Patrick
MSI Executive Member
This is a two-fer times two: two classes taken by two people in two days. Call us efficient.
The wife wanted to take a handgun class. Not just how to "use" one, but also how to fire one for effect. It was her idea (really); I just did the legwork finding a place to go. We were fortunate to find CCJA and attend their Handgun I/II courses.
My wife was a complete newbie around guns. I taught her the basics on handling and safety, with significant emphasis on muzzle and trigger discipline. We've been to a few indoor ranges over the years and everybody called her a "natural" - she was shooting better an a 9mm on day one than most would in a month. She wanted to take some classes to learn not only how to use a gun, but how to fight with one. Her view was target practice is not the real world. This class was part of her birthday present.
DAY ONE:
Day one started in a classroom setting. She was immediately intimidated by her fellow classmates: a Marine with door-kicking experience in Fallujah; DHS personnel working on increasing skills; veterans of several services; armored cash carriers, etc. In comparison, she was a stay-at-home-mom with a two year old, armed with a diaper bag and a box of cookies.
Our instructors for day one were Tom and Chris. This was obviously a Yin/Yang pairing: Chris is the laid-back operator to Tom's high-strung SWAT cop. It works.
My wife followed all the classroom work easily, but it was all theory and she's a good student. One thing she learned in class: she is left-eye dominant even though she was right-handed. This was news to her. More on this later. Her nerves kicked up during the drive to the range. So far there had been zero "practical" training with a gun.
Range time started with a review of safety - CCJA runs a "360 Hot" range. This means that guns are pretty much always loaded and ready to go, even during breaks. People behind the line might be loading mags and watching the people up front, but the guns on their hips are still "hot". This requires (and instills) a mind-set to keep your awareness up at all times.
We started with "torture dots" -- little 1.5 inch circles on a piece of paper. We went right from the safety brief to the targets. This is where the wife started to get extra nervous -- from classroom to live trigger pull in one short drive. Please bear in mind that this is a no-brainer for pretty much anyone reading this review -- you are already "into" guns. But her experience was essentially nil at this point, so your "little" step was a big jump for her.
She did fine. She took her time (a lot of time in some situations), but never lost sight of the only real important thing she needed to remember: safety first. This turns out to have been an issue for another student, but Tom closed that hole fast.
Tom and Chris worked with my wife. They knew she was coming (I talked with Tom about her experience before signing up). Chris, in particular, spent a lot of time working with her one on one: grip, eye dominance, stance...you name it. At this point her frustration was not over the "newness" of the gun class, but rather a frustration to progress as fast as she knew she could. That was a big positive step up - from nervous about shooting to frustrated over her accuracy - all in about 60 minutes. Good on CCJA.
Interesting finding for her: she is actually "cross-cross-eyed dominant": while her left eye might be dominant, she actually sees better and shoots better with her right. After two hours trying to shoot "left eyed", she said "Eff It" and went back to the right. Better. We theorize this might have something to do with the laser surgery she had years earlier.
From afar, I knew things "clicked" for her about midway through the first range day: I glanced up at her shooting while I was loading mags and she was whipping through immediate action drills and getting back on target fast. The actual shooting was becoming secondary to the lesson at hand. Again: good on CCJA.
Day one ended with her feeling comfortable with a gun. Prior to class, she was never afraid of the weapon...more like leery. By now she was comfortable and wanting to learn more.
After dinner and some quick maintenance shopping (I left my shooting glasses at home and was using something I found in the car), we were back in the hotel. She spent about an hour and a half working draw, clearing and dry fire in our room.
DAY TWO:
The wife spent a half hour doing dry fire drills before packing it up for class. She had the details down.
Classroom in the morning with a slightly different crew of students and some overlap from the previous day. Same types, though: lots of gun guys and one "mom-with-a-toddler". This time there was no apprehension on her part. Our instructor for the day was going to be Chris.
On day two we did dry-fire drills in class. This was highly beneficial.
Range time started earlier, and this time she had no concerns other than "keeping up". This day moved faster. Chris went from one drill to the next, each one building or adding a skill to the last. And my wife was keeping up.
Chris's goal was to hand over skills and drills that you could take back and use to improve yourself. His eye was strong and he didn't let things slip. He listened to the experience of others (Riverine on this forum has real-world, recent experience that applied) -- no ego contest here. Chris's laid-back manner made a fast-paced run through a dozen drills seem paced - not hurried.
The day ended with everyone wanting to do more. But shooting after 1700 on a Sunday is not nice to the neighbors. Chris stuck around to do dry-fire practice with anyone who could stay. Unfortunately we had to leave and relieve my mother-in-law from the baby.
Overall:
I learned a lot. My wife learned...well, most everything she knows about guns.
Tom and Chris undid some damage I did to my shooting way back. Interesting to note that the three students with military pistol training all made some of the same mistakes the same way. And some of the things I was taught (on stance) are just outright wrong today. Lessons learned between then (my time in uniform) and now will benefit me today. Overall it is safe to say I let my skills and tactics degrade to a personally unsat level.
