AAR Sentinel Concepts Essential Handgun Employment 5/27-28/2017

[Artemas2]

This ARR is also posted on the Primary & Secondary Forum

Sentinel Concepts (http://sentinelconcepts.com/)
Essential Handgun Employment
Taught by Steve “The Yeti” Fisher
May 27 2017
Alliance PD Range in Ohio
2 days, approximately 16 hours
Cloudy with some sun temps in the low to mid 70s some rain during the final qual on day 2

I used my Glock 17 gen 4 (Factory trigger and springs) with Raven Phantom OWB holster and raven mag pouches. In the afternoon on the second day I switched to a Glock 34 with a TLR-1HL and a overwatch precision tac trigger in a JM custom kydex OWB holster

Most students use some variation of Glock, one had an HK, and another used a Springfield EMP. There was a mix of holster positions from AIWB to strong side IWB and OWB.

The day started early at 0800, we spent the first hour-ish on introductions and some pre range information and the medical brief and what to do if someone is injured. This included finding those in the class with medical experience who were then designated secondary, Steve being the primary to provide immediate care. He went over calling 911 and how to direct them to our location. Steve ending the brief with “big boy rules” Don’t do stupid shit with guns or you will be kicked out/go to the hospital and we will shoot your ammo. Simple enough.

Steve is an awesome instructor. I met Steve for the first time the day prior at his practical shotgun class, within 10 words he had the class laughing and learning. He can come of strong if you are not used to being busted on and he drops F bombs like candy, but never in a way that is counterproductive to learning. His class was very relaxed and easy to be comfortable in. The class had a variety of students ranging from people will little experience or training to SRT/SWAT guys & girls and even other instructors.

One thing Steve said is that his goal “is to break you down, and rebuild you better”. He was being very serious, both in physical technique and mentally. He will not hesitate to tell you that “you suck” after a string of fire, it was never demeaning. It was encouraging; he expects excellence from his students and knows how to get them to find it.

The first shots fired of the day were from 25 yards at a silhouette target, the focus of which was a 5”X7” box in the target. All ideas of how awesome we were evaporated in the first 10 rounds of the class. The next drill was 10 rounds at 3(5?) yards aimed at a 2 “ dot. After that we completely unloaded our guns and Steve had everyone individually draw to their grip, which he then proceed to “break down and rebuild”. We would look down our sights while he adjusted our grip and asked us to increase/decrease grip pressure and change hand positions while we could see how our front sight moved. This “drill” took around 30 minutes or more until Steve had seen and worked with every single student. At the end of it we better understood how our grip affected the sights and how to diagnose our own bad shots without being told. At the end of the first day, several students said this part alone was worth the cost of attending.

The structure that Steve uses for teaching was something I found to be beneficial. After each drill the class would “round table”. Steve and the Assistant instructors would point out errors that were made either by individuals or by several students. Then he would ask every student “what did you notice?” “Why did you suck?” “how can you fix it?” and other questions that made you think more about what went wrong. Steve was able to give critiques and offer advice in a given drill that suited the individual student. We did not do a large number of drills on the first day, but I learned more than the typical class where you just shoot drills with no real reflection on the outcome.

Steve demands accuracy at all speeds and distances. The target for all the drills was either 5”X7” box (if the round is touching the line but still in the box…it’s a miss!), a 2 “ dot” or our first bullet hole. The smaller targets held the students to a higher standard and helped us diagnose our errors better. They are also reasonably realistic target areas. Steve Explained that the 5”X7” was a fairly consistent size for the vital zone on most individuals even if they are only presenting a side view.

Steve setup a demo where he placed a target on the 25 yard mark the lined up with another target (25 yards away). He shot the first target from about three yards and showed us how the group spread over distance. The target he shot through had a group about 2”s or less. The target on the other side had a group 6-10 inches in size.

On day two Steve introduced us to some drills that incorporated live fire and dry fire in to them to further diagnose our issues. We also covered the different types of reloads and what situations and why they are suited to those situation (or not). In order to induce some stress, the class lined up in two rows around the 7 yard line and Steve would give a drill for us to do. Two students at the start command would draw and fire the drill, if your shots are outside the box, if your gun runs empty or fails, if you finish last, you lost. This was done until only one winner remained. Steve pointed out (many times) that we get to much into our own heads and panic. Even at close distances people we rushing shots and missing easy hits because the lost control and panicked.

Next we covered malfunctions. Steve has three methods that are simple and effective and most importantly work. He explained in great detail the context, whys and when. To summarize them, “Smack the magazine and rip the slide off the gun.” If that does not work “remove the magazine, let shit fall out, reload, and rip the slide off the gun”

If the slide is stuck, grasp it with your support hand and violently drive your strong hand into the grip. To practice these, Steve had us load 3-5 empty cases into our magazines with live rounds. Chaos began. The empty cases were unpredictable in what they did. There was no way to game the drill. I used 4 magazines in this drill, by the end I had dealt with stove pipes, inline stove pipe, double feeds, stuck slides, and everything in between. This drill changed the scripted way I had done these exercises into an unpredictable realistic mess.

The final exercise was the dreaded timed qual. Each student was individually timed as they shot from 25 yards and in with the same strict accuracy standards. Out of the 22-ish students in the class only 1 or 2 were able to complete it.

At the end of class Steve explained that he can’t fix X number of years of bad habits in two days all he could do was show us the how and whys, and that it is up to us in our own time to get better and practice more. He also talked about his curriculum and how he teaches a given class. He said most of the time after the first drill he throws it out and teaches to what the class needs. This class spent much of the time around 7 yards working drills while trying for the best shots we could get.

I have been to a couple classes and many pistol matches before, but nothing with the demands that Steve has for accuracy. Before I signed up I was pretty intimidated about it, but I wanted to get better and I hoped that if I could only take one thing away it be worth it. I took away over 20 pages of notes and really I should have taken more, I have a new grip to work on, and a new perspective on how distance works in the real world. I enjoyed every minute of this class and hope to take it again.

On a side note:

One student had broken their arm sometime prior to the class and was still in a sling. She shot all the drills with the same demanding accuracy standard better than most of us…support hand only.


There is No excuse to not train.

[Francis]

Nice write up. Thank you for taking the time to post.