Ever see Pat’s videos online? He’s exactly like that in real life.
The biggest thing I took away from this class was a complete change in mentality of performance versus outcome.
Do not hesitate to take a class from Pat, you may very well get the “ah-ha” moment that I did.
Pictures inbound.
Excellent class with some dudes that can really burn it down.
Pat is easily one of the most intense humans I have ever met.
That class was by awesome, had a great time with soem great shooters. I hope to do a real AAR this week.
AAR: TMACS Pat McNamara 2-Day TAPS, September 21-22, 2013 North Versailles, PA
Like many of you, I’m sure you’ve seen the same videos of Pat’s drills floating around the internets, wondering if he really is that intense in person. He is, and it’s infectious. It is not a personality stunt, the energy he brings motivates and lightens the mood in a constructive way. His course still has me eager to burn it down at the range. Let’s review why I’m left with this revved up mood and a hunger to perform better behind the gun. (No, it wasn’t all the free KillCliff drinks being handed out…thanks Todd.)
After a long rainy drive Saturday morning, I arrived at the Pitcairn-Monroeville Sportsmen’s Club. Thinking I was late I ran up to the staging area, only to find out I’m early. (I hate being that guy.) First thing I notice is that the range is already set up because Pat got there super early, and now he’s passing the time until we can go hot by talking to the students while blasting some metal music out of his Z71…I like the guy’s style already.
Pat gathered up the class and did his quick intro talk about himself, his story, and how the TMACS company came about. You could tell he didn’t like to podium talk, which he actually ended up saying. Instead, he was eager to get down to business. First, however, safety needed to be covered, and I like how it was presented. Pat declared that safety isn’t an administrative decree constrained to a “range,” but rather a set of rules that need to be adhered to in order to prevent bad things from happening to yourself and others. We’re all familiar with the “four rules,” but instead of just saying them Pat actively engaged the students in a discussion of what these mean in practice using specific terminology. He made it a point to highlight how words have power, and I couldn’t agree more. The way you say something elicits a mental response inside people that should not be overlooked. Pat’s rule #1 of “always know the condition of your weapons” instead of the usual “all guns are always loaded” bit really stands out. It is a safety violation to have an unloaded gun in certain scenarios as you will have explained in detail when you take the class.
Before we stepped up to the line, Pat briefly explained the training philosophy he would expand on as the course continued. I’m not going to spoil all of the introspective zen master lines that he says quite yet, but trust me, it will change your outlook on shooting. It’s hard for me to correctly convey these concepts, as I’m still wrapping my head around how to define these ideas explicitly, but I’ll do my best. Pat introduced us to a concept he wanted us to ponder: Performance vs. Outcome. He told us we would soon come to understand the difference between focusing on the performance (doing), rather than the outcome (result). It is preferable to focus on correctly executing shooting skills instead of getting wrapped up in the outcome. Puzzled a bit yet? Don’t worry, I was as well until I started to grasp the difference while shooting under Pat’s guidance.
“GOING HOT” The phrase I like to hear the most at class. First, we got started by shooting paper at various distances, increasing the range each time to size us up and give Pat an idea of the overall skill level in the class. This would allow him to adjust the course speed and content as he saw necessary. I’d like to interject an observation that I’ll touch on again. Pat is incredibly good at tailoring his words, curriculum, and teaching points based on the students performance and other factors. We did a couple more strings of fire to warm us up, getting our brains thinking the way he wanted. Already on the first string of fire I could see myself faltering when I got my head wrapped up on the outcome of my performance. My first few shots where dead nuts on, and as I focused stubbornly on not messing up that cute little group delivered via RMR equipped Glock 19, I started throwing shots. This would be succinctly referenced at later point in the class when Pat uttered the phrase, “Don’t look where you don’t want to go!” During these first few strings of fire Pat wanted us to focus on following through with our shots. Particularly, he wanted us to learn how to call our shots through our sights. That involves knowing without looking, whether we made good or bad shots based on how it felt. Pat introduced us to a concept he explained as “missing fast.” Often you see people miss a shot, shake their head (just to let everyone around them know how disappointed in themselves they are), and slowly acquire a sight picture to shoot again. Missing has to be “water off of a ducks ass”: no time can be spent dwelling on the outcome of failure. Trusting your sights and a good committed trigger press followed with another sight picture was salient to how Pat wanted us to shoot later in the day. Trigger manipulation was described as the “king daddy” when it comes to delivering accurate fire.
After the first half of the day, the weather started throwing a wrench in Pat’s accuracy intensive game plan he had laid out for us. Heavy rain ruined paper and cardboard targets. We broke for lunch as Pat took out his notebook and drew up plans for another type of lesson. The steel quickly came out, and we headed off with a different focus for the rest of the day. Pat again demonstrated an ability to change the curriculum in a meaningful way given the situation that would lead to the most learning and value for the student. This was very impressive to me because I could tell he knew exactly what he wanted to do given the cards dealt that day. No time or ammo would be wasted on “just shooting”; everything had a purpose.