For instance: I should have beat 97Vette in the shooting competition; as it stands I had to take second place on day one and third on day two (behind another MDS member Riverine). Next time, you bastards. Next time.
Likewise, Tom's demeanor changes depending on the shooter. This is a good thing, especially with several low to no experience shooters on day one (my wife was not alone). Tom modified his normal regimen and training to accommodate two women from a DHS contract that needed to learn shooting to re-qualify for their jobs. DHS has specific guidelines on everything from shooting to how to rack a slide -- Tom made sure to spend time doing it the DHS way. He also added more drills specifically geared to their qualification requirements. Everyone gained.
The real accomplishment here was my wife. She went from zero to 60 in real short order. This could not have happened without Tom and Chris and a willingness on her part to learn fast. I did what I could before class, but the dynamics of life with a kid make it tough to do one-on-one during baby's naptime.
Two instructors for Handgun I was a good thing. Not only was it a larger class, but it allowed Chris to work with my wife exclusively for more time than she thought she deserved. The worst part of the class for her was a concern she was slowing everybody else down -- again, she has standards and doesn't want others to suffer if she was behind. In the end I hope it worked well for all.
Chris and Tom made sure to brief me on what she needed to work on, and how to do it. Their eye will feed my mine and hopefully result in better shooting for the two of us all around.
Some advice (and ideas) to CCJA for future classes:
This worked for my wife, partly because she is a "into the deep end" kind of person. Her standards are exceptionally high, especially when she is concerned. As a result, she works to demand constant improvement in herself. She also wanted to do well in front of me. I suspect some other complete newbies might not translate that initial nervousness into positive action -- as it stands she thrives on it.
To that end, she thinks that early morning dry-fire in the classroom on day one is essential. Even for those with more experience, it sets the pace for the presentations.
Likewise, we think there is a market out there for a "Level 0" handgun course. Her local friends are all professional women who did not grow up around guns. To a person, each and every one of them is insanely curious about her experience. Unfortunately, at least half of them would have melted under the pace of Day I.
We think the trick is not to slow Handgun I (this would be unfair to others), but to occasionally offer a "Handgun 0" class - a complete introduction that modifies the classroom portion to put less emphasis on tactics and more time on dry-fire. The range portion could also be slowed somewhat and allow more shots on target with fewer drills - the goal being to "warm up" the new shooter and get some experience under the belt to breed comfort. This would be an intro to HG I/II.
Post Training:
I am a better shooter. The wife can now call herself a "shooter". She has a sudden interest in IDPA and ringing steel in the range I built in the back woods. She wants it expanded. For her.
I'm shopping for steel. She's shopping for her first Glock.
The Future:
Fair warning: we'll be back.
The wife wanted to take a handgun class. Not just how to "use" one, but also how to fire one for effect. It was her idea (really); I just did the legwork finding a place to go. We were fortunate to find CCJA and attend their Handgun I/II courses.
My wife was a complete newbie around guns. I taught her the basics on handling and safety, with significant emphasis on muzzle and trigger discipline. We've been to a few indoor ranges over the years and everybody called her a "natural" - she was shooting better an a 9mm on day one than most would in a month. She wanted to take some classes to learn not only how to use a gun, but how to fight with one. Her view was target practice is not the real world. This class was part of her birthday present.
DAY ONE:
Day one started in a classroom setting. She was immediately intimidated by her fellow classmates: a Marine with door-kicking experience in Fallujah; DHS personnel working on increasing skills; veterans of several services; armored cash carriers, etc. In comparison, she was a stay-at-home-mom with a two year old, armed with a diaper bag and a box of cookies.
Our instructors for day one were Tom and Chris. This was obviously a Yin/Yang pairing: Chris is the laid-back operator to Tom's high-strung SWAT cop. It works.
My wife followed all the classroom work easily, but it was all theory and she's a good student. One thing she learned in class: she is left-eye dominant even though she was right-handed. This was news to her. More on this later. Her nerves kicked up during the drive to the range. So far there had been zero "practical" training with a gun.
Range time started with a review of safety - CCJA runs a "360 Hot" range. This means that guns are pretty much always loaded and ready to go, even during breaks. People behind the line might be loading mags and watching the people up front, but the guns on their hips are still "hot". This requires (and instills) a mind-set to keep your awareness up at all times.
We started with "torture dots" -- little 1.5 inch circles on a piece of paper. We went right from the safety brief to the targets. This is where the wife started to get extra nervous -- from classroom to live trigger pull in one short drive. Please bear in mind that this is a no-brainer for pretty much anyone reading this review -- you are already "into" guns. But her experience was essentially nil at this point, so your "little" step was a big jump for her.
She did fine. She took her time (a lot of time in some situations), but never lost sight of the only real important thing she needed to remember: safety first. This turns out to have been an issue for another student, but Tom closed that hole fast.
Tom and Chris worked with my wife. They knew she was coming (I talked with Tom about her experience before signing up). Chris, in particular, spent a lot of time working with her one on one: grip, eye dominance, stance...you name it. At this point her frustration was not over the "newness" of the gun class, but rather a frustration to progress as fast as she knew she could. That was a big positive step up - from nervous about shooting to frustrated over her accuracy - all in about 60 minutes. Good on CCJA.
