bgoltra
04-05-11, 18:31
Date: 2 April 2011
Company: TigerSwan booked via Grey Group
Instructors: Leon Bracy (retired US Army special operations) and Jeff Freuler (NC State Highway Patrol and USMC veteran). Both were friendly, professional, and utterly without ego.
Location: TigerSwan Training Collaborative Center in Autryville, NC
Weather: 65F, sunny, and VERY windy; felt like 50F
Background:
I grew up around firearms and bought a pistol when I graduated college. I have done a TON of reading on LF.net, M4C.net, and a few other Web sites and soon realized how paramount training is. With this in mind, I took advantage of TigerSwan’s holiday 2010 10% off special and secured slots for my father and I in their 2 April Intro to Pistol course. I selected TigerSwan based on their sterling reputation, proximity to my house, and availability of the holiday discount. I am a cubicle-dwelling analyst living in Northern Virginia and my father is a jet turbine technician living in South Jersey. Although this was the first formal training experience for either of us, it would be hard to imagine a better way to start off. Both TigerSwan and Grey Group earned two repeat customers.
Course:
Please bear with me as this is my first AAR. I was unable to take detailed notes during the class so I may miss a few things or present them out of order. The class began with introductions of the instructors, review of the first aid plan, and a safety brief. We then moved to the 25m line and began firing strings of five shots at a bulls eye, the goal of which is to expose flaws in technique which may not be evident at shorter ranges. One of the best things about this class was how thoroughly the “why” was covered in addition to the “how.” I had several light bulb moments immediately upon hearing the whys. We went over the fundamentals of stance, grip, sight picture, trigger control/prep, and press out. Each lesson was carefully explained and then demonstrated dry and live by the instructors. The instructors would walk behind students during strings of fire to make spot corrections and then assess the targets before we pasted them up to get an idea of what each shooter was doing wrong. I was jerking the hell out of the trigger, aptly explained to me by Freuler as a software problem. One round often would be a total miss. As I focused and absorbed what the instructors taught, I noticed the rounds creeping towards where they belong. Executing the fundamentals flawlessly was stressed.
We took a little over an hour for lunch and returned to the range this time at the 10m line firing at IPSC targets using ball and dummy drills, draw by numbers, and dry fire with the stated goal of being able to place two well-aimed shots in the A zone of the target as fast as possible by the end of the day. Everyone I observed was able to do this pretty much on demand by the end of instruction. We moved on to 2x2x2 drills, tempo/rhythm work, and some eventual work on speed at the 3m line. Reloads and malfunction clearance was also covered and worked into drills. Every bit of instruction built upon what we just learned. I regret to say I’m skipping a lot but I don’t know the correct terminology for some of the drills we conducted. We closed out the day shooting four targets twice each spread far apart from 3m. The class then received a short de-brief and received our t shirts and certificates of instruction. TigerSwan later e-mailed a skill builder sheet and an anonymous satisfaction survey.
Equipment:
The class seemed split about 50/50 with Glocks and M&Ps with a SIG, an HK, a full size Beretta, and a 1911 of dubious provenance thrown in. I shot a little over 500 rounds of Federal American Eagle 9mm with a third generation G19 equipped with 10-8 Performance sights and a Vickers-TangoDown magazine release. My dad fired about the same number of rounds of the same ammo through a 2006 vintage CPO P226 on which Bruce Gray performed his Reduced Reset Comprehensive Duty Package and installed Trijicon three dot sights. Neither pistol suffered any malfunctions and was fed with factory magazines exclusively. We both used CompTac belt holsters and magazine carriers on Wilderness Tactical 5 stitch instructor belts. The only piece of cool guy clothing I wore was an Arc’Teryx Gamma SV hoody. Bringing this proved critical because of the high wind and it greatly enhanced my comfort when worn over a Capilene long sleeve base layer, a short sleeve cotton t shift, and a long sleeve cotton t shirt.
Random Notes:
The class had about 12 people in it, 3 of whom I would not consider “gun people,” meaning they had little familiarity with firearms before attending. These three were carefully attended to by the instructors and did not slow the class too much. Two of whom, both female, might have been better suited in an NRA first steps pistol course. One however, started off the day at 25m with one round of five landing anywhere on the target and showed significant improvement by the end of the day, being able to draw and fire two rounds into the chest A zone and one into the head A zone of another target with regularity from 10m.
I felt safe the entire time.
We did not have to pick up brass at the end of the course.
The class was very busy, but not rushed, from 8am to 5pm.
Electronic hearing protection is a huge benefit and I can understand why some instructors mandate it.
My dad didn’t really know what to expect going in. The instructors pretty much tore down and reconstructed his grip and trigger control which yielded greatly increased accuracy and speed. He walked away very impressed and kept saying what a value the course is.
Although the course overview required students to bring a cleaning kit, we did not cover this. This was totally fine with me as the result was more time learning to shoot. Cleaning a modern service pistol isn’t rocket science and can be learned else where. Bracy quickly covered pistol lubrication after lunch by indicating that most modern service pistols don’t need to be babied only kept lubed.
