The title should catch your attention and pique your interest. I will explain the reference at the end.
I always paid special attention to the crime of ‘Robbery by Firearms’. First impressions are important – on my first night on the street with Houston PD, December 16th, 1968, a man died in my arms from a gunshot wound while I tried to get his final statement and make him comfortable. He was shot during a robbery where the suspects only got eleven dollars and change. The shooter was 14 years old. His grandmother turned him in when she learned of the robbery after questioning his sleeplessness and bad dreams.
Robbery suspects are hard to catch. The crime only takes a short time and the suspect usually has a well-planned escape. Officers typically learn of the robbery after the fact. If the officer knows his district, he can try to predict the suspect’s escape route, but even this does not often pay off. To catch a robbery in progress, the officer has to be in the right place at the right time and he has to be observant. Mostly, it is a matter of luck.
And so, I watched convenience stores and other convenient targets at closing times. One slow night I checked the convenience store at 10th and Heights just before closing. The clerk signaled for me to come inside. There were no vehicles in the parking lot and I did not see any one in the store except for the clerk. Upon entry, the clerk directed me to the rear of the store where he said there was a suspicious man. There was a man at the rear of the store. Upon seeing me, he made his way to the exit and went out into the parking lot. I said something reassuring to the clerk and exited the store to follow-up. I was not cautious.
As I stepped outside, no more than fifteen feet in front of me was a Browning Hi-power 9mm aimed straight at my head. Before I could react, he pulled the trigger – nothing happened. This man looked at the pistol briefly and ran to the rear of the building and down a dark alley. I gave chase but stopped before entering the alley since I was highlighted from the rear. My Kel-Lite was still in the police car. I went to my unit, called for assistance, grabbed my Kel-Lite and went back to the alley. Johnny S—- was gone but his driver’s license was still at the register. In his haste, he left his ID behind.
I filed my report and went back to work not fully appreciating the fact that I could go home at the end of my shift. Johnny was arrested two weeks later after an exchange of gunfire with two HPD officers. Johnny S—- was a heroin addict and would rather kill than miss his next injection.
A flintlock rifle has a small exposed pan where gunpowder is placed. The flint falls forward when the trigger is pulled making a spark that hopefully ignites the pan of gunpowder. The flash continues though a small hole in the barrel and ignites the main charge firing the rifle. If the pan flashes but the rifle does not discharge, it is called “a flash in the pan”. Sometimes the gunpowder would become damp and would not ignite. Soldiers with flintlocks were told to not let an “angel piss on their musket”.
I never learned why that pistol did not fire – all I know is that he pulled the trigger and nothing happened. My guardian angel pissed on his musket. It was good to have that angel at my side again.
A student who was a Texas police officer in the 1970’s has shared several stories from his law enforcement career with us so that others could learn from his experiences in multiple officer-involved shootings. This is the first in a series.
A Shooting
It has been difficult to come to the point of writing this down as evidenced by the passage of thirty years. This has been easy to discuss in passing as if it was the recollection of a movie scene, but it is very difficult to discuss in detail because it is real, and I was there, and I was involved. The salient details are as fresh in my mind today as they were when this shooting incident happened. This is an unfortunate fact of life – you can never forget something like this. I’m telling the story in the hope that some insight or observation may help another officer or anyone who has been involved in the taking of a life. It is important that the other officers involved in this incident remain anonymous. The reason will become evident as I tell the story.
It was a slow Sunday afternoon in an old neighborhood. The radio was quiet, and I had not had a call for hours. I was just thinking about finding some fast food. My location was just North of 11th street and East of Tulane a few blocks. This was a good neighborhood for cruising the side streets looking for bad guys trying to avoid the main roads. Then the radio broke squelch: “All officers – discharging firearms in progress at 1000 T—- – any unit clear and close ….” I was close enough to the scene that I should have been able to hear the gunfire, but air-conditioning in Texas is sometimes more important that public safety. When I started in law enforcement, we did not have air-conditioning in the patrol cars. Those were better but less comfortable times. Just seconds after the call, I turned onto 11th street heading west toward Tulane. I was surprised to see two police cars just in front of me. The sound of three hemi-head 383 engines winding up is something that air conditioning cannot cover. As the lead car slowed for his left turn onto T—-, we were all fairly close together. As I reached the corner and slid to a stop, I could see the first officer start to exit his car.
The scene was close to the Southeast corner. The first officer had pulled partially into the driveway of the corner house. The second officer pulled up behind the first police car and his front end was aimed at the driveway. He was back about 10 feet from the rear of the first car and his car was facing Southeast blocking the northbound lane of T—-. There was a small portable building at the corner that partially blocked my view of the driveway. What I am about to describe happened very, very fast.
Again, as I slid to a stop on the wrong side of 11th just past the West side of the portable building, I saw the first officer open his car door. I could also see someone in the driveway, but my eyes were focused on the officer and his demeanor. I was starting to exit my police car and was reaching for the double-barrel coach gun I kept along side the seat. For some reason I decided there was not enough time to grab the shotgun, so I started running toward the driveway. My focus changed when I saw an orange flash and heard a loud report. The officer lunged as if he was kicked in the gut, but what appeared to be obvious, wasn’t the case. He dropped to his right knee behind his open police car door.
I had only covered a short distance when that first officer opened fire. His revolver was aimed straight up in the air. He had a two-handed grip on his revolver and his head was looking straight down into the dirt. All six rounds went straight up into the sky, and the officer continued to pull the trigger on spent casings. By this time, the man in the driveway was pumping lead into the police car, and I could see glass flying all around the officer.
I had not paid much attention to the second officer until I heard the report of his handgun. By this time, I had taken several more running steps to close the distance. The second officer had wisely slid across the front seat of his car and exited his vehicle on the passenger side. He was also firing a revolver, and he was using a two-handed grip from a standing position, and he was using the roof of his police car to steady his aim. Somehow, in this short time of processing a lot of tactical information, I noted the contrast in the actions of these two officers. By the time I reached a point even with the South side of the portable building, the second officer was firing his last of six rounds. The man in the driveway was still standing there with his rifle aimed toward the first officer. He was opening the lever of the gun and I saw a brass shell casing come out. As he closed the lever, I opened fire.
Unlike the other two officers, I had an automatic pistol. It was a Colt 1911, Army issue. After two or three of my rounds, the man started toward the ground. I was shooting from his right side from a distance of just over 50 feet. He was right handed and was firing the lever action rifle from his hip. He released his right hand from the grip and the rifle butt went to the ground. I was not sure if he was taking cover or what, but there was no way I was going to stop firing until he was out of action. I continued to move forward and fire until my slide locked back. The first officer’s revolver was still clicking on spent cartridges. I could hear the gun clicking because of the sudden contrasting silence. The four of us had just fired twenty-five rounds in just a few seconds.
I ejected the empty magazine to the ground and somehow found a fresh magazine in my left hand. It went into the gun and the slide went forward. I had closed the distance to this idiot who was now lying on his right side in the driveway. I kicked his rifle away and rolled the man onto his back. Blood was starting to come out of a number of holes in his chest and arms. He was alive and judging from the expression on his face, he was in great pain. He did not say anything – he just slipped away and died.
The second officer and I started to collect our wits and figure out what to do next. There wasn’t anything for us to do except notify the dispatcher of our need for an ambulance and supervisors. The rest is a blur. There were supervisors, detectives, paramedics, and medical examiners all over the scene. After about a half hour, we were asked to report to (Homicide Division) for statements. I headed for ‘Central’ but stopped for that fast food on the way.
On the way to the station, I tried to take stock of what had just happened. I could still smell the gun smoke and dust in my clothes. My ears were still ringing. I was in a quandary over the actions of the first officer. My assumption was that the second officer had hit the suspect at least once, but since he was shooting a .357 magnum, it would have been very possible for the suspect to have taken those rounds and remained standing especially if he was high on drugs. I assumed that I had hit the suspect at least once also. We would not know the details until after the autopsy.
We made our sworn statements, and I went back to work. The rest of the day was uneventful. The next day when I showed up for work at roll call, the other officers looked at me differently. Nothing I can describe – just ‘differently’. My supervisor asked me to go up to Homicide and get an update. One of the detectives working the case saw me come in and approached. He said, “You were involved in that suicide yesterday, right?” I was surprised at the question, and before I could respond, he said, “anytime those bastards shoot at a cop it should be ruled a suicide”. And then he said, “Yours were all that hit him.” I said, “what?” And he replied, “45’s were all that hit him – you hit him five times”. The detective showed me the report and pulled out an autopsy diagram. One of my five out of eight rounds that hit this guy, (the one causing his death), went through the subject’s right arm, through his chest and lodged in his left arm – it made five holes.
So now I was a bit of a hero with the detectives, but that turned out to be more of a problem than a compliment. The first two officers worked in Radio Patrol and I worked in Accident Investigation. I had transferred from Patrol to Accident several years earlier. There had always been competition and rivalry between the departments, and now I had ‘shown-up’ two Patrol officers. The first officer had totally ‘lost it’ and the second officer had missed six times from a perfect shooting position only 25 feet from the suspect. Neither officer had the presence of mind to reload his gun. Their guns were still empty when they were making their statements in the Homicide office.
And now some supplemental information and some reflections… From this point forward, many other officers related to me differently. I had seen this before. When I was a rookie, officers who had handled a gunfight would be pointed out or discussed. They were members of an elite club. Now I was a new member, and I would see training officers point me out to their rookies. I guess this dubious unspoken membership was based on an experience that none of us really wanted to face. Maybe my colleagues did not know how it would affect me, or perhaps they felt uncomfortable relating to a ‘club member’ so they just avoided contact. Other personality types seemed to revere and envy membership. When the subject came up from time to time, I just made light of it and changed the subject.
I never spoke with either of the two Patrol officers again; they avoided contact for different reasons. The second officer had started bragging about killing the suspect even before the autopsy. He downplayed my role saying he had downed the suspect before I fired. He continued to spread that story and painted himself a hero. I guess he relied on the report being confidential. This behavior is common and two famous incidents come to mind: the University of Texas tower shootings, and the killing of Yamamoto. I have personally seen similar behavior several times in law enforcement.
With regard to the actions of the first officer, I told only my supervisors and the detectives what had happened. It did not go into my statement, and by name, it has never gone any further. I wonder how he feels, and I wonder if he has ever come to terms with his panic under fire. He did stay in law enforcement for at least several years.
For me there was a disturbing revelation. That spent round that I saw ejected from the rifle was his last one – the rifle was empty when I opened fire. There was no way for me to know that at the time, but I wish there had been one more bullet in that gun. The suspect was drunk. He had just had an argument with his brother-in-law and had shot up the house from the driveway. He was reloading his 30-30 Winchester at the trunk of his car when we arrived. I truly hope that his blood alcohol level served the purpose of relieving some pain in his final minutes.
