Note: My recollections here are a bit fuzzy. I might have some of the drills out of order…if so, someone please correct me.

Day 1 –

Training day one was dedicated entirely to pistol instruction…something it turns out most of us needed pretty badly. Mr. Vickers began the day by having us partner up for standard ball and dummy drills. We also did timed ball and dummy drills and command ball and dummy drills, both of which ratcheted up the pressure on the shooter. Mr. Vickers also had us do some dry-fire trigger reset work. We then did a (don’t call it a) walkback drill where yours truly managed to flame out in spectacular fashion, scoring precisely ZERO hits on the steel target.

We then moved on to command drills, coming up from the low ready on command and firing a proscribed number of rounds with proper followthrough, then a scan and assess. For those who don’t know what “proper followthrough” is, I’ll explain. In real life there won’t be a set number of rounds you shoot to stop a bad guy. You’ll have to shoot a threat until the threat stops, meaning that after every shot you should be prepared to deliver another one if it is necessary. This means re-acquiring the sights and preparing to properly squeeze the trigger again. Often on the range you see guys shoot the set number of shots and then instantly drop the weapon off-target as soon as the last shot in the string hits the paper. This is another one of those bad range habits that desperately needs to be broken. I’ve often said that there’s no prize for being the first guy back in the holster, (which is certainly a true statement…) frankly dropping the weapon instantly after that last shot in the string is just a more subtle form of being the first guy back in the holster. To borrow one of Mr. Vickers’ pet phrases, I need to “delete that sh*t”.

One of the things I appreciate about Mr. Vickers’ instruction is that he doesn’t let you get away with “little things” like that. His instruction is based on the idea that you are preparing to use a weapon in a situation where some dumbass is trying to kill you and he tries his best to get you to approach every aspect of your shooting from that perspective. To some it may seem like no big deal if someone doesn’t do a proper followthrough…but if the paper target was instead some sort of scumbag intent on doing you harm and you drop your weapon after three shots, you are putting yourself behind the curve. If the threat is still ongoing, you now have to mentally say “Oh crap! He’s not down! I need to shoot him some more!” You must then bring the weapon back up on target, align the sights, and then properly squeeze the trigger. It is much better to prepare for another shot that you determine is un-necessary than to try and play catch-up after you’ve mentally checked out of the fight.

Accuracy during the command drills was also an issue, although most shooters managed to keep the majority of their shots in the black on those tiny little NRA bullseye targets. This was an “advanced” course and (in my opinion at least) you could tell it was an advanced course. Overall the accuracy was pretty darn good from most shooters, although some of us took an occasional trip on the short bus and still others (namely me) seemed ready to board it for the duration.

We went through a number of other drills during the day including a modified version of “the test”, which I believe will be my new favorite drill. “The test” in its original form is 10 rounds kept within the 10 ring of the NRA bullseye target at 10 yards in a 10 second time frame. The modified 1911 neutral version we did was 8 rounds in the 10 ring from 10 yards in 10 seconds…from the draw. This drill is a kick in the nuts. Even though that 10 ring is very small, most shooters managed to keep most of their rounds inside the 10 ring….and this is a class where most people are using Glocks. I believe a couple of people managed to shoot this drill clean….but I could be wrong about that. (I’m having a hard time recalling some of the details either because it was hot and I was too busy fighting with my equipment and swearing at myself, or because I was too traumatized by another one of NCPatrolAR’s stories to have adequate memory function.)

Another tough drill was 2 shots from the draw in 3 seconds at the 5 yard line (repeat 5 times)…2 shots from the draw at the 10 yard line in 4 seconds, (x5) and 2 shots from the 15 yard line in 5 seconds. (x5) The goal here was to keep all shots within the black. I was doing extremely well until the last couple of runs at the 15 yard line where I managed to cluck it all up with 5 shots in the white because I failed to pay proper attention to trigger control. I believe there were also shooters who shot this drill clean.

There were also two more (don’t call it a) walkback drills during the day, and I displayed unparalleled consistency by flaming out in spectacular fashion on them just as I did on the first one…failing to score a single hit on the steel C-zone target the entire day.

