spacecoast
New member
I and six other shooters took the Advanced Defensive Handgun I course offered by Executive Solutions (floridafirearmstraining.com) today at the Okeechobee Shooting Sports complex. The course got started at 10am and concluded about 5pm with a 20 minute break for lunch. There was a lead instructor and a primary assistant instructor, and we we split in to two groups for quite a few of today's drills. The members of the groups were constantly changed to make things more interesting.
The morning started off with a review of safety rules (including no handgun out of a holster unless you are on "the line" on a hot range). We were advised to hydrate as much as possible and to reload our mags quickly to maximize everyone's time in training. We went through the basics of getting the gun out of the holster and up to a firing position (hand on grip, elbow up to pull the gun, elbow down to bring it to bear, meet it with the weak hand and extend arms to the firing position). The importance of a proper grip was covered in detail and we drilled repeatedly on gun extraction and proper replacement in the holster, including scanning from side to side to make sure the threat was over before decocking and holstering.
Topics covered and practiced during the day included shooting with movement (advancing and retreating, side to side), rapid fire one and two-handed point shooting, retention shooting from extremely close quarters, understanding and using the trigger reset point to speed up fire rate, shooting from one and both knees, and both administrative and emergency magazine changes. There was a lot of discussion about why each of these skills is important to master. At about noon and at the end of the day we were timed in a "bilge drill" where we drew from our holsters and fired six rounds as rapidly as possible, hitting a torso-sized target at about 12 feet. The afternoon's repetitive training and point shooting enabled most of us to at least halve our time in the drill (or better). My personal time went from over 6 seconds (with a 9mm pistol) to 3.5 seconds (with a harder-kicking .45)
The highlight of the day, near the end, was a six-station IDPA-like exercise which consisted of 1) extremely close quarters one-handed retention shots, 2) behind a barrel from one-knee at a target at about 10 yards away, 3) shooting while moving rapidly toward a target, 4) moving and pivoting to shoot a target to the side, 5) stationary stand-up and then 6) dropping to one knee for the last set of shots). At each station we had to keep shooting until we put at least 3 shots on target, and each of us was critiqued for what we did right/wrong afterward. The emphasis was on technique, but of course we tried to move as quickly as possible and also dealt with one or two mag changes depending on the gun used. Two of us required three shots for three COM hits on each target the first time through, I'm happy to report that I was one of them.
My choice of a generic nylon holster worked out fine today. I was a little worried when my instructor said early on that it was a "terrible holster" but that it might be OK for today. We were instructed to wear our holsters at the 4 o'clock position (preferred for CC to minimize profile width but still allow your arm to touch for knowing where the gun is), and I didn't have a single problem pulling the gun smoothly out or replacing it any of the dozens and dozens of times that we did so, and the holster didn't move around. I abandoned the thumb break straps early on, fortunately they were velcro-based and removed easily. Still, I will probably look for a plastic retention holster that will hold the pistol more securely for further courses where we might be even more physically active (dropping and shooting from prone position, etc.)
I shot a total of 310 rounds today, the first 250 with my P95, which near the end of the day started to have feed failures (dirty?) and the last 60 with my P345. The difference between 9mm and .45 ACP recoil and hole size was readily apparent, but I was pleased that the holster worked well with both guns and the principles I learned applied equally well to both as well. Other guns used by the rest of the class included a Taurus, a Ruger SR9C, several Glocks and Springfields. Most were .40 S&W, I noticed one or two other 9mms and no other .45s (beside mine).
All in all it was an extremely fun, educational and rewarding day, I came away with a lot of new knowledge and things to practice. I learned a lot but felt that I held my own pretty well even though I was an inexperienced "tactical" shooter prior to today's course. Even the weather was cooperative, it was hot here in South Florida but there was a nice breeze and it could have been much worse. I think this is the kind of course everyone probably should have before receiving a CC permit.
The morning started off with a review of safety rules (including no handgun out of a holster unless you are on "the line" on a hot range). We were advised to hydrate as much as possible and to reload our mags quickly to maximize everyone's time in training. We went through the basics of getting the gun out of the holster and up to a firing position (hand on grip, elbow up to pull the gun, elbow down to bring it to bear, meet it with the weak hand and extend arms to the firing position). The importance of a proper grip was covered in detail and we drilled repeatedly on gun extraction and proper replacement in the holster, including scanning from side to side to make sure the threat was over before decocking and holstering.
Topics covered and practiced during the day included shooting with movement (advancing and retreating, side to side), rapid fire one and two-handed point shooting, retention shooting from extremely close quarters, understanding and using the trigger reset point to speed up fire rate, shooting from one and both knees, and both administrative and emergency magazine changes. There was a lot of discussion about why each of these skills is important to master. At about noon and at the end of the day we were timed in a "bilge drill" where we drew from our holsters and fired six rounds as rapidly as possible, hitting a torso-sized target at about 12 feet. The afternoon's repetitive training and point shooting enabled most of us to at least halve our time in the drill (or better). My personal time went from over 6 seconds (with a 9mm pistol) to 3.5 seconds (with a harder-kicking .45)
The highlight of the day, near the end, was a six-station IDPA-like exercise which consisted of 1) extremely close quarters one-handed retention shots, 2) behind a barrel from one-knee at a target at about 10 yards away, 3) shooting while moving rapidly toward a target, 4) moving and pivoting to shoot a target to the side, 5) stationary stand-up and then 6) dropping to one knee for the last set of shots). At each station we had to keep shooting until we put at least 3 shots on target, and each of us was critiqued for what we did right/wrong afterward. The emphasis was on technique, but of course we tried to move as quickly as possible and also dealt with one or two mag changes depending on the gun used. Two of us required three shots for three COM hits on each target the first time through, I'm happy to report that I was one of them.
My choice of a generic nylon holster worked out fine today. I was a little worried when my instructor said early on that it was a "terrible holster" but that it might be OK for today. We were instructed to wear our holsters at the 4 o'clock position (preferred for CC to minimize profile width but still allow your arm to touch for knowing where the gun is), and I didn't have a single problem pulling the gun smoothly out or replacing it any of the dozens and dozens of times that we did so, and the holster didn't move around. I abandoned the thumb break straps early on, fortunately they were velcro-based and removed easily. Still, I will probably look for a plastic retention holster that will hold the pistol more securely for further courses where we might be even more physically active (dropping and shooting from prone position, etc.)
I shot a total of 310 rounds today, the first 250 with my P95, which near the end of the day started to have feed failures (dirty?) and the last 60 with my P345. The difference between 9mm and .45 ACP recoil and hole size was readily apparent, but I was pleased that the holster worked well with both guns and the principles I learned applied equally well to both as well. Other guns used by the rest of the class included a Taurus, a Ruger SR9C, several Glocks and Springfields. Most were .40 S&W, I noticed one or two other 9mms and no other .45s (beside mine).
All in all it was an extremely fun, educational and rewarding day, I came away with a lot of new knowledge and things to practice. I learned a lot but felt that I held my own pretty well even though I was an inexperienced "tactical" shooter prior to today's course. Even the weather was cooperative, it was hot here in South Florida but there was a nice breeze and it could have been much worse. I think this is the kind of course everyone probably should have before receiving a CC permit.
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