I can’t remember the suspects name. I have seen it several times, but as soon as I look away from the report, it is gone again. The same is true of another man in another case. That one got me ‘Officer of the Year’ and a Rolex watch. I was alone that time; why should I get an award for defending myself and not get an award for defending a fellow officer? The answer is circumstances, rivalry, pride, and embarrassment.
Having been through this only makes the ‘law enforcement dreams’ worse. The standard dream of facing a life and death situation with an empty or malfunctioning gun only becomes more real. Looking back, I would not change any of my actions except I probably would not have stopped for that hamburger on the way to Central to make my statement.
My advice to officers is to always take care of business first. The decision to shoot in this incident was a ‘no brainer’, but not all of us were prepared for what happened. In my case, preparedness was an obsession. I spent my quiet time in law enforcement playing out scenarios, (constructive day dreaming I guess you could call it). Luck can be defined as preparedness meeting opportunity. I was prepared and the opportunity was forced on us by an enraged drunk with a gun. The second officer was prepared, reacted well, but unfortunately did not shoot well. The first officer was not prepared, but then again, he was looking down the barrel of a Winchester 30-30 and the bullets were hitting all around him. If that situation had been mine, how would I have fared?
I am happy to say that time does tend to heal but not completely: never completely.
Summertime is shooting time. Come join us in July for morning classes and some Wednesday night USPSA matches! Come see us in August for some indoor classes (medical & bomb threat) and a few morning live fire courses. Paul Martin’s 10th annual preparedness event has already sold out and we are looking at dates to add another session of that event.
Don’t see a class that interests you? Let us know. We are still adding dates for August, September and October.
PRIVATE LESSONS
I am available for private weekday training. Doug Greig is also available for private weekday and some weekend sessions. Contact us for details.
Get certified to run a firing line and assist with organized shooting events. The NRA Range Safety Officer course is useful if you find yourself being the “range boss” when you go shoot with friends at a commercial range or on private land. It teaches you how to make sure the range is safe for shooting, how to deal with safety issues, accidents and emergencies. It also familiarizes you with a wide variety of action types for rifles and shotguns – useful if you have friends that want your help learning how to operate manually operated guns (pump, lever, bolt action, etc.). The class is mostly indoors with a short “how to inspect an outdoor range for safety” exercise. It’s coming up Sunday, July 2.
Defensive Pistol Skills 1 – July 8
Defensive Pistol Skills 1 teaches you how to draw from concealment and shoot with the speed and accuracy necessary to save your life in a real incident. The License to Carry shooting test is too slow, using a target that is unrealistically big. The DPS-1 class teaches the skills every person that carries outside the home should know.
School and Church Safety – July 10, 11, 17 & 18
Summertime is teacher training time. Monday July 10 we will offer part 1 of the range training from the DPS-certified School Safety (armed teacher) course. The class is open to all. It will be 200 rounds of live fire drills. Tuesday July 11 (afternoon) we will present the ALERRT Civilian Response to Active Shooter Event lecture, which is suitable for all audiences (armed and unarmed). The following we will offer parts 2 and 3 of the range training. Those completing all 4 blocks will earn a DPS School Safety class completion certificate.
Handgun Beyond Basics – July 16
A special session of the Handgun Beyond Basics class will include the drills from the Sure Fire Master Coach course we hosted back in May. If you’ve taken BTB before, you can still attend this session at refresher price (use code KRFRESH for your discount). This is an excellent tuneup course for the intermediate level shooter.
SUMMER USPSA MATCHES
We will run some USPSA matches this summer. Details about the matches are here. Any one that has taken DPS-1, Beyond Basics or higher level classes is welcome to attend. These small matches run faster than the big weekend events, with 150 rounds of shooting fun. Each match includes a shoothouse stage, steel target stage, one historical stage (shot using USPSA rules) and other shooting activities not always included in group classes.
KR Training student Randy Wallen shot in the Gunsite Glock Classic match held at Gunsite in May. He had a great match, winning 3rd overall, High Senior, and 1st in non-Master Rimfire.
Last year I released an expanded, remastered version of my early 1990’s electronic jazz album, electrophonic. Since then I have been making videos for all the songs and posting them on youtube, because I’m reaching more people with the music there than on the streaming music services. One of the bonus tracks on the expanded release was something I wrote and recorded as background music for an independent film. The track didn’t get used in the final production, so the rights reverted back to me. It’s a two piano (four hands) boogie woogie piano track called Dog Park Blues, with video featuring Scudder and Rye. It’s only 46 seconds long, and it has puppies, so click on it and give it a view!
John Shaw dominated the competitive shooting scene during the 1980’s. While being the captain and nine-year member of the World Champion U.S. I.P.S.C. Team, he won, or was the runner-up, in every major shooting competition in the world including:
He is a self-taught shooter who recognized that the techniques and lessons he learned could be used to train our war fighters. Accordingly, he founded Mid-South Institute for Self Defense Shooting (MISS), in 1981 just south of Memphis, TN where he developed the most comprehensive firearms training program in the country. For over 41 years, Mid-South has been continually regarded as one of the premier shooting schools in the world by the United States Special Operations Community. To this day, their shooting principles and tactics have become the operational doctrines for numerous Special Operation Forces as well as Federal and State Level Law Enforcement. Mid-South Institute for Self Defense Shooting (MISS), is still operating (under different ownership) and is only open to military and law enforcement personnel.
In 1997, John retired and moved his family to Southern Idaho. Shaw’s son Houston was also a top competition shooter. Houston has his own training company, Shaw Shooting, that continues the family tradition of providing quality firearms training in the Idaho area.
The Book
In 1982 Shaw and Michael Bane published the book “You Can’t Miss” (with introduction by Massad Ayoob). The book captured the best knowledge of what the top shooters in IPSC were doing. The Isoceles stance, 1911’s with barrel weights and compensators, steel lined holsters, and shooting B8 targets were all core ideas from which current shooting training and technique evolved.
Historical Note: Shaw and Ken Hackathorn were both early pioneers in shooting B8 targets at combat, not bullseye, speeds. Modern era trainers coming from the special operations community have certainly mainstreamed and popularized this practice in the past decade, but they were not the first to do so.
The content and techniques shown in the book should look very familiar to graduates of any modern pistol course, with the only significant change being the shift from the bent support side elbow to a more balanced extension of both arms. In the 1980’s, it was common for matches to require some shooting from the prone position at 25 and 50 yards. The only remnant of this exists in the Bianchi Cup (NRA Action Pistol) matches. Instinct and hip shooting are topics that come and go, with the most popular current variant being the techniques taught in the Shivworks ECQC program. Classic cowboy flat-and-level one handed hip shooting, as shown in the book, has basically disappeared from all modern training programs in favor of close quarter shooting techniques that integrate better with defensive tactics and unarmed skills.
Shaw’s grip and stance, circa 1982, with support side elbow partially bent. Classic thumb over thumb grip is used. Modern “thumbs forward” grip didn’t become dominant until the late 1980’s when Rob Leatham and Brian Enos popularized it.
In 1982, revolvers were still in common use by law enforcement, and used for Bianchi Cup matches.
The classic Steel Challenge start position, wrists above shoulders. The popularity of the “surrender” start for competition, particularly in the 1980’s, became a topic that tacticians more concerned with defensive shooting criticized. I remember going to a police dept “fun shoot” in the early 1990’s, and they made a big deal about not using the surrender position to start any course of fire. These days outside of Steel Challenge stages, where it’s still the required start position, the surrender start is rarely used.
Classic early 1980’s belts, holsters and mag pouches from Gordon Davis.
GEAR
My 1911 in .45 ACP with Bomar rear sight. This gun is basically a 1980’s competition setup, except for the more modern synthetic grips and the fiber optic front sight.
1980’s Gordon Davis outside the waistband, steel lined leather gamer speed holster.
Most of the gear section includes all the standard advice regarding modifications of the 1911 pistol in .45 ACP, which was the platform everyone in the practical shooting world used at that time. Shaw had a close association with the Clark family (Jim Clark Sr, bullseye shooter and gun smith, and his son IPSC & 3 gun shooter Jimmy Clark). Clark’s development of the pin gun (adding a muzzle weight to the pistol and extending the sight radius by moving the front sight to the muzzle weight, evolved into the compensated pistol. Early comp guns had a single port, and as competitors shifted to the higher capacity and higher pressure .38 super round, comps began to be longer, with multiple ports.
In the 1980’s and early 1990’s, compensators were considered “gamer gear” and unsuitable for carry — a situation that didn’t change until the Roland Special and factory ported guns were suddenly acceptable to “tacticians”, and social media influencers in the past decade. Compensators do reduce muzzle rise, and their value is most noticeable on the current generation of very small, lightweight carry guns like the SIG 365.
DRILLS
In the book, Shaw lists his favorite pistol training drills:
NRA B8 at 7 yards, open carry, one shot draw 2.0 sec par, then 1.5 sec par X ring hits, 2.0 sec
In the book, Shaw also shares the training drills recommended by Mike Dalton and Mickey Fowler, who ran International Shootists, Inc, out of Southern California. Dalton and Fowler were two other top shooters from the late 1970’s/early 1980’s formative years of IPSC, Bianchi Cup, and Steel Challenge.
Dalton/Fowler International Shootists, Inc Mission Hills, CA
25 m, 6 shots prone bullseye, no time limit 7 m, 6 one shot draws, 1.5 sec (2 hands up, 2 hands down, 2 hands clasped)
15 m 2 on 3 targets, RL, 2 shots WHO, 14 seconds 25 m 10 single draws, freestyle, 2.5 sec
Michael Bane Interview
I interviewed co-author Michael Bane to get more information and history about the book and John Shaw. From my notes from that conversation, Michael’s comments (paraphrased):
“John Shaw and I grew up together in Memphis and played together as kids. We reconnected in the early days of IPSC, and that’s how I ended up helping him with his book. In the early 1980’s John was still developing the curriculum for his pistol training, and I was one of his first students, training with him when I went home to visit family in Memphis. He had a Mississippi Highway Patrol trainer (I can’t remember his name) that assisted him. John was a Weaver shooter but wasn’t a purist. His approach was to experiment with grip and stance and do what the targets and timer showed gave the best results. If a technique felt bad then you probably weren’t doing it right or the technique wasn’t working for you.John spent a lot of time with Jim Clark Sr. and Jimmy Clark at their family range in Louisiana. I believe that the Clark’s had a big influence on John’s shooting and his curriculum.“
“After winning all the major matches, John shifted his focus on teaching. He had gotten big contracts with the Navy SEALs, and he used that money, along with rent income from older houses in Memphis he had fixed up, to build the Mid-South Institute for Self-Defense Shooting facility. He built a bunkhouse and basically constructed what the SEALs needed for their sessions.”
