Pistol Training

[tjiann]

I am new to handguns and want to get hands-on training to develop good skills. I own 9mm and 22 guns, have taken some basic instruction on handling/safety, and have shot a few hundred rounds, broken down/cleaned both guns. So, I'm getting pretty familiar with them. But what I really want is to get more detailed training/evaluation at the range so I can avoid developing bad habitats that get baked into muscle memory.

Folks have any recommendations on instructors? I'm in the Annapolis area, and a member of AGC. Thanks for any input.

 

[5cary]

I'm sure you'll get lots of suggestions, but these guys are fantastic.

https://www.spartanfirearmstraininggroup.com/

 

[Vile Shadow]

I am new to handguns and want to get hands-on training to develop good skills. I own 9mm and 22 guns, have taken some basic instruction on handling/safety, and have shot a few hundred rounds, broken down/cleaned both guns. So, I'm getting pretty familiar with them. But what I really want is to get more detailed training/evaluation at the range so I can avoid developing bad habitats that get baked into muscle memory.

Folks have any recommendations on instructors? I'm in the Annapolis area, and a member of AGC. Thanks for any input.

Might not be an instructor, but member Blaster229 is the best pistol shot I ever done saw in action personally. If he offers a tip, listen

 

[4g64loser]

Might not be an instructor, but member Blaster229 is the best pistol shot I ever done saw in action personally. If he offers a tip, listen

As someone who is an instructor, I will say that credentials don't mean everything. Experience and careful study of that experience is far more important. Blaster is a great pistol shot. I suspect that he probably has credentials as an instructor as well but he knows an incredible amount about the mechanics of the handgun in practical use. If you could bribe him into training you, pay whatever it costs.

We have some great handgun folks on this board. In spite of my credentials, I won't claim to be one of them. I have instructor creds for one of my jobs but I will be blunt and say that precision rifle is my core focus with subguns/carbines next and handgun last.

I'd suggest being up front with any potential instructor about what you want from training. There are some who will appeal to your learning style better than others. Some may focus more on the areas you are interested in (don't learn gunfighting from a IPSC grand master who has no noncompetitive experience). Learning the handgun is an organic process, like most shooting pursuits.

Check with some of our industry partners here on the site in the training section. I have no doubt that they would be happy to work with you.

 

[tjiann]

Thanks for the feedback folks. Will make some contacts.

 

[Allium]

https://www.facebook.com/search/top?q=silverback firearms and defensive training Silverback Firearms and Defensive Training

Silverback is located in Annapolis

 

[DeadInside]

Probably 1 1/2 hours from Annapolis but you may want to check out Flat Broke Shooters in St Mary’s Co. Great staff and nice indoor range and they offer a number of types of training there on site. The owners Cindi and Steve are great to work with and have a lot of experience (including competition).

 

[mcbruzdzinski]

Tim von Eiff at Defensive Handgun Consultants. He uses the range at Continental Arms in Timonium.

 

[md123]

In person instruction is important for tactical training but you can learn 95% of shooting fundamentals from YouTube and dedicated dryfire.

Ben Stoeger produces great content on skills
Steve Anderson for mental “game”

I only shoot live to verify my grip, shot calling and recoil control. Perhaps once a month is plenty. I dryfire 3-5 nights a week for 20 minutes with focus and honest self-evaluation.

 

[Blaster229]

I am new to handguns and want to get hands-on training to develop good skills. I own 9mm and 22 guns, have taken some basic instruction on handling/safety, and have shot a few hundred rounds, broken down/cleaned both guns. So, I'm getting pretty familiar with them. But what I really want is to get more detailed training/evaluation at the range so I can avoid developing bad habitats that get baked into muscle memory.

Folks have any recommendations on instructors? I'm in the Annapolis area, and a member of AGC. Thanks for any input.

I'm a little late seeing this, and I appreciate the kudos from others.
I live in Glen Burnie, so I could easily meet you where you like. I don't have an "instructor patch" , but I can give you some pointers. And I don't want a penny of your money.
PM me and we can talk offline. It'll be fun. I'm retired now, so I have plenty of time.