*Pictures to follow*
Company: TigerSwan booked via Grey Group
Instructors: Leon Bracy (retired US Army special operations) and Jeff Freuler (NC State Highway Patrol and USMC veteran). Both were friendly, professional, and utterly without ego.
Location: TigerSwan Training Collaborative Center in Autryville, NC
Weather: 65F, sunny, and VERY windy; felt like 50F
Background:
I grew up around firearms and bought a pistol when I graduated college. I have done a TON of reading on LF.net, M4C.net, and a few other Web sites and soon realized how paramount training is. With this in mind, I took advantage of TigerSwan’s holiday 2010 10% off special and secured slots for my father and I in their 2 April Intro to Pistol course. I selected TigerSwan based on their sterling reputation, proximity to my house, and availability of the holiday discount. I am a cubicle-dwelling analyst living in Northern Virginia and my father is a jet turbine technician living in South Jersey. Although this was the first formal training experience for either of us, it would be hard to imagine a better way to start off. Both TigerSwan and Grey Group earned two repeat customers.
Course:
Please bear with me as this is my first AAR. I was unable to take detailed notes during the class so I may miss a few things or present them out of order. The class began with introductions of the instructors, review of the first aid plan, and a safety brief. We then moved to the 25m line and began firing strings of five shots at a bulls eye, the goal of which is to expose flaws in technique which may not be evident at shorter ranges. One of the best things about this class was how thoroughly the “why” was covered in addition to the “how.” I had several light bulb moments immediately upon hearing the whys. We went over the fundamentals of stance, grip, sight picture, trigger control/prep, and press out. Each lesson was carefully explained and then demonstrated dry and live by the instructors. The instructors would walk behind students during strings of fire to make spot corrections and then assess the targets before we pasted them up to get an idea of what each shooter was doing wrong. I was jerking the hell out of the trigger, aptly explained to me by Freuler as a software problem. One round often would be a total miss. As I focused and absorbed what the instructors taught, I noticed the rounds creeping towards where they belong. Executing the fundamentals flawlessly was stressed.
We took a little over an hour for lunch and returned to the range this time at the 10m line firing at IPSC targets using ball and dummy drills, draw by numbers, and dry fire with the stated goal of being able to place two well-aimed shots in the A zone of the target as fast as possible by the end of the day. Everyone I observed was able to do this pretty much on demand by the end of instruction. We moved on to 2x2x2 drills, tempo/rhythm work, and some eventual work on speed at the 3m line. Reloads and malfunction clearance was also covered and worked into drills. Every bit of instruction built upon what we just learned. I regret to say I’m skipping a lot but I don’t know the correct terminology for some of the drills we conducted. We closed out the day shooting four targets twice each spread far apart from 3m. The class then received a short de-brief and received our t shirts and certificates of instruction. TigerSwan later e-mailed a skill builder sheet and an anonymous satisfaction survey.
Equipment:
The class seemed split about 50/50 with Glocks and M&Ps with a SIG, an HK, a full size Beretta, and a 1911 of dubious provenance thrown in. I shot a little over 500 rounds of Federal American Eagle 9mm with a third generation G19 equipped with 10-8 Performance sights and a Vickers-TangoDown magazine release. My dad fired about the same number of rounds of the same ammo through a 2006 vintage CPO P226 on which Bruce Gray performed his Reduced Reset Comprehensive Duty Package and installed Trijicon three dot sights. Neither pistol suffered any malfunctions and was fed with factory magazines exclusively. We both used CompTac belt holsters and magazine carriers on Wilderness Tactical 5 stitch instructor belts. The only piece of cool guy clothing I wore was an Arc’Teryx Gamma SV hoody. Bringing this proved critical because of the high wind and it greatly enhanced my comfort when worn over a Capilene long sleeve base layer, a short sleeve cotton t shift, and a long sleeve cotton t shirt.
Random Notes:
The class had about 12 people in it, 3 of whom I would not consider “gun people,” meaning they had little familiarity with firearms before attending. These three were carefully attended to by the instructors and did not slow the class too much. Two of whom, both female, might have been better suited in an NRA first steps pistol course. One however, started off the day at 25m with one round of five landing anywhere on the target and showed significant improvement by the end of the day, being able to draw and fire two rounds into the chest A zone and one into the head A zone of another target with regularity from 10m.
I felt safe the entire time.
We did not have to pick up brass at the end of the course.
The class was very busy, but not rushed, from 8am to 5pm.
Electronic hearing protection is a huge benefit and I can understand why some instructors mandate it.
My dad didn’t really know what to expect going in. The instructors pretty much tore down and reconstructed his grip and trigger control which yielded greatly increased accuracy and speed. He walked away very impressed and kept saying what a value the course is.
Although the course overview required students to bring a cleaning kit, we did not cover this. This was totally fine with me as the result was more time learning to shoot. Cleaning a modern service pistol isn’t rocket science and can be learned else where. Bracy quickly covered pistol lubrication after lunch by indicating that most modern service pistols don’t need to be babied only kept lubed.
*Pictures to follow*