“The book was the first one ever published specific to practical shooting competition (pistol, rifle and shotgun). His second book, Shoot To Win, which he wrote with a different co-author in 1985, didn’t sell as well as the first one.”
Shaw also published two videos on shooting technique, one for shotgun and one for pistol. I am in the process of cleaning up digitized copies of those videos and will share them, along with a review of his second book Shoot To Win, in a later post.
I used a B-21 style target, which was the largest man sized target I had. In the book, Fairbairn uses an 8 foot by 8 foot canvas with a man drawn on it. The B-21 is 35″ wide. Again, according to the book, getting 50% of the shots on the man target is a passing score.
Dry Practice
The process begins with dry practice, drawing and racking the slide each time. Recruits were taught to carry on an empty chamber. They were taught a two handed grip (fig 15) that looks similar to the thumbs-forward grip popular today. I chose not to use the “grip the wrist” technique shown in fig 15A.
Recruits were then taught a “ready” position (note that in Fairbairn’s ready position, the finger is on the trigger), and a firing position.
Loading and Unloading
Recruits then spent an hour doing these tasks:
Charging and uncharging magazines (Fairbairn used this term, not “loading” for the task of putting rounds into a magazine or removing them)
Inserting the magazine
Loading the pistol (chambering a round)
Removing the magazine
Unloading the pistol
Disassembling the pistol for cleaning
Live Fire Drills
Initial practice was done at 2 yards on a man sized target. Four single shots, then 2 shots as a pair. (Use the term “pair” was carried forward by Jeff Cooper and the Gunsite curriculum.)
During the second practice, the recruit was given a magazine loaded with 5 live and 1 dummy round, with the location of the dummy round unknown to the student. For my range demo, I had my videographer load the magazine. Three two-shot pairs were fired, which would include one malfunction clearance.
Third practice was the double the distance to 4 yards and repeat the 5 live/1 dummy exercise.
For all these drills, the gun was brought up to the eye target line, but the sights were not used. The eyes were focused on the target.
The final recruit live fire exercise was shot from the 3/4 hip position.
The illustration shows the gun pointing down. My approximation of it was to bring the gun high enough that I could see it in the bottom part of my peripheral vision, which was higher than the “position 3” of the typical draw, where the hands join. That position is closer to Fairbairn’s “half hip” position which is truly a point shooting position with no visual information.
From 3 and 4 yards, “bursts” of 2-3 shots were fired.
For my range demo, I used a SIG 365 .380, which was the gun in my collection most similar to the Colt 1908 .380 the Shanghai Police were issued.
For the dummy round drills, I ended up using my Glock 48, because I had 9mm dummy rounds with me and no .380 dummy rounds handy.
The complete recruit training program was 21 rounds. I actually fired 26, because I shot “burst” of 2 and 3 at 3 and 4 yards, doing more than the required minimum. I ended up with all 26 in the X ring of the B21, which more than passes Fairbairn’s recruit criteria.
What Was the Point?
From Claude’s abridged edition (which I hope he will make available soon):
The hope is that the methods forged by all these early pioneers of self-defense pistol shooting will be of value to the modern day pistol shooter who owns a “one-hand gun” for protection of self and loved ones.
I made a video of the drills so people could see what Fairbairn and Sykes were teaching. As the late trainer Paul Gomez once said: “Point Shooting works if you move close enough and make the target big enough”, which pretty much defines their 2-4 yard, ginormous target training approach. The drills in their program, however, aren’t that different from the 3 yard strings of the Texas License to Carry shooting test, using the giant B-27 target and strings of 1 and 2 shots. The techniques that Fairbairn and Sykes were teaching in the 1940’s were actually better than what the FBI was teaching in the 1940’s, which was pure hip shooting. The 3/4 hip and target focused full extension techniques of the 1940’s did eventually lead to Jack Weaver bringing his head down so he could see the sights from that 3/4 hip position using a two handed grip, which led to all the improvements in technique that followed.
Claude has also written about, and shot, the Fairbairn drills.
On May 16 & 17, 2023 I hosted Andy Stanford of SureFire, who taught two sessions of his new Master Coach Development course. Day 1 was for LEO trainers, Day 2 was for private sector trainers. We had 12 students attend each day, with trainers from Austin, San Antonio, Houston and other nearby communities present.
This course was the next step forward from the Surgical Speed Shooting Summit Andy ran at Tactical Response in 2022. You can read about those events in these two blog posts.
Andy’s goal in working with other trainers was to update the material to make sure he was presenting the best possible material, in the coach development courses he planned to offer.
He did a tour through Oklahoma and Texas, offering pilot sessions of the class, refining the presentation and the material. KR Training was the last stop on the tour, so we saw the class at its most refined.
Andy developed a new paper target specifically for use with the program, incorporating 1.25″ dots, 2.5″, 5″ and 10″ circles used in an information-rich, multi-use format. He said that there is a patent pending on the target, so for now only those that have taken the Master Coach course have copies of it.
His mission statement for the class was to enhance the teaching skills of those who teach the “barely trainable to the nearly self-motivated” – a phrase that describes a majority of law enforcement officers and shooters who may carry often but rarely seek out formal training and/or only shoot when the job requires them to. Several of the trainers in the private sector class were there because they were team leaders for church security teams, who are often staffed with well meaning but minimally trained volunteers.
The class focused on trigger control, incorporating Larry Mudgett’s trigger control exercises. I posted video of several of those drills to Instagram.
The class also included the classic live & empty drill (we use this in our classes too). Andy’s version includes a lot of additional steps, to maximize the training value of every repetition of this simple exercise.
There were several shooting tests in the course . The initial evaluation test required students to shoot 3 rounds into 3″ at 3 yards, 3 times, first with no time limit, then working from a ready position, and finally starting with pistol holstered in either a duty retention holster or concealed in a carry holster. This 27 round evaluation provides a simple assessment of student skills.
The final shooting test used two of Andy’s new targets at 3 and 7 yards, in a 3 string test that included drawing, movement, reloading, engaging the 1.25″, 2.5″, 5″, and 10″ circles with two hands, strong hand only and weak hand only.
Instructors on the KR Training team that attended the Master Coach Development class will be offering a short course on July 16, 2023 where our students will get to learn the curriculum we were taught in the development course. You can register for that course here.
Due to severe weather Mother’s Day weekend, we rescheduled the Small Gun and Stop the Bleed classes to this Sunday – and we have slots open! Summertime is shooting time. Come join us in June for pistol, shotgun and rifle training!
Don’t see a class that interests you? Let us know. We have a few dates left in July to add some courses. For the hotter summer months we will mostly be offering morning courses.
PRIVATE LESSONS
I am available for private weekday training. Doug Greig is also available for private weekday and some weekend sessions. Contact us for details.
Severe weather caused us to reschedule the Small Gun and Stop the Bleed classes for Sunday, May 21. Have a small gun you carry in a pocket, purse, fanny pack, Sneaky Pete or other method that isn’t a belt holster? Want to learn how to carry your gun using a PHLster Enigma or other deep carry method that doesn’t require a belt? This class is for you. We have a limited supply of loaner gear.
This will be the ONLY small gun class we run this year, so don’t miss it!
The gun is useless if it’s sitting in the car’s glove box, a nightstand drawer or a closet shelf because you’ve decided that it’s “too hard” to carry in a traditional belt holster with an untucked shirt. There are solutions but they do require training to use effectively. This PHLster video shows some of those techniques.
Tactical Pistol Class
Local law enforcement trainer and USPSA Master class shooter Eric Wise will be offering a full day Tactical Pistol course on June 3. It’s suitable for anyone at the Basic Pistol 2 or carry permit level. It will cover material similar to our Defensive Pistol Skills 1 and Handgun Beyond Basics class, and those that need to shoot the Texas LTC test to complete online permit training can do that during the course also. It’s a great value for $150. Highly recommended for graduates of our DPS-1, Beyond Basics and other classes that haven’t practiced those skills since their last class.
Defensive Shotgun 2
Every time we run a session of our Defensive Shotgun class, people ask if we are going to offer a level 2 shotgun course. Taught by Dave Reichek, graduate of the Rangemaster Shotgun Instructor course, our Shotgun 2 class is perfect to refresh what you learned in Defensive Shotgun 1 and take your shotgun skills to the next level. This will be the ONLY session of Shotgun 2 we offer this year. Now is the time to sign up for this new student-requested class!
Appendix IWB Skills / Top 10 Drills
John Daub will offer his popular Appendix Carry skills class June 17. 4 hours of instruction in how to carry safely and comfortably in the appendix position. Loaner equipment is available for those that don’t have AIWB holsters! There are AIWB solutions that don’t require a belt.
Top 10 drills is on the schedule for that afternoon, to give students more opportunity to practice all the skills other ranges don’t allow, like drawing from concealment and shooting faster than one shot per second. Benchmark your skills so you know what you can do and what you need to work on to get better! Shooting skills fade away if you don’t practice, and you can’t maintain high speed defensive pistol skills by slow fire untimed target shooting.
Defensive Pistol Skills 2
Also by request, another session of Defensive Pistol Skills 2, for spring graduates of our Defensive Pistol Skills 1 classes.
John Daub on the Primary and Secondary Podcast
John was a guest on a recent “Primary and Secondary” podcast. You can listen to the episode here
SUMMER USPSA MATCHES
We will run some USPSA matches this summer, with one early match May 24, and the remainder of the series starting mid June through end of July. Details about the matches are here. Any one that has taken DPS-1, Beyond Basics or higher level classes is welcome to attend. These small matches run faster than the big weekend events, with 150 rounds of shooting fun. Each match includes a shoothouse stage, steel target stage, one historical stage (shot using USPSA rules) and other shooting activities not always included in group classes.
Back in the early 1990’s, I played on a studio project with the Andrew Wimsatt Ensemble. That band included bassist Chris Maresh (who went on to much greater things including a Grammy nomination and gigs with Eric Johnson, Bonnie Raitt and Willie Nelson), jazz guitarist Clay Moore, drummer Tony Edwards (Austin Symphony, UT professor), guitarist Andrew Wimsatt and vocalist Jack Brandt.
The promo videos for those songs ended up in rotation on Austin’s ACTV cable channel for most of the 1990’s. Using modern AI video enhancing software, I was able to upscale and clean up the digitized VHS recordings, and updated the audio with the remastered version. Here’s the video for the song “Time is Forgiving”, featuring Clay on a complex jazz-influenced guitar solo, along with video of us lipsyncing under Austin’s famous 360 bridge.
