Erick
Active Member
- Sep 13, 2013
- 149
(Mods/Admins, its been a while since i been here... and I didnt see a "training review" or "Reviews" forum. But now I found it.. Can you please move to the "training" subforum?. Thanks!!
)
Last Saturday I took a Combat Pistol 1 Class from GreenOps in Culpeper, VA
(My Handgun background:
I have 20 yrs in the military and carried an M9 for much of that time.... but never really received any formal instruction on it beyond safety, how to load it and clean it ...when we did the occasional yearly qualification. I felt I did reasonably well compared to my peers... but lets face it the Artillery doesnt emphasize handgunning.. The last 4 years of my military career I was attached to a Concepts Development/Battle Lab shop where we didnt even qualify yearly....
In the past 5 years I have been doing a lot of Revolver shooting and had become quite proud of my performance with that weapons system but recently my performance has declined (eye surgery made me far sighted on my eyes but especially on my dominant eye ...this means I must now shoot with my non dominant eye when using irons.
So when it comes to hand-gunning I am mostly self taught. Fertile ground for a formal class I figured))
... so I am transitioning to Semi-autos for 2 reasons.. .357 Magnum Revolvers maybe be beautiful and wonderfully visceral.. but they are heavy .. too heavy really for casual just-if carry in many situations .. and also have a very low round capacity.
So I purchased a couple of MP9s and went to the range with them in the past year to practice.
So I decided I need a formal Pistol course and went with GreenOps as they are local and I very much liked a previous course of theirs.
From my previous Carbine II Class I expected a fast paced quality Course and I was not disappointed.
We started with a skills check.. a timed shoot from the holster.
First on a pair into center mass at 5-7 yards and then a separate timed shoot into the head of a steel target.
Afterwards we went to various dot torture drills, updrills etc.
The instructors did point out some possible improvement for my grip.
I had heard it before... during yearly Pistol Qualification at my current work I have heard this before.. but I trusted these professionals here a lot more than those guys at my civilian DOD agency
So I worked on my grip based on their input..
This slowed me down a bit since I struggled with this new grip and sometimes I defaulted to my standard grip.
Having shot revolvers for so long i have kinda of an old school revolver grip that I default to....but the instructors took the time to properly explain this new grip....
even guide my fingers where they needed to be and most importantly why this is a better grip than I was using.
A word about the instructors:
They are smart competent and respectful..
I can be a bit of a difficult student since I am set in my ways a bit and wont change easily unless provided with a good "why" explanation that I understand 100%.
These guys delivered that and more.
I simply cannot say enough about the professionalism shown here not just as shooters... but as Instructors.
Since I play the role of AR15 instructor for many of my buddies from work I am resolved to learn from them not just content but delivery as well.
I don't really want to regurgitate every drill we did but suffice it to say we ran all the way form 3 to 25 meters, standing and kneeling.. with and without mag changes (I have an old school covered magazine holder.. not a friction type one... so changing mags w/ the clock counting was a challenge to me.. but challenges are good otherwise why come?)
from 9 am -10 am was verbal instruction on various topics..
then we shot from 10 to 6 pm.
Kept us busy all day ..
At a previous training provider I noticed the class started slowing down and then shutting down between 3:30 and 4 pm.. not so here!
They were determined to work us hard to maximize training effects.
Shot approx 400 rds of 9mm.
This doesnt sound like all that much when you are used to carbine work... but for handguns this is a good volume for a days shooting.
I learned where (and most importantly how!) I can improve and will be back.
In summary:
Great training provided by quality folks using a clearly well developed POI (program of Instruction) for the modern Handgun
Cant ask for anything more.
)Last Saturday I took a Combat Pistol 1 Class from GreenOps in Culpeper, VA
(My Handgun background:
I have 20 yrs in the military and carried an M9 for much of that time.... but never really received any formal instruction on it beyond safety, how to load it and clean it ...when we did the occasional yearly qualification. I felt I did reasonably well compared to my peers... but lets face it the Artillery doesnt emphasize handgunning.. The last 4 years of my military career I was attached to a Concepts Development/Battle Lab shop where we didnt even qualify yearly....
In the past 5 years I have been doing a lot of Revolver shooting and had become quite proud of my performance with that weapons system but recently my performance has declined (eye surgery made me far sighted on my eyes but especially on my dominant eye ...this means I must now shoot with my non dominant eye when using irons.
So when it comes to hand-gunning I am mostly self taught. Fertile ground for a formal class I figured))
... so I am transitioning to Semi-autos for 2 reasons.. .357 Magnum Revolvers maybe be beautiful and wonderfully visceral.. but they are heavy .. too heavy really for casual just-if carry in many situations .. and also have a very low round capacity.
So I purchased a couple of MP9s and went to the range with them in the past year to practice.
So I decided I need a formal Pistol course and went with GreenOps as they are local and I very much liked a previous course of theirs.
From my previous Carbine II Class I expected a fast paced quality Course and I was not disappointed.
We started with a skills check.. a timed shoot from the holster.
First on a pair into center mass at 5-7 yards and then a separate timed shoot into the head of a steel target.
Afterwards we went to various dot torture drills, updrills etc.
The instructors did point out some possible improvement for my grip.
I had heard it before... during yearly Pistol Qualification at my current work I have heard this before.. but I trusted these professionals here a lot more than those guys at my civilian DOD agency
So I worked on my grip based on their input..
This slowed me down a bit since I struggled with this new grip and sometimes I defaulted to my standard grip.
Having shot revolvers for so long i have kinda of an old school revolver grip that I default to....but the instructors took the time to properly explain this new grip....
even guide my fingers where they needed to be and most importantly why this is a better grip than I was using.
A word about the instructors:
They are smart competent and respectful..
I can be a bit of a difficult student since I am set in my ways a bit and wont change easily unless provided with a good "why" explanation that I understand 100%.
These guys delivered that and more.
I simply cannot say enough about the professionalism shown here not just as shooters... but as Instructors.
Since I play the role of AR15 instructor for many of my buddies from work I am resolved to learn from them not just content but delivery as well.
I don't really want to regurgitate every drill we did but suffice it to say we ran all the way form 3 to 25 meters, standing and kneeling.. with and without mag changes (I have an old school covered magazine holder.. not a friction type one... so changing mags w/ the clock counting was a challenge to me.. but challenges are good otherwise why come?)
from 9 am -10 am was verbal instruction on various topics..
then we shot from 10 to 6 pm.
Kept us busy all day ..
At a previous training provider I noticed the class started slowing down and then shutting down between 3:30 and 4 pm.. not so here!
They were determined to work us hard to maximize training effects.
Shot approx 400 rds of 9mm.
This doesnt sound like all that much when you are used to carbine work... but for handguns this is a good volume for a days shooting.
I learned where (and most importantly how!) I can improve and will be back.
In summary:
Great training provided by quality folks using a clearly well developed POI (program of Instruction) for the modern Handgun
Cant ask for anything more.
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