STANDARD DISCLAIMER: I have never been a member of any Dreaded Demon of Darkness Ninja Assault Team, not even the Royal Luxembourg Mounted House Guard. I have no desire to jump out of black helicopters with a knife in my teeth and do not tell people in the gun shop that I do. I have never written for a gun rag, unless you count the "wish list" in Shooting Times in `92 where I wrote that Glock should make a compact .45 and a single stack .45 with a thinner grip than Glockzilla. I'm waiting by the mailbox for all those checks from the G30, 36 & 37! (Maybe Glock has lost my EIN or SSN for the 1099)?
Over the weekend I had the opportunity to attend Ken Hackathorn's "Mastering the Handgun" in Bloomington, Illinois hosted by the Midwest Training Group. The class was geared to persons who had at least several other shooting skuls under their belts. It was for the experienced individual (I cannot bring myself to say "Advanced" because what the heck is an advanced gunfight?).
The class was somewhat unusual in that the average age for the class was higher than I would have thought for a class of this type. I personally prefer to shoot with older shooters as: 1. they usually know what they are doing, 2. the default settings of their computers are usually programmed to do the right things, 3. they are less likely to panic and do something stupid to me, 4. they are a great source of knowledge of the "gun culture." As well, there were several state and federal LEOs out of 20.
After quick introductions in the parking lot at Darnall's (the name of the range in Bloomington, Illinois), Hackathorn made it abundantly clear what the class would be about--"I'm all about fighting with a handgun." The "gun nut" and the hobbyist part of us all would have to be put on hold. (Hackathorn could not help himself and several times started, no, he did, not me, the gun chatter at breaks on the range).
Hackathorn stressed that while everyone there may dearly love guns that they are secondary to the mind. Guns are just a means by which the will of the mind is expressed.
To express one's will, the mind must be pre-programmed to perform the correct response as when the fight is on, loss of fine motor skills, tunnel vision, hearing loss and the mind's self-limitations under stress, your subconscious will be capable of reflexive actions as your conscious mind handles other matters.
Hackathorn acknowledged that he could not help us become championship shooters but no one there was much interested in that anyway. The purpose of the class was to "open a chapter" in the story of our education. Telling us that there were many paths to Nirvana, Hackathorn showed us a way that perhaps we had not considered (he kept using that awful phrase "thinking outside the box"; I kept thinking of that telephone commerical).
Under brutual Midwestern saunaesque conditions, Hackathorn mixed in standard gun skul drills (some he devised), the Bill, box, forward, reverse and lat, El Prez, the corner, the Gunsite 25, and the Hackathorn 3 along with others that he brought from the SpecOps community. The theme being several things going on at once thus the subconscious via reflexive shooting must come to the fore.
The shooting was close in, from movement and with purpose. Hackathorn stated that he realized that our shooting had plateaued and only intense, continual training would improve us (well, my shooting had plateaued long ago at the horrific level) and could not help us over one weekend. However, he did give reminders when necessary, especially to some long lanky guy on the end who was unlocking his wrist on the retention drills.
The night shoot was very insightful. Hackathorn stressed movement after the use of the light and that the light was only used to identify potential threats, not in a continual bullet magnet way.
At the end of the night shoot, we all shot our ammo off at a half Prez. It was most interesting to see how the various "wonder loads" performed. They were miserable. Huge muzzle flashes are cool to GSCs who babble about "flamethrowers" and gun rags with glossy pictures to show, but horrific if you have to fight with a pistol.
Too often ammo is selected with only the consideration of what it will do to the jello monsters that attack gun rag writers. However, one must consider what the ammo does to the shooters as well as the threat. What good are you if you have to "see" via The Force after your ammo or ammo and the silly gun rag holes you put in the top of your barrel?
While the Federal Hydrashok in .45 gave the most largest, most blinding fireball, the Golden Sabre gave the prettiest (it was a jet out to about 6", then a ball of orange fire). Doesn't the FBI test this stuff? Geez, let's hope the fed po-pos never get into a fight at night.