Back in September 2022 I was able to get a copy of the carry permit shooting qualification course for Kauai, Hawaii. Penny and I had just visited there and made friends with a couple that owned an outdoor range and taught classes. Here’s the course of fire, with some videos of me shooting it, with analysis and commentary.
Course of Fire
The instructions are unclear. Some strings require drawing and firing, others are just marked “strong hand” or “weak hand”, with no explanation as to whether drawing is part of the time limit. Some strings have no time limit. The specific target to be used is not identified in the instructions either. I used an IDPA target when I shot the test, but I expect the giant B-27 (like we use in Texas) would likely meet their requirements also. Compared to the dozens and dozens of police and private sector firearms qualification tests I’ve analyzed, studying the past 100 years of firearms training, this one might be the most poorly designed. It would be challenging to shoot the test with a 5 shot .38 snub, but the glacially slow (non existent) par times for the 6 shot strings make it still possible. A 75% score is required to pass it, which should be achievable for anyone capable of slow fire target shooting.
3 Yards
Standing, draw and fire 2 rounds in 3 seconds (3 times)
Standing, strong hand only, fire 6 rounds in 25 seconds
Standing, strong hand only, fire 6 rounds with no time limit
The course of fire starts out with a skill we test in our Three Seconds Or Less and Minimum Competency Assessment: basic draw and fire. 2 shots in 3 seconds is a reasonable minimum standard.
6 shots in 25 sec, and 6 shots with no time limit, at 3 yards, though, makes no sense at all. Some strong hand only shooting at 3 yards is a good idea, but where the time limit came from is a mystery to me, since it’s unlike any qualification course from the past 100 years that I’ve studied.
7 Yards
Standing, draw and fire 1 shot in 2 seconds, 6 times
Standing, draw and fire 2 shots in 2 seconds, 3 times
The 7 yard part starts out with something harder than anything in the 3 yard part: one shot in 2 seconds. Then it gets harder: 2 shots in 2 seconds, starting from the holster. The test just went from requiring 2 shots in 3 seconds at 3 yards to 2 shots in 2 seconds at 7 yards. Historically, shooters are given more time when target distance increases. Seems like this should have been 2 shots in 4 seconds. And another string of 6 rounds in 30 seconds makes no sense unless the target is a B8 bullseye center.
10 yards
Kneeling, strong hand only, 6 rounds, no time limit
Standing behind barricade, weak hand, 6 rounds, no time limit
Historically, kneeling strings aren’t shot strong hand only, and one handed shooting at longer distances disappeared from most qualification courses by 1970. I may have misinterpreted the vague directions, and what was intended was two handed shooting similar to what is done in PPC courses of fire. I shot the drill one handed, not braced against the barricade. And I forgot to shoot strong hand only from the kneeling position.
General Thoughts
Feedback from our instructor friends on Kauai is that people are able to pass with 75% or greater, with some failing to make the 2 shots in 2 seconds par time at 7 yards. But with 75% as the passing score, dropping 3 shots out of 54 is not a big problem.
I can’t recommend this qualification course of fire as anything but a novelty – something to run on a practice day where you want to do something out of the ordinary, with lots of emphasis on slow fire target shooting.
I saw this new drill from Bill Wilson online the other day, so I set it up and shot it. He calls it the “Comprehensive Handgun Proficiency” drill, which aligns with our interest in minimum competency and standards generally. It includes a concealment draw, emergency reload, engaging targets at 7 and 12 yards with 12 yard head shots (simulating 24 yard body shots), stationary target transitions within a single target and across a wide space, shooting on the move, and thinking (surprise reload).
It’s an easy drill to set up if you have an outdoor range and space to move. Not a drill well suited to single lane practice at an indoor range. This stage will definitely be set up and run during one of our summer USPSA matches.
CHP DRILL (Comprehensive Handgun Proficiency)
Purpose: This drill is designed to test as many basic defensive shooting skills as possible with a quick to administer single string of fire and minimal ammunition required, that can be shot on basic ranges, even indoors.
What This Drill Tests: Draw/presentation, multiple shot control, target transition, movement under time, shooting on the move, target acquisition after movement, emergency re-load and precision shots.
Designer: Bill Wilson
Equipment/Ammunition Required: Self-defense handgun of 9mm caliber or larger, a proper concealed carry holster, one spare magazine, magazine pouch and 14 rounds of ammunition.
Targets/Scoring: 3 standard IDPA targets scored raw time +1 second per point down. Targets are scored +0, +1, +3 for body shots, head -0, -1, complete miss +3 seconds.
Start Position: Standing holstered hands naturally at your sides at P1. Can be shot concealed or unconcealed at the shooters discretion. NOTE: Start with between 8 and 13 rounds in your handgun and for best training have a buddy load your magazine so you won’t know when the emergency reload will come.
Procedure: Start at position 1, on signal draw and engage T1 with 3 rounds, transition to T2 and engage with 3 rounds, move to P2 while engaging T3 with 2 rounds on the move, from P2 re-engage T2 with 2 rounds to the body and 1 round to the head, transition to T1 and engage with 2 rounds to the body and 1 round to the head. Do a mandatory emergency slide-lock re-load when you run out of ammunition.
ADVANCED: 18 Sec or less, PROFICIENT: 18.01-29.00 Sec, NOVICE: 29.01 Sec or more
I shot it 3 times, this was the best run. 16.03 down 1, for an Advanced score of 17.03. From open carry with a full size gun, I could probably knock a few seconds off that time, but the intent of this drill is to shoot it with real world carry gear.
We just added more classes to our May-June schedule, with more to be added next month as we work out our summer and fall plans. Don’t see a class that interests you? Let us know. We have a few dates left in July to add some courses. For the hotter summer months we will mostly be offering morning courses.
PRIVATE LESSONS
I am available for private weekday training. Doug Greig is also available for private weekday and some weekend sessions. Contact us for details.
We released the updated edition of our “Strategies and Standards For Defensive Handgun Training” book just in time for the 2023 Tactical Conference. The 2023 edition has more than 40 pages of new content, bigger text, bigger graphics. Signed copies available during classes at the A-Zone for $10, or we will ship you one for $20. Or you can buy the e-book or an unsigned print copy from Amazon.
Rangemaster Tactical Conference 2023
KR Training was well represented at TacCon 2023, and registration for TacCon 2024 was posted (and sold out!) before we could get this newsletter out. Read more about what you missed in our AAR
John and I have already accepted an invitation to co-teach some classroom and range sessions, based on the material in our book, at TacCon 24.
NRA Annual Meeting
I also attended the NRA’s Annual Meeting, representing the Armed Citizens Legal Defense Network, as a Board of Directors member. My AAR from that event is here
Slots are still available in Doug Greig’s Basic Rifle Skills class, coming up May 7th. This is a small group class intended for new rifle owners, particularly new AR-15 owners, teaching parts, operation, zeroing, basic marksmanship and other fundamentals. Students under 18 are allowed if a responsible adult remains on site with them during the course, and .22 rifles can be used for this course.
Defensive Pistol Skills – Small Gun
Every year in early summer we offer a special class that focuses on small guns popular for summer carry. That means snub revolvers, subcaliber guns (from .22 to .380), pocket guns, and subcompact guns. Students in the class can work from pocket carry, belly band carry, purse carry, “tuckable” holster carry, Flashbang bra carry. Train with the gear you are going use this summer. Because those guns are not that much fun to shoot, class is low round count, and short (3 hours). Here’s the writeup from last year’s class:
We paired that class with a short (indoor) Stop the Bleed class, suitable for first time STB students and those that want a quick refresher on those critical life saving skills.
Visit the KR Training website to register. Refresher slots in DPS Small Gun are available, contact us for the discount code. Due to the low price for Stop the Bleed, there is no discount for refresher students.
Andy Stanford/Sure Fire Visit
Andy Stanford from SureFire is coming to teach two invitation only classes on May 16-17. He’ll be offering two pilot sessions of his new Master Coach Development class, one only open to law enforcement trainers, and one limited to private sector instructors and KR Training challenge coin holders.
TCOLE Tactical Pistol (and instructor) class
At the end of May we are offering a Texas Commission on Law Enforcement certified firearms instructor class. Normally these classes are only open to law enforcement officers who have taken the TCOLE 40-hour basic instructor class, but a limited number of slots will be available to private sector trainers that are Texas LTC or higher level instructors. Private sector students will not get full accreditation for attending, unless they have a TCOLE PID and have taken the pre-req TCOLE basic instructor course. But the real benefit to KR Training students is this:
On Saturday, June 3, the graduates of the TCOLE Firearms Instructor course will put on a full day class that replicates part of the handgun curriculum taught to law enforcement officers. This Tactical Pistol course is a one day class, 350 rounds, suitable for anyone at the carry permit or higher level. Student-teacher ratio will be very low, possibly even 1:1, so each student will get attention and coaching. Graduates of our Basic Pistol 2 and DPS-1 classes are strongly encouraged to attend this course, as it will reinforce and expand on what you’ve learned from us, and give you opportunities to practice those skills with individual instruction and guidance.
SUMMER USPSA MATCHES
We will run some USPSA matches this summer, with one early match May 24, and the remainder of the series starting mid June through end of July. Details about the matches are here. Any one that has taken DPS-1, Beyond Basics or higher level classes is welcome to attend. These small matches run faster than the big weekend events, with 150 rounds of shooting fun. Each match includes a shoothouse stage, steel target stage, one historical stage (shot using USPSA rules) and other shooting activities not always included in group classes.
Last year I released an expanded, updated version of my late 1980’s all electronic jazz project “electrophonic” called “electrophonic expanded“. All the audio tracks are on all the streaming outlets (Apple, Spotify, Amazon, etc.). I’ve been making videos for each of the tracks, and there’s a playlist for them on youTube. Back in 1990, three songs from “electrophonic” were selected to be part of a package representing Austin music at an international music conference. The promo videos for those songs ended up in rotation on Austin’s ACTV cable channel for most of the 1990’s. Using modern AI video enhancing software, I was able to upscale and clean up the digitized VHS recordings, and updated the audio with the remastered version. This one, Mesa Village Blues, is a simple video but the song features some of my fanciest piano playing, particularly in the second half (a.k.a. “the fast part”).
The NRA’s annual meeting was held in Indianapolis, Indiana, April 14-16. I flew up on Friday, attended on Friday and Saturday, and returned home on Sunday. My primary purpose was to meet with the Board of Directors of the Armed Citizen’s Legal Defense Network, since I have joined the board of that group this year. ACLDN had a booth at NRAAM 2024, and we held a board meeting Saturday night. For those unfamiliar with NRAAM, it’s the mid year event that is basically “SHOT show for non industry people”.
