Gun Class

Well, I am packed up and ready to head to Texas for my first tactical gun class! I have shot at the range, can carry concealed, but rarely do, because I am lacking. I did some 'fast' draw shooting at close range, and I disappointed myself.

Amazing how things work. I need training, and a good friend of mine is starting his own training classes in Texas... He is so new he wants an out of state reference... The stars aligned. :-D

We will be covering drawing and sighting, clearing type 1,2,3 stopages, and whatever he wants to teach. I have seen the man shoot, and he is impressive.

So, I go with an open mind, to relearn, or learn, how to properly carry a sidearm.

Will post a review if anyone is interested.

Have a great weekend! I KNOW I will. :cool

 

I'm interested Fred.

 

OK, will let you know how it goes. I can't wait. Plus, I get a WhataBurger Patty Melt... We don't have WhataBurgers where I live... :-D

 

:-D:-DDon't know what that is, but it made me hungry.

 

OHHH, it is two burger patties with cheese, Texas toast, and a sauce I can't identify, but is tasty. I get mine without the grilled onions. You are hard core if you can eat the burger and the fries... Slightly spicy, but not overpowering. I don't want to know how many calories are in one.

It is the closest to a home grilled burger I have gotten at a fast food place. And the 3 WhataBurgers I have been in have been very clean, with a friendly staff. If you see one, I say stop, and grab a Patty Melt. :drool

 

They don't have them here in Pennsylvania, but YUM!
Sounds very good!!:yum:yum:yum

 

I think the sauce's main taste is some type of pepper. Kudos to Whataburger for finally making the patty melt a permanent item on the menu. For years, it was a limited time item that was only available for a few weeks out of the year. :cry

They just opened a new location about a mile from my house. No matter how late I have to work, I can get a patty melt 24/7 on the way home. :dancer

 

I've always wanted to go to a shooting range and learn how to shoot a firearm properly.

The only "training" I had was when my boss taught 2 of my friends and I how to shoot a BB gun in the office. It was fun. :-D

 

Well, I know a guy that is starting to teach... Or if you have some $ and are near Nevada, Front Sight is highly recommenced to me. I have the membership to Front Sight, but can't afford the week of hotels to go right now.

 

Gun Class, Day One

OK, you asked and shall receive. I am going to copy and paste from another forum, so, if you see names you don't know, that is why. It will be G rated, well, at least PG-13. I will just go on and say, dang, I learned a LOT.

:-D

"With all you folks going to Front Sight, and me recognizing I have some issues, it was time for some training. And excuse me if I am a little loopy, I get a touch of insomnia 2 or three days a year, I should be in bed.

I got an offer I just could not refuse, so off to the great state of Texas I went. This is what I would call a basic tactical class. I was asked what I wanted to learn, and I told the instructor I wanted to learn the basics. So, we started with grip, stance, trigger press. No shooting on day one, we worked for 4 or 5 hours, then went and had a nice dinner. After the basics listed before, we went into the type 1, 2, and 3 fire stoppages. Reload with retention, topping off. Good stuff. How to aim, 5 steps of drawing the gun from non concealed. Attitude, situational awareness, I am considering a minor modification of the sights on my gun.

I had some questions about how best to clear a type 3 stoppage, and we discussed it, and what the instructor said made sense, but it was a discussion of tactics, dealing with what works best and why. I agreed with the instructors method.

And any questions were addressed with logic and thought. There was no my way or the highway mentality.

So far, this was exactly what I wanted. A friend taught me to shoot handguns long ago. I have been in self teaching mode since then, and am lacking a bit. I have gotten some great help from the forums here by a couple of people, but it was time for some hands on edumacation.

I have a few friends that have a CCL, and they shoot a few times at the range, but don't practice drawing and shooting their gun. I did that a few weeks ago, with some not to good results. Front sight, sight picture.. Good stuff. I know enough I don't want to be the guy that CCL's a gun without the skills to do it right.

It is not easy saying I am not 'in my mind' really qualified to CCL a weapon. But reality is what it is. Skills can be learned, bad habits retrained, and life gets better.

Tomorrow is a few hours at the range! I think Sunday will be a good day.

I guess my point, besides killing time until I fall asleep, is to say don't be reluctant to examine your skill set, and if you need to improve it, find someone to teach you. Just my opinion, but I could have shot 10K rounds and gotten a little better, but I think I got a whole lot more than that in just a few hours with a knowledgeable instructor.

I wanted to do some 1 2 3 type fire stoppage drills, but I am sure that would not be a good thing at the Marriott so I blogged here a bit."



