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Thread: Place holder for Mr_White, Montrose, CO class review

  1. #1

    Place holder for Mr_White, Montrose, CO class review

    Taadski organized a class, taught by Gabe this weekend in Montrose, CO. I am sure a number of us will have things to say, so I created a space for it. Gabe is having breakfast in the Denver airport now, and I sure hope he doesn't read the Vickers AAR, and decide our class of 14 needs to be 48. He could probably fill those spots by tomorrow. Thanks to Taadski and Gabe for making this happen!
    Likes pretty much everything in every caliber.

  2. #2
    YVK getting tuned up this afternoon, on the way to the class. That little target is one of our pets, even has its own name.

    Likes pretty much everything in every caliber.

  3. #3
    On the way to the course.

    Likes pretty much everything in every caliber.

  4. #4
    THE THIRST MUTILATOR Nephrology's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2011
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    What??? When was this announced?? How did I miss out???

  5. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by Nephrology View Post
    What??? When was this announced?? How did I miss out???
    You should have bought the amplified muffs earlier!
    Likes pretty much everything in every caliber.

  6. #6
    THE THIRST MUTILATOR Nephrology's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2011
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    Quote Originally Posted by GJM View Post
    You should have bought the amplified muffs earlier!
    What's that? Cuffs pearlier? Speak up!
    Last edited by Nephrology; 09-30-2016 at 07:28 PM.

  7. #7
    Here are some impressions of Gabe's class. Rather than taking the form of a traditional AAR, as I am accustomed to seeing in this section, my impressions will be more free form, and will likely come in a few posts.

    I met Gabe through Pistol-Forum. Immediately, I took a liking to him, both because of his on-line personality and his screen name, OrigamiAK, which I mistakenly assumed meant he was from or liked Alaska. I shot with him for a week at Rogers, and recently at a USPSA area match. We have regular phone conversations for years. While I have never received formal course instruction from him, I feel like he has been teaching me for years, both through his on-line contributions to the forum, and information conveyed in phone conversations. I was pretty excited when Taadski (his friends call him "Scoots") organized this Gabe class, as I believe it was the first time Gabe has taken the Gabe White training show on the road outside of Oregon. Still, it was different going to a formal training class with your friend, and I wasn't sure what to expect.

    We had a fourteen students for the class, Pistol Shooting Solutions, and the class was held at the range in Montrose, CO. Gabe's opening lecture was thirty minutes. He covered who he was, his training philosophy, and how he runs the range. It was flat out one of the best opening lectures I have heard in any course. Others had a similar impression. There was something for almost everyone one in there. He was generous in recognizing other instructors, he discussed accountability for every shot fired, and he made his argument for a high level of technical excellence both as a desirable continuing goal and as an insurance policy for the inevitable degradation in performance likely in a stressful situation. His lecture covered everything it needed to and not a bit more. As an aside, especially in a two day format, I have come to have very low tolerance for an instructor speaking for hours, as folks come to a two day shooting class to shoot and not talk. I believe if instructors feel like they need to speak for hours, they need to rethink what they are presenting and how they do it.

    There was a mix of shooting equipment. Starting with my friends, Scoots shot a 226 out of a duty rig, Jason shot a Beretta 92 Compact out of a JRC AIWB, YVK a P30 LEM with a skookum trigger out of a Shaggy, my wife a G34 out of a Production rig, there were a few STI pistols in .40 and .45, a Steyr .40, Glock 19, Glock 17, two more 226s, a single stack 1911, and a P2000SK LEM shot by a LE guy support hand only (due to an injury). I shot a USP Expert from a JM George with a hybrid match LEM trigger. First time I have shot a course from appendix and first time shooting a LEM at a course in many years.

    The course took on the pattern of Gabe briefly describing an exercise, often demoing the exercise, and then the class shooting the exercise. We started with all fourteen of us on the line, which made for fairly tight spacing. A 1911 shooter two to my left was beaning Scoots with those big .45 brass cases, which in turn gave Scoots the idea to point his ejecting brass at my face, and after he mastered that, trying to get them down my shirt. Not long after, we went to two lines of seven shooters each.