The SHOT show is the big industry event held each January, where companies announce new products, and all the big sporting goods chains decide what products they are going to carry each year. Attendance is limited to people that work for product makers, FFLs, trainers, and of course the gun press (print writers, bloggers, youTubers, brand ambassadors and social media “influencers”). The NRAAM features most of the same vendors, along with multiple days of classroom training sessions, meetings of various NRA committees, and the annual update from the NRA Training Department to any certified instructors, coaches and Training Counselors that attend.
Friday I was able to spend most of the day hanging out with old friends from Austin who were also at the show. In addition to all the gun industry vendors, there were cool exhibits, like the car from John Wick 2, and one of the Adam-12 cars. There were also great historical displays of old guns and war memorabilia from collector’s groups.
While you can’t buy guns at the event, lots of other items were available for purchase at discounted rates. I picked up a Clip-N-Shoot (a gadget that attaches to any phone or tablet that works with their app to record shot times and hits), and a battery powered stand alone laser target for classroom use from iDryFire.com, and a Glock 48 Dry Fire Magazine from DryFireMag.com, who have greatly expanded the number of models they support with their products.
I also purchased a new heavy duty brass “zamboni” to help with brass recovery at the A-Zone since the two we have are well worn.
I ran into Steel Challenge shooter Jim O’Young. In the 1990’s Penny and I made many trips to Piru, California to shoot the Steel Challenge World Speed Shooting Championships. Jim was one of the regulars from that area that we met during those trips. He’s currently working with a company that is making an Oculus-based shooting simulator.
I also ran into Claude Werner, the Tactical Professor. He’s posted his own writeup about day 1 of the NRA Show. He also gave me a copy of his edited version of “Shooting To Live” – the famous Fairbairn book – trimmed down to just the shooting program. When I got home I actually fired the shooting program and took video, which will be the topic of a later blog post.
Simulators and gear using SIRT guns and other laser trainers were everywhere at this year’s show. The capability of these systems continues to improve as the cost goes down.
Friday night my friends and I had a nice dinner at the rotating rooftop restaurant atop the Hyatt Regency, next door to the convention center. Here’s a short video of the Indy skyline:
Saturday began with attending a talk from Active Self Protection’s John Correia: “Lessons Learned from 45,000 Gunfights”. I first heard this presentation when the number was 10,000, at a Rangemaster Instructor Reunion event, and it was good to hear the updated version.
During his talk John pointed me out to the crowd and referenced my analysis showing that less than 1% of gunowners attend training beyond their state minimum.
Other highlights from his talk: Most of the fights occur in the 5-7 yard range (initially), with some fights ending with combatants separated by as much as 20 yards. 95-98% of the attackers were male. 80% or more of the incidents ended with zero shots fired, and incidents tended to last no longer than 7 seconds, if shots were exchanged.
“You can’t miss fast enough to win, but you can hit slow enough to lose”.
After lunch, I attended the NRA Training Department’s briefing for instructors, coaches and Training Counselors (I am all 3 of those things). Due to fiscal mismanagement, questionable, potentially criminal business dealings and other leadership failures (Jeff Knox’ website is a great resource for the details), the NRA has had to make major cutbacks of all staff. The Training & Education Department is down to 4 employees, servicing the needs and efforts of more than 100,000 certified instructors. The NRA still plays an important role in firearm training, particularly in states where NRA courses are used for the state mandated minimum for carry permit certification. Traditional youth shooting programs, through 4H and Boy Scouts, are still a big part of the NRA Training & Education division mission.
Much of this year’s presentation was instruction on working with shooters with various physical weaknesses. This graph shows average grip strength vs. age. 25 kg = 55 pounds. 45 kg = 100 pounds. Over the past decade, our measurements of student grip strength have shown that 60 or more pounds of grip strength are a significant benefit to shooting a 9mm pistol; 100 or more pounds (which is fairly rare, 80 lbs is more typical for male students) makes a big difference in recoil control. What this graph reminds us is that grip strength will decay with age, with significant losses after age 65-70.
Vision also deteriorates with age.
Reflective tape, along with additional ambient light (particularly at indoor ranges) can help those with weak vision shoot better.
I spent time looking at all the product lines of every handgun maker that was at NRAAM. I spend a lot of time dealing with gun fit issues working with students every week. The more I study the issue, the more I believe that as many as 50% of shooters purchase guns with frames too big for a proper fit to their hand.
What gun makers make is often driven by what people buy. The problem with that is that most gun buyers don’t understand gun fit, don’t train and don’t dry fire. So many of them choose what I call the “3 finger frame” – the model with a frame too short to get all their fingers around. This style of frame is always sold with the “pinky shelf” magazine, which provides the surface for the pinky to grasp.
This all seems like a reasonable idea, until the owner wants to dry fire the gun. Then they have to choose between dryfiring using a 3 fingered grip, using a Rogers Tap-Rack-Training aid (which are typically not sold in gun stores), or having to remove the magazine to rack the slide, and re-insert the magazine to dry fire with a 4 fingered grip. Very few of our students dry fire, no matter how many times we tell them it’s the single most important thing they should do to improve as shooters. Those with 3 finger frames have an even greater impediment to dry firing, but luckily for gun vendors that sell 3 finger frame guns, none of their customers dry fire (or get very good at shooting), so ignorance is bliss.
Double bonus: gun vendors never talk to gateway instructors that teach regular people (aka “their customers”). They just talk to gun stores that sell guns (who never have to deal with teaching people to shoot the guns they sell them), LEO agencies (who typically don’t care about gun fit issues or anything related to duty or carry guns for people with small hands and short fingers), and youTube “influencers” (who don’t teach beginners). When I explained the 3 finger frame dry fire problem to , in one case, the product manager for a newly introduced 3-finger-frame gun that otherwise looked like a good product, he admitted he had never given that issue any consideration at all.
There are a small number of skinny carry gun models that do have a 4-finger frame: the Glock 48 and SIG 365XL/Macro have been our most recommended models, but I wanted to find some other options. I found a few: the CZ P10C, Beretta APXA1, and the Taurus G3X. Taurus is going to send me a G3X to test and evaluate, and I’ll be writing more about that after I get it.
Saturday night, after the show, I attended the ACLDN board meeting, hanging out with legends Dennis Tueller, John & Vicki Farnam, Marty and Gila Hayes, and others on the board. In addition to board business, many of the world’s problems were solved, and poems by Kipling were recited.
The 2024 NRAAM will be in Dallas, dates TBA. It should be a “must visit” for any Texas gunowner. Admission is free, and you can attend for 1, 2 or 3 days – however much time you have to take it all in.
This post discusses some sessions I attended and shares some pictures and links to podcasts that discuss TacCon23.
This is a picture of me, clearly unhappy that my cover garment didn’t move out of the way cleanly, on my draw on the first run of my shootoff with Tim Herron. He’s way ahead of me on the draw, and stayed ahead for the entire run.
A nice pic of KR Training’s Ed Vinyard wearing his company shirt at one of John’s AIWB Skills range sessions.
The TacCon Chess Club (L-R, Lee Weems, John Hearne and Erick Gelhaus) during their “Our Favorite Research Studies” presentation.
John Hearne, discussing the results of a military study on stress and force on force training. Unsurprisingly this study found that repeated exposure to force on force scenarios improves performance, particularly with regard to reducing the number of unjustified shootings. It also found that higher levels of technical handgun skill improved performance in the FOF scenarios.
Andy Stanford, perhaps inspired/influenced by the efforts Tom Givens and I have made to educate others about the history of handgun training, has been doing field interviews with many of the most important trainers from the 1960’s and 1970’s. He shared some of that video with us during his presentation, and has promised that a video documentary with the best parts of those interviews will be released in the future.
Andy is also a musician and singer, known for performing Allen Wayne Damron’s song “Gringo Pistolero” at the end of his classes and presentations. Here’s Andy’s TacCon23 performance:
Ed with John and Martha Holschen, who taught a class at the A-Zone the weekend prior to TacCon 23.
The Tactical Twins from Evolution Security talk about their experiences at this year’s TacCon.
Lee Weems’ “That Weems Guy” podcast has run two episodes about TacCon23
KR Training was well represented at the 2023 Rangemaster Tactical Conference, with 3 on the KR Training staff teaching (Karl Rehn, John Daub and Dave Reichek), 2 attending (Ed Vinyard & Tracy Thronburg) along with many graduates of our courses. TacCon began in the early 2000’s as a winter event held at the original Rangemaster indoor range/training facility in Memphis. Over time it evolved from less of a pistol competition to what it is today, a conference where trainers present short blocks and get the opportunity to observe and participate in other trainers’ sessions, along with a few hundred attendees. This year’s event had 42 different presenters and 400 attendees, 60% of whom had never attended a previous TacCon. The full list of topics and course descriptions is here. Topics ranged from live fire sessions, unarmed, knife and impact weapon sessions, force on force scenarios, classroom lectures and other activities.
Tom Givens and the Rangemaster team have settled in to the Dallas Pistol Club as the new home of the Tactical Conference (“for as long as they will have us”).
The Dallas Pistol Club has two major airports within 15 minutes, and dozens of hotels and restaurants nearby. It has many shooting bays and classrooms, supplemented by tents used to make additional classrooms, and spring weather usually cooperates. Rains on Friday affected some of the sessions and the pistol match, but weather on Saturday and Sunday was perfect for the event.
Karl’s Sessions Taught
Karl taught a 2 hour classroom block on Lessons Learned from Expert Witness cases on Saturday morning. Much of the talk focused on outcomes of road rage incidents involving KR Training students (that didn’t result in criminal charges and cases involving others that he assisted as an expert witness.
On Sunday morning Karl and Caleb Causey of Lone Star Medics took over the social tent to run 2 hours of Force on Force Plus Medical scenarios, typically involving 4-6 students at a time. All the scenarios were built on the same premise: owners of a small country store returning to it after a natural disaster and power outage. This caused them to encounter looters, squatters, people that had broken in for shelter, injured/sick people or other strangers, solving a use of force or physical security problem and a medical problem. Working in groups of 4-6, we were able to let every student participate in 2 scenarios and observe 4 scenarios in the fast paced 2 hour block.
Karl’s final session late Sunday afternoon was a three hour block of historical handgun drills from the 1920’s to the 1950’s. Many of these drills required shooting from 25 and 50 yards, including shooting from cover.
Video of me shooting the 1920’s police revolver qualification drill that we shot in my TacCon session.
