Default.mp3
Established
Aim Fast, Hit Fast is intended to pick up where most marksmanship training ends. All shooting involves a balance between accuracy and speed. Off the practice range, a shooter does not get to choose how much time he will get to break a shot … shooting becomes reactive and speed is determined by the situation rather than comfort or habit. The goal of this class is twofold. First, to understand the critical balance between accuracy and speed for each individual shooter. Second, to improve each shooter’s ability to deliver accurate, rapid fire in shorter timeframes to maximize his effectiveness shooting a pistol under stress. Skills to be covered include marksmanship, presentation from the holster, reloads, multiple targets, and shooting on the move.
This is my third formal pistol training course, having of previously taking a Vickers Tactical Basic Handgun in fall of 2010 and a Vickers Tactical Handgun I in spring of 2011. I used an H&K P30LS with the Grayguns Reduced Reset Carry Perfection Package, with an X300 mounted, and appendix carried it using a RCS Phantom. I also had two mag carriers, Cane & Derby Pardus SSLs.
Todd Green was the primary (and only) instructor. Class started at 0800; weather was cloudy with touches of raindrops through the day. The wind was rather strong, and played Hell with the electronic ear pro and bent up some of the cardboard backers. However, this kept the temperature down quite nicely. Most guns were Glocks, with a couple of M&Ps, three H&Ks (2 other P30s in LEM), and two 1911s. All shooters were right handed. Nobody used a retention holster; we had appendix carry, strong side IWB, and strong side OWB. Here is the target we used:
After setting up the targets, the we then went into the nearby building for the safety and liability briefing. Most of the rules were quite standard, such as the four basic safety rules. One of the things that Todd had us do that I had not seen before during class was the idea of a hard break: before holstering, one must stop and verify one's finger placement, making sure it was off the trigger. In other words, never directly go to the holster after shooting. Apparently, this was a rule instituted by Gunsite after having at one self-inflicted gunshot wound every class for a couple of months after opening. Two people were designated to be in charge of stabilizing any kind of injuries that might occur, one of them being a retired Corpman, the other having of received basic combat first aid while in the military. Two more people were designated as being 911 callers. He specifically also stated that this class was geared much more toward technical shooting performance, rather than tactics or mindset type things, and that students hoping to learn a comprehensive self-defense skillset would probably be disappointed by the class.
We then started the day off with the FAST, a drill that Todd had created himself to give a quick gauge on the skill of the shooter. The drill begins from the holster, with the pistol loaded with exactly two rounds. At seven yards, the shooter draws from concealment, fires two shots at a 3 x 5 inch box (the credit card), reloads, and then fires four rounds at an 8 inch circle. For each miss outside of the credit card, add two seconds. For each miss outside of the circle, add one second. >10 seconds ranks as a novice, 10-7 is intermediate, 7-5 is advanced, and <5 seconds is expert (which had been done by only 9 people thus far, with Dave Sevigny holding the record at 3.56 seconds). Most students scored >10 seconds, with the best score being approximately 6.9 seconds.
I scored a 10.53, which, to be honest, I was rather happy with. I had shot the drill a couple times before, but never from the draw due to range constraints. Unfortunately, under the stress, I committed the cardinal sin of leaving the finger on the trigger during reloading; I was extra careful about this through the rest of the class. I also was said to have a lot of extraneous movement during the reload, which was a criticism Mr. Vickers had also told me before.
After the FAST, we then went back into the building for the main lecture of the day. Todd told us that he believed that there were four main fundamentals we should focus on.
The first fundamental was stance. He stated that Weaver vs. Isosceles was excessive and overrated, but that it has been shown time and again that under stress, even people who have been mandated to shoot Weaver (e.g., one New Jersey LE agency had actual painted foot prints on the range that the shooters had to be stepping on to pass quals) would instinctively not shoot Weaver, since it simply did not match the body stress response of punching out. He also stated that we shouldn't worry about our feet placement too much, since in the real world, we would not have much choice in how our feet were oriented, as we may be on the move, behind cover, etc. The knees, on the other hand, should always be somewhat bent, which helps with SOTM. As an extension of that, Todd advocates we actively crouch a bit, getting our eyes to nipple level. He said that one of the best ways to figure out what a good stance is was to look at videos of high ranking female IPSC shooters, who have to have good stance in order to make up for their general lack of upper body strength and body mass compared to male shooters. The shoulders should be square to the target, and generally, they should be somewhat rolled, or "turtled up", as this is a natural body response to stress, and helps with recoil control, too. He noted that we should not crouch once we have the gun extended, but rather, already be in a crouching stance by the time the gun is in the ready position. He also stated that "chicken winging" the extension is undesirable, and that we should strive to keep everything shoulder width, as that minimizes size and allows us to perhaps move more smoothly, as we are unconsciously very aware of how wide our shoulders are.
