As most of us know, pistol mounted optics are not the future of law-enforcement handguns, in many cases, they are the here and now. Some agencies have yet to embrace this fact, but many larger institutions are coming around and developing organic training programs, or utilizing existing subject matter experts to ease the transition for agency wide implementation.
About me- I'm a full time law enforcement firearms instructor. I've served in that role since August of 2018, both as a sworn Field Training Officer, and as a non-sworn GS employee. I've been shooting pistol-mounted optics since the late summer of 2019, and to be completely candid with the reader, I was a late adopter because I was skeptical about the efficacy, durability and reliability of pistol mounted optics in general. Since that time, I've educated myself on the way of the dot, and trained with industry professionals such as Scott Jedlinski of Modern Samurai Project, and my peers at Green Ops, and I've seen quantifiable gains in my pistol shooting in that time. I've taken ownership of the pistol-mounted optics program within my agency, and was looking forward to FLETC offering their standalone optics program.
Last week, I had the opportunity to attend FLETC's Handgun Optic Training Program at their training facility in Cheltenham, MD. I've waited to attend this course for over a year, and was looking forward to it. This review is not broken down day by day, and not every single thing in the class is covered, but rather a general overview is offered.
The course was for my agency, and 12 students were in attendance. Equipment wise, I was shooting my agency issued GLOCK 47, with ACRO P-2 and Streamlight TLR-7A, carried in the excellent SafariVault holster.
The lead instructor, John Hill, was perfectly suited to teach this course. He's a Grandmaster in various disciplines in USPSA, and John is a shooter, a thinker, and he challenges his students from the first few seconds on the range. This was not a basic class, and very high standards in terms of self-diagnosis, weapons handling and skill at arms were expected.
John's approach to the dot was nuanced- we didn't turn on the dot and start blazing away. Many of these types of classes literally say "Focus on the target and not the dot. Ok, now go zero." This results in...........shooter focusing on the dot. We, as instructors, are our own worst enemy.
We spent several hours with the dot off, forcing the student to develop a natural index behind the pistol, as well as 100% speed on all draws from the very beginning. This also served to give the student confidence to make hits on target from 1.5 - 10 yards with a downed optic in a VERY compressed time frame.
Once the class was able to confidently get their hits with the dot off, we turned them on, and John explained that the dot gives you, the end user, a tremendous amount of information, should you choose to listen to it. We were also cautioned not to be overwhelmed by the information the dot was showing us.
With the dot on, a cursory zero drill was conducted at 10 yards, but it was emphasized that we would not be spending an inordinate amount of time putting clicks on the gun, because we're not shooting at Camp Perry. Without exception, everyone was mechanically zeroed, or had to make extremely minute adjustments to the ACRO. As many instructors know, you can chase a zero all day, but no amount of clicks on the gun will make up for moving the pistol while pressing the trigger.
After zero confirmation, shooting on the move, shooting strong and support hand, and multiple threat/ sequence shooting were all conducted, with the same high standards of speed and accuracy. Shooting a bullseye at 25? That's nice. Here's your 2 second par time.
The course, like many others, culminates in a qualification course of fire. The HOTP qualification is hands down my absolute favorite. To pass, you must be FAST and accurate. All of the tropes that some range instructors like to dole out like steaming bowls of mediocrity (take your time), (slow is smooth, and smooth is fast) ain't gonna cut it in this course. Be fast. Be accurate. Jam mags, and get back on the line.
If you are a partner agency with FLETC, and are even thinking about putting dots on pistols, have John Hill teach your range staff in the ways of the dot. I enjoyed this class so much I am signing back up to take it again.
Once again- thank you to John Hill for putting on this amazing course, and to FLETC for offering it.
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Originally Posted by Skinner Precision, LLC
