Magpul Dynamics / Dynamic Handgun 2
July 10-12th, 2011 / Douglas Ridge Rifle Club (Portland, OR)
Allowing us a 1 day break between two back to back classes, this marks the fifth Magpul Dynamics class hosted here in Portland. The instructors were Steve Fisher and Caylen Wojcik. This was my third class with Fisher, and by no means was the lack of Chris a hindrance to the material covered. As with previous classes we were lucky to have solid weather (for the most part), a well-groomed range, and some seriously good food. Long story short, learning occurred, and good times were had by all.
We were very fortunate to have the help of industry partners such as Raven Concealment, Surefire, Magpul Industries, and Nighthawk Custom. This was also our first class where we were joined by an industry shooter, Rob Potter, from Nighthawk Custom.
Gear
For this class I ran my Nighthawk 9mm FLX pistol. This is a double-stack 9mm, based on the STI frame, which was acquired from a couple of friends, and had actually gone through another Magpul Handgun 1 course although in a different role. Throughout the course I was using a Raven Phantom holster and pouches. The majority of students were using either M&Ps in all calibers, Glocks, a few 1911s (2 Nighthawks, and a Springfield), and a few XDs. Lots of Raven Concealment and ARES Gear belts. A few…SERPAs…as well…
This was a great class in terms of gear, as we got to see some actual malfunctions occur. Ranging from bad ammo locking up entire handguns, to pistols breaking completely, to mags deciding to eject their entire compliment of rounds out in on single go. All providing moments to stop the class and observe the malfunction and how to resolve it.
Students
About half the class had been through the previous year’s Handgun 1 course. The other half had either been through other handgun courses, or were there knowing full well that they needed to run at full speed to not slow the class down. A few students had even come up through the previous week’s Carbine 1 class, which combined with our previous time with Steve and Caylen allowed them to get a jump on assessing us as a group.
It was also a great chance to meet up with friends who I hadn’t seen for years, and some I was finally meeting face to face for the first time.
For a lot of us that meant some sobering facts; we were all quite competent at weapons manipulation, but accuracy at range would come back to kick us in the ass.
Before we get too far, this won’t be a comprehensive day-by-day AAR, but rather allowing all three days to blur together. With that said we get a reputation with Portland weather that it’s raining all the time. The truth of the matter is that it’s sunny every once in a while here in Little Beirut. With the sun shining we all rallied up in the Douglas Ridge clubhouse, allowing Steve to size up the group, and lay down the plan for the next 3 days. First and foremost we began with our safety briefing, with Steve and Caylen going around the room to establish what each student wished to take away from the class. For most shooters it was bringing their accuracy up, for others it was about creating a greater strength in weapons manipulation (reloads, malfunctions, etc), and finally for others it was combining the previous two at full speed.
After the initial pre-brief we went down to our range, loaded up magazines, and carried our targets out. Steve began us with a simple dot drill, at each pause reminding us about trigger pull, grip, stance, and sight picture. For some the end groups were all in the 2-inch circle, for others it showed where they’d have to put more effort on. From that point we worked our way back in distance, each time starting out on one round, then 2, and watching to see how our fundamentals were holding up. Generally things looked good until we hit 25yds, which for some reason tripped a lot of us up.
This distance served to be a great benchmark throughout the weekend. Steve and Caylen would ramp us up on faster shooting, then slow us back down, bring us back to 25yds, then shoot for groups. This counterpoint of speed, then accuracy showed us in many ways that we were letting fundamentals fall apart at distance because we were shooting either too fast, or forgetting the basics of what enables accurate shots. Even as Steve covered different loading techniques (admin, tac, and speed) we always pulled it back to 25yds to serve as our benchmark. For some most shots were solid and in the blue. For others we wondered what choke was being used on their 12ga shotguns. It wasn’t pretty.
