Post by goomba on Jan 19, 2011 22:51:26 GMT -5
Defensive Pistol & Glock Armorer w/ Randy Harris
I had the opportunity to take Def pistol skills & glock armorer (4hr) with Randy Harris on Jan 15 & 16. this was second time I have had the opportunity to take a class with Randy. the first was the rifle gunfighting refresher back in July 2010 (I still need to write a review of this class).
the snowpocolypse the south had me wondering if I was going to be able to make this class. luckily it was not canceled. although the last couple of miles to the farm gave me some serious pucker factor. If I had not had a front wheel drive car, I may have had to call Randy to pull me out of a ditch.
Day one started out with a lecture on mindset. In my recent studies mindset is priority number one, and Randy has an excellent grasp about mindset. We reviewed the OODA loop, color codes & talked about awareness. and then we went over the steps of the draw. After lunch we went to the range and worked on the draw stroke and accuracy.
After day one we had the 4hr Glock armorers course. I do not consider myself to mechanically inclined. And I thought that taking the class would be a good idea. & since I was taking advantage of the onsite camping available, it was just logical to take the class. and I'm glad that I did. I am now confident in being able to detail strip my Glock 19 and put it back together correctly.
Day two started with some more lecture and more talk about awareness and how to evade a potential threat. we also talked about gear and some basics on knives and defense from a clinch. I've had about six years of Judo & kung fu (the kung fu I took was more practical combat and very similar to portions of Krav Maga). and this gave me a heads up with this portion of the discussion.
Later on we moved back to range and worked more on moving one step to the left or right, and working on the draw. we later moved to longer shooting on a steel plate. I was a bit nervous about being able to hit. but I did... and was able to keep most of my hits on it.
We later worked on multiple threats. with three targets for the good guy to take down. and one of use playing the bad guy while shooting at the steel target. the bad guy had to wait until the first shot before he could draw. I had talked to a friend about how to engage multiple threats, and he recommended one shot each and then re-engage the threats. I never really liked that. I always assumed I would take two shots to each target. well, this drill made me realize that one shot each with needed follow up shots was absolutely faster. It is surprising what you can learn when you take a class with a competent instructor.
It was during the multiple threat drill that I really began to regret my choice of holsters. I have an RSR holster with a SERPA style lock on it. (a blackhawk holster may have been a bit smother). more often than not it seems to slow my draw down. there were also more than a few times that I didn't get the button pushed in all the way (or I got ahead of myself) and I'd yank on the gun with holster still attached to. I may consider running an actual blackhawk serpa in another class, just to see if there would be any major differences in how my draw is affected (primarily b/c the locking tabs are shapped different & the blackhawk design 'may' be smoother). but honestly I think I'll stick with my safariland duty holsters or my Bladetech IWB holsters.
Randy also showed me how to shoot from a slightly lowered contact ready. this is something that I plan on working with on my next trip to the range.
all in all, most of this class was confirming what I have learned, seen & thought about. and it is always good to take a class with an instructor, that way you get professional help & an instructors brain to pick. I'm always amazed at how Randy can just pull the required information out of is head. while power points presentations & video's are good teaching aids. it has always impressed me how Randy seems to have easy access to his brain & his experience.
I'm already planning for Randy's CRG class on April 30th & May 1st. I also plan on looking for a good digital recorder to bring with me to the next class. I just cannot take notes fast enough & pay attention while trying to absorb all the information that I can. My brain needs to be more like a sponge and less like a brick wall
Thanks to brian for hosting this class at an excellent location that is absolutely gorgeous! :hail: and to his mom for putting me in the spare room.
even with almost eight inches of snow still on the ground. this was an excellent class.
For more information about this and other classes I suggest you check out www.suarezinternationalstore.com/ and www.warriortalk.com
and I'll leave you with two cell phone pics. the first one is the trek back from the range on day one. and the 2nd is part of my slide disassembled from the armorers class.
