Grayman
Established
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AAR
Course: Pistol 1
Instructor: Dan Bales (LMS)
Location: Fernley, NV
Dates: August 15/16 2015
Cost: $400
Round count: 600-800
*In the interests of full disclosure:
I know Dan Bales very well, we regularly shoot together and he is the Range Master for the 400 Deputy agency I work at. I am not a "Fan boy" nor do I think I am particularly biased towards him over any other instructor I've worked with before but I don't want anyone to say I'm blindly rep-ing my buddy. I was given a comp spot to the class to help provide feedback but mostly because I also brought my fiancé along. She paid for the class and I will post her AAR when she gets around to typing it up.
I do not consider myself a novice or even intermediate pistol shooter, but I am not an expert either. I don't say this to stroke my ego or sound cool I believe this is an honest assessment of my ability. So why attend a Pistol 1 class? I took this class because Dan invited me to come out and shoot so like any good 'Murican I said, "Hell yeah!" As I mentioned before my fiancé signed up for the class and me coming too was a good way to keep her from backing out at the last minute.
I went into the class expecting to provide some feedback to Dan about the curriculum and maybe get some good reps in with my new RMR setup. What I didn't expect was to leave the class with a whole new appreciation for the basics. No one is above the fundamentals!
Day one started with a thorough safety brief and a discussion of the fundamentals. Dan kept things succinct and on point. The class then moved into some dry drills walking through each aspect of the fundamentals. Dan did a great job of not only defining each fundamental but actually explaining and demonstrating the reasoning behind each. Class progressed at a fairly quick pace and by lunch we were shooting NSR's and failure drills. Late in the morning we ran the LMS standards as a baseline. Dan took a lot of breaks and was constantly reminding us to stay hydrated.
After lunch we continued to move at a decent clip as Dan covered malfunction clearing and reloading at length. Later in the afternoon we moved onto some discussion of speed vs accuracy. Dan presented, explained and demonstrated the concept of rhythm shooting. Love it or hate it every time I'm forced to do rhythm shooting I realize a vast improvement in my shooting consistency and accuracy at speed. Dan did an extremely good job of explaining rhythm shooting for what it is without getting pulled into the weeds over its practical use. The ability to present a drill without going off onto tangents about that drill's individual merits in the "real world" is one of Dan's strongest points as an instructor; I'll never understand the ego some instructors have towards their drills. We concluded the first day with a second run through the LMS standards. Every shooter showed an appreciable increase in performance from the beginning of the day to the end of the day.
Day two we moved quickly back into the material after another safety brief and a few basic drills. We again discussed and performed some rhythm shooting which seemed to have a profound effect on my fiancés shooting performance. She commented several times that by occupying her mind with counting she was not overwhelming herself with the minutia of shooting and her performance reflected that focus. We then moved onto positional shooting and covered some basic positions. That led nicely into some drills on a VTAC barricade and discussions about use of cover / concealment. We took a short lunch and then jumped back into it. Dan discussed and demonstrated movement and we jumped in to some movement drills.
At the end of day two we again ran the LMS standards. My times from beginning to end had showed significant improvement. My fiancé literally cut her times in half from the beginning of the class to the end of the class and her accuracy went from "combat accurate" to well placed intentional groups.
I saw more improvement in myself than I ever thought possible from a basic level class. Did I forget to mention No One Is Above The Fundamentals!!!! My fiancé went into the class aware of guns and generally able to make them function; she left the class with a level of confidence neither of us thought possible. One of our primary goals going into the class was to help her become comfortable with the idea of guns for self defense. I honestly believe this class exceeded that hope. I am confident that not only is my fiancé comfortable with the idea of using a gun I think she has demonstrated a level of proficiency beyond that of even some of my fellow deputies. In addition to this marked increase in her ability my fiancé now understands why I spend so long training and that gentlemen is worth any $$$!!!!!!
Pros:
-Dan did an excellent job tailoring the class to a brand new shooter while still keeping two more advanced shooters interested and on topic. (That last part was no small feat!)
-Class speed never felt rushed but we covered an incredible amount of material.
-Round count was close to the original suggestion and every round felt like a worthwhile contribution to gained experience.
Cons:
-2 days is a very long time on the range in 90+ degree heat for a new shooter.
-The range has a dirt consistency similar to that of talc powder.
-The drive from Reno is a little long. (<45 minutes)
To summarize if you have a chance to get out and train with Dan Bales I highly suggest you do so! Dan was extremely professional and the material he presented made a measurable change in shooter performance.
I also want to give a very big shout out to Larry Atil from Pillar Media Group and Kevin Mah from Point and Shoot Media Works. They came out and braved the heat to get some great pictures. It's tough to make me look good but in at least one photo you can't tell how ugly I am and that's a photography feat! Both Larry and Kevin are genuine guys and were a blast to spend a day on the range with.
