Any recommendations for tactical pistol training videos. I am really starting to get into this. The only video I have is by Gabe Suarez and I think it is very good. I know there are a lot on Youtube but not certain that I trust those. let me know what you think.

I have been following Mike/Assault Dynamics on Instagram and Facebook. He has some good tips and I like his presentation for the most part. He certainly has all the credentials.

Mike - Assault Dynamics (@knockoutlights) • Instagram photos and videos

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Glenn
FAS1 SAFE

I like the ones put out by Personal Defense Network. Lots of videos and articles worth checking out, imo.

My recommendation is that you take an actual class. A video can't critique you or give you feedback

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Retired Career Security Guard

Agreed, but not everyone has the resources to do that, whether it's time, money, or both. Video "training" isn't the best approach, but assuming the source is good it's better than ignorance.

What precisely did you want to learn about?

Also, anyone want to take bets on how long before somebody rips on Gabe Suarez?

Take a few minutes to explore the IDPA. You may have a local range that hosts an event monthly and the cost is reasonable. Practice builds skills confidence. You don't need to be the event winner to be a winner. Just getting together with others is a win-win. Also, check out IPSC/USPSA events in your area.

Different instructors explain (teach) concepts differently, even using different terminology. Thus variety is good.

Videos help if it prompts one to action, i. e., dry practice then some live fire.

With greater exposure you can fit and tailor training to your needs.

Nothing beats a live class with a trainer. I have taken 4 Close Range Gunfighting courses from three instructors over a 10-year period. I learned something new every time. Even with less than stellar instructors, live is always better than video.

But video is a better alternative than no training at all. It can motivate one to get to live training. It can prepare one to do better at live training. Most of my videos ($25 ea.) and classes ($800 with fees, travel, ammo) have been from Suarez International. Others have been from a local range with local talent for reduced cost ($100-200) to keep me in the training mode.

Some local ranges run fun shoot nites that are basically mini-IDPA shoots. Bowling pinshoots are good too. Shooting with a training agenda rather than just blasting is helpful. Greg Ellifritz (Active Response Training) has been blogging about once a week on training/shooting exercises. Good stuff.

Panteo (?) Productions has videos from good instructors. John Farnam (defense-training dot ) has videos too. As does Mag-Pul.

I echo the comments about training with a live instructor. Whether live or video, not everything any given instructor says is going to work for you, and there is likely to be stuff the classes laugh at behind their back.

Thank you all for your replies and suggestions.

Chris Sajnog ret Navy Seal Sniper Training videos.

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Life Member NRA
Acts 2:38-39

Except competition is not training but practice. Get some training, then take it to Idpa to practice. Videos would be fine, but as noted, the critique is where you learn what you are doing right or wrong.

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NRA Cert. Inst. IDPA CSO

I wouldn’t buy anything from the instructor you mention.

Stick with a reputable instructor such as Clint Smith at a Thunder Ranch.

Defensive Handgun DVD Set - Thunder Ranch

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Life Is A Gift. Defend it!

Big Clint Smith fan here (early in my membership to this site I was written up for posting one of his vids, kinda salty).

I truly respect Ernest Langdon as well.

both guys have been there and done that , when it counts.

Do you mean Suarez.

Gabe Suarez is:
Experienced
Innovative
Success focused
Controversial by nature

He doesn’t play well with others. He has charted his own course and is doing well with it.

His training methods have usually been ahead of the pack—especially with the AK (now abandoned for the AR); enhanced Glock pistols; the pistol Kata; and particularly in Red Dot Sights on defensive pistols.

Because there are so many choices out there, you can choose not to take advantage of what Suarez International offers because of certain perceptions of the man, but his organization teaches well. The benefits outweigh the rumors/innuendos, IMO. I have trained with him personally and others of his instructors as well as used numerous of the SI videos and books. Never been disappointed.

Can’t say the same about a half dozen other live training courses I’ve taken. There is always something to learn, but it feels more worthwhile when there is a lot taught well.

It really is not rocket science. Sound fundamentals (Sight Alignment, stance & Trigger control) combined with a proper mindset.

Once you have those down, find some drills that you like and practice, practice,practice. The skills are perishable to a degree, so keep them sharp by practicing as often as you can.

I have taken classes from a variety of sources and that is all it reduces down into IMHO. Some of the best training I have received is from people that are "nobodies" in the tactikool world.

That’s a great description of the grammar school of personal defensive training. If you are lucky, they may even contribute to you winning a real gunfight.

Or they may contribute to you losing it.

The second rule of a gunfight (1st: have a gun) is don’t get shot. Train on a square range with fundamentals only, and you train to stand still. Train to use sights and you may be too slow to shoot fast at close distances.

High school = movement, drawing, shooting while moving—all of which are natural responses to being threatened with a gun. Can’t be practiced on the square range. Angles, speed, equipment make a difference.

Shooting from disadvantaged positions, on the ground, from behind/around cover, off handed, malfunction clearances. Now you’re heading into the college of gunfighting. This is useful additional training. It’s fun, confidence building, and may actually give you an advantage in a reactive gunfight.

Then there are the considerations for a pro-active gunfight when you go after an active killer. Distance shooting, head shots, follow up, additional adversaries.

Don’t limit your training to a couple of boxes at the square range once a month working on just the basics. There is much, much more.

I agree that it's not rocket science. Nothing is really rocket science except, well, the various rocket sciences. What you describe is all well and good, but that constitutes about the first day of a two week combat pistol course. It's not tactical pistol training until your palms and forehead are sweaty, your pulse is pounding in your temples, you're trying to catch your breath while picking up the magazines you dropped, and somebody is shooting back while trying to grab your pistol and stick it somewhere dark and smelly. Everybody should seek out training, and every little bit helps, but don't try to compare real tactical training with watching YouTube.

Kinda like learning martial arts, or auto mechanics, or cooking. To get really good at it, you can't just watch it in the living room, you gotta do it with somebody standing over your shoulder . . .

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Wisdom comes thru fear . . .

I believe one of the NRA's Personal Protection classes is a good place
to start.

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In Omnia Paratus

My goals and resources are different than yours, of course. Actually, my goals were/are different than the majority of my fellow shooters yesterday. I just wanted to practice with my carry gun in a dynamic fashion.

I can't agree more with URIT. It is definitely a win-win. My cost , for my first match, was just my ammo and gas. Our matches are $20.00 thereafter. They greatly appreciate help setting up and tearing down. Each month, the scenarios are different.

I truly believe you should walk before you run (tactical training-wise). USPSA is a cost effective, practical way to start in your quest. Be careful though...it can be a money pit, if you go very far down this rabbit hole! I was the only one shooting a carry gun. Everyone else had big $ shooting rigs.

I tend to not communicate fully on the internet since I was never much of a keyboard specialist.

That is what I meant by practice, practice practice...

I was going to type more comments, but what is the point.

Depends who's teaching it. I've heard stuff that made my skin crawl ("I'm going to set this motorized toy downrange and turn off the lights, you try and shoot it, this teaches you how to shoot at things by locating them with sound!").

I'm ethically-bound as an NRA instructor to report bad behavior I see, but...I dunno about what amounts to hearsay.