Imagine how irritated you would be if you went to class and found that you could max the drills thus wasting your time and money.I personally was one of the poorer shooters in the course.
With that fantastic AAR, sounds to me like you were "top student" which is where I strive to be.
There's no way I can add anything to that AAR, so I'll just put some of my random thoughts/lightbulb moments from the class.
I follow p-t and p-f pretty religiously, and had you asked me, I'd have swore I was crouching, doing a textbook pressout, and sight tracking like nobody's business. I would have been dead freaking wrong.
The pressout: I was using a P30 vTGS for the course. It's my carry gun and the LEM trigger makes it a great candidate for utilizing the pressout to get accurate hits from the draw at speed. I thought I was doing a good pressout, but when shown the real deal, realized I'd just been doing a slow punchout while prepping the trigger a bit. Not ideal. It took some getting used to, but once I really got the gun right by my face and kept it level to the target I started to get it. The first day I had to go agonizingly slow to get to the point where I was actually breaking the shot at the moment or just before I reached full extension.
Crouching: I'm a skinny guy at 5'11" 150lbs. Recoil control is not my strong suit. Keeping my weight forward, knees bent, and becoming about 18 inches shorter to shoot made things much better. I started to think this Todd dude knew what he was talking about.
Sight tracking: This is going to require a lot of dedication, but I have totally bought in to how important it is to be able to watch your front sight lift from the notch and fall back into it. I've had a lot of trouble recently losing the front sight but continuing to blast away. Shockingly, this resulted in very poor accuracy. A re-dedication to watching that nub I painted neon green that sits on my pistol slide saw not only better hits, but better hits at the same speed and eventually faster. Todd made it very clear how important vision is to shooting, and touching my toes in the shallow end of true sight tracking has me hooked.
Reloads: Todd's lecture on reloads makes it abundantly clear why he does what he does, why many people do it in a different way, and is freaking hilarious to boot. Sadly, this is an area I did very poorly in through the VAST majority of the course.
FASTs: Day 1 morning 10.77 (-1H -1B) afternoon 11.17 (-2H) Day 2 morning 8.32 (clean) afternoon 7.47 (clean). It only took me a day to get it, but apparently getting your hits helps your score significantly. I came into this class with the goal to get a pin an fell a bit short. I will get one at the next available opportunity. If I have to travel, I don't care. I want that shiny piece of awesome for my hat.
Shooting on the move: I am very lucky in that I get to practice this at my range. I wasn't practicing it right, but I was practicing. After applying what I'd learned on day 1 and what Todd talked about in his lecture, my performance on a variety of shooting on the move drills was the high point of this class for me. Nerdy as it sounds, one year of marching band and 6 years of paintball really helped me here. Doing things that require concentration (playing music from memory while not running into people or shooting people) while moving my feet previously was a huge boon. Combined with applying the earlier lessons that were just starting to gel and I was on a high after this portion. I finished 2nd in the class (excluding Todd) on the figure 8 drill, behind a VERY competent LEO. My run:
Triple Nickel: I can't say I really learned a ton from this drill other than I can follow my sights rather quickly now compared to before the course and my reload sucks, but MAN was that fun! 6.56 clean was my best of 2 runs. I think I might have to end my range sessions on that drill for awhile because you can't really be in a bad mood after it.
Randomness: If you have a hit you think is out on your FAST, but it barely kissed the line and gives you your personal best run of the class while meeting your modified goals, don't immediately hug Todd. He might (jokingly?) let you know he will break out the clinch pick. I informed my parents that my name is now Jason, they were strangely ok with it. Dinner with the instructor after the course is always a good thing to attend. With all the learning going on and the concentration and the self made pressure to perform, I had more fun than I can remember having in a long time.
A big thanks to all involved with CCC for setting up a great training facility in my old backyard and getting world class instructors out there. The course ran very smoothly and all the students pitched in to make things work. It goes without saying, but Todd did an excellent job and I look forward to attending his courses for as long as he's willing to instruct.
Last edited by texag; 04-16-2012 at 09:59 PM.
This.Originally Posted by texag
This quote needs to be made into a hymn/anthem/etched onto a plaque. I knew my pressout needed work, but would have bet big on the fact that my crouch and sights were solid. This was dramatically disproven. I almost have a hard time believing that anyone who has not been through AFHF is truly crouching and pressing out as they should.
Getting a wide eyed introduction to these skills alone is worth the price of admission.
Last edited by jstyer; 04-16-2012 at 08:27 PM.
I train to be better than I was yesterday. -F2S
+1000...my thoughts exactly. It was worth every penny and then some. I was going to write a little AAR but the only thing I really have to say is if AFHF is coming to a theater near you don't miss it.
QFT. I agree with this strongly. Prior to the class, I had tried using what I thought was the pressout and the crouch. It didn't work, so I abandoned it and went back to a punchout with trigger preloading, and called it a "modified pressout". During the class it became abundantly clear that there were several crucial aspects of both pressing out and crouching that I had been missing. Proper pressing out and proper crouching, as enforced by Todd, was a complete eye opener. I tried to apply that lesson throughout the class, but old habits die hard, especially in the shooting on the move parts.
Default, dude, seriously. Find yourself a girlfriend or take up knitting or something... Do it now, I'll wait.
Just kidding, that was an incredibly detailed AAR. I was going to write a full AAR, but I don't think I can add to that.
Highlights of my time:
Making a 6.33 FAST, and getting a pin. However, this was my only clean run. Two of my others were faster, but with misses, and the first run was just a giant ball chock full of suck and fail. I need to work on the head shots primarily, but the body shots as well. I am happy with the draw and reload for now.
Learning how to do a proper press out, crouch, and grip.
5.12 Triple Nickel. I loved this drill. I had never been able to shoot it before, so it was a great experience.
Watching the front sight lift. I've never actually looked for this before.
Not shooting myself in the groin. Pretty pumped about that.
I didn't make myself into That Guy.
Less-good things:
I need an UpLULA. Loading mags is not easy after 400 rds with over 600 to go
My GFA wore a blister in the base of my thumb which soon popped. I wrapped it with tape and had no trouble continuing to shoot. Still annoying and painful.
Ammo issues. I reloaded my ammo, and it seemed to have way more issues than the others' factory stuff. I had many light strikes with an off-center hit. I can only assume it's not going completely into battery, but far enough to release the striker. I also had a ft feed, due to an obviously deformed case. Also one double feed, cause unknown. My final malf was to get a fired case stuck with the rim stuck in the extractor. Took about fifteen seconds to clear. Todd recommended I clean my extractor.
ETA: shooting G17, AIWB
All the world's a lathe.
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