Key Takeaways
I've had a few days to ruminate on this class.
As personal context, the bulk of my 32 year Systems Engineering industry experience was in Instructional Systems Design for US and foreign government entities. I feel, and continue to feel, this was one of the best educational experiences I've ever had.
The thoughts below are distilled from my class notes, and as well as my hazy 58-year old memory will allow. I've chosen to group and arrange them in my perceived order of importance in firearms training: Mindset first, Skillset second, and Toolset last.
Mindset
No one is coming to save you. Be polite, but evaluate every contact as if you might have to shoot them. Don't get complacent just because someone doesn't fit the “dangerous” stereotype. You can get killed by the oddest people.
Carry your gun on a routine, daily, habitual basis, every fucking day. The first rule of a gunfight, is to have a gun.
Spend a lot of training time on what you do often; a fair bit against that which is not common, and cover the rare things occasionally. You don't expect a malfunction, but if you have one, you don't want that to be the first time you realize you need to do a Tap Rack Bang.
Do not have “Range Rules” or “Street Rules” - just have “Safety Rules.” There is no backstop at the WalMart Parking Lot.
Accuracy is Critical – only hits count. You have the rest of your life to miss. Don't.
With a pistol, basically all you have is a 3/8” drill to make holes in things. Use the bumpy things on the slide, line them up in the window, and press straight back. Every single time. Otherwise you are pissing in the wind.
Skillset
Shoot close targets quickly, mid-range targets carefully, and small targets precisely.
Incorporate movement into your practice. Sidestep as you perform your presentations. If you can get two what the fucks from dude, you will be ahead of the game.
Look for opportunities to practice your skills as part of your daily routine. In the morning, holster up, like you mean it. When you put your gun down on the nightstand, draw to the ready, like you mean it. If you do this daily, you will have 730 good, solid repetitions, annually. These will build up.
If you find shooting low and away, move your trigger finger away from frame to avoid steering rounds. (I tried it. Damn. It works.)
Do not have “gun-specific” techniques.
Toolset
Carry a familiar, reliable, accurate gun with adequate magazine capacity.
Take care of your ammo. Don't buy the bottom of the barrel. Don't chamber duty ammo more than twice before tossing it into the range bin.
Well, that's about it as far as the first set of thoughts.
I am still working on what changes I am going to make to my equipment, as well as my training regimen.
I already concluded my P30SK is the wrong carry gun for EDC. It has inadequate mag capacity, a propensity for hanging up mags during reloads, and I found the LEM difficult to shoot well under stress.
I've already started to work on daily carry options for my VP9, and I need to go back and look at my dry practice regimen in light of the class. This will handily solve my "carry gun" and "competition gun", as they will be the "same gun".
I may also make a change in terms of how I was planning to approach competition, as in, I may opt to draw from concealment during matches. I need to re-think my mag carriers, both for USPSA, as well as an option for a reload on the street, as my BT double mag pouches sucked, really, and don't work well for either.
Bottom line, I kind of wished I'd taken this class a couple years ago.
Originally Posted by Rich_Jenkins
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