AAR ACT's Defensive Pistol 102c 6dec08

[bigcraig]

First off forgive my tardiness in getting this AAR posted. Be advised that my spelling and grammar will suck, I am a tow truck driver for crissakes!

I was a little concerned when I left my house as to whether or not I would even make it to the range, the road conditions were fairly nasty and although I am a skilled driving professional it is usually the other dingbats on the road that I have problems with. However, I made it to my destination unharmed and with a somewhat normal blood pressure.

I was greeted by the cherubic Viray brothers and Tom H., and got signed in.

Note: This class was geared toward winter carry.

The first half of the day was purely class room lecture stuff.

1) Brief introduction of John, Joe and Tom. Granger showed up a little later.

2) Safety, enough said.

3) John lectured us on the different methods of carry and the pros and cons of each. (Also, I had brought 3 of the Raven Concealment Vangaurd trigger/holster doohickies that INGO's very own Shay VanVlymen designed. I think these are great and make carrying a Glock very flexible, John V. agreed with me. Kudos for a great product Shay and Kudos to the Raven boys for the fine execution of the idea.)

4) Tom H. gave us a VERY interesting lecture on cold weather health concerns. I can say I learned more about cold weather health issues in Toms 1 hour lecture than I did in high school.

5) While still in the club house, we did some practice drawing from concealment while wearing what we would normally wear during the winter months. If you have never drawn your CCW while wearing your favorite hoodie,parka, coat or jacket, you are in for a rude awakening. See, I have actually practiced this before and for some reason I initially tried to draw a different way, I was quickly, yet politely, corrected by Joe. I am sure the other students quickly felt the same as I did and I bet a whole dollar that some are reconsidering how they carry their chosen firearm.

6) We headed out to the range for some live fire drills, and everyone did a quick function check on their weapon and ran some rounds thru them. John started us off doing nothing but drawing from concealment, as this is a very important aspect, if you can't get to your gun, what good is it to carry it.

John then had us do some movement drills, mostly lateral type stuff to put distance between you and the attacker, then square up, draw, and then take the shot/shots. This proved to be difficult for some, OK mostly me, as the ground was snowy and slick, I didn't completely fall but I did look like a break dancer!

Joe kept a good eye on all of us to make sure we were being safe and to give personal instruction and pointers. Joe later did a brief tutoral on malfunctions, types, reasons and most importantly how to remedy the problem quickly.

We also started to incorporate mag changes and induced weapon stoppages in all the drills from here on out.

Now comes the fun part, the figure 8 drill. This drill gives you the ability to simulate a 360 degree enviroment. This is difficult for me to describe in words, again I am only a tow truck driver, but this is by far my favorite drill. This drill makes you think, move, think some more and then shoot.

For those in the class that seen my SNAFU mag change/transition, I cannot explain why/how I managed to confuse a S&W442 for a Glock mag, but I did.

I like to thank John, Joe, Tom and Granger for putting this class together, I learned a lot and I am positive the other students did as well.