The rest of Saturday would be spent shooting a variety of Pat’s cooly named TMACS drills in the pouring rain. This might not sound like a great time given the downpour, but it was honestly the most fun I’ve had in awhile. It wasn’t just for kicks though, every drill was setup to build upon advice we were given earlier, especially in relation to following through with our shots. Missed shots on steel needed to be made up quickly. Pat demonstrated again how important it was to “miss fast”. We shot a modified El Prez, the challenging and rewarding Grid of Fire, a brain-melting unnamed drill, and a modified Turn and Burn. The students were sent off into groups to shoot each drill and peer evaluate one another, all while Pat continuously made rounds through each group. He shot with the students multiple times not being afraid to mess up in front of us and emphasize learning points. He would come by and show us ways to run each course a little cleaner, smoother, and more tactically sound if necessary. I love this type of learning environment, and it’s not something I’ve ever seen quite done this way in a marksmanship class. It was rewarding and fun to try and shave hundredths of a second off the fastest time, creating an environment of friendly competition. Of course, then Pat would come by and smoke the drill, and I intently watched him for cues that could be used to make myself better. Watching him run the modified Grid of Fire drill (one handed, switching between both sides) helped me realize how I need to clean up single-hand presentation, track the target with my eyes better, and move my feet more efficiently to each firing position. Particularly fun was putting the wheels on at the Turn and Burn course of fire. The students and instructor went back and forth posting lower times each round. I like to boogie, so this one played in my favor due to the amount of leg speed required. I managed to post a sub 16.50 second time along with Pat. Good times. After everyone got a couple runs through the drills we packed it up for dinner and hot showers. A handful of students went out to dinner that night and traded beer opinions and shared a ton of tasty foods. Side note: Pat must have been a viking in a previously life. Good times again.
SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY:
Sunday brought with it clear skies and much better conditions for shooting paper. This allowed us to switch back to the accuracy intensive curriculum Pat wanted to focus on. He warned that it would be grueling and would leave us mentally smoked. After this portion of the class I was strung out from focusing on trigger control plus sights, and didn’t want to shoot B-8 targets again for the rest of the day. I can run around all day shooting steel and not get tired, but stand me on a line and tell me to put 30 rounds into a 5.5 inch circle while switching hands and I’ll start to sweat. We went through a variety of different bullseye drills at ranges from 10-25 yards, once again using both hands as well as each hand by itself. I personally have a lot of work to do here, as my poorest performance was during one handed distance work. Sometimes, I even missed shots with a two-handed grip because I was “looking where I didn’t want to go.” Pat once again touched on performance vs outcome following it with a saying of, “you cannot outperform your own self image.” What that zen voodoo means is that you have to visualize yourself performing correctly and not psyche yourself out from the fear of failing. Often I have used a similar methods when shooting. I picture the striker going “click” as I pull the trigger and the front sight staying perfectly still while the bullets fly through my intended point of aim. Mental games like this can help, as well as slowing the f**k down. I realized that shooting my red dot optic equipped pistol at distance was a double edged sword. Advantages include seeing more of the target, and simple sight pictures (dot on target, press trigger). However, a disadvantage is seeing that red dot bounce and wobble around constantly. At times, I feel it would be less of a head game to shoot irons like this. We ended up shooting a 500 point aggregate course of fire on the B-8 pistol targets. The first time around I managed a 473. Not terrible, but not exactly were I wanted to be. Determined on beating that score, I started playing the outcome game with myself…my next score was 448. This really drove home Pat’s performance based shooting mantra.
After that, everyone was feeling the mental drain from heavy accuracy work. We talked a bit more about it then decided to change up the pace and start shooting some faster paced drills again. We set up an array of modified El Prez drills. This time the goal would be to outperform your previous time while starting and moving a variety of different ways off the sound of the buzzer. Any hits outside the A zone would be an automatic “NO-GO,” Pat stressed that it was important to be a “range cock” and not give people times when they failed, only reward them when they performed correctly. I think this is important as it doesn’t let the shooter think, “Well it was a no-go, but damn that time was sweet.” A 14 second “GO” time, is better than a 7 second “NO-GO” time.
We also shot the scrambler drill which involved a lot of thinking and forward thought in order to shoot the best way possible. This drill was used to perform a championship round for one of Pat’s coveted “CERTIFICATE OF VICTORY” awards that he presents while channeling the spirit of a WWE wrestler. It’s fun and entertaining to see these handed out, and I hope to get one some day, but if I did that I would be focusing too much on outcome right? The host, Shawn L., beat me by a solid second with a low 8 second time taking his second award home that weekend. Determined to post a better time, I ran the drill a couple of rounds and ended up with a 7.59. At that point though, the drill became a trick as I had run it so many times that it really shouldn’t be counted.
