Training?

[oliver507]

Has anybody taken any professional self-defence handgun training (front site, blackwater,gunsite,etc). If so what did you like/notlike and why. I'm concidering
taking a course or two and would appreciate your feed back.

 

[cshoff]

I have completed all of the training required to obtain Certified Instructor ratings in NRA Pistol, NRA Personal Protection In The Home, NRA Personal Protection Outside The Home, and NRA Range Safety Officer. All together, that is around 85 hours of training and I would call all of it professional, well organized, and well done. The NRA Personal Protection programs contain a very comprehensive curriculum.

That said, I can think of a few people in particular that I would just LOVE to take training under and that is Massad Ayoob at LFI, Chuck Taylor at A.S.A.A., Clint Smith at Thunder Ranch, and Rob Pincus at I.C.E..

 

[Muley Gil]

I have been through the 40 hour NRA law enforcement handgun and shotgun instructor school. I also went through some training with the Crucible in Fredericksburg, Virginia.

 

[USAF385]

No training through any of the places you mentioned, but I highly recommend any specialized training. I'm not sure how these places work, but when training in the Air Force, we had all the ammo we needed plus expert training from a number of highly qualified individuals from multiple branches. I became a far better shooter because of it.

Air Force Aerial Gunner, Combat Aircrew. Extensive training with the M9. Qualified small arms expert on both M9 and M16 thanks to Uncle Sam!

 

[sniper350]

I am a certifed Handgun Instructor and have been teaching for about 25 years.

What I can tell you .......if you really want to become good .......... and I mean really good, find a "Personal handgun Instructor" and put your money into this "One on One" type of training.
That,s all I do ........ even though I could make tons more money running a weekend warrior class and putting 10 or 15 students through a close combat course of training.

When my students are done with my 15 week course ............. they have established the NECESSARY "motor memory" skills to defend themselves with a handgun should Deadly Force be justified. This takes 15 ONE hour sessions to establish this type self defense reaction ( motor Memory ) with a handgun. As an example, different responses are required depending on the distance from the attacker ....... the response type & recognition needs to be habitual and without thought. Most of the time, you as the victim are fighting from being behind in the response curve and need to conserve precious seconds for the most important decisions - like whether to Fight or Flight !

I believe close supervision is the only way to bring a student to their full potential. Too easy to allow small "bad habits" to form while you are trying to learn defensive skills on your own and these bad habits only work against you to SLOW you down.

A student winds up spending about the same amount of money ......... about $450, but instead of trying to grasp the whole course in one week or even 3 days ...........personal "one on one" training allows you 15 weeks to learn and practice the skills that will save your life. None of my students are given a "certifcate of completion" unless they can pass the Close Combat Course ( 120 rounds ) with ZERO misses. This includes firing from the "belt buckle position" ( several times ) at your target as fast as you can pull the trigger. The target is a man-sized shape but only hits to an 11 inch diameter circle are considered good .........all others are misses !! All my students have passed this strict test, but in honesty some have had to take additional tests to pass. I do not punish those that do not pass on the first test day & require additional training.

So to sum up ............ one on one .....is the best way to spend your money ........ because at the end of the training process .....you have a somewhat finished product .....able to defend themselves" right out of the Box".

This is not to say that these other schools don't have good skills to demonstrate, because they do. Just don't expect to leave the training school "ready to go" ................much more practice will be required on your part to put their great knowledge into action.


JF.

 

[max]

I attended TDI in Southern Ohio last fall and it was first rate. The ratio of instructors to students was about 1-3. Not only were the instructors good, but they could teach. That is a very good combination. I was there 3 days and fired over 1000 rounds. I came away a better shot and better informed.

 

[45Wheelgun]

I went to Front Sight a year or so ago. I did their 4-day defensive handgun course. I highly recommend it. I inproved remarkably. Having been a 25 year shooter, I thought I was reasonably trained.

I came home a significantly better shooter.

One of their claims is that at the end of the course you will be able to: draw from a concealed holster at 15 yards, put two rounds in the thoracic cavity in less then two seconds. Seemed hard to believe to me, but at the end of 4 days I was doing it easily. Rather then "double tap" I was actually able to think about that second shot. Truly amazing.

It was a whole lot of fun, but it was 4 long days, 1000 rounds. I was the only person in my class to be using a revolver. I didn't have to do FTF, FTE drills!

 

[7shooter]

I've been to a number of well known and not so well known schools for pistol ,defensive shotgun , urban carbine, and submachine gun and had the NRA training. I am felt like I learned something in all the schools.The two that were most beneficial for me were John and Vicki Farnam's Defense Training International and Massad Ayoobs Advanced Stressfire. I especially liked Farnam's emphasis on moving laterally when not shooting and his focus on situational awareness. Both Farnam and Ayoob have techniques that put pressure on the student and force them to deal with stress while accurately placing shots.