John taught several sessions of his AIWB Skills course, a repeat from last year’s TacCon.
John also joined Erick Gelhaus and Lee Weems for a session called The Aftermath, where they discussed the legal and psychological aftermath of using deadly force, from their own experiences as a private citizen and law enforcement officers. This was another session originally offered last year, and was brought back due to popular demand.
John has also written his own TacCon23 AAR available here.
Dave has been one of the regular roleplayers used by Craig Douglas in the Shivworks “Experiential Learning Lab” block. Craig puts students in challenging force on force scenarios. This year Dave was the primary aggressor in the scenario. No pictures or video were available from this year’s scenarios, but Dave suggested that we share his AAR from the 2022 TacCon, because many observations from 2023 were common to the previous year. Lisa Causey from Lone Star Medics was the other primary roleplayer, giving TacCon a pair of KR Training/Lone Star Medics force on force collaborations this year.
The level of shooting in the TacCon match improves every year, with margins between competitors shrinking each time. As in the previous year, part 1 of the match was a series of par time drills. This year’s match involved 4 sec target exposures with turning targets, with strings at different distances. Each string started from a ready position, strings were short (5 or fewer rounds), with no reloads on the clock, making the match a pure test of shooting skill. The tiebreaker was shot by anyone shooting a perfect score on part 1. The tiebreaker was to draw from concealment and shoot 5 shots into a 4″ circle at 5 yards, as quickly as you could. The tiebreaker was scored as Comstock (points divided by time). 50 points in 2 seconds was a score of 25, for example. For the first time in the last few years I shot clean on part 1 and was fast enough on the tiebreaker to slip into the shootoff in the 16th slot. The difference in tie-breaker times between 16th and 12th was 0.1 second (2.3 to 2.4 on time).
As someone observed, previous match winners were scattered across the top 50, as even a single point down or a tenth of a second on the tiebreaker was enough to move down a few (or 5 or 10) places in a crowded field. Part 3 of the match, which determined the final winner, was a best 2 of 3 shootoff on falling steel targets. Being 16th meant I was paired against 1st overall Tim Herron, and he advanced to the top 8. Official match photographer Tamara Keel got a good pic of us on run #2.
Mirko Muggli ended up winning the shootoff and was match winner for the second year in a row.
Heather Reeves was top woman, winning the top 8 shootoff, and Lane Thayer was top law officer, shooting from duty gear.
BOOK RELEASE
John and I also used TacCon23 as the official release event for the 2023 update of our book, Strategies and Standards for Defensive Pistol. We sold all of the 100 print copies that we signed and brought to the event. To make myself easy to find, I purchased a purple backpack at Walmart after I arrived in Dallas, and took it with me everywhere I went.
You can order signed copies of the updated book (40+ pages of new content) from us directly here.
Here is a course of fire, dated January 2021, used by the Texas DPS in their handgun training program.
I’ve been shooting it in my practice sessions over the last month and I thought I would share it here.
It’s intended to be shot on the giant B-27 target, scored like the Texas License to Carry test (8-9-10 rings score 5, 7 ring scores 4, on target but outside the 7 ring scores 3). To make it harder I’ve been shooting it using a Shoot Steel target center, where the B zone (center circle) scores 5, the C zone (roughly same size as the 8-9-10 ring on a B-27) scores 4, and everything outside the C zone scores zero (unacceptable hit). The images below are NOT to scale, since the B27 is 24″x45″ and the Shoot Steel target is 18″x24″.
On Monday I shot a personal best 245/250 using the harder/smaller target, shooting the test as my only 50 rounds fired that day. Scoring it using a B27, I’ve shot a perfect score every time, so if you can shoot a perfect score on the B-27 version, try the shootsteel target center with works with their great cardboard training target.
Monday’s targetDownload and print this image on 8.5x-11 paper
Instructions
» All courses of fire will be scored on a standard B-27 target. The B-27 target must be 24 inches by 45 inches and may be one of four colors; black, blue, red, or green. The target shall be scored utilizing the 5, 4, 3 scoring diagram in the upper left hand corner. » Optical enhancers are not allowed. Only live ammunition may be used during training and qualification. Target marking cartridges are not permitted. » If any malfunctions are encountered, the shooter must work through the problem and finish the course of fire. If rounds are held (not fired within the allotted time), the shots will be scored as misses. » Instructors are to be attentive when shooters are shooting with the support hand with a two-handed grip. » All shooters with a decocker on their weapons will decock their weapon after each st.ring on fire. » This course of fire is designed for a semi-automatic weapon with a 17 round or 12 round magazine. All other magazine variations will reload in-between stages to ensure enough rounds to complete the course of fire. » Administratively removing magazines does not require the weapon to be un-holstered and should be done in a safe manner.
>> A total of 50 rounds will be fired during the course of this qualification. A score of 70%, or 175 points of a possible 250, is required to pass. >> This course is NOT primarily designed for revolvers, shooters using revolvers will reload when empty. >>Weapons with 17 round magazines will start the course with a handgun loaded with 16 rounds. Weapons with 12 round magazines will start the course with 12 rounds. No additional round in the chamber for this course of fire. >>Shooters will perform emergency reloads where required.
Observations
I think this is a fairly well designed course of fire. It includes a good mix of skills, with behaviors appropriate for distance (movement and one handed shooting at close range, a few reloads, kneeling at longer ranges). Whoever designed it shares my dislike of frequent par time changes, as much of the test uses a 3 second par time, and the other par time changes are well organized. It includes one skill I rarely practice, which is swapping hands with the pistol and shooting 2 handed, using the left hand as the primary shooting hand. That skill is 3 of the 50 rounds, done at 7 yards.
This may or may not be a course of fire shot by the state troopers. All I know for sure about this particular course of fire is that it’s one in their library and it’s relatively recent.
Three Yards (12 rounds)
(1) From the holstered position, on command, draw, fife 3 shots while moving one step right, weapon hand only. (Time limit: 3 seconds) Transition the weapon to the support hand.
(2) From the ready position, on command, fire 3 shots while moving one step left, support hand only. Re-holster on command. (Time limit: 3 seconds)
(3) From the holstered position, on command, draw, and fire 3 shots while moving one step right, two handed grip. Re-holster on command. (Time limit: 3 seconds)
(4) From the holstered position, on command, draw, fire 3 shots while moving one step left, two handed grip. Re-holster on command. (Time limit: 3 seconds)
Seven Yards (12 rounds)
(1) Un-holster, transition the weapon to the support hand. From the ready position, on command, fire 2 shots support hand with two-handedg rip. (Time limit: 3 seconds) Transition the weapon to the weapon hand. Re-holster on command.
(2) From the holstered position, on command, draw, fire 2 shots, two-handed grip. Re-holster on command. (Time limit: 3 seconds)
(3) From a holstered position, on command, draw, fire 4 shots, take one step right, and then fire 4 additional shots, two-handed grip. Re-holster on command. (Time limit: 15 seconds)
Account for 24 shots on target, conduct interim scoring and repair.
(I like this step, which makes scoring easier than trying to score all 50 shots at the end. It also makes it easier to identify problems associated with 15 and 25 yard strings. Most of time, I was keeping all my shots at 3 and 7 in the center circle, so the only scoring I would do at this point is to note any shots outside that zone.)
The official instructions are for shooters running a 12 round magazine to administratively remove the magazine and add one round. Really all that matters is that you set the gun up to have somewhere between 8-12 rounds in the magazine, so that a reload has be done during the 6 shot string (string 2) from the 15 yard line.
15 Yards (14 rounds)
(1) From the holstered position, on command, draw, fire 4 shots, take one step left, and fire 4 additional shots. Re-holster on command. (Time limit 15 seconds)
(2) From the holstered position, on command, draw, fire a total of 6 shots. When necessary, shooter will reload while moving one step to the right, and then fire remaining round(s). Re-holster on command. (Time limit: 20 seconds)
The gun should be loaded with 11+1 or more for the 25 yard string so that all 12 shots can be fired without a reload.
25 Yards (12 rounds)
(1) From the holstered position, on command, draw, fire 6 shots, move one step right and fire 6 additional shots, standing or kneeling. Re-holster on command. (Time limit: 30 seconds)
If you taped up the entire target after the 7 yard string, score 26 more hits and add the two scores together. Or, if you shoot it like I do, just count up “points down” based on whatever is outside the B zone center circle of the ShootSteel repair center.
As you’ll see from this newsletter, we’ve been busy, and most of the classes we’ve scheduled have been selling out. We just added more classes to our April-June schedule, with more to be added next month as we work out our summer and fall plans.
PRIVATE LESSONS
I am available for private weekday training. Doug Greig is also available for private weekday and some weekend sessions. Contact us for details.
NEW REGISTRATION SYSTEM AND WEBSITE
We have migrated all our class registrations to ShootingClasses.com, which provides a better interface for users and simplified back end processing of rosters and payments for us. The major update to the KR Training main website is almost complete and should be announced next month.
In the AT2 Force on Force Scenarios course, we run students through more than a dozen different scenarios (home defense, 7-11 and restaurant). They interact with live roleplayers using a variety of simulated weapons, from rubber band guns to SIRT laser guns to firearms equipped with Simunition conversion kits. Very few trainers offer this type of instruction, which is more realistic than any live fire course where students shoot stationary paper or steel targets. A few slots are available for our March 12 class.
LAST CALL FOR PAUL MARTIN PREPAREDNESS VIDEOS ON VIMEO
Due to the high cost of keeping the videos hosted on Vimeo, Paul and I are going to shut down our Vimeo archive of more than 10 hours of material from his Preparedness Conferences. The videos will be available until March 1. We do not plan to re-host them as free content on youTube, so they will be gone when the Vimeo account closes. All the videos are available as a download for $50.
KR TRAINING STAFF NEWS
I attended and passed the DPS First Responder Instructor course in January 2023. I was a guest on the CCW Safe Podcast. Part 2 of my episode can be heard here.
Paul Martin hosted another fundraiser for the Central Texas Food Bank, in conjunction with Franklin’s BBQ in Austin. KR Training donated $500 in gift certificates and books to the auction.
Dave Reichek attended and passed the Rangemaster Shotgun Instructor course. An AAR of that class is here.
John and Karl have added a lot of content to our Strategies and Standards for Defensive Pistol book. The updated text is with the proof reader, and we anticipate having print and e-book copies of the new edition available in early March.
