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View Full Version : Review-Scott Reitz "Concealed Carry-Off Duty Carry" Atlanta, GA



abnartyguy
11-06-07, 17:25
Three Days with the Master.

A number of people like to call themselves knowledgeable of everything and masters of nothing, but Scott Reitz of ITTS is a Master, of gun-fighting. With his 28 years of gun fighting under his belt and distinguished career as part of the LAPD Metro Division, most notably with SWAT, he has ‘been there and done that.’ He also brings with him a keen ability to educate the “novice” all the way up to the “operator.” Recently I had the opportunity to train with Scott Reitz in the greater Atlanta area in his “Concealed Carry/off-duty carry” class. Hosted by David Blinder of PDT the class focused on how to get your concealed firearm off your body and into the fight quickly and effectively. A self proclaimed fan of the full sized 1911 in .45 I found myself in good company as he explained that if you have to draw a firearm while in a CCW environment your behind enemy lines; so you better bring enough gun.
Taking the classes temperature he ran the 13 students through warm up drills assessing the skill of the class and then quickly moved into the meat and potato’s of his class, can you accurately hit the target at speed. Like other instructors his started with small targets and then moved us out to distances that normally scare most pistol shooters. When asked how we were supposed to hit the target he would simply demonstrate by borrowing anyone of the student’s pistols and proceed to hit it.
After he was sure we had could hit the target he started asking questions, where do you carry your pistol? Citing the difference in his experience was those that survived were able to get their weapon into the fight, while those that didn’t get their weapon out didn’t survive. He also asked what kind of holster do you carry, and how do you conceal it? He then proceeded to explain his theory of concealment; “Going Grey.” He explained that both cops and hard core offenders both develop an ability to assess people and that the best way to conceal a firearm is to conceal one’s abilities. Granted not everyone that has a CCW wears 5.11 pants and vests, but what else are you wearing or doing that might be a ‘tell?’ Going Grey means fitting into your environment and not doing things to draw attention to ones ‘capabilities.’
Another question Scott asked was are you prepared to make the shot when it matters? Using a DVD he showed an example of one of his students from the LAPD that had to make the critical decision of shooting a perp who was holding a woman hostage. Although short and kind of sad the DVD made its point. You get one chance, trigger squeeze, front sight, and follow through, it all makes a difference when you have only one chance. From that point we went to the range and attempted to take that one shot and make it count. Granted we were shooting at dummies and not people but the class quickly got the point as those that rushed through the shoot either missed all together or hit the victim and not the perp.
Over way to quickly and wanting more I felt that after three days with the master I couldn’t wait for another chance. For anyone wanting to train with Scott Reitz I would tell an inexperienced shooter it will help them build fundamental skills, while a more experienced shooter might take away a deeper understanding of where and when they might have to use their weapon. Personally I took away pistol skills and a different mind set about gun fighting.

-Zef M.:cool:

David Blinder
11-06-07, 19:06
Zef,

Thanks for posting this and I'm glad you found the course worthwhile. The only thing I'll add is that in my opinion, Scott provides a part of the puzzle that few others can in that he has extensive knowledge about actual shootings and is able to convey how various drills are relevant to a given shooting. Here is a picture from the class but as usual, justice isn't done.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v618/David_Blinder/Oct262007020.jpg

dubb-1
11-06-07, 21:28
Excellent! I have wanted to train with both David and Scotty for quite a while.

abnartyguy
11-13-07, 21:17
Can't wait to do it again!!!:cool: