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Thread: Pistol Shooting Solutions, Phoenix, AZ - Oct 26-27, 2019

  1. #1
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    Pistol Shooting Solutions, Phoenix, AZ - Oct 26-27, 2019

    Thanks to the very generous @Paul D who offered his seat in the class as a karma when a work conflict came up, I got the chance to attend Gabe White’s Pistol Shooting Solutions class this past weekend. Thank you from the bottom of my heart, Paul, and thanks go to @Mr_White for allowing the student change less than 48 hours before the class.

    After getting all my weekend plans and responsibilities shifted, I got to bed after 11pm Friday, got up at 3am, finished loading the car, and got on the road at 4am to drive 4 hours to Phoenix. The drive was pleasant, there was no traffic to speak of since it was early Saturday morning. I was the last to arrive, which was counter to my intent, but it was what it was. I spent Saturday night at a very nice Air BnB in nearby Anthem, and was quite a bit earlier arriving at the range on day 2.

    The class was organized and hosted by John Correia, who you may know from Active Self Protection (he has a ton of YouTube videos and is a trainer in his own right), and was held at the huge Ben Avery Shooting Facility in north Phoenix. The only larger facility I’ve ever seen was Whittington Center in New Mexico. Our class was held on a 100 yard DPS-leased range which they allowed us to rent for the weekend.

    9 students attended the class. I thought I would be the one coming from furthest away, and for those in Arizona I probably was, but one student flew in from Virginia. All the students in this class were male, which is a first for me. Every match or class I’ve ever attended included at least one female. Life experience and employment varied, but the unifying theme for all of us, as Gabe pointed out several times, is that we are all “enthusiasts”. In addition to myself and Gabe, @Yung and @Tokarev were also there, so 4 PF members out of the ten people present. If I missed somebody from PF, I’m sorry we didn’t have a chance to connect.

    Gun geek stuff:

    Firearms and holsters: two shooters used strong-side belt holsters, while everyone else used appendix. There were quite a few electronic dot sights. Two shooters used HKs (and after trying out John’s light LEM P30, I can see the appeal), a variety of Glocks, one M&P, Yung’s Beretta, two Shadow Systems G19 analogues, and Tokarev’s Sokol custom Browning HP, which is a superb, beautiful gun he ran some nice Light Pin runs with after he switched to it from his Shadow Systems gun that was giving him some slide bite that drew blood. Nice leather pancake holster with the BHP as well.

    I used my G19X carried in an RCS Phantom for the first part of the class, and in my Comp Tac for the rest of it due to the Phantom losing a screw I forgot to tighten partway through day 1. The gun is all stock except for the addition of an SCD. I don’t recall seeing a Glock this weekend that didn’t have an SCD, and IIRC, both Shadow Systems did, too, but I might be mistaken on that. I ran my 19X with the large backstrap with beaver tail on Saturday, but screwed up my draw at speed a few times on the beaver tail, so I tried it with the large backstrap with no beaver tail on Sunday. Draw interference eliminated, but slide tracks returned. I only got one tiny bit of skin worn off during the last exercise of the day, so it wasn’t a big deal. I got my typical Glock trigger guard hotspot on my trigger finger next to the fingernail - which actually turned into a blister this time.

    Gabe recommends bringing a full case of 1k rounds, and estimates that a student will use 950. I took 1600 rounds, and used 953, counting the three Wolf misfires/light primer strikes (650 rounds of Wolf and Barnaul were in my ammo box, so I decided to use them).

    I took 10 magazines, six of my own and four a friend loaned me b/c I didn’t have time to get more after I found out I was going to the class. Unfortunately, two of the loaned magazines had Taran extensions on them which didn’t work with the 19x lanyard loop. I didn’t feel like pulling the lanyard loop, so I ran the class with eight magazines. Gabe has a number of exercises that will run through more than 60 rounds before you get a chance to refill magazines, so it is important to make sure you bring enough magazines so you can have at least enough loaded rounds to complete an exercise. Having 8 meant that I never came close to running out while I was on the line.

    My primary goal going into the class was focused on one simple thing: I want to learn to shoot faster. What I mean when I say that is, going into this weekend, I knew how to do a lot of different drills. Some of them, I’ve practiced and have developed some skill. Especially lower round count drills such as draw to a single or pair to a 3x5 card, I have some familiarity and can do with a bit of speed and precision. On the other hand, more extended drills can be problematic: I can shoot a fast Bill Drill, but get garbage hits, or I can shoot a completely clean, tight Bill drill, but it’s slow as molasses. Even shooting a faster Bill, typically I’m not all that fast.

    This course work seems specifically geared to helping people move past those mental roadblocks or plateaus. I say mental, because “if one person can learn to do it, another person can learn to do it”. Gabe repeated that over and over again. Different blocks of instruction focused on different components of the physical and mental aspects of effective shooting, and then those got connected with the tactically significant aspects.

    Gabe spent almost all of the class moving, exhibiting a high level of energy. He is a positive, encouraging, motivated instructor who is passionate about his craft and effective at engaging his students with that passion. He clearly wants each student to succeed, and is effective at finding ways to help them do so.

    When I say all of that about Gabe, I want to be clear that it is not fluff. I have been an education professional for 15 years. I have been a supervisor who did classroom performance reviews on over 30 other teachers. I have two masters degrees. I have taught a lot of classes, observed a lot of teachers, and been through a lot of classes as a student. I only say that about myself in order to qualify what I say about Gabe as a teacher: Gabe is a very good teacher, and I highly recommend him. The class is expensive. It is worth the money.

    I also say that as “that guy” in this class. I got 2/8 runs for score that were good enough to qualify for a pin, so I didn’t get one since the minimum is 4/8, and I was the only student this weekend, out of all those very good enthusiast shooters, who didn’t get one. (I did get a man-on-man challenge patch, though).

    That wasn’t the point of the class for me. Maybe if I take it again someday, I’ll be more focused on that, but what I wanted was what I got: I can shoot better fast, I can hit a target while running, which each of us learned how to do, and I have tools in my training box now to continue to improve.

  2. #2
    Leopard Printer Mr_White's Avatar
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    Many thanks for taking the time to give your thoughts! It was my pleasure working with you over the weekend.
    Technical excellence supports tactical preparedness
    Lord of the Food Court
    http://www.gabewhitetraining.com

  3. #3
    One of the things I enjoyed the most was the safety aspect. Maybe not something you'll see in most AAR's but I appreciated the in-depth safety brief at the start. Everyone in attendance seemed safe and I witnessed no Rule Violations. The people in my immediate area were muzzle conscious and aware and I was comfortable shooting alongside them.

    Gabe mentioned in the safety brief that "speed re-holstering" isn't something he'd tolerate and had to remind me once or twice to take it easy going back to the holster. A definite concern for most striker fired pistols on the market and maybe less of a concern for a pistol with an active thumb safety like the Browning Hi-Power. But still something to be mindful of and aware of when working to and from a holster of any type. With that said, I can think of instances where a police officer may need to holster up faster than ideal but these aren't probably as important for private citizens in a self-defense scenario....

    The movement portion on Day Two was done one on one and did cause some down time. I hate wasted time during a class. Breaks and such are expected and certainly welcome but standing around for an hour while an instructor works with student(s) is not. Gabe is aware of this and set up a dryfire area so students could work on some stuff while waiting their turn on the firing line. We were also given a green light to eat lunch or socialize during the one on one stuff. Probably the only way to make the down time a bit more productive would be to add an additional instructor. Of course this would increase cost and is certainly dependent on the range having enough space to run two shooters/instructors at once. The DPS range probably did but certainly other ranges around the country probably won't.

    Another aspect of the class I enjoyed was the use of cover/barricades and the man on man drill at the end. Cover and barricades are often trained/talked about but Gabe takes the subject a bit farther and incorporates sort of an intense and warped version of Scotty Reitz's metro drill for the cover portion.

    Otherwise, the class was a mix of some things I've seen/done before, some things I've worked/taught before and a few things I'll steal and hopefully use in the future. The three dryfire drills make sense and should help anyone who's looking for some simple common sense ideas for working with an empty firearm. On the subject of dryfire, Gabe also gave a good brief on what should be done to help ensure dry practice is done safely and what should be done afterwards to hopefully keep someone from walking out of the house with an unloaded firearm in a carry holster.

    For gear I used a Shadow Systems MR918 in a Raven Perun holster. The holster worked well out of gate and I had no issued with retention or belt mounting screws coming loose, etc. In addition to the Shadow Systems and Raven, I used my Sokol Browning Hi-Power in a Privateer Leather Raider. The Raider is an avenger-style holster made for strong side carry. Being new, the holster was fairly tight but loosened up pretty quickly. The Hi Power has always been a personal favorite although I don't shoot them much anymore. I need to work on that.

