VA_Dinger
07-12-11, 10:30
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www.redbackone.com
www.jasonfalla.com
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v74/va_dinger/logo.jpg
Grey Group Training:
www.greygrouptraining.com
Posted at the request of Ty;
As a way for you to understand my perception of the class, here’s my shooting background in a nutshell. I’ve been shooting all my life, but this was my first class with a known and respected instructor. In my late teens, I shot a lot of pistol, took a break for almost 10 years, and started-up a few years ago. Both then and more recently, I’ve hunted with handguns, and I’d say my slow fire skills were decent going into the class – minute of paper plate at 75 yards. Gun handling, rapid fire, and malfunction clearance left a lot to be desired. The funny thing is I didn't even realize that until this class.
The class started with an orientation and safety briefing. Jason reviewed the basics of sight picture, trigger control, safety, etc. I don’t know how long we were in the classroom, but it wasn’t long. Maybe an hour.
From there the class, all six of us plus Jason, walked 20 yards to the range where we would spend the rest of the day. Jason asked everyone what their background was, and I believe without exception the lot of us had a fair amount of shooting experience, but none had really taken a pistol class before.
We started with accuracy drills on 2 or 3 inch dots and started working on recoil control by starting with shooting the same dots with a 1 second cadence then trying to do the maintain the same accuracy standard with 0.5 splits then 0.25 splits. I don’t believe anyone was able to achieve 0.25 splits. Jason demonstrated every drill before he had us to it. He’s a pretty amazing shooter and it was humbling to see what is possible.
Early on the first day, we shot the RB1 standard in order to get a baseline of our shooting ability. We would later learn that Jason requires shooting > 80% on this standard in order to take his higher level pistol classes. I’ll let RB1 post the standard if they want, but in summary, you fire 5 or 6 rounds at a 7 or 8-inch circle and progressively longer ranges with progressively more time to do it.
Jason explained the concept of the CQB sight picture and demonstrated that at close range, an imperfect sight picture will still yield a hit inside the 8” circle. He was very clear that this was the goal and any hit inside the circle was good enough and we shouldn’t waste time trying to do better when speed mattered. He then shifted gears a little and put up targets with different size and shaped target areas. Some were long horizontally, some were long vertically, and some were small. The point was that you should be able to identify the sight picture you have, decide if it is adequate for the target, and only then fire. Of course, you’re supposed to go this quickly, and it was a little too much for me at first. I was just not used to shooting that way and having such a conscious awareness of the sights and target in such a compressed period of time. I have to say though, upon reflection and based on practice sessions after the class, this really helped me to see the front sight better and ‘decide’ to shoot. Previously, I always waited until I had a more-or-less perfect sight picture and then shot.
We worked on malfunction drills and Jason instructed us to use the slide release. He also stressed the need to verify the condition of the gun to be sure it is actually empty. You can start to reach for a new magazine, however, since the chance of a malfunction is low relative to the chance of having an empty gun. He does not like to sweep a stovepipe out of the gun, but instead prefers to pull the slide back, wait for the casing to fall free, then release the slide. At some point during the class, and definitely during malfunction clearance drills, he introduced a shot timer and therefore stress, which caused the proverbial wheels to fall off for some of us.
There was a problem with the C2 Shooting Center on the second day, and we weren’t able to get on the steel range. That was a bit of a downer but probably insignificant in the overall scope of things.
Day 2 involved more recoil control drills, drills where you start close and create space, shooting from different positions, multiple targets, and shooting around barriers.
At the end of day 2, we snuck on a longer range and did a walk back drill with a steel plate to about 80 yards. Once we were as far as we could get, Jason asked to borrow the guns of a few students, and with those and his own G17, he never missed. Actually, he did miss once, but it was with a student’s XD, but the sights were off, and once a spotter called the location of the shot and a little Kentucky windage was applied, he hit the steel.
We then shot the standard again, and 2 or 3 students shot over the 80% that would be necessary to move on.
Interesting notes & observations:
The Glocks and M&P were trouble free. 2 guys with 1911s had some magazine problems and definitely suffered from the ergonomics during malfunction clearance drills. I had the M&P, and during prone drills, the gun became chocked full of fine stone dust. I swear the trigger pull increased, but it went bang and cycled every time I pulled the trigger.