Overall we didn’t fire many rounds today. For those who have never trained with Mr. Vickers before, his philosophy on training is to focus on the QUALITY of the shots you fire rather than the quantity. You are held accountable for every shot you fire, and he uses the NRA bullseye targets as a means of magnifying errors. If you aren’t properly controlling the trigger or aligning the sights when you shoot at those bullseye targets, it will show up plain as day. You really have to be doing everything right to consistently keep your shots inside the black. This is work. Hard work….and trust me when I tell you that you’ll learn more with 200 rounds fired according to Mr. Vickers philosophy than you can imagine. This is, I believe, one of the reasons that he has so many repeat students. He makes you work and that work makes you a better shooter.
Unfortunately it doesn’t look like we’ll be able to do low light training in this course because of concerns about the neighbors.

Equipment –

For this course I decided that I was going to run a Glock 17 as my sidearm, and since today was all pistol I got to spend a lot of quality time with my G17. If you don’t know already, I hate Glocks. I find them to be without a doubt THE most difficult handguns to shoot well that I’ve ever tried. I can pick up a stock Beretta 92 or DA/SA Sig pistol and generally perform significantly better with those than I can with a Glock that I’ve made some mods to. I find that in my hands Glocks have precisely ZERO margin of error…meaning that if I don’t do everything exactly right I miss my intended target. They also chop up the web of my hands, requiring me to either have a grip reduction or use a gadget like the Glock Tail to shoot them without needing stitches. Of course, Mr. Vickers spotted the Glock Tail on my G17 during the AK course and asked me if a badger had been chewing on my handgun. Apparently my attempt to trim the Glock Tail using a utility knife wasn’t very aesthetically pleasing….

So if I hate them, why use one in this course? Well, there are a couple of reasons. Firstly, Glocks are the “universal handgun”. Glocks are in most police holsters in the US and as Ken Hackathorn says, if you go almost anywhere in the world and they hand you a pistol, it’s most likely going to be a Glock. If you want to be a well rounded shooter you need to learn how to use one. The second and most important reason is to put me outside of my comfort zone. You don’t learn anything when you are comfortable, and I’m here to learn. I figure that if I use the most uncomfortable, unforgiving platform for my personal tastes and learn to run it to the high level of proficiency that Mr. Vickers demands that I will be improving my skill and ability with the platforms I *do* use more naturally. If you want to build muscle, you have to lift weights that are heavy. If you want to build your shooting skill, you have to be stretched and stressed….and I’m pretty much there whenever I’m holding a Glock. I know I could have performed better on a number of drills had I been using my 1911 or my M&P 9mm or even my Beretta 92…but this ain’t a beauty pageant. While I don’t really want to look like a window-licking dumbass and I really don’t enjoy the sensation of losing drills to other people in the class by margins wide enough to drive a tank through, my main goal in being here is to learn my limits and to hopefully begin to push beyond them.

Miscellaneous interesting stuff –

SinnFéinM1911 brought along a new FN .45 handgun that looks to have some promise. I’m sure Templar will post pictures, but the best way I can describe it is the FNP “tactical” model. Think of the USP .45 tactical as compared to the normal USP and you’re on the right track. SinnFéinM1911 graciously gave us the opportunity to have some trigger time on the handgun and it proved to be very accurate. One shooter was literally shooting a one hole group. The trigger reach was too long for me and I personally feel that the trigger could use some cleaning up (it’s still a pretty good trigger, but I think the folks at FN have the capacity to improve upon what we tried) and at least for my hands it could use a couple of areas dehorned…..but I think the weapon has real potential. At the price point being discussed I think it will be a hit, especially when one considers that it comes from the factory ready to accept a Dr. Optic red-dot. That’s unique in the gun world.
Mr. Vickers has some upcoming projects and ideas that are not yet ready for public consumption but that I believe are going to be a big hit. I can’t wait to see them come to life.

I’ll post revisions and additions when my brain starts working again.