1980 American Pistol Institute (Gunsite) class notes

Another artifact from Bob Hanna – notes from classes he attended at the American Pistol Institute (aka Gunsite) in 1980 and 1981. Here’s their recommended twice-a-month practice drill. API dry practice drill. Another practice drill. The advanced practice drill. Turning draws were emphasized a lot more in courses (and matches) in the 1980’s than they …

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Book Review: Serious Mistakes Gunowners Make (Werner, 2019)

Claude Werner, a.k.a. the Tactical Professor, has a distinguished background as an analyst in the military (Special Operations), as a market research director for real estate and major accounting firms, and as a firearms trainer at the elite Rogers Shooting School. Several years ago he began to study what he called “negative outcomes” involving armed …

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1980 Chuck Taylor course notes

KR Training student Bob Hanna recently gave me his copies of class notes from training he attended with the late Chuck Taylor. Taylor was one of the early traveling trainers who spun off from Jeff Cooper’s American Pistol Institute (Gunsite), bringing that curriculum to a national (and international) audience. In 1980, Taylor had just started …

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Book Review: That’s The Way I Remember it (Gordon, 2019)

Retired Texas Ranger Joey Gordon is a regular contributor to the Texas State Rifle Association monthly magazine. His articles feature stories about guns used and owned by Texas Rangers. Many of his articles have been compiled into a glossy book available from TSRA as a fundraising item. A couple sample pages from the book’s chapters, …

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Armed Citizen-Police Interaction Video

As part of the ongoing 2020 Virtual Preparedness Conference Paul Martin and I are presenting this fall, LEO instructor and private sector trainer Lee Weems from First Person Safety contributed this video giving guidance for armed citizens interacting with police. Like the other videos in this series, it’s available to stream or download, ad-free, for …

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Book Review: Quick or Dead (Cassidy, 1978)

Quick or Dead was published by Paladin Press back in 1978. There are still copies available online, even though Paladin has closed up shop. The title doesn’t tell you as much about the book’s contents as the subtitle on the inside cover page does. Written during the time when the Modern Technique (Weaver stance and …

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Video Review: Gunsite Active Shooter (Panteao, 2016)

During a recent trip to Gunsite I picked up a physical copy of the Panteao-produced, Gunsite Active Shooter Response video. Since I will be teaching another session of the Texas DPS-certified Active Shooter response course this month, I spent some time watching the Gunsite video as part of my review of class materials. This 3 …

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Book Review: Gun Control Myths (John Lott, 2020)

Research John R. Lott, Jr. has a new book out, “Gun Control Myths”. Like all his other work, it’s fact-filled, with higher quality research than the Bloomberg-funded gun control advocates produce. Since Dr. Lott’s conclusions don’t fit the “narrative” of most media, you won’t see his results reported as widely. If you find yourself discussing …

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William Aprill, RIP

Yesterday the news rippled through the firearms training community that Dr. William Aprill of Aprill Risk Consulting had passed away. I’ve known William for close to 20 years, as he and I were regular presenters at the annual Rangemaster Tactical Conferences, and in recent years I had hosted (and co-taught) his “Unthinkable” course. His “Unthinkable” …

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Book Review: The Gun Gap (Mark Joslyn, 2020)

I picked up a copy of this e-book recently. Someone I follow online (can’t remember who, sorry) recommended it. The author, Mark Joslyn, is a political scientist at the University of Kansas who does research on voting trends and demographics, including gun ownership. According to the introduction, the author “has never owned or gun or …

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Austin Crime Stats and upcoming tactics courses

(From Paul Martin): Last week, the Greater Austin Crime Commission released a Crime in Austin report. Download it here. Citywide, aggravated assaults and individual robberies were up last year. Response times are slower, and traffic fatalities increased. Cutting 100 cops takes us back to 2015 staffing levels. Does that make sense in a rapidly growing …

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Texas Bar Online Course on Firearms Law 2020

The Texas Bar continuing education program offers a session titled “Firearms Law: What Every Texas Lawyer Needs to Know”, on September 24-25, 2020. The session is not limited to Texas lawyers. Anyone can attend. I’ve attended the in-person sessions in previous years and found them very useful and informative. Speakers typically include prosecutors, defensive lawyers, …

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Book Review: The Red Dot Club (Robert Rangel, 2014)

I picked up a copy of this e-book when it was recommended by Greg Ellifritz (Active Response Training blog). The Red Dot Club is a series of first-hand accounts of gunfights – shooting others and being shot (getting a “red dot”) told by police officers, mostly from Southern California. The accounts are very detailed, with …

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Gunsite and the C-Bar Ranch

The SIG Pistol Mounted Optics instructor class Sean and I attended was held at Gunsite. Gunsite is the root of the tree for defensive pistol training: where the modern era began. The Col. Cooper era, often called “Orange Gunsite” by its students, had basically ended before I had the money and free time and interest …

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SIG Pistol Mounted Optics Instructor Course AAR

On June 18-19, 2020, KR Training instructor Sean Hoffman and I attended a session of the SIG Academy’s Pistol Mounted Optics Instructor course. The class was a mix of private sector and law enforcement trainers. It was held at the famous Gunsite facility in Paulden, Arizona. I picked this particular session of the class to …

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1920’s Police Revolver Qualification

During the Rangemaster Master Instructor Course, Tom Givens shared a police qualification course of fire with the class. The course was published in J. Henry Fitzgerald’s book “Shooting”, in 1930, but was in use in New York in the 1920’s. That book is available in print and e-book edition here. It’s one of the earliest, …

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Book Review – Basics of Pistol Shooting Pt 4 (NRA, 2020)

The National Rifle Association recently released a major update to the Basics of Pistol Shooting book. This is part 4 of a multi-part review of the book. (Part 1 of the review is here, part 2 is here, and part 3 is here.) Most of the book is excellent, with significantly better graphics and content …

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Book Review – Basics of Pistol Shooting Pt 3 (NRA, 2020)

The National Rifle Association recently released a major update to the Basics of Pistol Shooting book. This is part 3 of a multi-part review of the book. (Part 1 of the review is here, and part 2 is here.) Most of the book is excellent, with significantly better graphics and content than previous editions. However, …

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