A few weeks ago I displayed my ignorance by asking if anyone knew anything about John Farnam. I was interested in taking a defensive handgunning course he was going to be teaching here in Utah.
Well, I was informed that I had just asked about one of the top 4 or 5 instructors in the country. Duh!
I completed the course yesterday and today. I thought some might be interested in my impressions. This is probably going to be long and tedious, but then, you don't have to read it! This is my first such course, so those with more experience may find this ho-hum.
First, I have to say that the course was not as advertised. If you are going to spend good money to take a course on defensive handgunning, you expect to be taught to shoot well, or at least, better than when you arrived.
That's not what happened.
What happened was that a group of semi-decent shooters learned new skills, new techniques, and, by far most importantly, new ways of thinking.
Farnam is a warrior and a philosopher, a poet and an historian. He has far more to teach than mere marksmanship. And, in a two day course, he moves very fast. There isn't time to drill every skill to a high level of competence. There IS time to learn how to practice those skills. And that is much better than merely learning the skills.
I can't pass on all that I learned in a packed two day course. I can give you an outline, and a few high points. I'll just throw this out in no particular order.
Probably the most important things about the course was the caliber of the instructors. I've already talked about John a bit. One more thing about him - he's a gentleman of the old school. Not at all in a sissifed way - his language would have been right at home in a drill sergeants mouth. And he's a lot of fun. He's not at all arrogant, though he's well qualified to be. Very matter of fact, too. He's not interested in what Jeff Cooper taught 20 years ago. He's interested in what works now. Period.
Then there was his co-instructor, Dennis Tueller. Yes, that's the Dennis Tueller of the Tueller Drill. (I still don't know what that is!) I only know him from some phone calls and emails before the course, and what I saw of him during the course. But FWIW, here's my reading of him. You could trust Dennis Tueller with your life or your wife. He's much like John in a lot of ways. The externals are very different. And the language is certainly different! But the warrior's heart, the philosopher, the gentlemen are all there. And he is a generous man. It's a long story, but I wound up the afternoon before the course faced with having no gun. None. I called Dennis that evening to let him know I'd have to cancel. This man who'd never met me offered to loan me a 1911. He also provided a suitable holster after I found mine was not working for me on the range. (I'm now sold on Fobus.) I can't say enough good about the man.
So here are some of the things I took away from the course:
A weird sunburn. There was a miscommunication. John wanted to emphasize concealed carry techniques. Almost none of us were prepared for that. I was wearing an old white dress shirt (long sleeve, button down) for protection against the sun. I had to unbutton that and use it like a jacket. So, I burned down the middle of my chest and belly where the shirt hung open. It really looks weird! Okay, so I look wierd. So it's wierd on wierd. (Best thing for burns, sun or otherwise is a product called Willard Water. Look it up on the 'Net. It sounds like pure snake oil hype. It's not. You won't believe this stuff. And I'm not selling it.) I wore a hunting vest today. Much better.
A nasty bruise and gouge on my inner knee from trying to cycle the slide on a 1911 with one hand, gripping the slide between my knees. Yes, we worked on a lot of things you never think about doing at the range. What if one hand is disabled? How do you reload? How do you clear a stoppage? Funny thing was, it worked fine with my left hand, but I could NOT get it to work with my right. I need to work on that - find something that DOES work for me.
A divot on my right lower ribcage where my hammer got me while doing a 'close fire' drill. The scenario is that the bad guy (Goofy, as John calls him) has managed to sneak up on you and you are suddenly grabbed at close range. You do a rock and lock and punch holes in him from point blank range. DON'T TRY THIS WITH A STEEL TARGET!!!!!! Use cardboard for this, and the muzzle blast will still get your attention. Uh, accuracy is usually not an issue here! Oh, and be careful about that hammer!
A whole lot of things to think about.
A bunch of much safer gun handling techniques. Well, I thought I knew how to handle a gun safely!
A new appreciation for how difficult it is to really shoot well under pressure.
The confidence that I am now better prepared for a conflict. I'm better prepared to avoid one in the first place, better prepared to control it if it comes, and better prepared to win if it goes all the way.