The second fundamental was the grip. For Todd, the grip is relatively easy to explain: one should have four main points of contact to consider. The first is the web between the thumb and index finger of the strong hand, which should be as high up on the back strap as possible. The second is the middle finger of the strong hand, which should be as high up to the trigger guard as possible. The third is the index finger of the weak hand, which should be be as far back on the trigger guard as possible. The last area is the palm of the weak hand, which should also be as far back as possible. Thus, there should be flesh uninterrupted around the grip of the gun. Todd notes that one easy way to check to see if your weak hand is in the right position is that if you splay out your pinky, it should be pointed toward the ground. The weak hand is essentially there for just recoil control; he likes to think of it as a c-clamp. He states that the thumbs don't really play much of a role in gripping the pistol. As for grip strength, he feels that we should simply grip as hard as we can without it interfering with our accuracy. Thus, the actual amount of force needed will differ person to person, particularly depending on each person's grip strength. Todd also told us that if we find our grips coming apart after multiple shots, we could try to press our hands together using our pecs to crush the gun better. As for elbows, Todd prefers to shoot with a slight bent in the elbows, if only because locking one's elbows constantly can be unhealthy, particularly if one shoots often.
The third fundamental was sight picture. However, the trick here is to learn what is an acceptable sight picture. Todd did not like what some instructors teach, which is to have different degrees of acceptable sight pictures for set distances; after all, we are all generally poor judges of distance, and with a fight that is dynamic, all parties are probably moving, and having a set course of action of sorts for what to do at specific distances falls apart. Essentially, we needed to learn to "see what we needed to see".
The last fundamental was the trigger pull. Todd didn't say too terribly much on the topic, since he felt that it was a relatively simple thing, even if it was difficult to actually master. The location of the trigger finger on the trigger would be variable, depending on the trigger system itself, along with the shooter.
This is my third formal pistol training course, having of previously taking a Vickers Tactical Basic Handgun in fall of 2010 and a Vickers Tactical Handgun I in spring of 2011. I used an H&K P30LS with the Grayguns Reduced Reset Carry Perfection Package, with an X300 mounted, and appendix carried it using a RCS Phantom. I also had two mag carriers, Cane & Derby Pardus SSLs.
Todd Green was the primary (and only) instructor. Class started at 0800; weather was cloudy with touches of raindrops through the day. The wind was rather strong, and played Hell with the electronic ear pro and bent up some of the cardboard backers. However, this kept the temperature down quite nicely. Most guns were Glocks, with a couple of M&Ps, three H&Ks (2 other P30s in LEM), and two 1911s. All shooters were right handed. Nobody used a retention holster; we had appendix carry, strong side IWB, and strong side OWB. Here is the target we used:
After setting up the targets, the we then went into the nearby building for the safety and liability briefing. Most of the rules were quite standard, such as the four basic safety rules. One of the things that Todd had us do that I had not seen before during class was the idea of a hard break: before holstering, one must stop and verify one's finger placement, making sure it was off the trigger. In other words, never directly go to the holster after shooting. Apparently, this was a rule instituted by Gunsite after having at one self-inflicted gunshot wound every class for a couple of months after opening. Two people were designated to be in charge of stabilizing any kind of injuries that might occur, one of them being a retired Corpman, the other having of received basic combat first aid while in the military. Two more people were designated as being 911 callers. He specifically also stated that this class was geared much more toward technical shooting performance, rather than tactics or mindset type things, and that students hoping to learn a comprehensive self-defense skillset would probably be disappointed by the class.