My carry load, Black Hills in .45, does great, but the surprise of the lot was that cheap Czech stuff, S&B. It performs wonderfully at night with an incredibly low signature in all calibers. Impressive, American ammo manufacturers should call for the powder recipe. Ken gave the class the economics reasons about why American ammo manufacturers do not care about blinding fireballs.
I was also surprised at the Winchester +P+ in 9mm. I have been considering this load for my bug, but was worried about the flash as with recent Corboom ammo. It worked well, low flash, out of a Colt 635 and pistols. I'll have to test the Black Hills and this stuff. I'll wear my white lab coat and carry a clip board. Point being: test your ammo and pistol at night.
[Edited because I was dragging last night, but had to stay up to do laundry] I had an equipment malfunction that my fellow TFLers should be aware of. During one of the drills, one threw his "wallet" at the threat, then retreated while executing a Bill. Since I left my wallet in my SUV in the parking lot, I used a loaded magazine.
I threw the loaded mag at the threat and performed the drill. When I went back to tape and retrieve my mag, I discovered that the follower and spring were stuck at the bottom of the mag and the ammo fell out. The magazine had apparently stuck at the exact angle on the floorplate causing this mal.
The magazine was a 1911 7 round Metalform without a "bump pad." Could have been a freak, but check your mags if you carry these. It is more than foreseeable that you will be on the ground in a fight (or your pistol) and would be a VBT if your mag maled like it did to me. I only use Metalform for training as they withstand the continual load and unload that skuls subject them to better than anything else I have found.
My carry mags, Les Baer 7 rounders, do not have this problem (that I have discovered by smashing them against my reloading table and dropping them). [End of edit].
The course was very challenging in a sneaky, mind game way (like a delayed-action computer virus of some sort). It forced one to reexamine just what exactly was at stake each and every time one goes armed out into the world. It was extremely effective in knocking the hobbyist/gun shop commando rubbish off even me.
The class was not for everyone. Talk to someone before you attend; call before you go. If you are looking for a "how to shoot class", this is not it. If you are looking for another chapter of your training novel, "The Road to Enlightenment", with the self-awareness to follow "Big Boy Rules" this class is highly recommended.
Over the weekend I had the opportunity to attend Ken Hackathorn's "Mastering the Handgun" in Bloomington, Illinois hosted by the Midwest Training Group. The class was geared to persons who had at least several other shooting skuls under their belts. It was for the experienced individual (I cannot bring myself to say "Advanced" because what the heck is an advanced gunfight?).
The class was somewhat unusual in that the average age for the class was higher than I would have thought for a class of this type. I personally prefer to shoot with older shooters as: 1. they usually know what they are doing, 2. the default settings of their computers are usually programmed to do the right things, 3. they are less likely to panic and do something stupid to me, 4. they are a great source of knowledge of the "gun culture." As well, there were several state and federal LEOs out of 20.
After quick introductions in the parking lot at Darnall's (the name of the range in Bloomington, Illinois), Hackathorn made it abundantly clear what the class would be about--"I'm all about fighting with a handgun." The "gun nut" and the hobbyist part of us all would have to be put on hold. (Hackathorn could not help himself and several times started, no, he did, not me, the gun chatter at breaks on the range).
Hackathorn stressed that while everyone there may dearly love guns that they are secondary to the mind. Guns are just a means by which the will of the mind is expressed.
To express one's will, the mind must be pre-programmed to perform the correct response as when the fight is on, loss of fine motor skills, tunnel vision, hearing loss and the mind's self-limitations under stress, your subconscious will be capable of reflexive actions as your conscious mind handles other matters.
Hackathorn acknowledged that he could not help us become championship shooters but no one there was much interested in that anyway. The purpose of the class was to "open a chapter" in the story of our education. Telling us that there were many paths to Nirvana, Hackathorn showed us a way that perhaps we had not considered (he kept using that awful phrase "thinking outside the box"; I kept thinking of that telephone commerical).
