Defensive Handgun/Vickers Shooting Method, 13 Feb 2011 Carthage NC

[NCPatrolAR]

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w167/DefConNC/VSM/VSM.jpg

http://defensiveconceptsnc.com/images/DCNC.jpg

Defensive Concepts North Carolina will be teaching our 1 day VSM/Defensive Handgun course on 13 February 2011 in Carthage, NC. If anyone is interested or has questions; feel free to contact me through site PM or email me at chris@defensiveconceptsnc.com .

Here is a brief run down on the course:

The Defensive Handgun course is taught using the Vickers Shooting Method and will expose students to proper handgun manipulations, marksmanship fundamentals and tactics using minimal classroom time and extensive live fire exercises. This course will provide concerned citizens with the skills and tactics necessary to gain a significant advantage over aggressive attackers during life-threatening encounters. The following principles will be strongly reinforced throughout the course:


Know and adhere to the real world safety rules that govern professional firearms handling.
Only accurate hits on target can decide the fight in your favor – therefore accuracy is King.
You are accountable for every round you fire – squeeze the trigger as if your life depends on it because it does.


The course tuition is $175 which includes a range fee for use of the facility we will be shooting at.

Students will need:

1 Handgun with a Minimum of 3 Magazines or Speedloaders (Single stack pistols need a minimum of 5 magazines)
Strong Side Belt or Thigh Holster(No Cross-Draw or Shoulder Holsters)
A Sturdy Gunbelt and Spare Magazine Pouch/Carrier
500 Rounds of Factory Ammunition
Pen/Pencil and Paper
Ear and Eye Protection
Hand cleaner might be a good thing too

For those needing a hotel in the area of the course; we have a special discounted rate established with a local hotel for our students.

Completion of this course will enable students to take the Level 1 Pistol course offered by Vickers Tactical with no further training requirement. Course completion also qualifies students to take part in any intermediate handgun courses or proficiency modules offered by Defensive Concepts.

[NCPatrolAR]

Online enrollment is now available for this course. Follow this link (http://defensiveconceptsnc.com/register/register_defensivehandgun.php) to sign up. :D

[NCPatrolAR]

Still a few openings available

[NCPatrolAR]

We still have several seats open for the procrastinators out there. :p

[fyeguy]

My AAR:

WX was just about perfect, a clear sunny day that reminded my why I moved to the Carolinas. The day started off cool (35F) and ended in the low 70's. The students were a mix of new and experienced shooters, and the pistols were a mixed bag with (surprisingly) only one GLOCK, a few M&P's, Sig's, 1911's, and even a Hi-Power. On my end of the line the GLOCK and M&P's and even the Hi-Power ran flawlessly. Besides the constant reloads, there were quite a few issues on the 1911 side of the line, I'm not positive on this but I think the Kimber had a similar failure rate to the RIA. The phrase 'king of feed-ramp failures' was a constant throughout the days events.

The training day started with a safety brief and introductions and medical emergency plan. The four fundamental firearms safety rules were covered, as well as a fifth, a DCNC constant of 'do not try to catch a dropped/falling gun'.

With that we walked out to the line for a quick live-fire reality check: 15 yards, 8 rounds in 10 seconds. As a group we failed miserably, the last round fired was near the :17 mark. My first rounds out of the holster would have been IPSC-A's, however several rounds fell outside of the black on the much smaller VSM targets that we were using for this drill. Fortunately this was my worst shooting for the day (stationery).

With many shots falling low (and many right), Chris used this opportunity to stress the critical importance of trigger control. We then went through several dry fire drills including keeping a spent casing balanced on our front site while manipulating the trigger, as well as several rounds of 'ball and dummy' drills. Any movement of the front site during these drills resulted in a 'penalty' of a string of dry fire drills to reinforce proper trigger manipulation.

