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Thread: John Farnam Interview

  1. #11

    John Farnam Interview

    I’ve taken several classes with John. Most recently last year, in both live-fire and lecture format. It was very professionally run. We also fired at night. He had everyone on-deck safely corralled in one area, whilst the shooters were 180 degrees removed from them, into dedicated fields of fire. It was as safe or safer than any other live-fire class I’ve taken, over the past 25 years.

    I’ve read all of his books, going back to his early publications, and I’ve found it all both instructive and historically informative. I’ve dined with John on a number of occasions, and I don’t say much, since he is very entertaining, as you heard on the podcast, and he literally has so many great, gut-wrenching tales of the war, other wars, and policing, that you can’t help but be captivated.

    His safety lecture is a bit different than most in that he specifically tells everyone that GUNS ARE NOT SAFE and that’s what makes them particularly useful to us for our given purposes. He also acknowledges that training with firearms is inherently dangerous, and that great care must be taken to avoid people and things from getting inadvertently shot.

    Here’s an essay I wrote about the class:

    https://civiliandefender.com/2018/02...h-john-farnam/




    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
    Last edited by Sherman A. House DDS; 01-13-2019 at 11:22 AM.

  2. #12
    Site Supporter Norville's Avatar
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    Jan 2017
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    I took a carbine class with him in the mid 90s and it fell on the ‘scary’ side of the spectrum.

    Too many students, hot range with both long guns and handguns, night shooting where weapon lights were discouraged (actually any light at all) and no target feedback.

    I picked a spot away from the firing line and just watched the night shoot.

  3. #13
    Hoplophilic doc SAWBONES's Avatar
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    Jan 2014
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    The Third Dimension
    I'm another who's taken several classes with John, mostly handgun and some urban rifle/shotgun.

    Only once was there any sense of disarray, in a setting of too many students plus too much variety of experience among students.

    With too many students, some individual students' experience and attention suffered, plus "filler drills" (e.g., "battlefield pickup") were added simply to engage one group of students while another did actual training, plus with novice and experienced students mixed (this in an "Advanced Handgun" class), there was continual back-tracking necessary to introduce or reinforce basic concepts, and obviously some of those present had apparently either exaggerated their previous training experience or perhaps failed to learn from it.

    John is an experienced and knowledgeable but humble senior trainer who IME has always been open to "a better way" in just about any firearm technique, not hide-bound or one of those "place your feet just so" or "hold your hands just like this" types, but one who reads students well, recognizes difficulties, and knows how to teach pertinent skills effectively.

    (BTW, he never runs a range any way but "hot".)
    Last edited by SAWBONES; 01-13-2019 at 01:59 PM.
    "Therefore, since the world has still... Much good, but much less good than ill,
    And while the sun and moon endure, Luck's a chance, but trouble's sure,
    I'd face it as a wise man would, And train for ill and not for good." -- A.E. Housman

  4. #14
    I've taken 4 Farnam classes over the years and need to get in another one, they are a good time and you'll meet some interesting people. In one class I met Chief Jeff Chudwin and Al Kullovitz from Cook County S.O. Al took the famous photo in Street Survival of the biker who soaked up 33 rounds of 9mm before being slugged. I trained with a hard corps NJSP Trooper back in 2001 at one and he was still carrying the P7M8, and it was cool to pick his brain. I've participated in a lot of firearms training and haven't found his classes any more dangerous than any others.

  5. #15
    Member w provence's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2015
    Location
    Irving TX
    Quote Originally Posted by Sherman A. House DDS View Post
    I’ve taken several classes with John. Most recently last year, in both live-fire and lecture format. It was very professionally run. We also fired at night. He had everyone on-deck safely corralled in one area, whilst the shooters were 180 degrees removed from them, into dedicated fields of fire. It was as safe or safer than any other live-fire class I’ve taken, over the past 25 years.

    I’ve read all of his books, going back to his early publications, and I’ve found it all both instructive and historically informative. I’ve dined with John on a number of occasions, and I don’t say much, since he is very entertaining, as you heard on the podcast, and he literally has so many great, gut-wrenching tales of the war, other wars, and policing, that you can’t help but be captivated.

    His safety lecture is a bit different than most in that he specifically tells everyone that GUNS ARE NOT SAFE and that’s what makes them particularly useful to us for our given purposes. He also acknowledges that training with firearms is inherently dangerous, and that great care must be taken to avoid people and things from getting inadvertently shot.

    Here’s an essay I wrote about the class:

    https://civiliandefender.com/2018/02...h-john-farnam/




    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
    Excellent essay.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
    Bill

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