Under brutual Midwestern saunaesque conditions, Hackathorn mixed in standard gun skul drills (some he devised), the Bill, box, forward, reverse and lat, El Prez, the corner, the Gunsite 25, and the Hackathorn 3 along with others that he brought from the SpecOps community. The theme being several things going on at once thus the subconscious via reflexive shooting must come to the fore.
The shooting was close in, from movement and with purpose. Hackathorn stated that he realized that our shooting had plateaued and only intense, continual training would improve us (well, my shooting had plateaued long ago at the horrific level) and could not help us over one weekend. However, he did give reminders when necessary, especially to some long lanky guy on the end who was unlocking his wrist on the retention drills.
The night shoot was very insightful. Hackathorn stressed movement after the use of the light and that the light was only used to identify potential threats, not in a continual bullet magnet way.
At the end of the night shoot, we all shot our ammo off at a half Prez. It was most interesting to see how the various "wonder loads" performed. They were miserable. Huge muzzle flashes are cool to GSCs who babble about "flamethrowers" and gun rags with glossy pictures to show, but horrific if you have to fight with a pistol.
Too often ammo is selected with only the consideration of what it will do to the jello monsters that attack gun rag writers. However, one must consider what the ammo does to the shooters as well as the threat. What good are you if you have to "see" via The Force after your ammo or ammo and the silly gun rag holes you put in the top of your barrel?
While the Federal Hydrashok in .45 gave the most largest, most blinding fireball, the Golden Sabre gave the prettiest (it was a jet out to about 6", then a ball of orange fire). Doesn't the FBI test this stuff? Geez, let's hope the fed po-pos never get into a fight at night.
My carry load, Black Hills in .45, does great, but the surprise of the lot was that cheap Czech stuff, S&B. It performs wonderfully at night with an incredibly low signature in all calibers. Impressive, American ammo manufacturers should call for the powder recipe. Ken gave the class the economics reasons about why American ammo manufacturers do not care about blinding fireballs.
I was also surprised at the Winchester +P+ in 9mm. I have been considering this load for my bug, but was worried about the flash as with recent Corboom ammo. It worked well, low flash, out of a Colt 635 and pistols. I'll have to test the Black Hills and this stuff. I'll wear my white lab coat and carry a clip board. Point being: test your ammo and pistol at night.
[Edited because I was dragging last night, but had to stay up to do laundry] I had an equipment malfunction that my fellow TFLers should be aware of. During one of the drills, one threw his "wallet" at the threat, then retreated while executing a Bill. Since I left my wallet in my SUV in the parking lot, I used a loaded magazine.
I threw the loaded mag at the threat and performed the drill. When I went back to tape and retrieve my mag, I discovered that the follower and spring were stuck at the bottom of the mag and the ammo fell out. The magazine had apparently stuck at the exact angle on the floorplate causing this mal.
The magazine was a 1911 7 round Metalform without a "bump pad." Could have been a freak, but check your mags if you carry these. It is more than foreseeable that you will be on the ground in a fight (or your pistol) and would be a VBT if your mag maled like it did to me. I only use Metalform for training as they withstand the continual load and unload that skuls subject them to better than anything else I have found.
My carry mags, Les Baer 7 rounders, do not have this problem (that I have discovered by smashing them against my reloading table and dropping them). [End of edit].
The course was very challenging in a sneaky, mind game way (like a delayed-action computer virus of some sort). It forced one to reexamine just what exactly was at stake each and every time one goes armed out into the world. It was extremely effective in knocking the hobbyist/gun shop commando rubbish off even me.
The class was not for everyone. Talk to someone before you attend; call before you go. If you are looking for a "how to shoot class", this is not it. If you are looking for another chapter of your training novel, "The Road to Enlightenment", with the self-awareness to follow "Big Boy Rules" this class is highly recommended.
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I currently use Golden Sabers, mainly because they're commonly available locally.
, I'll be sure to stock up.