Day 2 - 8AM - 6PM
Today only got to 89 degrees - partly cloudy - at times we had LOTs of wind - got lucky during my Qual and was calm.
This day was all about shooting!
Side note - I signed up for this class end of 2018 - and I had never taken any instructor taught courses of any substance - In the Army I only shot M16, M60 (ya I'm old), M249 and others - never any handgun. I go to the range every weekend - and sometimes 2-3 times a week depending on what is going on at the range (steel shot, low light, and league). Well I shoot okay, but never been taught holster draw or anything of real substance. So I talked to my gun range and told them I wanted to be prepared for this Massad Ayoob class and not look like an idiot and waste people's time. Well the guy that set the whole thing up has taken Massad Ayoob classes multiple times (along with others) - he tells me to sign up for what they called Skill Builder 1, 2, 3. 1 - basic knowledge 2. draw from holster standing still 3. draw from holster (moving and engaging close up and cover) Now since this guy had taken a lot of Massad Ayoob courses - he teaches his classes very similar to Massad, same kind of stuff that I saw on Day 1 - so Day 1 I felt like a RockStar but I also felt like - man did I waste my money.... Now Massad has a lot of knowledge - A LOT - but because I had already kinda of done DAY 1 with my gun club I felt 'cheated' I still learned, but I believe Day 1 is to gauge the students and teach them basics - we did have some people that should probably been better prepared - Well that all changed day 2....this class rocked and I learned a lot and got better over the 2 days for sure. Long side not over.
Day 2 was about reinforcing what you had done on day 1 (Weaver, Chapman, Isosceles stances), trigger control, grip, sight picture, speed reloads
Day 2 also introduced a weak hand only, strong hand only, 3 crouching/kneeling positions, and also a bunch of different drills all timed and at different distances (having your hands trembling while firing, closing eyes after acquiring sight picture - pull trigger open eyes to see if your sight picture is still same, crouching, kneeling, both knees on ground sitting back on feet or but to ground) I know I am forgetting a lot of other ones - Massad Ayoob called them StressFire Drills and he had a bunch.
One of the drills - Massad or a RO actually shot the gun with you - called the Exemplar Drill - putting their finger on your trigger finger - and doing 3 different drills really with it - you get sight picture and they feel your trigger pull, then they push on you finger and you finish, 3rd is similar to 1st but was diff - dont know how to explain - but was really helpful. You can google Exemplar Drill and read about it in better detail than I am giving you.
We then practiced the Qualification one time - it was of things we had already been doing over the day.
FYI - Massad's Qualification is a mash up of a lot of other types of qualifications, some with tweaks - he keeps these qualifications on file - IF you ever have to appear in court Massad will present your qualification. I won't go into all the legal stuff - that is actually the Sat/Sun law class that I will not be attending this weekend - I felt it was too much for me - I know it would be a ton of amazing info, I'm just trying to buy a reloader right now - so not in the cards.
Massad his wife and the Range Officers all shot it first - Massad got a 299/300 his wife 296/300 and the RO ranged from 260-292.
Passing is a 225/300 75%
I am happy to say I scored 287/300 - 95.66% lets not forget that 0.66
maybe could even round up
This grouping was my best of both days for anything I did - I do a lot of low/left and I know why...I also learned from this I like the Chapman stance better - before I was mostly isosceles stance with my strong leg back a little. I also worked on my trigger control.
We were shooting IDPA targets - but they weren't scored like IDPA. All center A is 5pts, A head is only 4 pts (he wanted all center), C is 4 pts and I think D is 3 pts - anything out side is -5. I got 11 pts deducted from C (11 shots) and 2 pts (1 shot) deducted from D.
I did real good until the crouch/kneeling and the switching all 3 stances - stage 1-3 I was all on A's (it was closer distance
)
The #2 on my target was because I was in Relay 2 - Relay 2 won the 2 bucks each with a higher average than relay 1.
Top shot was a guy rocking a P-07 appendix carry 300/300 and Massad signed a $5 bill for him since Massad got 299/300. Guy in 2nd row kneeling in Red - Grizzly Adams.
High female shooter got 296/300. I out-shot 3 of 4 of the guys that work at my gun range (I'm pretty happy about that) the one I didn't outshoot got a 298/300.
Btw Massad was shooting a Wilson Combat Beretta 92. (sorta see it in the pic below)
I had a GREAT time - I got a lot better - built knowledge, skills, some stuff to work on and a lot of confidence. Massad shot my P10C if I didn't mention that yesterday - one of the RO really like my HBI trigger (plus all the rounds through it).
Once they post the group photo I'll prob update this and toss it in here - I'll be the big guy cheesing standing next to Massad.
Highly recommended!
Edited - ZERO issues with my main P10C S&B 115gr over 600rds shot during both days.
Side note 2 - I was able to pick up a couple Massad Ayoob Spyderco discontinued knives 2002 date...super awesome
