I am looking at two courses coming up in the next several weeks and would really appreciate any feedback I can get as I try to decide whether either or both are worth taking. If it comes down to it, I could probably take both classes, but only if it seems really worthwhile. I am trying to use my training time and dollars as wisely as I can.
The first course is at Defense Associates in Connecticut, very close to where I am located. They are affiliated with, and their training programs are based on, Chuck Taylor’s American Small Arms Academy program. (They also offer a class taught by Massad Ayoob in the Fall). I am looking at taking their three-day defensive handgun course in early May, which costs $495. I posted asking about this school towards the end of last year and got no responses, but I am throwing this out there again to see if anybody has any thoughts about the school in particular or about a training program derived from Chuck Taylor’s program.
The second course is Practical Fundamentals offered by Bruce Gray/Grayguns. They will be in Deerfield Massachusetts for three days in May (see thread here) and this course is offered on the first day. Cost is $200 per day. I have read some very good things about the training offered by Bruce Gray.
As I said, any feedback would be greatly appreciated.
Bruce Gray himself hangs out on SigForum and a few of the guys there have trained with his crew. They have good things to say about him but I have no personal knowledge to share. Might want to check around there.
Based on the kind of info below from the Chuck Taylor course, I would go with Bruce Grey. Although Chuck seems to have invented a lot of stuff.
“Having said all that, we still believe, although out of favor with both competition shooters and the “new school” of instructors, that the Weaver stance is the best choice for most people when going into harm’s way. It simply works best over the wide variety of situations one can encounter. The Weaver’s bladed/angled foot position and resulting rearward location of the weapon and holster makes it easier to defend the weapon from a disarming attempt. This position is more natural to anyone who has taken virtually any form of martial arts or defensive tactics training and is a more natural position when “searching”. The Weaver also allows most people better recoil control with less “lean-in” and to perform malfunction clearances both quicker and more positively.”
“Ready Positions – Chuck Taylor invented the ready position. It was intended to be a position at which certain tasks were performed or from which others were started. Those advocating additional ready positions seem not to have a full understanding of the subject. To begin with, you can really only program the subconscious mind with one ready position. Once you add a second or third position it becomes a crapshoot as to what ready you will assume, the subconscious is very good at quick reaction but lousy at decision-making. As to the “Retention” ready advocated by numerous instructors, it is not only harder to defend the weapon from attack in this position (assuming you don’t want to simply shoot the attacker which you can do just as easily from the original ready) but if you perform the normal after action scan to look for addition opponents, you have just proceeded to point a loaded weapon at everyone in the area. Not a good thing to do for a number of reasons.”
Tactical Reloading – Although combatants, after using them in a gunfight, have been “bringing back to full capacity” multi-shot weapons since their invention, Chuck Taylor developed the modern Tactical Reload.
Disclaimer: I have not attended either of these courses.