Day one really served as a strong fundamentals day, where Steve and Caylen could judge the pace of the class. This would basically determine what material we’d cover, and when we’d cover it. I’ll be honest and say that the class as a whole wasn’t shooting as strongly as we’d all have liked. I can admit that I normally shoot at 8” steel plates at 40 yds, fairly consistently as well. However at 25 the 8” paper target was absolutely vexing to keep all of my rounds in. So we finished up Day 1 knowing some of us would have to really double time it to get up to snuff.
It was also on Day 1 that I noticed a lot of my groups shooting left. Not low left which would indicate snatching, but just left. On looking at my Heine ledge sights it became apparent that they were slightly off. A little bit of hammering on them during evolutions and the problem got better. But nothing like a little bit of classroom gunsmithing to cement that you’re at a good class.
Day 2
Day 2 had us rolling in early, with us starting cold-bore on the 25yd. For the most part, everyone shot a LOT better. The biggest issue, something that carried over from Carbine 1 the days previous was that when Steve would say, “you have 5 minutes for 10 shots” most people would be done in 90 seconds. The results would be a lot of missed shots. What this reminded us was that we were still immediately going to a “must shoot faster” mentality, which is only something you need to really click in to when you can make those fundamental shots at distance, and especially when you’re given all the time in the world.
After our cold open we moved into moving and shooting, specifically reflexive firing, offline of attack, and a particularly fun drill Steve brought with him to try out. This would be the ladder drill. Basically, if you’ve played soccer you know how this one works. We set up a series of cones at 5yd intervals up until nearly pointblank. The shooter on the far left of the line calls for permission to move for the group, i.e “MOVING!” The shooter on the far right gives that command…logically as “MOVE!” The group runs with gun holstered, up 5 yds (to the 20yd line). The instructors would see people in position, and provide the “FIRE” command. Search and assess, holster up, and then we’d call for a moving command and run back to the 25yd line, the fire command given again, re-holster. At that point we’d call for MOVING/MOVE, and run 10 yds up to the 15y line. Same situation, run up, fire, then fight our way back. Stopping at the 20yd to fire, moving/move, then back to the 25yd, moving/move. As you can guess by the time you’re to nearly point blank you’ve got a lot of wind sprints causing you to suck up O2. This was a fantastic drill purely because it was Steve reminding us we were his and Caylen’s playthings for the next day and a half.
As an anecdote Steve kept looking at the targets, as flies would land. “Those little bastards land and I’m going to shoot ‘em.” Twice over the remainder of class we’d yell out, “Steve, get over here!” He’d come up, grab my 1911, and call the range hot. And put a 9mm right between their tiny little eyes. Absolutely great shooting, and continued proof that Steve absolutely loves his job.
We continued Day 2 by working around other shooters, specifically when the threat command was called moving left, right, or around shooters to engage targets. Quite the applicable skill for those of us who conceal carry, and may find ourselves in a situation requiring we de-conflict from friendlies. One of the bigger nuggets of Day 2 was one-handed shooting, not one-handed weapon manipulation, but more specifically fundamentals when shooting left-handed. Unlike my friends running ambidextrous striker-fired pistols the manipulation of my 1911 became a bit more challenging when shooting left handed. Steve showed me a fairly interesting technique that may or may not work for you depending on your hand structure. Because I use a single-sided safety I was shown that after sweeping the safety off with my left thumb, rather than slipping it back around the beavertail I would just tuck it in on the left side and fire. This meant that my left hand was on the grip, left thumb on the left side of the pistol, and I used my palm to activate the grip safety. While not ideal for gaining an optimal grip, this was a position of expedience, where I’d be manipulating my weapon as urgently as possible with diminished bodily function. Plus it was something I could do 100 percent of the time, whereas even for guys like Fisher with his giant meat-paws it was something that may or may not work with his body-type.
