Hackathorn/Vickers Centennial 1911 Class August 6-8
Background. I have been running a Wilson Combat CQB since 2002. My lovely wife bought it for me as a gift right after we got married (good woman). It has seen more shooting schools than I can count and has always performed well. At the time, I really did not know much about 1911’s in regards to who made a good one and who didn’t. Well after this class, I do now! Wilson Combat is at the top of the list for a FIGHTING 1911 and was HEAVILY endorsed by LAV and Ken during the class (which says a lot as these guys always call a spade a spade).
Day 1: We got together for some intros, day’s events, safety brief (real world) and various stages we would be shooting. The good folks at Wilson Combat handed out a VERY nice bag with all kinds of cool stuff in it. Each student received a T-shirt, one of all their various cleaning, polishing and lubricating products, take down tool, 8rd mag and other odds and ends. There had to be well over $100 dollars’ worth of kit in the bag (not counting the case itself)!
For those of you that are history buffs, man there is a lot of good info here. LAV and Ken are walking encyclopedias when it comes to weapons & Military history. They set up some neat stages that were taken from actual real world events using weapons from that period! Simply fantastic and gave us, the students, an “8X10” glossy of what it was like to fight in that particular situation.
We covered all the fundamentals along with timed drills thrown in. Team drills were also used. This is always a good time and adds stress to the drill. Ken and LAV also talked about some 1911 history and included Mr. Wilson in a lot of the conversations (including the history of the “Bill Drill”).
Day 2: We broke up into two groups. Group one went with LAV for some accuracy training, moving and shooting, etc. The other group went with Ken in the shoot house for some room clearing training and to a do another “period” stage involving a historical event.
My group started off with THE LAV. Larry quickly explained to us that “Santa Clause” was down at the other range and it was time for some disciplined shooting. While I knew what was coming, a good majority of the other students had never seen Mr. Vickers before. He was in rare form and everyone learned what it means to shoot a 1911 accurately. While many of the students have trained with other instructors, many were shocked at what they couldn’t get away with in this level of training. The simple fact is that LAV is an accuracy Nazi and most people do not live up to his standards of excellence (even though they believe that they are well trained).
We broke for lunch around noon and had a great catered meal. Very well done and no one left hungry.
Switching gears, my group was split into two groups and we headed down to “Santa Clauses” (Mr. Hackathorn) shoot house and to another range for some historical re-enactment drills.
I have to think that some students were relieved to do this as LAV was pushing them farther than they had ever been before. Well they were in for a shock as Santa was about to make them clear rooms and shooting crappy groups wasn’t going to fly there either.
My group hooked up with Mr. Joe R. for the historical shoot. In this event, you had to knock down poppers before the bad guy could get the FA Uzi up and running. For practice, we each took turns seeing how fast we could knock down the poppers. Since my group included Stony (VSM Instructor) and several of the WC guys, you had to bring your “A” game in order to compete with them.
In order to beat the bad guy with the Uzi, you basically had to shoot 5 poppers in about 3.10 seconds (or better) from a draw. You also had to wait for the bad guy to go for the Uzi before you could draw your 1911. This made you shift your attention from the targets to the movement of the bad guy. Somewhat difficult to say the least and many found out that the bad guy often won.
Next, our group moved onto the shoot house. Put on our body armor and received instruction from Ken about how to properly clear rooms and enter doors. A safety lecture was also stressed. Many had never done this type of thing before and learned just how hard it really is. Luckily my group had some really switched on shooters and our group was the best of the bunch at it.
We finished up the day around 5, got cleaned up and started the “show and tell” section of the class. Ken, LAV, Mr. Wilson and Mr. John Miller (US Army Marksmanship unit armorer) brought in some RARE 1911’s that many have never seen before. Very cool to say the least. We also got a HUGE dose of the 1911 history by some of the most knowledgeable 1911 shooters, gunsmiths and collectors in the WORLD!
During this lecture, there was a lot of talk of Col. Cooper and his involvement with the 1911 platform. Mr. Hackathorn (a GunSite instructor and personal friend of Col. Cooper) shared intimate details about the Colonel’s opinions/thoughts that have never really come out before. Mr. Hackathorn also made a very important statement that Mr. Vickers is the next generation Col. Cooper. He (LAV) is taking the 1911, training and general weapon knowledge to next level and expanding on the teaching and ideas the Colonel had established. This is very high praise from one of the World’s finest shooters and instructors.
Day 3: This was the operator section of the course where we learned how to take EVERYTHING out of the 1911. Many (including myself) have never done a full detailed strip and it was an eye opener. This part alone was worth the price of admission and really gave me an appreciation for how WC builds their 1911’s. There are so many ways to screw the pooch when building one of these guns and WC does everything the RIGHT way.
LAV gave us a detailed descriptions of things to look for (if the part was made or fitted properly). Mr. Miller also discussed how to test extractor tension, chamber fit, etc, etc.
With the guns apart, we cleaned everything, oiled internal parts and then broke for a quick lunch. After lunch, we re-assembled everything back into the gun and function checked it. Taking things out was somewhat hard, putting things back in was a big learning curve.
I feel 10 million times more confident in regards to stripping this gun down, checking for fit issues, IDing bad parts and what to do PM’s on.
For those attending this class in Oct or next year in CA, here are some things to have on hand:
- Cleaning rags/towel
- Cleaning supplies and lube
- Punch kit (at least one or two small punches)
- Flat head screw driver (one that will fit your grip panels)
- Non-marring hammer (not a must have, but a good idea)
- Magnified classes (if your eyesight is poor)
- Safety glasses (as parts tend to fly out of this gun hitting walls 15 feet away or breaking ceiling lights).
A good time was had by all, everyone learned a lot (from shooting to history to maintenance) and a special thanks to the WC crew for coming and sponsoring this class! Great group of guys that really can shoot well (which isn’t common for a gun manufacturing company).
C4