I had the opportunity to take Def pistol skills & glock armorer (4hr) with Randy Harris on Jan 15 & 16. this was second time I have had the opportunity to take a class with Randy. the first was the rifle gunfighting refresher back in July 2010 (I still need to write a review of this class).
the snowpocolypse the south had me wondering if I was going to be able to make this class. luckily it was not canceled. although the last couple of miles to the farm gave me some serious pucker factor. If I had not had a front wheel drive car, I may have had to call Randy to pull me out of a ditch.
Day one started out with a lecture on mindset. In my recent studies mindset is priority number one, and Randy has an excellent grasp about mindset. We reviewed the OODA loop, color codes & talked about awareness. and then we went over the steps of the draw. After lunch we went to the range and worked on the draw stroke and accuracy.
After day one we had the 4hr Glock armorers course. I do not consider myself to mechanically inclined. And I thought that taking the class would be a good idea. & since I was taking advantage of the onsite camping available, it was just logical to take the class. and I'm glad that I did. I am now confident in being able to detail strip my Glock 19 and put it back together correctly.
Day two started with some more lecture and more talk about awareness and how to evade a potential threat. we also talked about gear and some basics on knives and defense from a clinch. I've had about six years of Judo & kung fu (the kung fu I took was more practical combat and very similar to portions of Krav Maga). and this gave me a heads up with this portion of the discussion.
Later on we moved back to range and worked more on moving one step to the left or right, and working on the draw. we later moved to longer shooting on a steel plate. I was a bit nervous about being able to hit. but I did... and was able to keep most of my hits on it.
We later worked on multiple threats. with three targets for the good guy to take down. and one of use playing the bad guy while shooting at the steel target. the bad guy had to wait until the first shot before he could draw. I had talked to a friend about how to engage multiple threats, and he recommended one shot each and then re-engage the threats. I never really liked that. I always assumed I would take two shots to each target. well, this drill made me realize that one shot each with needed follow up shots was absolutely faster. It is surprising what you can learn when you take a class with a competent instructor.
It was during the multiple threat drill that I really began to regret my choice of holsters. I have an RSR holster with a SERPA style lock on it. (a blackhawk holster may have been a bit smother). more often than not it seems to slow my draw down. there were also more than a few times that I didn't get the button pushed in all the way (or I got ahead of myself) and I'd yank on the gun with holster still attached to. I may consider running an actual blackhawk serpa in another class, just to see if there would be any major differences in how my draw is affected (primarily b/c the locking tabs are shapped different & the blackhawk design 'may' be smoother). but honestly I think I'll stick with my safariland duty holsters or my Bladetech IWB holsters.
Randy also showed me how to shoot from a slightly lowered contact ready. this is something that I plan on working with on my next trip to the range.
all in all, most of this class was confirming what I have learned, seen & thought about. and it is always good to take a class with an instructor, that way you get professional help & an instructors brain to pick. I'm always amazed at how Randy can just pull the required information out of is head. while power points presentations & video's are good teaching aids. it has always impressed me how Randy seems to have easy access to his brain & his experience.
I'm already planning for Randy's CRG class on April 30th & May 1st. I also plan on looking for a good digital recorder to bring with me to the next class. I just cannot take notes fast enough & pay attention while trying to absorb all the information that I can. My brain needs to be more like a sponge and less like a brick wall
Thanks to brian for hosting this class at an excellent location that is absolutely gorgeous! :hail: and to his mom for putting me in the spare room.
even with almost eight inches of snow still on the ground. this was an excellent class.
For more information about this and other classes I suggest you check out www.suarezinternationalstore.com/ and www.warriortalk.com
and I'll leave you with two cell phone pics. the first one is the trek back from the range on day one. and the 2nd is part of my slide disassembled from the armorers class.
And I hope you have Gaston Glocks cell no. on the back of your Official Glock Armorers card so you can call him and stop production and recall every Glock made cause every Glock I have ever seen or owned do not have the striker protruding from the breech face. 