CHAOS16
Regular Member
Course- Intro to Competitive Shooting
Company - SSV Concepts
Primary Instructor- Ben Oleson
Location- Big Springs Shooting Complex, 4945 IA-146, Searsboro, Iowa
Weather- Hot and very humid. 95 degree high
Student Body- Three students, including myself
One student was a good shooter but had never competed before. The other had
competed a few times in USPSA.
Course Description:
This course is for the experienced shooter that wants to take it to the next
level. The emphasis will be on how to be a successful USPSA competitive
shooter and will address all topics related to USPSA shooting. Class sizes
will be very limited so that high individual performance is achieved. This
class will NOT cover basic handgun operation. Anyone signing up for this
class should be very familiar with their pistol platform.
Topics covered: .USPSA Rules
.Division specific gear
.Match preparation
.Basic operation of a USPSA match
.How to "break down" a stage
.Power factor and scoring
.Drawing from the holster
.Speed reload techniques
.Individual live fire drills and stages
.Recoil management
.Movement
Required Materials: .Serviceable division legal pistol (see USPSA website)
.Minimum of 3 magazines (5 if single stack) or 5 speed loaders for revolvers
.Magazine pouches for each one of your magazines (maximum of 6)
.High quality speed holster (Bladetech or similar holster preferred)
.Eye protection
.Ear protection
.Hat with a brim
.Appropriate range attire (no sandals). We will shoot rain or shine.
.Lunch/snacks (water will be provided)
.600 rounds of ammunition
.Completion of SSV Concepts Pistol I or similar training course (Concealed
Carry Permit Class will not meet this requirement)
Recommended but not required: .Sun block
.Bug spray
.Gloves
------------End Course Description--------------------------
My background / skill level:
I am an intermediate level rifle and pistol shooter. I shoot USPSA, IDPA,
and some multi-gun competition. My background is in military combat
engineering and overseas contracting (mostly C-IED training). I have spent
a lot of time overseas and so only recently became an IDPA and USPSA member.
For the same reason I have only started to regularly attend matches at my
local gun club.
Equipment for Class-
S&W M&P 2.0 5"
APEX internals, Dawson Precision sights
Comptac Holster
Blade-Tec double mag pouch, single mag pouches
Round Count- 700 rounds 9mm S&B 124gr factory (German contract, not the
Czech)
Personal Training objectives:
Having shot mostly IDPA, but wanting to grow and learn more of the game
aspects of USPSA I took this course. I'm sitting at a C classification and I
would like to move up to a B by the end of the shooting season.
What Happened?:
Upon arriving I saw that the entire bay we would be shooting on had a good
six or seven USPSA stages set up for our use. I was quite impressed that
everything was already staged before the class even began.
Basic timeline as follows:
0800
Made our introductions, then covered safety, gear, divisions, basic USPSA
rules, and power factor.
Covered Range commands
0900
Went live with strings of fire on paper targets at 5ish yards. We did basic
firing strings with Ben diagnosing fundamentals like grip, draw stroke,
reloads, etc.
Ben discussed the importance of dry fire, and introduced us to scaled dry
fire targets (from the Ben Stoeger pro shop).
1000
We started running some short stages, which were followed by VERY specific
feedback on how to improve and strategize the way would could run the
course.
1100
We continued to run the various stages that Ben had set up, about two or
three iterations per student of each stage.
1230
Lunch
1330
We moved on the more complicated USPSA targets such disappearing targets,
swingers, along with steel poppers, and the Texas Star.
1430
We practiced techniques on how to do a table draw, practiced stages that
were strong hand only.
1520
We ran through all the stages as a USPSA competition, with students taking
turns ROing and scoring. After each stage was conducted Ben broke down the
strategy and gave us our individual critiques.
1730
We completed the competition, received our overall scores, and broke down
the equipment.
1830
But wait, there's more! We ran a final couple of drills including the
accelerator, bill drill, and 4 Aces drill.
We didn't finish until after 1900
Sustains:
1. Ben's demeanor and teaching style is the best I have ever seen. He
analyzes issues and delivers critique in a manner that is easily digestible.
2. Ben ran the same stages / drills before, in between, or after the
students depending on the stage. It was great to see him "put his money
where his mouth his."
3. Having the stages set up beforehand was money, plain and simple. It
says a lot about the instructor's motivation and dedication to the course.
Improves:
1. I wish Ben was shooting production instead of single stack, because
since everyone donated their brass to me after the match I had to sort out
all the 45 cases.
2. A deeper bay would have allowed some longer range stages. Most of
the stages had targets within 15 yards or less due to space constraints.
3. There could have been more fault lines, we were short on those and
had to move them around a little when going from stage to stage. It was a
minimal impact on time overall though.
Overall Critique:
This course is underpriced. Even though this is an intro to competition
course, it taught me lots of useful information on basic pistol running and
gunning skills. Having every stage run on a timer gave me loads of personal
evaluation criteria that is difficult to tabulate while training /
practicing on my own and especially when competing.
I highly recommend this class to anyone that is serious about competing or
just plains wants to improve their ability to move and shoot.
If I took this course again, I would be willing to pay 1.5x the tuition even
if the instructor let me run both a handgun and a PCC (Pistol Caliber
Carbine).