Most of the KR Training team will be attending the Rangemaster Tactical Conference in Dallas in March, with Karl and John Daub both presenting blocks of training again this year. TacCon will be in Dallas in 2024. This 3 day event provides attendees with the opportunity to learn from more than 2 dozen top national trainers. When registration opens for the 2024 event, we will post the link on our Facebook page. It typically sells out within a month of registration opening. Many KR Training students have attended in the past, and we encourage everyone to consider signing up. TacCon has been an annual event for the past 25 years, but nobody knows how many more years it will continue, as Tom Givens reduces the number of classes and events he is doing as he approaches retirement.
One of the bands I play with, “Changes – A Chicago Tribute Band” played a sold out show at the Grand Stafford Theater in downtown Bryan in January. Here’s our version of Colour My World, with me on piano and vocals, and Michael Fortunato on flute.
The holiday season is always a busy one for me, performing 3 nights a week at Santa’s Wonderland in College Station along with weekend performances with many other bands. Behind the scenes there’s work going on with range and website maintenance, scheduling guest instructors and planning for our own 2023 home and road classes. John and I are also working on an update to our Strategies and Standards for Defensive Pistol Skills book, for early 2023 release.
PRIVATE LESSONS
I am available for private weekday training. Doug Greig is also available for private weekday and some weekend sessions. Contact us for details.
To start the year off, a 3 hour course to knock the rust off your skills. 50 rounds of coaching drills, the 50 round NRA CCW course of fire, and 50 more rounds of shooting the standard Texas License to Carry shooting test or a modified version of that drill tuned up to challenge graduates of our Defensive Pistol Skills courses. Weather permitting students will also get a shoot house run, and a short classroom refresher presentation on recent changes to state and local gun laws. This noon-3pm class is perfect for those that haven’t done any shooting or holster work in the last 30 days or more.
We will also offer a Stop the Bleed training session after the range course, useful as new or refresher training in this topic.
SHOTGUN
Winter is a great time to practice shotgun skills. In January we are offering a half day Defensive Shotgun class focused on home defense: ammo selection, patterning, shooting from cover, armed movement in structures, and more. Suitable for traditional shotguns and the Shockwave-style firearms. This class is highly recommended for family members in homes with defensive shotguns that need some range time and skills with that gun.
PERSONAL TACTICS SKILLS & HANDGUN COACHING
The Personal Tactics Skills is an indoor, lecture, demonstration and hands on course teaching critical concepts about “what to do” in the typical self defense situations. It includes instruction in proper selection and use of pepper spray, and discussion of home and in public armed self defense incidents. It’s part of our Defensive Pistol Skills Program required sequence. Because it’s not a live fire class, many students skip over this important class, only to end up needing it to finish their coin eligibility.
In January we’ve paired it with a 2 hour Handgun Coaching block suitable for shooters of all levels.
Have friends or family members that put “get self defense training” on their New Year’s resolutions? These two classes would be an excellent first step, particularly if combined with an online License to Carry course. Students enrolled in Handgun Coaching could shoot the LTC shooting test as part of that course, and Handgun Coaching would meet state requirements for online LTC completion.
BATON ROUGE ROAD CLASSES
I will be returning to the FRC range in Baton Rouge, Louisiana at the end of January to teach my Force on Force instructor, Tactical Scenarios and More Scenarios courses. Their facility has a 2 story indoor shoot house, which will allow me to run some new scenarios using the stairs and split level design. Registration is open for those courses – come join me on the road!
Indoor range scenario
HISTORY OF THE PIE CHART TARGET
I continue to research the history of handgun training, and my blog article on the origins of the infamous “pie chart” target got a lot of attention.
Doug Greig attended and passed the Department of Public Safety’s new First Responder handgun course. DPS is also allowing instructors to offer the course to carry permit holders, as a higher level tactical and defensive pistol course. Karl is scheduled to attend this training in early January 2023. We will have more details about the course and our plans to offer it to students after more of our team attends the instructor certification course at DPS.
I was a guest on the CCW Safe Podcast. Part 1 of my episode can be heard here.
I frequently perform in the Round Top/Fayette County area with the Black Cat Choir, voted best band in Fayette County for 2021 and 2022. We recorded some audio and video from performances during the October Antique Week. Here’s a version of our cover of Jackson Browne’s “Running On Empty”. The audio from this video got some airplay by a LaGrange radio station in October and November.
The pie chart “shooting correction” target has been around as long as I’ve been shooting. It’s widely shared and is used as basis for guidance in some dry fire apps. It’s also widely derided by high skill level shooters and trainers, with this variant on the pie chart being a frequently shared meme:
Karen Ziegler of Red’s Indoor Range in Austin recently gave me a print copy of the 1971 U.S. Army Pistol Marksmanship Guide, which I have scanned and will share for download in the very near future. A more recent edition of that book is available as a download from archive.org.
Stuck within the pages of her copy of the 1971 edition was a worn copy of a reprint of an article from the May 1962 issue of the NRA’s American Rifleman magazine, titled Pistol Targets “Talk”, written by T/SGT Edmund Abel, of the U.S. Air Force. My research shows that the article was offered as an official reprint from NRA for many years. During the late 1950’s and early 1960’s, bullseye shooting was the second most popular pistol sport. Fast draw was more popular, but the NRA refused to sanction or even acknowledge any non-law enforcement pistol sport (or training class) in which pistols were drawn from a holster at any speed until after 2000. The author assumes that the shots are being fired one handed in the classic bullseye competition style. Modern practical pistol sports did not exist in 1962, and pistol sports had very few women participants, so consider the article in the context of the era in which it was written. Based on the article’s content, with the 8 different errors linked to sections of a bullseye target, if this article wasn’t the original influence for the pie chart, it certainly reflects “conventional wisdom” of that era regarding that topic.
Pistol Targets ‘Talk’ (original article text)
Most pistol shooters have experienced a misplaced shot that has utterly defied explanation.
Since the pistol shooting brotherhood is composed of reasonably intelligent individuals, they tend to consider that misplaced shot on the target has its logical explanation.
Vast strides have been taken in the last decade to improve target pistols to the quality demanded by serious shooters. Ammunition manufacturers have been working successfully to give pistoleers the close-grouping ammunition they require. An experienced pistol shooter’s first response after spotting a flyer should be question his own performance, not that of his equipment — which generally can out-perform the shooter.
Targets can “talk” and tell quite a bit about a shooter’s personal performance if one will take the time to study them. This process is referred to as target analysis.
It is assumed that correct zeroing of the pistol has been accomplished and that correct sight alignment and sight picture were obtained at the time the trigger was squeezed. The possibility of wind or light deflections as well as faulty ammunition and equipment must be excluded.
The targets show depict the 8 most common errors that plague pistol shooters. They are for a right handed shooter, but by reversing the areas from left to right they will show the errors encountered by a southpaw.
A shooter will sometimes not believe he made an error because he thought his front sight remained where it was supposed to be when the bullet left the barrel. He should realize that many of these errors will not be noticed from the working end of the weapon. The reason is quite simple: the recoil covered up the error at the last moment. But it is there.
If a shooter is having difficulty convincing himself that he is making any specific error, he can perform an exercise that will make him a believer. In the military it is called “ball and dummy” firing. In performing this exercise, the shooter is assisted by a coach or an observer. The coach does all the loading of the weapon. Sometimes he may put a live round in the chamber or he may load a dummy or a fired case, the shooter not knowing whether the weapon is loaded or not. Watch what happens when he thinks it’s loaded and the hammer falls on an empty round. Now the shooter will be able to see the error because there is no recoil to hide it.
Once a shooter realizes he is not infallible and accepts the story that his target has to tell, he can then concentrate on his error(s) and will be on the road to better scores.
My Thoughts (Karl)
I spend a lot of my time on the range working with students looking closely at their hands, watching as they manipulate the trigger as they shoot. It’s rare that a student having difficulty shooting accurately produces a target that looks like any of the targets shown in this article, except for perhaps the last one. This is because they are either making multiple errors, or are inconsistent in their technique.
The common factor in all these errors is that fingers other than the trigger finger are moving as the shot is being fired. Often this relates to the shooter trying to add extra grip pressure during the trigger press, and/or sympathetic movement of other fingers of the firing hand occurring when the trigger finger moves.
The author comments that recoil can hide observation of gun movement. Recoil actually occurs after the bullet leaves the barrel. What hides the observation is blinking, either a natural blink or a blink in reaction or anticipation of the shot. The typical eye blink is 100-150 ms (milliseconds). The time a bullet is traveling down the barrel of a 4″-6″ barrel pistol, depending on velocity, is roughly 0.25-0.50 ms.
Shooters that dry fire a lot can develop a problem where they press the trigger properly in dry fire, but still make shooting errors in live fire. Ball & dummy or live/empty practice is a great way to solve these problems. I prefer the Rogers Shooting School approach of “known dummy” training vs the surprise dummy approach the author describes. By loading a magazine alternating live and dummy, and firing two shot drills (bang, click), the shooter can learn to react to recoil and fire a follow up shot with the proper sight picture and trigger press, as opposed to the “aim once, shoot twice” approach popular with many beginner USPSA/IDPA competitors that shoot A/D, A/M or 0/+3 pairs on targets.
A variation on this technique that doesn’t require dummy rounds (and avoids the hassle of manually ejecting and chasing down dummy rounds) is simply insert a magazine, rack the slide, then eject the magazine, and shoot a 2 shot drill, with the second dry fired with an empty chamber. Always load the live rounds into the gun racking the slide with a magazine inserted. Loading a live round into the chamber by dropping it into the barrel with the slide locked, and then closing the slide, can damage the extractor as it smashes into the rim when the slide goes forward.
Thumbing
With the modern two handed high thumb grip, there’s ample opportunity for one or both thumbs to push against the slide. This can result in malfunctions if the thumbs are pressing in against the slide as it cycles. In my experience that error is more common than the gun moving right.
Heeling
With two handed shooters I rarely see this problem occur.
Breaking the Wrist
A term more commonly used today is “pre ignition push”, which means pulling the whole gun down trying to negate recoil. As the author observes, letting go or relaxing the grip during recoil can be another factor. Relaxing as soon as the shot breaks is a bad habit that recreational shooters and those restricted from firing at realistic defensive speeds (faster than one shot per second) by range rules can develop. It also relates to the “tactical gopher” syndrome, where the shooter immediately relaxes their grip, lowers the gun and looks at the target as quickly as possible, after the shot was fired, to assess where the shot went. (Often this problem includes leaving finger on trigger when the gun is lowered, as the shooter has stopped paying attention to the gun in his or her hand.)
Riding the Recoil
Another variation of pre-ignition push. Shooters that do “one shot” practice can get in to the bad habit of getting off the trigger like it’s on fire, even before the gun is out of recoil, in a race to get the finger back in register (touching the frame above the trigger guard). While this is a safe way to shoot, this habit becomes a problem when the drill is to fire multiple shots without mentally or physically quitting until the entire string is fired. A shot fired with proper followthrough should end with the shooter ready to fire another shot, with sights on target and finger on trigger, until the decision to fire again or return to the finger-off-trigger ready position is made.