The first day started with classroom time. We didn't fire the first shot until mid afternoon. It was time well spent. We did more classroom time throughout the course. The second day we got shooting mid morning.
The drills were very revealing. They revealed weaknesses in technique, weaknesses in strategy, weakness in equipment. After assuring John that I really did want to carry with a thumb break strap (after he advised me against those "suicide straps") I had to go to him during a break and take him up on his offer to "circumcise" my Accumold Bianchi. Well, whaddaya know, he knows what he's talking about! That was much better! No more thumb break straps for me on a defensive carry gun. But the Accumold still flopped around too much, hence the Fobus loaned by Dennis.
And having a target chase you at a pretty fast pace is real interesting! Dennis works with Action Targets (http://www.actiontarget.com/) and they have some interesting 'responsive' targets. I am pleased to report I only killed a few innocents in the hostage drills, and I did NOT kill the innocent bystander in the shoot house. All in all, I was very pleased with my shooting after a disastrous outing two weeks ago with my Springfield 1911 hi-cap. (Which may have been the gun, feedback fro the gunsmith tells me. That's some of that long story.)
We had one criminal defense attorney in the group, and one Deputy from a local SO. We also had two concealed carry instructors. The rest were ordinary Joe Schmoes like me. John had the deputy (I'll call him Ralph - not his real name) teach a few drills. We broke up into groups and Ralph took one, Dennis took one, and John took one. For some of the drills, anyway. The deputy's comments at the end were interesting. He said he'd rather go shooting with us than with most of his colleagues. His estimate of officers in his department that even cared about shooting well? 10% John asked him the question. Ralph's answer was in line with John's experience. That's sad.
Ralph is a good man. When I first saw him, I thought he had that "I'm a cop and you're not so shut up." attitude. I was dead wrong. He was a bit tired, having worked the night shift.
I'm burned out on typing, and I haven't scratched the surface. I'm pretty whooped, in fact. That was two high intensity days, and out in the Utah heat too. If you're from or near Utah, think about taking the class next year. He comes around about that often.
If there are questions I'll try to respond tomorrow.
For $285 bucks and some ammo (shot about 450 rounds) I think I got the bargain of the century!
Well, I was informed that I had just asked about one of the top 4 or 5 instructors in the country. Duh!
I completed the course yesterday and today. I thought some might be interested in my impressions. This is probably going to be long and tedious, but then, you don't have to read it! This is my first such course, so those with more experience may find this ho-hum.
First, I have to say that the course was not as advertised. If you are going to spend good money to take a course on defensive handgunning, you expect to be taught to shoot well, or at least, better than when you arrived.
That's not what happened.
What happened was that a group of semi-decent shooters learned new skills, new techniques, and, by far most importantly, new ways of thinking.
Farnam is a warrior and a philosopher, a poet and an historian. He has far more to teach than mere marksmanship. And, in a two day course, he moves very fast. There isn't time to drill every skill to a high level of competence. There IS time to learn how to practice those skills. And that is much better than merely learning the skills.
I can't pass on all that I learned in a packed two day course. I can give you an outline, and a few high points. I'll just throw this out in no particular order.
Probably the most important things about the course was the caliber of the instructors. I've already talked about John a bit. One more thing about him - he's a gentleman of the old school. Not at all in a sissifed way - his language would have been right at home in a drill sergeants mouth. And he's a lot of fun. He's not at all arrogant, though he's well qualified to be. Very matter of fact, too. He's not interested in what Jeff Cooper taught 20 years ago. He's interested in what works now. Period.
Then there was his co-instructor, Dennis Tueller. Yes, that's the Dennis Tueller of the Tueller Drill. (I still don't know what that is!) I only know him from some phone calls and emails before the course, and what I saw of him during the course. But FWIW, here's my reading of him. You could trust Dennis Tueller with your life or your wife. He's much like John in a lot of ways. The externals are very different. And the language is certainly different! But the warrior's heart, the philosopher, the gentlemen are all there. And he is a generous man. It's a long story, but I wound up the afternoon before the course faced with having no gun. None. I called Dennis that evening to let him know I'd have to cancel. This man who'd never met me offered to loan me a 1911. He also provided a suitable holster after I found mine was not working for me on the range. (I'm now sold on Fobus.) I can't say enough good about the man.