Company - SSV Concepts
Primary Instructor- Ben Oleson
Location- Big Springs Shooting Complex, 4945 IA-146, Searsboro, Iowa
Weather- Hot and very humid. 95 degree high
Student Body- Three students, including myself
One student was a good shooter but had never competed before. The other had
competed a few times in USPSA.
Course Description:
This course is for the experienced shooter that wants to take it to the next
level. The emphasis will be on how to be a successful USPSA competitive
shooter and will address all topics related to USPSA shooting. Class sizes
will be very limited so that high individual performance is achieved. This
class will NOT cover basic handgun operation. Anyone signing up for this
class should be very familiar with their pistol platform.
Topics covered: .USPSA Rules
.Division specific gear
.Match preparation
.Basic operation of a USPSA match
.How to "break down" a stage
.Power factor and scoring
.Drawing from the holster
.Speed reload techniques
.Individual live fire drills and stages
.Recoil management
.Movement
Required Materials: .Serviceable division legal pistol (see USPSA website)
.Minimum of 3 magazines (5 if single stack) or 5 speed loaders for revolvers
.Magazine pouches for each one of your magazines (maximum of 6)
.High quality speed holster (Bladetech or similar holster preferred)
.Eye protection
.Ear protection
.Hat with a brim
.Appropriate range attire (no sandals). We will shoot rain or shine.
.Lunch/snacks (water will be provided)
.600 rounds of ammunition
.Completion of SSV Concepts Pistol I or similar training course (Concealed
Carry Permit Class will not meet this requirement)
Recommended but not required: .Sun block
.Bug spray
.Gloves
------------End Course Description--------------------------
My background / skill level:
I am an intermediate level rifle and pistol shooter. I shoot USPSA, IDPA,
and some multi-gun competition. My background is in military combat
engineering and overseas contracting (mostly C-IED training). I have spent
a lot of time overseas and so only recently became an IDPA and USPSA member.
For the same reason I have only started to regularly attend matches at my
local gun club.
Equipment for Class-
S&W M&P 2.0 5"
APEX internals, Dawson Precision sights
Comptac Holster
Blade-Tec double mag pouch, single mag pouches
Round Count- 700 rounds 9mm S&B 124gr factory (German contract, not the
Czech)
Personal Training objectives:
Having shot mostly IDPA, but wanting to grow and learn more of the game
aspects of USPSA I took this course. I'm sitting at a C classification and I
would like to move up to a B by the end of the shooting season.
What Happened?:
Upon arriving I saw that the entire bay we would be shooting on had a good
six or seven USPSA stages set up for our use. I was quite impressed that
everything was already staged before the class even began.
Basic timeline as follows:
0800
Made our introductions, then covered safety, gear, divisions, basic USPSA
rules, and power factor.
Covered Range commands
0900
Went live with strings of fire on paper targets at 5ish yards. We did basic
firing strings with Ben diagnosing fundamentals like grip, draw stroke,
reloads, etc.
Ben discussed the importance of dry fire, and introduced us to scaled dry
fire targets (from the Ben Stoeger pro shop).
1000
We started running some short stages, which were followed by VERY specific
feedback on how to improve and strategize the way would could run the
course.
1100
We continued to run the various stages that Ben had set up, about two or
three iterations per student of each stage.
1230
Lunch
1330
We moved on the more complicated USPSA targets such disappearing targets,
swingers, along with steel poppers, and the Texas Star.
1430
We practiced techniques on how to do a table draw, practiced stages that
were strong hand only.
1520
We ran through all the stages as a USPSA competition, with students taking
turns ROing and scoring. After each stage was conducted Ben broke down the
strategy and gave us our individual critiques.
1730
We completed the competition, received our overall scores, and broke down
the equipment.
1830
But wait, there's more! We ran a final couple of drills including the
accelerator, bill drill, and 4 Aces drill.
We didn't finish until after 1900
Sustains:
1. Ben's demeanor and teaching style is the best I have ever seen. He
analyzes issues and delivers critique in a manner that is easily digestible.
2. Ben ran the same stages / drills before, in between, or after the
students depending on the stage. It was great to see him "put his money
where his mouth his."
3. Having the stages set up beforehand was money, plain and simple. It
says a lot about the instructor's motivation and dedication to the course.
Improves:
1. I wish Ben was shooting production instead of single stack, because
since everyone donated their brass to me after the match I had to sort out
all the 45 cases.
2. A deeper bay would have allowed some longer range stages. Most of
the stages had targets within 15 yards or less due to space constraints.
3. There could have been more fault lines, we were short on those and
had to move them around a little when going from stage to stage. It was a
minimal impact on time overall though.
Overall Critique:
This course is underpriced. Even though this is an intro to competition
course, it taught me lots of useful information on basic pistol running and
gunning skills. Having every stage run on a timer gave me loads of personal
evaluation criteria that is difficult to tabulate while training /
practicing on my own and especially when competing.
I highly recommend this class to anyone that is serious about competing or
just plains wants to improve their ability to move and shoot.
If I took this course again, I would be willing to pay 1.5x the tuition even
if the instructor let me run both a handgun and a PCC (Pistol Caliber
Carbine).