Malfunctions were also a critical component of that day, covering stovepipes, double-feeds, out of battery, and specifically how to quickly identify and solve them. Most likely this was one of the drills that ultimately undid my 9mm 2011. Ironically the gun was impossible to set up an out of battery malfunction, as the action is so slippery smooth I couldn’t even fake it with that gun. Since I’m new to owning a 1911/2011 I had no idea that double feed drills were extremely harsh on the extractor. Considering I was POUNDING on the back of the slide to set up tight double feeds I can safely say this was a contributing factor in the extractor giving up the ghost a hair away from finishing on Day 3.
Day 3
2 days of sun, so of course day 3 had on again, off again, rain. Once again we began the day with a cold-bore hit at 25yds. The groups as a whole looked much better. We all wished we were running this solid on Day 1, because had we done so most likely we’d have pushed out targets out to 50yds or greater. We ramped up speed using the BSA templates to establish that we were in fact improving, rather than backsliding, and then Day 3 fully commenced.
The final class day was all about putting together the fundamentals in to motion, especially with awkward body positions. Specifically we worked on working our weapons as if our weapon side had been hit, and we needed to draw with our reaction side hand. This involved learning how to handle reloads one handed, malfunction clearances, and drawing the weapon using only our left hand. Steve and Caylen walked us through the traditional knee tuck method, then had us use his preferred method of pressing the gun along the chest to re-grip and then fire. This method allows for you to do so on the move, or even in a situation where you’re on the ground and are unable to have access to your knees.
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Now having the skills to draw and fire with our left hand we were introduced to Dave Harrington’s Iron Cross. Steve being friends with Super Dave was given permission to teach this drill to us, and it was a fantastic way to combining multiple lessons we’d learned into one cohesive demonstration. This drill involved cortorting the body in to rather odd positions, while still making us get our hits at speed.
We ultimately covered the supine and urban prone. It was during urban prone, in fact 4 rounds short of finishing the last evolution of the day, that I got a double feed on my 1911. Steve and Caylen, watching the line like they do, swooped in, and before I could even react both were screaming in my ear in an attempt to see how I’d react. Simple enough, lock, strip, rack, reinsert, go. Bang! Double feed. Clear it again. Bang. Double feed. “Yeah, Isaac, your gun is fucked. Get off the line and go fix it.” 4 rounds short of finishing the urban prone drills and that gun would have made it the entire class. Proof positive that if it has the word ‘NIGHT’ in it…I can break it.
Our last drill of the day would be the Kyle Lamb’s 1-5 drill. The first time ran we did so with 3 mags, 15 rounds loaded unevenly, which would force a reload at a random time for the shooter. The second time ran with the traditional fully loaded magazine. Each drill stressed fundamentals we had learned throughout the weekend. After a final wrap up we ended the class having all identified our own personal shooting limitations, and the information needed to improve.
Observations
My biggest take away was accuracy. It’s something I can do well, when I slow down, and remember the fundamentals. This is something that still bites me. I sometimes just go too fast, and shank shots. I’m also consistently too violent to my gun. I’m fast to my gun, but I do so with a lot of wasted movement. I’m faster drawing my gun when I’m purposely slowing myself down. It’s just something I need to actively consider every time I go to the range to work drills.
I know this one won’t win me friends, but I will say that if you’re signing up for a Level 2 class, have either a Handgun 1 class under your belt, or come in with a sense of humility that you’re already behind the power curve. I say this because we had a few folks that hadn’t taken a previous class who were struggling for a few of the days, and the end result was the material and tempo being ratcheted back a notch or two to accommodate. The exception to this is having a few students who hadn’t taken Handgun 1 before who came in and rocked out with their glocks out. That said, just know if you’re going to bump in to a Level 2 class, be prepared to not hold back students, and keep your head on a swivel.
Special Thanks
I’d like to thank Surefire and Raven Concealment, both for contributing items for the students, and their continuing support of our classes. Surefire provided hearing protection and other swag for the students, and Raven providing gift certificates for their holsters and pouches. Thanks to Douglas Ridge for providing another great class at their picturesque facility. And finally to the students and instructors for making these classes safe and fun.