My teenage son and I took a beginning tactical pistol class yesterday. I gave him his choice of which pistol he wanted to use in the class and he picked my 5906. I decided on taking my 4566TSW mostly because I wanted to see how well I would do with a 3rd gen pistol and because I wanted to improve my shooting skills with it. We do have some modern striker fired pistols that we could have used, but wanted to try the 3rd gens in the class.
The class was great. The instruction started with basic grip, stance, draw stroke and a full explanation of the importance of each. The instructor also informed us that there would be 2 competitions during the class where we would have a chance to win a "challenge coin". There were several live fire drills including accuracy/trigger reset, stepping left/right before firing, shooting from the hip, malfunction drills, and others.
There were 12 students in the class. I did notice that my son and I were the only ones that brought 3rd gen S&W pistols. Everyone else had Glocks except for 2 of the other students. One of those had a full size M&P and the other had a M&P Shield. The instructor took note of this, borrowed the 5906 from my son and proceeded to explain some of the differences to the class. He stated that while the 3rd gens were older weapons, they were great guns. He further explained that my son and I would have have to engage/disengage the safety/decocker during the draw stroke.
During the live fire drills, I did notice that we usually finished last or near the end. My hands are on the small size for a guy and my son's hands aren't much larger. We both had difficulty disengaging the safety/decocker and pressing the magazine release since our thumbs weren't quite long enough.
The first challenge was firing 4 center mass shots into the target starting with only 1 round in the magazine and 1 round in the chamber. You had to then reload with another magazine and finish the remaining 2 shots. Accuracy counted too, a miss and you were out. This was a timed event, starting at 8 seconds, then 7 seconds, then 6 seconds, then 5 seconds. I was out at 6 seconds and the first to drop out. After 5 seconds, it was untimed and whoever was fastest and still hit the target won the challenge. The winner was using a Glock.
The second challenge was based only on accuracy. Each student had a 1 inch diameter black adhesive circle placed on their target. The objective was to hit the black dot as many times as you could with 5 rounds. There was no time limit. I don't know the exact distance, but it was fairly close at about 4 or 5 yards. I fired all 5 shots within a minute and hit the black dot 3 times out of 5. I remember thinking which one of the guys with a striker fired pistol won the challenge this time. I looked down the row of targets and realized that no one else had more than 1 hit on the black dot. I was impressed that a 3rd gen S&W 4566TSW did that well. I have to say it was pretty neat to win that challenge coin with my 4566TSW!
I learned a lot during that class. It was a great experience, and my son and I intend to take more classes together in the future. He had a great time and so did I.
The class was great. The instruction started with basic grip, stance, draw stroke and a full explanation of the importance of each. The instructor also informed us that there would be 2 competitions during the class where we would have a chance to win a "challenge coin". There were several live fire drills including accuracy/trigger reset, stepping left/right before firing, shooting from the hip, malfunction drills, and others.
There were 12 students in the class. I did notice that my son and I were the only ones that brought 3rd gen S&W pistols. Everyone else had Glocks except for 2 of the other students. One of those had a full size M&P and the other had a M&P Shield. The instructor took note of this, borrowed the 5906 from my son and proceeded to explain some of the differences to the class. He stated that while the 3rd gens were older weapons, they were great guns. He further explained that my son and I would have have to engage/disengage the safety/decocker during the draw stroke.
During the live fire drills, I did notice that we usually finished last or near the end. My hands are on the small size for a guy and my son's hands aren't much larger. We both had difficulty disengaging the safety/decocker and pressing the magazine release since our thumbs weren't quite long enough.
The first challenge was firing 4 center mass shots into the target starting with only 1 round in the magazine and 1 round in the chamber. You had to then reload with another magazine and finish the remaining 2 shots. Accuracy counted too, a miss and you were out. This was a timed event, starting at 8 seconds, then 7 seconds, then 6 seconds, then 5 seconds. I was out at 6 seconds and the first to drop out. After 5 seconds, it was untimed and whoever was fastest and still hit the target won the challenge. The winner was using a Glock.
The second challenge was based only on accuracy. Each student had a 1 inch diameter black adhesive circle placed on their target. The objective was to hit the black dot as many times as you could with 5 rounds. There was no time limit. I don't know the exact distance, but it was fairly close at about 4 or 5 yards. I fired all 5 shots within a minute and hit the black dot 3 times out of 5. I remember thinking which one of the guys with a striker fired pistol won the challenge this time. I looked down the row of targets and realized that no one else had more than 1 hit on the black dot. I was impressed that a 3rd gen S&W 4566TSW did that well. I have to say it was pretty neat to win that challenge coin with my 4566TSW!
I learned a lot during that class. It was a great experience, and my son and I intend to take more classes together in the future. He had a great time and so did I.
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