We ran a few more drills, my favorite being the pistol Set it Off drill. This one was a blast as once again, I like to boogie, and it involved quick footwork. Pat threw down the gauntlet and posted a quick 8.17 second total time. In the spirit of friendly competition I pushed my performance to the edge and managed a 6.71 second total time thanks to quick feet and taking lessons learned from watching him shoot the course of fire. However in search of this quick time I forgot to correctly look at the targets while running between each barricade, leaving me blind to changes that could have happened down range. This is a no-go in my opinion as I threw sound tactics out the window for a quicker time. Still fun though. After the students had shot the drills to their hearts content Pat brought us together for closing comments and we started to clean up the range. After that, students received free gear from Raven Concealment Systems (whom I work for), in addition to that select shooters who won certain drills were also able to pick from the BCM booty box. Kill cliff also gave out many cans of their tasty drink, which I happen to like quite well. It’s always nice to see companies supporting and enhancing students at the types of events.
TL;DR
Pat is an outstanding instructor. I would highly recommend his courses. I can say this having been to many well known schools, giving me perspective into the training market. His teaching method effectively presents the performance focused curriculum. Pat’s presentation is honed and precise using specific verbiage and tone to clearly inform the student. His intense personality reinforces the seriousness of the course work, while also allowing fun moments that enhance the course experience. Pat is an extremely capable shooter, and he is a physical performance beast. He serves as a good role model for the aspiring shooter. Thanks to Pat for teaching this course, and to Alias Training for presenting it. Big thanks to Shawn L. for hosting it at the Pitcairn-Monroeville Sportsmens’ Club.
As Mac would say….“READY READY BREAK”
CLICK ON BELOW IMAGE FOR VIDEO
Gear Related: Some observations on equipment issues that I had during the two-day class. First of all, I should buy a quality hard-shell jacket. The first day was very rainy, so I found myself soaked through in a soft-shell thus leaving me cold and shaky even though there was no wind and it wasn’t that cold. If there had been wind or lower temperatures, I would have quickly been rendered ineffective for learning and performance.
One more point on gear. I’ve been using a red dot optic equipped pistol for a little over a year now and this was the first time I experienced some major issues due to the environment. In the rain, the screen would obviously get water droplets on it, making the sight picture blurry and the dot hard to find on occasion, this problem was compounded when shooting support hand only (due the the trouble finding the dot consistently in this position regardless of weather). Making my presentation more consistent will help me find the dot better, but water on the screen can’t be helped sometimes, and blowing on it makes it worse because the emitter window will fog up, and then you’re really screwed. I suggest a quick light wipe with a soft garment. Conversely, on Sunday when it was nice out I found that in certain rare instances, the sun would hit the lense and emitter window at a particular angle and create a “blooming” or “screen mist” or crimson across the entire window, effectively concealing the dot making it very difficult to find under pressure. This was far worse than the rain for me, and I hope it doesn’t happen when I need the damn thing. Some food for thought. I will post a picture below showing the comparison of the effects best I can. Other than that, the Trijicon RMR01 mounted by ATEi does its job of making fast accurate fire easier for me in a lot of cases, it has held zero for me after about 3,000 rounds. It should be noted that I have the vintage of RMR that is NOT prone to the adjustment turrets moving.
Observation: Pat was shooting a steel framed gun most of class.
Hypothesis: He would bend or crush polymer framed guns due to grip strength.
The class really deserves a decent review with some detail.
Somebody merge these!
https://www.m4carbine.net/showthread.php?p=1762554#post1762554
Ive taken A LOT of courses and I have to say Mac is now on the top of my list of guys to train with after this experience.
It was super cool to do this much shooting, learn so much, from legit dude who makes the class both demanding and fun while not taking himself too ****ing seriously and at the same time hammer home the importance of what we are doing and the real world implications of carrying a firearm.
Mac covered all the bases in regards to fundamental shooting skill, and pushed us both with small and distant targets as well as raw speed, movement, use of cover, manipulations, and how all that ties into use within the context of both the CCW holder and the armed professional. I was impressed all the way from shooting bullseyes, shooting and MOVING like you got somewhere to go, to Mac’s discussions on unarmed response and real life application.
Driving each student to self asses and hold to a personal standard and his take on performance training was something I will carry with me into all aspects of my life.
Useful, fun, demanding, relevant, and well delivered. He’ll be seeing me as a student again.
Some video from Kyle at Raven (who played Santa and gave out VG2’s to the whole class and is one hell of a shooter)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4qP3NRuDPI