    A few things about Gabe and his teaching style. First, he seems to grow in stature when he goes from being regular Gabe, to Gabe, the instructor. He is very animated, gestures wildly, and really is in his element. He is very careful with his choice of words and how he interacts with students. He communicates clearly, respectfully,and always with the right word in terms of meaning and tone -- just the way I would like to be communicated with. He conveys things without crudeness, but also without any sugar coating.

    More to come.
    Likes pretty much everything in every caliber.

  8. #8
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    Sounds like a great class, GJM! Keep it coming.
    Regional Government Sales Manager for Aimpoint, Inc. USA
    Co-owner Hardwired Tactical Shooting (HiTS)

  9. #9
    By early afternoon on TD1, we started the class testing. Amongst all the things Gabe believes in, the absolute #1, is a commitment to technical excellence. I still remember when we were discussing the Rogers School, and his physical and mental preparation for the school test. Gabe flat out said "my goal is to shoot 125/125." I was stunned, and asked him whether he was setting an unrealistic goal, that would likely lead to disappointment. His response, was that he wanted an incredibly difficult goal, as it would motivate his physical and mental training. I thought that was pretty goofy, right up to the morning he shot a perfect 125 on the Rogers School test. Since then, I have become a believer in setting extremely difficult technical shooting goals.

    Below is the framework for Gabe's testing for this class:



    I think it goes without saying, that these are crazy high standards, especially at the Turbo and Light pin levels.

    Gabe took each test with us, demoing as "shooter one" on each test. My wife noticed a "glassy eyed" look on Gabe before each test, and it was clear that this was very stressful for him, too, to have to stand in front of the entire class and shoot to a very high technical standard. Previously, Gabe had discussed stress. First, that stress is likely to cause a degradation in performance, and second, that we should seek out stress as a way of vetting how robust our skills are.

    The first test was the Bill drill at 7 yards, run twice. To give you an idea of the technical difficulty of his standards, the top level was 2.0 seconds, with all A hits. That broke down to a 1.0 draw and five .20 splits. If you were running from concealment, you got a .25 second allowance on top of the 2.0. What is interesting, is he was not requiring just speed, or just accuracy, but both. This goes to his philosophy of shooting for an A, as opposed to guaranteeing an A, as I don't know any shooter that can shoot at that speed and 100 percent guarantee all A hits. Below the Turbo level, the next two levels were 2.5 and 3.5 seconds. Showing just how difficult this drill is, Gabe shot a 2.10 and 2.04 from concealment. That normally would have made the top standard, as he received a .25 deduction for concealment, but each run was 5 A hits and 1 C, meaning it didn't cut his standard for the top level.

    Later that afternoon, we shot the second skill test. That was 2 to the body, 1 to a four inch circle in the head, from 7 yards. The standards for that one were 1.70 at the Turbo level, 2.25 and 2.90 respectively. At the Turbo level, that breaks down to a 1.0 draw, .20 body split, and .50 head split.

    More to come.
    Likes pretty much everything in every caliber.

  10. #10
    Here is a video of YVK shooting skills test two -- consisting of 2 to the body, 1 to the four inch circle in the head box:




    And, my wife shooting that test:




    Before describing Sunday, TD2, a few observations about the class. The 14 shooters represented friends of Gabe, local enthusiast LE, and other local non-LE shooters, many with a timmie/competitive (read IDPA) background. Real credit to Scoots in assembling this class. Not only was there not "that guy," ALL the shooters were safe, skilled and genuinely nice guys. That combination allowed Gabe to pull off a high level class and keep things safe. As Gabe pointed out, disorganization is the enemy of safety, and even though we were a hot range, things stayed very organized. Want to dry fire, go on your own to bay 2, and dry fire from a certain line. Need to handle your handgun administratively, go on your own to bay 3. The closest thing to a possible safety thing, was one shooter holstered a cocked 226, and Gabe caught it immediately.

    Saturday night, we were all beat. Almost all the class ended up out together at dinner at a round brew pub, and as a number of the youngsters around us started to act up a bit, I was glad I was with the fuzz. If we were this tired, I can't imagine how tired Gabe was, between traveling out from Portland on a dark thirty flight, the stress of getting things set-up, worrying about what the class would be like, lecturing, demoing and being responsible for safety.
    Likes pretty much everything in every caliber.

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