So here are some of the things I took away from the course:
A weird sunburn. There was a miscommunication. John wanted to emphasize concealed carry techniques. Almost none of us were prepared for that. I was wearing an old white dress shirt (long sleeve, button down) for protection against the sun. I had to unbutton that and use it like a jacket. So, I burned down the middle of my chest and belly where the shirt hung open. It really looks weird! Okay, so I look wierd. So it's wierd on wierd. (Best thing for burns, sun or otherwise is a product called Willard Water. Look it up on the 'Net. It sounds like pure snake oil hype. It's not. You won't believe this stuff. And I'm not selling it.) I wore a hunting vest today. Much better.
A nasty bruise and gouge on my inner knee from trying to cycle the slide on a 1911 with one hand, gripping the slide between my knees. Yes, we worked on a lot of things you never think about doing at the range. What if one hand is disabled? How do you reload? How do you clear a stoppage? Funny thing was, it worked fine with my left hand, but I could NOT get it to work with my right. I need to work on that - find something that DOES work for me.
A divot on my right lower ribcage where my hammer got me while doing a 'close fire' drill. The scenario is that the bad guy (Goofy, as John calls him) has managed to sneak up on you and you are suddenly grabbed at close range. You do a rock and lock and punch holes in him from point blank range. DON'T TRY THIS WITH A STEEL TARGET!!!!!! Use cardboard for this, and the muzzle blast will still get your attention. Uh, accuracy is usually not an issue here! Oh, and be careful about that hammer!
A whole lot of things to think about.
A bunch of much safer gun handling techniques. Well, I thought I knew how to handle a gun safely!
A new appreciation for how difficult it is to really shoot well under pressure.
The confidence that I am now better prepared for a conflict. I'm better prepared to avoid one in the first place, better prepared to control it if it comes, and better prepared to win if it goes all the way.
The first day started with classroom time. We didn't fire the first shot until mid afternoon. It was time well spent. We did more classroom time throughout the course. The second day we got shooting mid morning.
The drills were very revealing. They revealed weaknesses in technique, weaknesses in strategy, weakness in equipment. After assuring John that I really did want to carry with a thumb break strap (after he advised me against those "suicide straps") I had to go to him during a break and take him up on his offer to "circumcise" my Accumold Bianchi. Well, whaddaya know, he knows what he's talking about! That was much better! No more thumb break straps for me on a defensive carry gun. But the Accumold still flopped around too much, hence the Fobus loaned by Dennis.
And having a target chase you at a pretty fast pace is real interesting! Dennis works with Action Targets (http://www.actiontarget.com/) and they have some interesting 'responsive' targets. I am pleased to report I only killed a few innocents in the hostage drills, and I did NOT kill the innocent bystander in the shoot house. All in all, I was very pleased with my shooting after a disastrous outing two weeks ago with my Springfield 1911 hi-cap. (Which may have been the gun, feedback fro the gunsmith tells me. That's some of that long story.)
We had one criminal defense attorney in the group, and one Deputy from a local SO. We also had two concealed carry instructors. The rest were ordinary Joe Schmoes like me. John had the deputy (I'll call him Ralph - not his real name) teach a few drills. We broke up into groups and Ralph took one, Dennis took one, and John took one. For some of the drills, anyway. The deputy's comments at the end were interesting. He said he'd rather go shooting with us than with most of his colleagues. His estimate of officers in his department that even cared about shooting well? 10% John asked him the question. Ralph's answer was in line with John's experience. That's sad.
Ralph is a good man. When I first saw him, I thought he had that "I'm a cop and you're not so shut up." attitude. I was dead wrong. He was a bit tired, having worked the night shift.
I'm burned out on typing, and I haven't scratched the surface. I'm pretty whooped, in fact. That was two high intensity days, and out in the Utah heat too. If you're from or near Utah, think about taking the class next year. He comes around about that often.
If there are questions I'll try to respond tomorrow.
For $285 bucks and some ammo (shot about 450 rounds) I think I got the bargain of the century!