Once guy used a Sig 220 and XD. The Sig was jamming due to limp wristing and the XD had it’s share of problems, including the factory sights being off.
I REALLY need to work on reloads and malfunction clearance drills.
I don't know if my hands would have held up to it, but I would have liked another day. This would have given more time for Jason to try to pound the information into our heads and allow more time for more reps on certain drills. This isn't really a con - just the realities of cramming so much information into a 2-day basic class.
Pros:
Jason is a great shooter and is able to convey the message and explain what he wants in a clear and straightforward way.
This class exposes your weaknesses. I didn't know I was so bad at certain things, but it became crystal clear fairly quickly during several of the drills.
An appropriate amount of shooting. We went through about 1100-1200 rds in 2 days, and it didn't feel like we were just burning through ammo, and it didn't feel like we were being lectured at all day. There was a nice balance of instruction/explanation and an opportunity to try it ourselves. With that said, I am sure all 6 shooters now own a Lula if they didn't already, and there were some pretty chewed up hands in the group (of course no one complained, or cared).
Jason interjected real-word reasons for what he was teaching from personal experiences, which definitely helps to reinforce the importance of doing it right.
Cons:
The only criticism I can think of concerning the instruction is that Jason didn’t really correct our mechanics as much as I would have liked. I didn’t realize this until I saw the pictures on Facebook, but it’s pretty clear that some of us, including myself, had mechanics issues. For example, I have an artifact from the Weaver stance where the elbow joint of my gun arm ends up pointing straight up instead of inward, and this was pretty evident in the pictures. I am SURE he told us what to do, and he did it perfectly, but he didn’t really stop us and provide that feedback. I conceed that there was only so much time, and I'm sure he wanted to be sure we made it through the curriculum.
In conclusion, I feel that my shooting improved significantly as a result of the class, and I saw the shooting of my classmates improve as well. I will take more RB1 classes and recommend Jason to friends.
-Ty"
www.redbackone.com
www.jasonfalla.com
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v74/va_dinger/logo.jpg
Grey Group Training:
www.greygrouptraining.com
Posted at the request of Ty;
As a way for you to understand my perception of the class, here’s my shooting background in a nutshell. I’ve been shooting all my life, but this was my first class with a known and respected instructor. In my late teens, I shot a lot of pistol, took a break for almost 10 years, and started-up a few years ago. Both then and more recently, I’ve hunted with handguns, and I’d say my slow fire skills were decent going into the class – minute of paper plate at 75 yards. Gun handling, rapid fire, and malfunction clearance left a lot to be desired. The funny thing is I didn't even realize that until this class.
The class started with an orientation and safety briefing. Jason reviewed the basics of sight picture, trigger control, safety, etc. I don’t know how long we were in the classroom, but it wasn’t long. Maybe an hour.
From there the class, all six of us plus Jason, walked 20 yards to the range where we would spend the rest of the day. Jason asked everyone what their background was, and I believe without exception the lot of us had a fair amount of shooting experience, but none had really taken a pistol class before.
We started with accuracy drills on 2 or 3 inch dots and started working on recoil control by starting with shooting the same dots with a 1 second cadence then trying to do the maintain the same accuracy standard with 0.5 splits then 0.25 splits. I don’t believe anyone was able to achieve 0.25 splits. Jason demonstrated every drill before he had us to it. He’s a pretty amazing shooter and it was humbling to see what is possible.
Early on the first day, we shot the RB1 standard in order to get a baseline of our shooting ability. We would later learn that Jason requires shooting > 80% on this standard in order to take his higher level pistol classes. I’ll let RB1 post the standard if they want, but in summary, you fire 5 or 6 rounds at a 7 or 8-inch circle and progressively longer ranges with progressively more time to do it.
