AAR:Insights Training Center-General Defensive Handgun 5/22-23/2010 Bellevue, WA

[Urabus23]

I attended General Defensive Handgun offered by Insights Training Center which was held at West Coast Armory in Bellevue. There were two main instructors, John Holschen and Tracy Roberts. Both were great shooters and teachers and did a great job of helping each student.

Our class split time between the classroom and training bay, both of which were wonderful. Most of the drills were run between 5 and 10 yards, both from the ready and holster. We covered the basics of shooting, including safety, fundamentals and reloads and malfunctions. In the classroom, we discussed issues such as when you are justified in using deadly force and what to do after you are involved in a shooting.

One drill that I found interesting was when the students were told to hold the gun on target while Mr. Holschen pressed the trigger. I found that I was pretty good at aiming and pretty shitty at pressing the trigger! Another interesting thing was how they set up the silhouette targets; the targets were crumpled up and randomly darkened with spray paint to force us to clearly identify our target and our point of aim.

The class was a two day affair and I shot around 350 rounds in total through my M&P 9. Although the round count may seem low, instructors made sure they were quality shots on target. This was my first, full firearms class and it helped not only in my shooting, but also my understanding of the legalities involved in shooting. General Defensive Handgun is a good place to start if you are want to know how to use your handgun.

I'd like to thank all the instructors at Insights and the staff at West Coast armory for putting on a great class.

[MookNW]

Piggy Back

Last weekend I took the General Defensive Handgun class offered by Insights Training at the West Coast Armory Range in Bellevue WA. It was Sat. & Sun. from 8a.m.-6p.m.. This was my first formal firearms class.
IIRC there were about 15 or so people in the class. A couple gals. And the median age was about 25-35.
As far as what people were running through the class, I counted about 4-5 1911's, 3-4 HK's (1 was a p2000, others were .45), 3-4 XD's ( all .45 i think. And 1 was a compact), 2-3 sigs in 9mm, A few glock 17s or 19s, and 2 M&P 9 FS( 1 of which I was using).
The instructors all used Glock.
The first day our instructor was John Holschen. I read his Bio on Insights website, and he definitely is qualified to teach people how to work with firearms effectively. Something came up and John was unable to instruct on the second day, so Tracy Roberts, another qualified instructor took the reigns on the second day.
They said to bring 600 rounds minimum. I think we shot around 400. No problem.

The class was at WCA range in Bellevue. There is a 25 yd. training bay there which was more than enough room for us to do our thing. I joined this range earlier this year and have been very pleased with the facility( which seems to be ever expanding). There is also a 20 yd handgun bay and a 25 yd handgun/rifle bay too . All the bookwork/lecture stuff took place in a class room down the hall.

Day 1
Everything was in 2 hr blocks it seemed.
8:00
The first day started with some introductions. Safety lecture. John showed us some illustrations on staging/ breaking the trigger and also some good info on trigger reset and front/rear sight alignment and product variations. Also stance/posture/grip. Very informative. I learned much. And must unlearn more.
10:00
We all piled out to the range where we practiced trigger control and target acquisition dry then live at about 5 yards. No drill in the class was over 10 yds I think.
Lunch
1:30
Came back to range and practiced tactical reloads and malfunction drills with live/dummy rounds. Then some other drills I cant remember.
3:30
Lecture on Color codes of awareness(white,yellow,orange,red,black) and combat mind-state. Watched some youtube videos of people getting attacked and discussed how they could have been avoided/handled differently.
4:30-6:00
Back to range for practice with speed reloads. Also practiced drawing from holster and shooting from ready position.


Day 2
As I said Earlier, day 2 was headed by instructor Tracy Roberts instead of John Holschen.
8:00
A little refresher covering our first day to get us warmed up on the range. Followed by dot drills. 6 dots
Dot 1= slow fire x6
Dot 2= string 2 shots together x3
Dot 3= fire from ready x6
Dot 4= fire 2 controlled shots from ready x3
Dot 5= fire 1 from relaxed/ holstered position.
Dot 6= I forgot to note, but think it was like dot 5 but stringing multiple shots.

10:00
Lecture on equipment /holsters etc. And how to safely practice dry/live fire at home and at range.

Lunch

1:00
Back to range where we practiced drawing from holster, checking for threats, and drawing from concealment. Live fire.

3:00
Lecture/discussion on ammo selection and ballistics for self defense.

4:00
Range shoot with malf/reload drills. One of which was the Farnam drill, which I was particularly fond of.
5:00
Back to classroom for short test on legalities
5:30-6:30
Shoot/move drills with emphasis on verbal communication throughout.
FWIW, I fully sound like Favre from super troopers when asking if anyone is hurt at the top of my lungs.

End.

Like others have said, this class is a great platform to build more advanced skills upon. Some of which are the low light shooting class that I heard will be offered at Insights and the Intermediate defensive handgun class that I may sign up for in October.

[Urabus23]

It was cool to talk to another M&P shooter. Thanks for adding to my brief AAR...hope to see you in another class down the road!

[MookNW]

Yeah, nice rappin with ya. BTW, was that a looper holster you were using?

[Urabus23]

I was using two Comp-tac's, a regular paddle and an IWB.