AAR
Course: Pistol 1
Instructor: Dan Bales (LMS)
Location: Fernley, NV
Dates: August 15/16 2015
Cost: $400
Round count: 600-800
*In the interests of full disclosure:
I know Dan Bales very well, we regularly shoot together and he is the Range Master for the 400 Deputy agency I work at. I am not a "Fan boy" nor do I think I am particularly biased towards him over any other instructor I've worked with before but I don't want anyone to say I'm blindly rep-ing my buddy. I was given a comp spot to the class to help provide feedback but mostly because I also brought my fiancé along. She paid for the class and I will post her AAR when she gets around to typing it up.
I do not consider myself a novice or even intermediate pistol shooter, but I am not an expert either. I don't say this to stroke my ego or sound cool I believe this is an honest assessment of my ability. So why attend a Pistol 1 class? I took this class because Dan invited me to come out and shoot so like any good 'Murican I said, "Hell yeah!" As I mentioned before my fiancé signed up for the class and me coming too was a good way to keep her from backing out at the last minute.
I went into the class expecting to provide some feedback to Dan about the curriculum and maybe get some good reps in with my new RMR setup. What I didn't expect was to leave the class with a whole new appreciation for the basics. No one is above the fundamentals!
Day one started with a thorough safety brief and a discussion of the fundamentals. Dan kept things succinct and on point. The class then moved into some dry drills walking through each aspect of the fundamentals. Dan did a great job of not only defining each fundamental but actually explaining and demonstrating the reasoning behind each. Class progressed at a fairly quick pace and by lunch we were shooting NSR's and failure drills. Late in the morning we ran the LMS standards as a baseline. Dan took a lot of breaks and was constantly reminding us to stay hydrated.
After lunch we continued to move at a decent clip as Dan covered malfunction clearing and reloading at length. Later in the afternoon we moved onto some discussion of speed vs accuracy. Dan presented, explained and demonstrated the concept of rhythm shooting. Love it or hate it every time I'm forced to do rhythm shooting I realize a vast improvement in my shooting consistency and accuracy at speed. Dan did an extremely good job of explaining rhythm shooting for what it is without getting pulled into the weeds over its practical use. The ability to present a drill without going off onto tangents about that drill's individual merits in the "real world" is one of Dan's strongest points as an instructor; I'll never understand the ego some instructors have towards their drills. We concluded the first day with a second run through the LMS standards. Every shooter showed an appreciable increase in performance from the beginning of the day to the end of the day.
Day two we moved quickly back into the material after another safety brief and a few basic drills. We again discussed and performed some rhythm shooting which seemed to have a profound effect on my fiancés shooting performance. She commented several times that by occupying her mind with counting she was not overwhelming herself with the minutia of shooting and her performance reflected that focus. We then moved onto positional shooting and covered some basic positions. That led nicely into some drills on a VTAC barricade and discussions about use of cover / concealment. We took a short lunch and then jumped back into it. Dan discussed and demonstrated movement and we jumped in to some movement drills.
At the end of day two we again ran the LMS standards. My times from beginning to end had showed significant improvement. My fiancé literally cut her times in half from the beginning of the class to the end of the class and her accuracy went from "combat accurate" to well placed intentional groups.
I saw more improvement in myself than I ever thought possible from a basic level class. Did I forget to mention No One Is Above The Fundamentals!!!! My fiancé went into the class aware of guns and generally able to make them function; she left the class with a level of confidence neither of us thought possible. One of our primary goals going into the class was to help her become comfortable with the idea of guns for self defense. I honestly believe this class exceeded that hope. I am confident that not only is my fiancé comfortable with the idea of using a gun I think she has demonstrated a level of proficiency beyond that of even some of my fellow deputies. In addition to this marked increase in her ability my fiancé now understands why I spend so long training and that gentlemen is worth any $$$!!!!!!
Pros:
-Dan did an excellent job tailoring the class to a brand new shooter while still keeping two more advanced shooters interested and on topic. (That last part was no small feat!)
-Class speed never felt rushed but we covered an incredible amount of material.
-Round count was close to the original suggestion and every round felt like a worthwhile contribution to gained experience.
Cons:
-2 days is a very long time on the range in 90+ degree heat for a new shooter.
-The range has a dirt consistency similar to that of talc powder.
-The drive from Reno is a little long. (<45 minutes)
To summarize if you have a chance to get out and train with Dan Bales I highly suggest you do so! Dan was extremely professional and the material he presented made a measurable change in shooter performance.
I also want to give a very big shout out to Larry Atil from Pillar Media Group and Kevin Mah from Point and Shoot Media Works. They came out and braved the heat to get some great pictures. It's tough to make me look good but in at least one photo you can't tell how ugly I am and that's a photography feat! Both Larry and Kevin are genuine guys and were a blast to spend a day on the range with.