Jason explained the concept of the CQB sight picture and demonstrated that at close range, an imperfect sight picture will still yield a hit inside the 8” circle. He was very clear that this was the goal and any hit inside the circle was good enough and we shouldn’t waste time trying to do better when speed mattered. He then shifted gears a little and put up targets with different size and shaped target areas. Some were long horizontally, some were long vertically, and some were small. The point was that you should be able to identify the sight picture you have, decide if it is adequate for the target, and only then fire. Of course, you’re supposed to go this quickly, and it was a little too much for me at first. I was just not used to shooting that way and having such a conscious awareness of the sights and target in such a compressed period of time. I have to say though, upon reflection and based on practice sessions after the class, this really helped me to see the front sight better and ‘decide’ to shoot. Previously, I always waited until I had a more-or-less perfect sight picture and then shot.
We worked on malfunction drills and Jason instructed us to use the slide release. He also stressed the need to verify the condition of the gun to be sure it is actually empty. You can start to reach for a new magazine, however, since the chance of a malfunction is low relative to the chance of having an empty gun. He does not like to sweep a stovepipe out of the gun, but instead prefers to pull the slide back, wait for the casing to fall free, then release the slide. At some point during the class, and definitely during malfunction clearance drills, he introduced a shot timer and therefore stress, which caused the proverbial wheels to fall off for some of us.
There was a problem with the C2 Shooting Center on the second day, and we weren’t able to get on the steel range. That was a bit of a downer but probably insignificant in the overall scope of things.
Day 2 involved more recoil control drills, drills where you start close and create space, shooting from different positions, multiple targets, and shooting around barriers.
At the end of day 2, we snuck on a longer range and did a walk back drill with a steel plate to about 80 yards. Once we were as far as we could get, Jason asked to borrow the guns of a few students, and with those and his own G17, he never missed. Actually, he did miss once, but it was with a student’s XD, but the sights were off, and once a spotter called the location of the shot and a little Kentucky windage was applied, he hit the steel.
We then shot the standard again, and 2 or 3 students shot over the 80% that would be necessary to move on.
Interesting notes & observations:
The Glocks and M&P were trouble free. 2 guys with 1911s had some magazine problems and definitely suffered from the ergonomics during malfunction clearance drills. I had the M&P, and during prone drills, the gun became chocked full of fine stone dust. I swear the trigger pull increased, but it went bang and cycled every time I pulled the trigger.
Once guy used a Sig 220 and XD. The Sig was jamming due to limp wristing and the XD had it’s share of problems, including the factory sights being off.
I REALLY need to work on reloads and malfunction clearance drills.
I don't know if my hands would have held up to it, but I would have liked another day. This would have given more time for Jason to try to pound the information into our heads and allow more time for more reps on certain drills. This isn't really a con - just the realities of cramming so much information into a 2-day basic class.
Pros:
Jason is a great shooter and is able to convey the message and explain what he wants in a clear and straightforward way.
This class exposes your weaknesses. I didn't know I was so bad at certain things, but it became crystal clear fairly quickly during several of the drills.
An appropriate amount of shooting. We went through about 1100-1200 rds in 2 days, and it didn't feel like we were just burning through ammo, and it didn't feel like we were being lectured at all day. There was a nice balance of instruction/explanation and an opportunity to try it ourselves. With that said, I am sure all 6 shooters now own a Lula if they didn't already, and there were some pretty chewed up hands in the group (of course no one complained, or cared).
Jason interjected real-word reasons for what he was teaching from personal experiences, which definitely helps to reinforce the importance of doing it right.
Cons:
The only criticism I can think of concerning the instruction is that Jason didn’t really correct our mechanics as much as I would have liked. I didn’t realize this until I saw the pictures on Facebook, but it’s pretty clear that some of us, including myself, had mechanics issues. For example, I have an artifact from the Weaver stance where the elbow joint of my gun arm ends up pointing straight up instead of inward, and this was pretty evident in the pictures. I am SURE he told us what to do, and he did it perfectly, but he didn’t really stop us and provide that feedback. I conceed that there was only so much time, and I'm sure he wanted to be sure we made it through the curriculum.
In conclusion, I feel that my shooting improved significantly as a result of the class, and I saw the shooting of my classmates improve as well. I will take more RB1 classes and recommend Jason to friends.
-Ty"