We then started the day off with the FAST, a drill that Todd had created himself to give a quick gauge on the skill of the shooter. The drill begins from the holster, with the pistol loaded with exactly two rounds. At seven yards, the shooter draws from concealment, fires two shots at a 3 x 5 inch box (the credit card), reloads, and then fires four rounds at an 8 inch circle. For each miss outside of the credit card, add two seconds. For each miss outside of the circle, add one second. >10 seconds ranks as a novice, 10-7 is intermediate, 7-5 is advanced, and <5 seconds is expert (which had been done by only 9 people thus far, with Dave Sevigny holding the record at 3.56 seconds). Most students scored >10 seconds, with the best score being approximately 6.9 seconds.
I scored a 10.53, which, to be honest, I was rather happy with. I had shot the drill a couple times before, but never from the draw due to range constraints. Unfortunately, under the stress, I committed the cardinal sin of leaving the finger on the trigger during reloading; I was extra careful about this through the rest of the class. I also was said to have a lot of extraneous movement during the reload, which was a criticism Mr. Vickers had also told me before.
After the FAST, we then went back into the building for the main lecture of the day. Todd told us that he believed that there were four main fundamentals we should focus on.
The first fundamental was stance. He stated that Weaver vs. Isosceles was excessive and overrated, but that it has been shown time and again that under stress, even people who have been mandated to shoot Weaver (e.g., one New Jersey LE agency had actual painted foot prints on the range that the shooters had to be stepping on to pass quals) would instinctively not shoot Weaver, since it simply did not match the body stress response of punching out. He also stated that we shouldn't worry about our feet placement too much, since in the real world, we would not have much choice in how our feet were oriented, as we may be on the move, behind cover, etc. The knees, on the other hand, should always be somewhat bent, which helps with SOTM. As an extension of that, Todd advocates we actively crouch a bit, getting our eyes to nipple level. He said that one of the best ways to figure out what a good stance is was to look at videos of high ranking female IPSC shooters, who have to have good stance in order to make up for their general lack of upper body strength and body mass compared to male shooters. The shoulders should be square to the target, and generally, they should be somewhat rolled, or "turtled up", as this is a natural body response to stress, and helps with recoil control, too. He noted that we should not crouch once we have the gun extended, but rather, already be in a crouching stance by the time the gun is in the ready position. He also stated that "chicken winging" the extension is undesirable, and that we should strive to keep everything shoulder width, as that minimizes size and allows us to perhaps move more smoothly, as we are unconsciously very aware of how wide our shoulders are.
The second fundamental was the grip. For Todd, the grip is relatively easy to explain: one should have four main points of contact to consider. The first is the web between the thumb and index finger of the strong hand, which should be as high up on the back strap as possible. The second is the middle finger of the strong hand, which should be as high up to the trigger guard as possible. The third is the index finger of the weak hand, which should be be as far back on the trigger guard as possible. The last area is the palm of the weak hand, which should also be as far back as possible. Thus, there should be flesh uninterrupted around the grip of the gun. Todd notes that one easy way to check to see if your weak hand is in the right position is that if you splay out your pinky, it should be pointed toward the ground. The weak hand is essentially there for just recoil control; he likes to think of it as a c-clamp. He states that the thumbs don't really play much of a role in gripping the pistol. As for grip strength, he feels that we should simply grip as hard as we can without it interfering with our accuracy. Thus, the actual amount of force needed will differ person to person, particularly depending on each person's grip strength. Todd also told us that if we find our grips coming apart after multiple shots, we could try to press our hands together using our pecs to crush the gun better. As for elbows, Todd prefers to shoot with a slight bent in the elbows, if only because locking one's elbows constantly can be unhealthy, particularly if one shoots often.
The third fundamental was sight picture. However, the trick here is to learn what is an acceptable sight picture. Todd did not like what some instructors teach, which is to have different degrees of acceptable sight pictures for set distances; after all, we are all generally poor judges of distance, and with a fight that is dynamic, all parties are probably moving, and having a set course of action of sorts for what to do at specific distances falls apart. Essentially, we needed to learn to "see what we needed to see".
The last fundamental was the trigger pull. Todd didn't say too terribly much on the topic, since he felt that it was a relatively simple thing, even if it was difficult to actually master. The location of the trigger finger on the trigger would be variable, depending on the trigger system itself, along with the shooter.