Default.mp3
Established
This class is for shooters who have had at least a basic pistol class either from Vickers Tactical or any other accredited instructor. State concealed carry certification classes specifically do not qualify. Topics covered include basic pistol topics and the following: malfunction drills, shooting on the move as well as strong hand and weak hand shooting. Introduction to timed fire drills and evaluations based on class skill level. Concealed carry methods are also covered. Night-fire will depend on time of year and range restrictions.
This is my second class ever, the first one being an LAV Basic Handgun last November. I don't remember how the team drills went, really, as I had only taken notes about the individual drills; feel free to correct me on anything.
Class started at 8:30 AM; weather was a bit cold and windy, but got better through the day (temperature-wise; the wind messed with electronic ear pro a bit, but it wasn't anything catastrophic). There were 23 students, the furthest drivers from Ohio. Most guns were Glocks, with a light sprinkling of M&Ps; there was also two H&Ks (my HK45 and an HK45C), a couple of Berettas, a Sig or two, a Springfield EMP, and an FN of some sort (FNP9?). Larry started out with the usual safety briefing, emphasizing muzzle awareness and finger off the trigger.
The first exercise of the day was the empty shell casing on the front sight, to help show the students exactly what a good trigger pull consisted of. After allowing all students to understand what a good trigger pull was, he then moved on to the ball and dummy drills.
(Disclaimer: my memory is a bit fuzzy on this one, so I might have mixed some things up here) After doing so, to help emphasize that stress makes it far more difficult to keep good trigger control, since one has a "fiscal year" to pull the trigger in standard ball and dummy, Larry showed us the ball and dummy command fire drill, which is having the sights on the target, slack pulled, and then calling out when to shoot, using a 5/8th second beep from a shot timer. After that was the ball and dummy timed command fire drill, in which the students started at a low ready and had three seconds to bring up the pistol, acquire the target, and shoot.
I personally had much more problems with the ball and dummy drills when stressors were introduced; I usually do a variant of the ball and dummy drill on my own, but without any time constraints, which showed. My propensity to rush shots only compounded this problem, although my flinches were relatively minor.
The drill after that was the trigger reset drill, which was done purely with dry fire. One dry fires, and then a training partner racks the slide back while you are still in a firing position; while the slide is being racked back, one should simply relax the trigger finger, and let the spring tension push the trigger finger to the reset point. Larry stressed that the two most commonly taught ways were incorrect: the gaming world had a tradition of taking the finger entirely off the trigger between shoots, which works because of the excessively light pull of race guns; the LE/CCW way of slowly resetting the trigger until feeling it reset often makes the shooter then rush the next shot in order to make up for the lost time, thus inducing trigger snatching.
Larry also stated at this point that for accuracy, one should be able to cover one's groupings with a fist when <5 yards, and with a hand when between 5 and 10. He also stated that under combat conditions, one's groupings will, at the very least, double from range conditions.
After these drills on trigger control, Larry then went over sight picture; he stated that he left sight picture after trigger control to help show that it is less important than good trigger control, contrary what many other sources might state. The front sight should be the object in focus, as it is easiest to focus on the object in the middle out of three in a row (rear sight, front sight, target). He also stated to ignore the dots on the sights during the day, as they may be a bit off compared to the actual iron sights.
This is my second class ever, the first one being an LAV Basic Handgun last November. I don't remember how the team drills went, really, as I had only taken notes about the individual drills; feel free to correct me on anything.
Class started at 8:30 AM; weather was a bit cold and windy, but got better through the day (temperature-wise; the wind messed with electronic ear pro a bit, but it wasn't anything catastrophic). There were 23 students, the furthest drivers from Ohio. Most guns were Glocks, with a light sprinkling of M&Ps; there was also two H&Ks (my HK45 and an HK45C), a couple of Berettas, a Sig or two, a Springfield EMP, and an FN of some sort (FNP9?). Larry started out with the usual safety briefing, emphasizing muzzle awareness and finger off the trigger.
The first exercise of the day was the empty shell casing on the front sight, to help show the students exactly what a good trigger pull consisted of. After allowing all students to understand what a good trigger pull was, he then moved on to the ball and dummy drills.
(Disclaimer: my memory is a bit fuzzy on this one, so I might have mixed some things up here) After doing so, to help emphasize that stress makes it far more difficult to keep good trigger control, since one has a "fiscal year" to pull the trigger in standard ball and dummy, Larry showed us the ball and dummy command fire drill, which is having the sights on the target, slack pulled, and then calling out when to shoot, using a 5/8th second beep from a shot timer. After that was the ball and dummy timed command fire drill, in which the students started at a low ready and had three seconds to bring up the pistol, acquire the target, and shoot.
I personally had much more problems with the ball and dummy drills when stressors were introduced; I usually do a variant of the ball and dummy drill on my own, but without any time constraints, which showed. My propensity to rush shots only compounded this problem, although my flinches were relatively minor.
The drill after that was the trigger reset drill, which was done purely with dry fire. One dry fires, and then a training partner racks the slide back while you are still in a firing position; while the slide is being racked back, one should simply relax the trigger finger, and let the spring tension push the trigger finger to the reset point. Larry stressed that the two most commonly taught ways were incorrect: the gaming world had a tradition of taking the finger entirely off the trigger between shoots, which works because of the excessively light pull of race guns; the LE/CCW way of slowly resetting the trigger until feeling it reset often makes the shooter then rush the next shot in order to make up for the lost time, thus inducing trigger snatching.
Larry also stated at this point that for accuracy, one should be able to cover one's groupings with a fist when <5 yards, and with a hand when between 5 and 10. He also stated that under combat conditions, one's groupings will, at the very least, double from range conditions.
After these drills on trigger control, Larry then went over sight picture; he stated that he left sight picture after trigger control to help show that it is less important than good trigger control, contrary what many other sources might state. The front sight should be the object in focus, as it is easiest to focus on the object in the middle out of three in a row (rear sight, front sight, target). He also stated to ignore the dots on the sights during the day, as they may be a bit off compared to the actual iron sights.