Mike

 

[Biggfoot44]

Back at md123's post #9 , about learning 95% of Fundimentals on your own .

They'res some key caveats to that .

A New or fundamentally new shooter needs to get the basic *Right * at the start , before drilling them . { In this context , could be either getting the less obvious subtleties of default basics fully implemented , or tweaking is required for their particular build , physical capabilities , best piggybacking of other skills , etc .}

One may well do 95% total time of learning on their own , but it's a Good Thing for a knowledgeable mentor to get them initially on a reasonably viable track , and periodically monitor progress .

And being knowledgeable in variety of techniques , able to diagnose , know remedial steps for variety of issues, and able to transmit knowledge usefully have a very low overlap with Pieces of Paper .

 

[tjiann]

I'm a little late seeing this, and I appreciate the kudos from others.
I live in Glen Burnie, so I could easily meet you where you like. I don't have an "instructor patch" , but I can give you some pointers. And I don't want a penny of your money.
PM me and we can talk offline. It'll be fun. I'm retired now, so I have plenty of time.

Mike

Mighty generous offer Mike! Appreciate it.

 

[Czechnologist]

Mighty generous offer Mike! Appreciate it.

You should take him up on it. I'll admit that I was skeptical at first, but Mike was able to identify some opportunities for improvement and bad habits that only a trained-eye, like his, can see. It definitely helped me.

 

[4g64loser]

When someone hands you a winning lottery ticket, grab it!

 

[tjiann]

You should take him up on it. I'll admit that I was skeptical at first, but Mike was able to identify some opportunities for improvement and bad habits that only a trained-eye, like his, can see. It definitely helped me.

Already PM'd him.

 

[Blaster229]

When someone hands you a winning lottery ticket, grab it!

Crazy talk!
My experience has been for a beginner, is recoil and grip before anything else. Learning to control what recoil we can(with grip) and learning to work with what we can't, incorporates with our sight reset.
Getting used to recoil is the huge hurdle. Nothing wrong with simply shooting 100 rounds or so without aiming in order to condition the shooter, so that when they start learning sight alignment, they know what the pistol is going to do, can ignore it, and concentrate on sight and the other stuff.

The more we can shoot with natural alignment and body mechanics, the less our brains have to interfere between our eyes and sight alignment. The mind really screws things up. Back plating and point shooting have their place.

Shooting slowly is key. Loading 1 round at a time, by default makes you reset grip, etc... over and over. Repetitions.
Staying pressed out for 15 rounds does zero good. Get the same amount of practice from each and every round by repeating your rituals. Shoot 15 rounds 15 times instead of shooting 15 rounds 1 time.

Above all, get out of the dime sized groupings everyone reaches for. Self defense shooting, hitting anywhere center mass at first builds confidence and makes for good self defense shooting. Noting wrong having 8 inch groups 7-10 yards.
Anyway.....
Shooting really isn't that hard.

 

[4g64loser]

Crazy talk!
My experience has been for a beginner, is recoil and grip before anything else. Learning to control what recoil we can(with grip) and learning to work with what we can't, incorporates with our sight reset.
Getting used to recoil is the huge hurdle. Nothing wrong with simply shooting 100 rounds or so without aiming in order to condition the shooter, so that when they start learning sight alignment, they know what the pistol is going to do, can ignore it, and concentrate on sight and the other stuff.

The more we can shoot with natural alignment and body mechanics, the less our brains have to interfere between our eyes and sight alignment. The mind really screws things up. Back plating and point shooting have their place.

Shooting slowly is key. Loading 1 round at a time, by default makes you reset grip, etc... over and over. Repetitions.
Staying pressed out for 15 rounds does zero good. Get the same amount of practice from each and every round by repeating your rituals. Shoot 15 rounds 15 times instead of shooting 15 rounds 1 time.

Above all, get out of the dime sized groupings everyone reaches for. Self defense shooting, hitting anywhere center mass at first builds confidence and makes for good self defense shooting. Noting wrong having 8 inch groups 7-10 yards.
Anyway.....
Shooting really isn't that hard.

