Spots open?
Where's the preferred exit point off of the turnpike westbound?
Are there any range fees beyond the cost of the class and is membership with the OKCGC required?
Ek
No additional range fees. The range fee will be handled by USSA.
There are still a few spots open, but I suspect they will fill quickly.
I need to do something like this.
I am sitting here with my Tilburg trying to coalesce my thoughts and experiences from todays class.
Today the OKCGC hosted a class from USSA titled "Survival Shooting Skills". The instructor was Mike Seeklander who was assisted by Troy Fullbright.
The basic premise of this class was that it is often necessary to use only one hand to operate the handgun. This maybe necessary because one of your hands could be occupied with something that cannot be dropped. An arm with all of it's various appendages may be rendered completely or partially useless due to injury prior to the fight (ever had a busted arm in a cast?) or even one sustained during the fight. Thanks to murphy's law these injuries can easily involve the dominant hand.
Great! Now that we've established that it is entirely possible if not likely that a person may have the need to fight with one hand what is to be done about it? The answer is to deal with it. The methods we learned today are not flashy or pretty and may even be physically unpleasant but the need for these skills is crucial.
I have had one formal pistol class from EAG tactical. In addition to that class I have done a good deal of self-study on some aspects of one-handed manipulations and firearm employment, even so today's class was a tough challenge for me and one that contained a great many lessons. Personally I want to understand not just the 'what' but the 'why' for actions that need to be taken. In that aspect and others this class delivered in spades. Throughout this entire class questions were not just answered but encouraged and many interesting issues came to light and solutions were brought forth to solve them.
Mike and Troy were both extremely professional and very capable with this instruction. The methods used were very simple and effective. A question is posed, "Why would we need to do this?" Once the need for an action is established the action itself is defined: what does it need to accomplish and how can we achieve this? At this point the instructor would use a redgun to demonstrate what needed to be done along with things to avoid. Following the dummy gun demo the firing line would be formed and the instructor would demonstrate the skill we were to learn first in a 'dry' format and then via live fire. The student's would immediately follow in the same fashion: dry run first and second, then live fire. Things started simple. Can we shoot one handed? What about shooting one handed with the non-dominant hand? What improvements can we make to one-handed shooting? The gun is in the holster, how do we get it out? What about with the off hand? Will this work while moving? What about reloading and malfunctions? The class finished with working through type 1 and 2 malfunctions and an introduction to fighting from the ground.
The pace of instruction with this course was steady but quick, there were no assclowns present which greatly enhanced the progression of the class as a whole. After a skill was presented and drilled with any attendant questions and issues being hashed out a break sufficiently long enough to hydrate and jam magazines with more ammo would be taken for 3-5 minutes. The class would immediately reform and roll right into the next point of instruction.
I would not hesitate to take this class again or for that matter any other class offered by USSA. In all likeliness I will be traveling to Tulsa for further training onsite with them.
Pictures:
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A point of instruction from Mike.
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The class gathers around for a Q/A session following a drill.
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Non-dominant hand only shooting and malfunction clearance.
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Shooting from the ground after falling down.
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Shooting from the right side while on the ground.
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"Self, why are we laying our gun that is stoked with dummy rounds on ground?"
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"Ahhh, because the instructor wants us to sprint back to the yellow JOBOX 15 yards behind the firing line and then attempt to run back to the firing line. The problem here, self, is that you did not anticipate the instructor hollering out so many preemptory commands before a length of the range could be covered that it would turn into a giant group shuttle run before returning to the line. You damn sure shouldn't have ordered that extra side of chili at the the barbeque place!"
The idea was to get the heart rate up and make it difficult to operate the pistol with the non-dominant hand and clear the malfunctions (dummies) while being amped up from the run. It was effective.
My personal lessons learned:
1. - Don't wear a nice belt. Operating a handgun via the rear sight and things attached to your body (holster, belt, pants pocket, etc) is going to tear stuff up. I knew this but didn't think about it. I now have a 'more broken in' belt.
2. - Wearing a holster with a security device necessitates more practice revolving around just unlocking the gun so that it can be drawn with the off-side hand. Laying down is different than standing up is different than moving etc...
3. - I love my Surefire E2D LED but the head is too long. It came right out of my pants pocket anytime I was laying on my left side where the light is carried. At the very least don't expect to retain that item in a ground fight.
4. - Eyes on your target, not the gun. The target is what's trying to kill you.
5. - Have a plain gun in a holster is much easier to work with than a pistol with a weaponlight attached to it. What works for one may not work for the other.
5. - Appendix holsters offer a lot of flexibility when limited to only one hand especially if that hand is 'the stupid hand'.
I will likely add more notes and thoughts as I think of them. To the fellows in the class: it was a pleasure shooting with all of you!
Many thanks to prdator for the work of sponsoring this training and bringing it to the area. I would to thank Mike and Troy for their time and instruction. Gratitude is also owed to the OKCGC for the facilities. I would also like to thank Sandra for taking the bulk of the pictures that were on my camera.
Regards,
Ek
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