_________________

 

Re: Gun Class Day Two: At The Range

"Day Two. Started out good, breakfast and then range time. Unfortunately, Elm Fork has changed their rules again, and the section that DC was going to work with me at the range is now tied in with all the other paper ranges, so we had to use their range 'hot' and 'cold' times. No big deal, but it would have been quieter the way DC had planed on it. So shooting time!

I did very poorly. I was confused, DC was trying to figure it out... I was shooting my S&W M&P 9c, so I tried my RIA 1911, poor results. DC shot it, did a little sight adjustments, and it was a little better, but not very good. Was getting decent groups, they were just in the wrong place. This was getting frustrating, because everything DC and I went over the day before seemed logical, and the stance/grip changes he suggested seemed to be good as well.

So DC goes over my grip, suggests loosening my grip a LOT, and we talk again about the front sight, and sight picture. I shoot some more. Bang. Like a fooking switch had been pulled. Before this, I think DC was rethinking his desire to teach... I am doing the best shooting I have ever done. I have shot better groups, but but not like this. I did some from low ready, high ready, and another (at step 3 of drawing from the holster I think). This goes well also.

So, new target is up. The range had cleared out so they did not mind if we did a few double taps, or controlled pairs, I forget the PC term. Went great as well, none were outside if the lines. Moved up to the head shots. I had a few out of the box. But, all were head shots, even though a couple were more like ear shots....

I will post a picture of the target later on tonight.

Was a great experience, and I learned exactly what I wanted to know. Got the basics down, I know what and how I need to work on to get better. As DC explained we were going for center mass shots, not trying to knock out the X ring. But, what I learned will make me a better target shooter down the road as well.

I highly recommend DC if you are in the greater Dallas area, and are interested in some training. Shoot him a PM (actually PM me at MajorGeeks, and I can give you his email), I don't think you will be disappointed.

Thanks again DC, I still have an s eating grin on my face as I typed this."

Just for clarity, Elm Fork is a nice shooting facility in the Dallas area, DC, or DCX, is my friend from another forum. He was the instructor.

 

Picture of my last target. Keep in mind, this is flash sight shooting, not bullseye.

:cool

 

Okay Fred,
Now you got me wanting to call up an old friend and have him teach me a few things, along with pestering my dad when I see him. I want to be ready when I go grab my .45 sometime next year.
PS: What did you mean by 1-2-3 stopages? I've grown up around guns and don't think I have ever heard of that. Haha.

 

Looks/sounds like you had a great time. I love going to the range with my crew. I always loved how the instructor told us to clear a type 3.. classic Marine "You love your weapons? well.. finger the mag well like you mean it". I just about pissed my self with laughter. But it worked!

 

It was good stuff. The 1,2,3 stoppages are with a semi auto pistol. Type 1 is you pull the trigger, and it goes 'click'. You have a defective round, or most likely, you did not chamber a round, or the magazine is not all the way in the gun. Tap the magazine, rack the slide. Then you can attempt to fire, or check the weapon to make sure it is loaded.

Type 2 it an ejection stoppage, often called a stovepipe. The brass from a fired round is caught by the bolt. The trigger will be mushy, no click. Check the gun, see 'brass high', and clear it by racking the slide. Not a bad idea to tap the mag. Type one and two are cleared pretty much the same way.

The type 3 is also referred to as "Oh SH..". Feed way stoppage. Like #2, the trigger is mushy, no click, no bang, you check the gun, 'brass low'. What happens is the gun did not extract the spent brass, but did cycle, and now you have a bullet partially out of the magazine, pushed up against the spent brass that is in the chamber, the slide is partially open.

Type 3 can be cleared a few ways, but is normally the hardest. There are various schools of thought on this. I was taught this. Once you know it is a type 3, lock the slide back, drop the mag (with retention, or not) usually you have to strip the mag out, rack the slide 3 times, put the retained mag back in, or if you dumped it, insert spare mag, rack the slide, and you should be ready to go.

Here is a good video: Tap, Rack, Bang. I was taught not to use the Bang part. I was taught Tap, Rack, assess. As you may no longer need to fire. At a range, Bang is OK, but could give bad habits. Different strokes for different folks.


Here is Tap, Rack, Bang. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJaQvV6q-D8

Clint is a little hard core, and I was taught a little different for the type 3, but the guy is good with a gun. Shows the 3 types of stoppages.

:cool

 

Oh, I see now. Thanks for the detailed explanation Fred. Much Appreciated.

 

Don't push your luck, everyone here knows I hate talking about guns. :-D:-D