This has a lot of parallels to subgun/carbine work (where I'm much more comfortable) and even a few with precision rifle work (my core focus). Students who are clearly overloaded or very recoil averse I often have them shoot into a blank berm (or even cover their scope with a card or cap) to focus on technique and follow through. We do want dime sized groups though!

With the rifles, I really harp on body alignment to the bore (at a basic level when we can use any position and have lots of time) and consistency in preload. This, effectively, is the same thing as the grip on the handgun. More important than trigger manipulation, stance, etc. Seeing an impact (hit or miss) is critical. Unless the weapon has a good deal of recoil, you are always your best spotter. No time lost in comms, no potential for misunderstanding (most don't pregame and practice corrective comms with a partner). I say light is faster than sound so why listen when you can see.

Fully agree on point shooting. It's a fact of life. Used to do it with carbines/subguns too. Particularly useful when "short stocking" a rifle up over your shoulder in a compressed environment.... consistent index poi ts and support hand grip let you make hits to a surprising distance.

 

[Blaster229]

This has a lot of parallels to subgun/carbine work (where I'm much more comfortable) and even a few with precision rifle work (my core focus). Students who are clearly overloaded or very recoil averse I often have them shoot into a blank berm (or even cover their scope with a card or cap) to focus on technique and follow through. We do want dime sized groups though!



With the rifles, I really harp on body alignment to the bore (at a basic level when we can use any position and have lots of time) and consistency in preload. This, effectively, is the same thing as the grip on the handgun. More important than trigger manipulation, stance, etc. Seeing an impact (hit or miss) is critical. Unless the weapon has a good deal of recoil, you are always your best spotter. No time lost in comms, no potential for misunderstanding (most don't pregame and practice corrective comms with a partner). I say light is faster than sound so why listen when you can see.



Fully agree on point shooting. It's a fact of life. Used to do it with carbines/subguns too. Particularly useful when "short stocking" a rifle up over your shoulder in a compressed environment.... consistent index poi ts and support hand grip let you make hits to a surprising distance.

There is literally no comparison between shooting a pistol and a pistol caliber sub gun with brace/stock and cheek weld.
Where do you get your sub gun/carbine experience from?

Sent from my SM-S908U using Tapatalk

 

[lgershen]

I met the owner one time and he seems like a standup guy. Also, they're local to me.

 

[Darkemp]

Crazy talk!
My experience has been for a beginner, is recoil and grip before anything else. Learning to control what recoil we can(with grip) and learning to work with what we can't, incorporates with our sight reset.
Getting used to recoil is the huge hurdle. Nothing wrong with simply shooting 100 rounds or so without aiming in order to condition the shooter, so that when they start learning sight alignment, they know what the pistol is going to do, can ignore it, and concentrate on sight and the other stuff.

The more we can shoot with natural alignment and body mechanics, the less our brains have to interfere between our eyes and sight alignment. The mind really screws things up. Back plating and point shooting have their place.

Shooting slowly is key. Loading 1 round at a time, by default makes you reset grip, etc... over and over. Repetitions.
Staying pressed out for 15 rounds does zero good. Get the same amount of practice from each and every round by repeating your rituals. Shoot 15 rounds 15 times instead of shooting 15 rounds 1 time.

Above all, get out of the dime sized groupings everyone reaches for. Self defense shooting, hitting anywhere center mass at first builds confidence and makes for good self defense shooting. Noting wrong having 8 inch groups 7-10 yards.
Anyway.....
Shooting really isn't that hard.

I agree with the slower shooting to practice basic fundamentals- I normally load 1-5 at a time on a range and only really care about center mass on the target. I’m definitely not a precision pistol shooter. My next goal is to work on shooting while moving/ target moving and less standard methods in more real world practice. The more I’ve been actively CCW’ing the more I’ve realized nothing would be an ideal situation like a piece of paper hanging motionless in front of me at a specified distance.