    Just for the record, I didn't get bit by the MR918's slide but rather worked up a hot spot that turned into an open sore from the right edge of the grip's beavertail. The frame is generally devoid of any sharp edges but the shape is such (and my hand is soft enough, that the continued friction of forcing my hand under the beavertail on the draw and generally working with the gun rubbed a new area that hasn't previously been rubbed much by a handgun. That combined with the simple fact that I don't shoot enough to have some of the usual calloused skin caused me to develop an owie. Thanks, @Duelist, for the Band-Aid!

  4. #4
    Member Balisong's Avatar
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    I'm still amazed that we got the opportunity to win a free class from Gabe. Many thanks again to Paul D and Gabe for the generosity. I'm glad you were able to get a lot out of the class. I haven't heard of anyone yet that hasn't, and I'll be trying very hard to take it next time Gabe is here. I did get some shooting done Sunday myself, and I was pretty rusty, so probably just as well that I didn't win the drawing. Thanks for the review!

  5. #5
    Thx for the feedback Duel & Tok as a # of us here are having our first class w/ Gabe this wknd in Dallas.

  6. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by OldRunner/CSAT Neighbor View Post
    Thx for the feedback Duel & Tok as a # of us here are having our first class w/ Gabe this wknd in Dallas.
    Let us know how it goes.

  7. #7
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    Another thanks for the AAR.
    Multiple reports on P-F of Gabe’s ability as a teacher, energy, and commitment to instructing each student motivated me to seek out a class with him and shoehorn it into my schedule.
    I’m looking forward to the class in Dallas this weekend.
    Last edited by GyroF-16; 10-29-2019 at 10:48 PM.

  8. #8
    Site Supporter Paul D's Avatar
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    Scottsdale, AZ
    Hey Duelist, glad it was a good experience.

    When I took his class last year, I was able to score a dark pin. The hardest part for me was the draw and first shot hit. To get a light pin it's 1.25 sec; to get a turbo pin its 1.0 sec all the time. I thought that this was hardest technique to learn. I shot a RDS mounted Glock 17 and I could barely do 1.45-1.50 and surely get a spot on hit. I'm currently doing 1.35-1.40 but would have loved to have Gabe dissect this part of my shooting. He is lightning fast on the draw all of the time. For me, doing the Bill Drill was the hardest. So many nuances to that part of shootting. I bet he could have spent half of the day on that one aspect alone. One advantage I had with the RDS vs the students without was the shots to the small head targets.

    For sure his class made me better organizing my practice and truly knowing what was important to practice.

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by Paul D View Post
    Hey Duelist, glad it was a good experience.

    When I took his class last year, I was able to score a dark pin. The hardest part for me was the draw and first shot hit. To get a light pin it's 1.25 sec; to get a turbo pin its 1.0 sec all the time. I thought that this was hardest technique to learn. I shot a RDS mounted Glock 17 and I could barely do 1.45-1.50 and surely get a spot on hit. I'm currently doing 1.35-1.40 but would have loved to have Gabe dissect this part of my shooting. He is lightning fast on the draw all of the time. For me, doing the Bill Drill was the hardest. So many nuances to that part of shootting. I bet he could have spent half of the day on that one aspect alone. One advantage I had with the RDS vs the students without was the shots to the small head targets.

    For sure his class made me better organizing my practice and truly knowing what was important to practice.
    Thanks again, Paul. It was definitely a good experience.

  10. #10
    Student
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    Sep 2018
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    Arizona
    Some suggestions for future students, not in order, and wholly disregardable:

    - If the dry practice station is available on the second day, try running the two sets of core drills you were taught earlier with strong/support hands only, before your turn comes up.

    - The pin tests and their possible breakdowns are publicly available. Before the class, conduct a self-assessment which you can compare the results to your final performance. If this isn't your first time taking Pistol Shooting Solutions and you saved your results from the last one, even better.

    - It will help to have recently competed at a match and/or shot an individual standard with the rest of the line watching at a previous class. Remember the three recommendations in decreasing priority from the instructor at the beginning of the first pin test, as they are not likely to be said again for the rest.

    - Previous experience with visual target transitions i.e. Ernest Langdon's "Eyes-Up" exercise will definitely be a feather in your cap.

    - Gabe has noticed a trend that more defensive-oriented shooters seem to do better on Immediate Incapacitation and Failure to Stop and have a bit more difficulty with the Bills, if I'm remembering correctly.

    - After the pin tests are over, you'll likely be a little fried. Have some coffee or energy drink or tobacco and focus, because the cover module is coming up next and I'm convinced that's where the gold is, especially combined with the movement module.

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