AAR: Concealed and Off-Duty Pistol (David Pennington)
While I was just one of ten forum members attending the class, apparently I'm the only one who didn't need to go to work Monday morning so I'll start the AAR thread. :cool:
Synopsis: Excellent class. Dave is well known to many M4C members from previous training gigs, and he brought his extensive knowledge of the particular subject matter to full bear. The class was billed as a concealed carry class rather than a tacticool ninja gear class, and it was exactly that. Pace was excellent. Content ran the gamut from marksmanship fundamentals to 2-, strong- and weak-hand only manipulations from concealment. Dave also included both a detailed lecture on various CCW methods as well as a low-light segment.
Content: As mentioned above, this class was aimed at improving the student's knowledge and skill in terms of carrying a concealed firearm. To my great surprise, it was the first such training many of the students had received. Though veterans of many tactical AR, AK, pistol, low-light, etc. classes it seemed like most of them had never gone through formal training with their actual everyday carry gear. Shame on them for that, and good on Dave for realizing there was a need to provide such training!
Shooting segments: Class began with some marksmanship fundamental drills. Students shot at a 5.5" circle target at 3, 5, 7, 10, 15, 20, and 25 yards first freestyle (two hands), then strong hand only (SHO) and finally weak hand only (WHO). It was therefore made clear right at the beginning of the class that we'd be expected to handle our pistols SHO and WHO, and I probably did more one-handed shooting in Dave's class than any 2-day program I've experienced.
On the range, Dave also covered, in no particular order:
- Drawing from open front and closed front concealment (each student was required to practice both ways)
- Drawing SHO & WHO from concealment
- Reloading from concealment, including SHO and WHO
- Stoppage & Malfunction clearance techniques (tap/rack and rip drills) 2-handed, SHO, and WHO ... all from concealment
- Shooting on the move
- Use of cover
- Multiple flashlight techniques
Many of the more complicated drills were done both dry fire and live fire. For students who were not already familiar with certain SHO/WHO acrobatics, this maintained a safe training environment while still providing an opportunity to practice realistically under varying degrees of stress.
Total round count was between 1,000 and 1,100 rounds for most students. About 2/3 of that was fired on day one, while day 2 involved more of the one-handed manipulations, moving, cover, etc. drills that are more time consuming. Nonetheless, the pace was always fast and I never felt like I was standing around waiting to do the next thing.
Dave used a very simple target system that kept everyone dialed in for accuracy, still allowed folks to see where their misses were going, and kept the class running smoothly. It's an idea I intend to steal for my own classes, in fact. Thanks again for that, Dave!
"Classroom" segments: In addition to the range training, Dave also provided lecture-style instruction describing and demonstrating a wide variety of CCW options. He went over the pros and cons of kydex vs. leather, concealed carry vs. covert carry, OWB, IWB, AIWB, shoulder holsters, small of back carry, pocket carry, ankle carry, Thunderwear-type holsters, fanny packs, off-body options, and the use of retention devices in conjunction with concealed carry.
Students: Eight out of the ten students were already very competent gun handlers, from what I could see. Two others were newer and struggled more. In my experience as both a student and a teacher, I've found that the real measure of a firearms instructor is his ability to switch gears between students. Going from the best guy in class to the worst guy in class and providing cogent useful advice is very hard to do, and Dave was excellent at it.
Also, because many of the students knew each other well, it was a very cordial and fun social environment. Heck, we didn't even tease VA_Dinger for taking 15.92 seconds just to fire one round, reload, and fire two more rounds on a 5.5" circle ... at five yards ... from the ready. No, we didn't tease him about that once.
(of course, Dinger then outshot almost everyone else in class on the final test, missing only four shots ... the two next best students missed 9 each and after that we started to need a calculator to figure scores :cool:)
Conclusion: Not only would I recommend this class to others, but I'd sign up to take it again. Dave balances professionalism and competence with an approachable demeanor that makes class both educational and enjoyable. Students were constantly challenged to improve, and I believe everyone in class did exactly that.
Templar took some photos and video, so hopefully he'll be able to add visuals to this thread.
Train hard & stay safe! TLG
