This past Saturday, I had the privilege of attending the VSM basic pistol class held by 914 Consulting, at the C2 Shooting Center, in Virginia Beach. Chris Frank was the instructor for this class. This was my second time attending Chris’s basic pistol class, and as expected I had an awesome time, and learned a few things in the process. This class had twelve students in attendance, with half of us shooting Glocks. Other pistols present were: one M&P, two XDs, a Sig, a Taurus, and a Walther PPQ. Most of these were carried in kydex pancake style holsters. I brought my gen3 Glock 17 RTF2, carried in a Safariland ALS holster on a VTAC Brokos Belt. This was my first time shooting this particular gun with the new 2nd gen Grip Force Adapter, which has a slick beavertail, and I can tell you, the GFA definitely earned its keep. The webbing between my thumb and forefinger thanked me after the class. Shooters ranged from extreme beginner to advanced, with most being somewhere in between. The weather was pretty craptastic, with rain coming down most of the day, ranging from just a drizzle, to an all out pour. But if it aint rainin’ you aint trainin’, right?
I have taken a number of open enrollment pistol classes over the past couple of years, ranging from basic to advanced. As stated above, this was my second basic class with Chris, and it was a great opportunity for me to get back to the basics, and dedicate more time to the fundamentals, and dissect my shooting ability at its core. Without a doubt, at the end of the day, I came away a better shooter. I was even able to shave a little bit of time off of my draw. Quite a few of the students in attendance were beginners, and were just starting the process of learning not only the fundamentals of pistol marksmanship, but gear placement and how to efficiently utilize their gear and manipulate their particular pistol. Chris did an outstanding job at covering this material, and was able kick their shooting and weapon manipulation ability up a few notches. I was quite surprised at the improvement of some of the beginner level shooters.
The class started off with introductions. Chris introduced himself, followed by all the students, with everyone sharing a little bit about themselves. This was followed by a safety brief, and a review of the four weapons safety rules. The range went hot at 0900, and we proceeded to kick off the training day. We started off with firing five rounds into a 3x5 card, at 5 yards. The goal being to print a group no bigger than one’s thumbnail. We then proceeded to work on perfecting our trigger control with a couple of different exercises, including ball-and-dummy drills. We worked on that for a while and then moved back to work on single shots from the low ready, as well as indexed on the target, eventually working up to performing the drills, timed. Later on we moved on to multiple shots at increasing distances, to meet specific par times while trying to keep all of our shots inside the black on a B8 replacement center target, preferably within the 10 ring. From there we went on to the draw, and after that, the reload. Chris taught various methods of efficiently reloading the gun for both right handed, and wrong handed shooters, with all the pistol platforms that were present. Later on we did various team drills on steel, and broke for lunch(Chris broke out a grill with some hamburgers and hot dogs). After lunch we picked back up with some more multiple shot drills on the timer, as well as more team drills on steel. My accuracy seemed to have degraded a tad with the freshly consumed delicious burgers in my belly(Which I caught shit for from Chris.) but it didn’t take long for me to get my head back in the game. Towards the end of the day, we did a walk-back drill. The winner of the drill was actually one of the more beginner level shooters, who hit the steel plate from 100 yards on his first shot. At this point, it didn’t surprise me, as this particular shooter, along with others, had displayed rapid improvement throughout the entire class. After the walk back, we did some more individual and team drills at different distances, and then ended the training day working on our draw-to-first-shot time on some steel, working on improving the efficiency of our draw stroke. Afterwards we debriefed, cleaned up, and secured at around 1730.
This is advertised as a beginner level course, but I have found it to be an outstanding class, both for beginners just getting their feet wet, as well as intermediate and advanced shooters that would like to improve in a specific area, or just want to get back to the basics. There is plenty to be taken from Chris’s instruction by shooters of all skill levels. I would gladly attend another in the future.
ETA: To the others that attended, feel free to add your thoughts.
***Photos were taken throughout the day, and I assume they will be posted on this thread. So stand by for that.***
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