With these drills completed, we switched over to standard IPSC targets, and had a discussion on combat accuracy and the need for good hits to stop a lethal force encounter. One constant in any Defensive Concepts course is their very high accuracy standard. I have taken several courses with DCNC and no matter the platform, the concept that you are responsible for every round that leaves your gun is highly stressed. Real world examples of lethal force encounters reinforce the need to place shots accurately.

More... (http://www.twoalphakit.com/defensive-concepts-north-carolina-vsmdefensive-handgun/)

[NCPatrolAR]

Here are some pics from the course:

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w167/DefConNC/13%20Feb%20VSM%20Handgun/DSC01201.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w167/DefConNC/13%20Feb%20VSM%20Handgun/DSC01204.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w167/DefConNC/13%20Feb%20VSM%20Handgun/DSC01206.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w167/DefConNC/13%20Feb%20VSM%20Handgun/DSC01210.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w167/DefConNC/13%20Feb%20VSM%20Handgun/DSC01219.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w167/DefConNC/13%20Feb%20VSM%20Handgun/DSC01259.jpg

[NCPatrolAR]

My AAR:

WX was just about perfect, a clear sunny day that reminded my why I moved to the Carolinas. The day started off cool (35F) and ended in the low 70's. The students were a mix of new and experienced shooters, and the pistols were a mixed bag with (surprisingly) only one GLOCK, a few M&P's, Sig's, 1911's, and even a Hi-Power. On my end of the line the GLOCK and M&P's and even the Hi-Power ran flawlessly. Besides the constant reloads, there were quite a few issues on the 1911 side of the line, I'm not positive on this but I think the Kimber had a similar failure rate to the RIA. The phrase 'king of feed-ramp failures' was a constant throughout the days events.

The training day started with a safety brief and introductions and medical emergency plan. The four fundamental firearms safety rules were covered, as well as a fifth, a DCNC constant of 'do not try to catch a dropped/falling gun'.

With that we walked out to the line for a quick live-fire reality check: 15 yards, 8 rounds in 10 seconds. As a group we failed miserably, the last round fired was near the :17 mark. My first rounds out of the holster would have been IPSC-A's, however several rounds fell outside of the black on the much smaller VSM targets that we were using for this drill. Fortunately this was my worst shooting for the day (stationery).

With many shots falling low (and many right), Chris used this opportunity to stress the critical importance of trigger control. We then went through several dry fire drills including keeping a spent casing balanced on our front site while manipulating the trigger, as well as several rounds of 'ball and dummy' drills. Any movement of the front site during these drills resulted in a 'penalty' of a string of dry fire drills to reinforce proper trigger manipulation.

With these drills completed, we switched over to standard IPSC targets, and had a discussion on combat accuracy and the need for good hits to stop a lethal force encounter. One constant in any Defensive Concepts course is their very high accuracy standard. I have taken several courses with DCNC and no matter the platform, the concept that you are responsible for every round that leaves your gun is highly stressed. Real world examples of lethal force encounters reinforce the need to place shots accurately.

More... (http://www.twoalphakit.com/defensive-concepts-north-carolina-vsmdefensive-handgun/)


Most of the problems we saw in the class centered around the 1911s. IIRC, each of them began to get sluggish as lube was burned off.

The Rock Island gun had a grip safety that would remain activated when you took a high grip on the gun. As soon as you placed your thumb on top of the manual safety the grip safety would activate. This is a reoccuring issue that I've seen with the RIA guns.

One shooter was able to lock his Wilson CQB up by constantly applying pressure to the right side of the slide stop lever. The lever was eventually pushed out just enough to cause the gun bind up after firing. The gun was fixed by simply applying pressure on the left side of the lever which pushed it back into position. This is an issue I've seen occur in the past and is the reason I tell shooters to stay away from using the lever as an index point for their trigger fingers.

The 9mm 1911 in class had a magazine become wedged in the gun. A healthy rip got it out of the gun but I did not look to see if the feedlips had spread or if there was another reason for the binding.