasses were fogging up and it was too dangerous to have people shooting and no one be able to see. Over the course of the rest of the class we dealt with on and off rain. Sometimes light, other times downpour.

Trek and Keith kept things fun while keeping safety the paramount importance. I have been to a class or two where some of the students simply didn't understand how to be safe at a gun class. I did not see anyone come remotely close to a safety violation, but this is a more advanced class. One thing I found a little difficult in the class controlling two muzzles. Controlling my gun muzzle is not too hard as I have done it a fair amount. The light muzzle on the other hand was making me think. You don't want your 500 lumen Surefire taking away everyone's nigh vision behind you and when you need to manipulate your gun it can be hard to remember to turn your darn light off even if it isn't pointing behind you. I had to slow myself down, think about what I was doing with my gun and flashlight, then move or do what I needed to.

Overall I thought it was a great class. Lucky for me, we spent most of our time at the 3 yard line. My worry of my trigger control not being up to snuff was not an issue and I didn't have too many holes on my target that weren't supposed to be there. The rain made the class more difficult as all of got quite wet and my magazines were not happy with me by the end, but that just made the class more fun. If you have taken Foundation Handgun I would highly recommend taking this class. It's a great low light class that will really get you thinking. Thank you Trek and Keith for hosting another great class and thanks to everyone who attended for being safe and keeping it an ego free zone.