Too Much Trigger Finger
The author’s comments about problems using the second or third section of the finger are valid, but less relevant in our current era of wide-body, double stack pistols than they were in the 1911 and single stack target .22 days of the early 1960’s. The problem I see more often is frame dragging, which is the shooter laying the entire trigger finger against the frame, often associated with poor gun fit (gun grip too big for the shooter, or trigger reach too long, or both). It’s a byproduct of people being told to evaluate a gun based on whether it “feels good in your hand”, which is a meaningless standard, and being more concerned with gun capacity than gun fit, even though gun fit plays a significant role in shooting skill. Frame dragging problems are exacerbated by shooters that mistakenly believe that their firing hand grip should grip harder than the support hand grip, so the support hand grip does little to deter the gun from moving left as trigger finger movement twists it to the left. The vast majority of shooters fail to grip the gun hard enough with their support hand, which should be using 100% of its available grip strength for every shot, not relaxing in any way between shots.
That problem is shown in the picture below.
Frame Dragging
The photo above shows better trigger finger placement, with no contact of the second section of the trigger finger with the frame.
Tightening Grip
This is a very common problem. Gripping the pistol with full grip pressure in the support hand, and strong but not maximal pressure in the firing hand is fatiguing, and there is a tendency, particularly with shooters firing at a slow pace, to relax the grip and re-tighten as the trigger press for the next shot resumes. The best universal correction approach I can offer is to use a SIRT pistol or dry fire magazine or a pistol capable of dead trigger dry fire (full range of trigger motion if the gun is uncocked), having the shooter run the trigger as fast as they can while watching the sight movement. At that maximum pace there is no time to relax and regrip between shots. Once they have the concept of consistent grip, slowing the pace down to strive for a standard such as 5 shots, 5 seconds, 5″ at 5 yards rather than one shot exercises can be useful.
Trigger Jerk
99% of the time it’s not the speed that the trigger is manipulated that is the issue; it’s the movement of all the other fingers during that spastic trigger press. Often the quick punch of the trigger is combined with the incorrect idea that when the sights are in the right location for a fraction of an instant, the shooter’s job is to snatch the trigger as quickly as possible. The wrong but commonly used phrases related to smooth and slow and fast are often given as advice to shooters with this problem, and they don’t help. “Slowing down” often ends up being taking more time between shots aiming more carefully, but still snatching the trigger at the last second producing bad hits even slower than before.
Similarly, doing the wrong or inefficient technique smoothly may never lead to peak performance.
There is no substitute for the dry and live/dry combined practice necessary to learn how to press the trigger, at any speed, without moving the gun out of alignment. Slowing down and being smooth can make producing the right outcome easier, or make it easier for the shooter to pay more attention to what is happening to correct errors, but slow and smooth by itself, without correct technique, isn’t a solution. Slow and smooth may never lead to fast and accurate if errors creep back in as speed increases. In general, that statement applies to all the shooting errors in the author’s original article and to all the advice from the pie chart.
The last 30 days have been very busy, with more than a dozen classes, public speaking engagements, school safety presentations, expert witness work on court cases and private lessons. October will be busy (most of our classes have already sold out) and then we get a fall break as our annual “no live fire classes on weekends during deer season” agreement with neighbors takes effect.
PRIVATE LESSONS
I am available for private weekday training. Doug Greig is also available for private weekday and some weekend sessions. Contact us for details.
PAUL MARTIN VIDEO DISCOUNT
Use the discount code “IAN22” to get 20% off any or all of the Paul Martin Preparedness video collection. Offer expires Oct 31!
Due to student requests we added another Basic Rifle class on Sunday, October 23rd, in the afternoon from 1-5p. This class is ideal for the new rifle owner (AR, AK or any other rifle with a shoulder stock, no AR/AK pistols) who wants to learn shooting fundamentals, maintenance and zeroing.
DEFENSIVE PISTOL SKILLS 1 (RANGE ONLY)
Also due to student requests, we added a 2 hour range only version of our popular Defensive Pistol Skills 1 course on October 15, from 10-12. Use it as a refresher if you’ve taken the class before, or a short course to learn new skills!
DEFENSIVE PISTOL SKILLS 3
The Defensive Pistol Skills 3 class is the highest level live fire course required for our Defensive Pistol Skills Program challenge coin. Graduation from DPS-2 is required to attend. DPS-3 includes shooting and written tests, and graduates also earn an NRA CCW program certificate. Russell S, in the picture below, recently completed all the coursework and earned his challenge coin. If you have passed DPS-2 and haven’t taken DPS-3 yet, we only offer the course 1-2 times a year, and cool fall weather is a great time to attend!
RECENT CLASSES
We taught multiple Force on Force scenario courses, in Memphis and at home. Here are a few pics from those classes.
Memphis graduatesMemphis indoor range scenariomedical simulation in FOF scenarioCaleb Causey from Lone Star Medics assisted with A-Zone FOF classes
KR TRAINING STAFF NEWS
Paul Martin attended and passed the Department of Public Safety’s new First Responder handgun course. DPS is also allowing instructors to offer the course to carry permit holders, as a higher level tactical and defensive pistol course. We will have more details about the course and our plans to offer it to students after more of our team attends the instructor certification course at DPS.
Paul was also a presenter at the annual Texas Bar Association conference on firearms law. He has shared his presentation on self-defense legal services on his blog.
I was a guest on another episode of the “That Weems Guy” podcast. This episode was recorded awhile back but Lee reposted it to his podcast stream so new subscribers could see it.
Earlier this year I released a remixed, remastered compilation of my late 1980’s/early 1990’s electronic instrumental work, where I wrote, arranged and played all the instruments on each track. “Now I’ve Found You” is an upbeat Latin & funk song with lots of fancy piano playing in the solo section.
BASIC PISTOL 1, BASIC PISTOL 2 and PERSONAL TACTICS SKILLS
Due to student requests we added another Basic Pistol 1 class on Saturday, August 27. This will include the Gun Selection clinic. This class is for people with little or no shooting experience and those wanting an opportunity to try different guns before making a gun purchase decision.
We also have Basic Pistol 2 (which includes the range work necessary to complete the online Texas License to Carry course), and Personal Tactics Skills offered back to back on Sept 10. The PTS course teaches “what to do” in the most common self defense scenarios. The class includes home defense, vehicle defense, pepper spray and other topics. Highly recommended for ALL carry permit holders.
Learning home defense tactics
FORCE ON FORCE WEEKEND SEPT 23-25
Our fall “force on force” training will happen Saturday Sept 24 and Sunday Sept 25. We only offer this training twice a year. The Saturday course (Tactical Scenarios) will include the entire AT-2 course (required for our Defensive Pistol Skills Program) plus more scenarios from our AT-7 course and scenarios incorporating medical skills (co-taught with Caleb Causey of Lone Star Medics).
Force on force scenarioMedical scenario
The Sunday class will include more complex scenarios, including some that allow physical contact (similar to Craig Douglas’ ECQC course) along with disengagement, harsh words, pepper spray, and (Simunition) gun. Dave Reichek, who has been a role player for multiple years of Craig Douglas’ Experiential Labs run at the Rangemaster Tactical Conference, will be co-teaching this course with me.
Dave Reichek and Doug Greig will teach a 6 hour Red Dot Pistol Course on Sept 11 (Sunday). This course focuses on red dot specific knowledge and skills. Loaner guns are available for those that want to learn about red dot sights but have not yet upgraded their gear to have one on a pistol.
Sean Hoffman shooting a red dot pistol
RECENT CLASSES
Back in June, Tom Givens and I co-taught a session of my Historical Handgun class. I wrote about it in this blog post.
A dedicated group of advanced students attended the Advanced Training 4 class in early August. Due to the small class size we were able to add some bonus drills working around and in the new range car to the course. See what you missed in the instagram video. We will offer AT-4 again in summer 2023.
Doug Greig attended and passed the Department of Public Safety’s new First Responder handgun course. DPS is also allowing instructors to offer the course to carry permit holders, as a higher level tactical and defensive pistol course. We will have more details about the course and our plans to offer it to students after more of our team attends the instructor certification course at DPS.
Karl and John were guests on the Concealed Carry Texas podcast.
Back in June I was a guest instructor at the Surgical Speed Shooting Summit. Lee Weems had several of us guest instructors on his podcast in early July.
SONG OF THE MONTH
Earlier this year I released an album with updated mixes and remastered tracks. This song features Mick McMillan on lead guitar. For more videos from all my recent musical activities, visit the Karl Rehn Music youtube channel.
Back in June 2022 I co-taught a session of my Historical Handgun course with Tom Givens. Tom did a 4 hour lecture, similar to what he presented at the Master Instructor course. Due to summer heat we started the day on the range, shooting courses of fire from the 1910’s to the 2000’s.
Bo Wallace, one student in the course, brought vintage gear to use.
Bo dressed to shoot the 1940’s US Army pistol qualrear view of 1940’s gearFor the 1920’s Fitzgerald qual, Bo had vintage cartridge pouches and classic wheelgunHolster closeup
I had Bo pose for some action pics after we got done shooting the 1920’s qual.
Hipshooting the B21-X (Fitzgerald) targetOne handed aimed shooting at distance
I’ve written about the development of the B21 to the B21X to the B27 in this previous blog post.
During the class we shot part of the 1996 Border Patrol/INS pistol qual. The full qual is 72 rounds, with strings from 3 to 50 yards. Shot on the TQ-15 target, it’s a good and thorough test of pistol skills. Back in that day they were carrying Beretta DA/SA .40 caliber pistols.
He showed an example of J. Henry Fitzgerald, in his 1930 book “Shooting”, firing using a two handed position that looked like the classic Weaver stance.
Read more about the history and technique of the Weaver stance here
Tom also discussed target development, including the Langrish limbless target, which had six 6″ circles (same size as a modern plate rack target, similar to 5.5″ B8 target center). This target was developed in the 1930’s.
My Historical Handgun course is available in 1/2 day (range only), 1 and 2-day versions, with the 2 day version including 8 hours of lecture and 8 hours on the range. Participants do not have to have vintage gear and can shoot all the drills with one handgun type, although those that have a variety of pistols and revolvers are encouraged bring a 1911, a DA/SA, a revolver and a striker fired pistol to get maximum fun out of the class.
I haven’t yet scheduled the 2023 Historical Handgun course at my home range, and I’m always interested in taking that class on the road.