Interesting finding for her: she is actually "cross-cross-eyed dominant": while her left eye might be dominant, she actually sees better and shoots better with her right. After two hours trying to shoot "left eyed", she said "Eff It" and went back to the right. Better. We theorize this might have something to do with the laser surgery she had years earlier.
From afar, I knew things "clicked" for her about midway through the first range day: I glanced up at her shooting while I was loading mags and she was whipping through immediate action drills and getting back on target fast. The actual shooting was becoming secondary to the lesson at hand. Again: good on CCJA.
Day one ended with her feeling comfortable with a gun. Prior to class, she was never afraid of the weapon...more like leery. By now she was comfortable and wanting to learn more.
After dinner and some quick maintenance shopping (I left my shooting glasses at home and was using something I found in the car), we were back in the hotel. She spent about an hour and a half working draw, clearing and dry fire in our room.
DAY TWO:
The wife spent a half hour doing dry fire drills before packing it up for class. She had the details down.
Classroom in the morning with a slightly different crew of students and some overlap from the previous day. Same types, though: lots of gun guys and one "mom-with-a-toddler". This time there was no apprehension on her part. Our instructor for the day was going to be Chris.
On day two we did dry-fire drills in class. This was highly beneficial.
Range time started earlier, and this time she had no concerns other than "keeping up". This day moved faster. Chris went from one drill to the next, each one building or adding a skill to the last. And my wife was keeping up.
Chris's goal was to hand over skills and drills that you could take back and use to improve yourself. His eye was strong and he didn't let things slip. He listened to the experience of others (Riverine on this forum has real-world, recent experience that applied) -- no ego contest here. Chris's laid-back manner made a fast-paced run through a dozen drills seem paced - not hurried.
The day ended with everyone wanting to do more. But shooting after 1700 on a Sunday is not nice to the neighbors. Chris stuck around to do dry-fire practice with anyone who could stay. Unfortunately we had to leave and relieve my mother-in-law from the baby.
Overall:
I learned a lot. My wife learned...well, most everything she knows about guns.
Tom and Chris undid some damage I did to my shooting way back. Interesting to note that the three students with military pistol training all made some of the same mistakes the same way. And some of the things I was taught (on stance) are just outright wrong today. Lessons learned between then (my time in uniform) and now will benefit me today. Overall it is safe to say I let my skills and tactics degrade to a personally unsat level.
For instance: I should have beat 97Vette in the shooting competition; as it stands I had to take second place on day one and third on day two (behind another MDS member Riverine). Next time, you bastards. Next time.
Likewise, Tom's demeanor changes depending on the shooter. This is a good thing, especially with several low to no experience shooters on day one (my wife was not alone). Tom modified his normal regimen and training to accommodate two women from a DHS contract that needed to learn shooting to re-qualify for their jobs. DHS has specific guidelines on everything from shooting to how to rack a slide -- Tom made sure to spend time doing it the DHS way. He also added more drills specifically geared to their qualification requirements. Everyone gained.
The real accomplishment here was my wife. She went from zero to 60 in real short order. This could not have happened without Tom and Chris and a willingness on her part to learn fast. I did what I could before class, but the dynamics of life with a kid make it tough to do one-on-one during baby's naptime.
Two instructors for Handgun I was a good thing. Not only was it a larger class, but it allowed Chris to work with my wife exclusively for more time than she thought she deserved. The worst part of the class for her was a concern she was slowing everybody else down -- again, she has standards and doesn't want others to suffer if she was behind. In the end I hope it worked well for all.
Chris and Tom made sure to brief me on what she needed to work on, and how to do it. Their eye will feed my mine and hopefully result in better shooting for the two of us all around.
Some advice (and ideas) to CCJA for future classes:
This worked for my wife, partly because she is a "into the deep end" kind of person. Her standards are exceptionally high, especially when she is concerned. As a result, she works to demand constant improvement in herself. She also wanted to do well in front of me. I suspect some other complete newbies might not translate that initial nervousness into positive action -- as it stands she thrives on it.
To that end, she thinks that early morning dry-fire in the classroom on day one is essential. Even for those with more experience, it sets the pace for the presentations.
Likewise, we think there is a market out there for a "Level 0" handgun course. Her local friends are all professional women who did not grow up around guns. To a person, each and every one of them is insanely curious about her experience. Unfortunately, at least half of them would have melted under the pace of Day I.
We think the trick is not to slow Handgun I (this would be unfair to others), but to occasionally offer a "Handgun 0" class - a complete introduction that modifies the classroom portion to put less emphasis on tactics and more time on dry-fire. The range portion could also be slowed somewhat and allow more shots on target with fewer drills - the goal being to "warm up" the new shooter and get some experience under the belt to breed comfort. This would be an intro to HG I/II.
Post Training:
I am a better shooter. The wife can now call herself a "shooter". She has a sudden interest in IDPA and ringing steel in the range I built in the back woods. She wants it expanded. For her.
I'm shopping for steel. She's shopping for her first Glock.
The Future:
Fair warning: we'll be back.
