Pictures from the Vickers 1911 Operator Class at the Pickens County Range

**Sam** · 06-29-08, 17:08

I wasn't in the class but I visited some old friends and new ones at the class held on June 28 and 29 at the Pickens County Range aka the Deliverance Range. Mike Benedict of Talon Tactical was the host and Larry Vickers provided exceptional training on the fine marksmanship, maintenance and troubleshooting of the World's Finest Close Quarter Combat Pistol.

According to this firearms instructor, he preferred the more reliable S&W 642 over the "pathetic ancient religion" .

Rosie demonstrated how the 1911 trigger should freely travel in its channel, while Mike thought, "I didn't get enough sleep last night".

Mike overseeing counselor #1 (they had 4 lawyers in the class) on his first time reassembling his STI Trojan 9mm. Greg B. is in the background getting one on one advice from LAV.

LAV demonstrating the trigger to several students.

All of the guns were put back together, safety and function checks performed. Now it's time to test live fire the pistol. Here LAV is testing the extractor tension by purposely firing the pistol with a limp wrist.

The right half of the firing line test firing their pistols, strong and weak handed.

There was a Kobra bobtail commander that had all kind of functioning problems that couldn't be address during the allowed time frame and context of this class. The owner said he will be getting rid of that piece. Anyone want a good deal?

The class also had a special visit from Ashley Burnsed, the president of Blue Force Gear. Ashley demonstrated the finer points of the Vickers Combat Application sling and took the time to answer several students' questions.

By now the class would be over and everyone on their way to their respective hometown. I hope some would take the time to post their experience and AAR.

**GLOCKMASTER** · 06-29-08, 18:36

Thanks for sharing those photos. I know a couple of those folks and it's nice to see they are out and about.

**CLHC** · 06-29-08, 18:51

Nice sampling with those cool pictures!

**The Dumb Gun Collector** · 06-29-08, 19:51

Sam is a classy guy, nomatter what I usually say. He was kind enough to bring his custom Vickers gun from me to lust over. I really like the retro look.

This is a really neat class guys. Larry is a hoot and is always good for at least one or two memorable pieces of creative profanity.

Earlier 1911 Operator's course AARs, and the article in SWAT tracked this class pretty closely. The second day is a must for folks who really want to know what it takes to keep your 1911 going. I was pretty proficient with the field strip/cleaning stuff already, but Larry shows you a lot of little things you can do yourself to make your 1911 more reliable. He also fitted a new trigger to my Colt GSP, beveled my guide rod, showed us how to properly tension extractors, how to adjust and recognize ejector issues, peen the hammer strut pin, etc. Lots of stuff that I knew about, but am 100 percent more confident doing now that I have seen it done by LAV.

This class was filled with a lot of cool folks. There were tons of lawyers (which is awesome). Lawyers are indeed awesome and Larry heaped endless praise on us. It was embarassing really, we were like, "Larry, we aren't that great, you love us too much!"

We had military folks, including a mortar operator with a project 1911 he was building. He had installed a beav, checkered the front strap, etc. We had a lot of ex-military including a old Ranger who Larry harassed about his smoking endlessly. Bob Moran was there, and he was shooting like a champ.

We also had police officers and a collection of other interesting folks. A lot of whom I had met at the earlier Hackathorn class.

Another reason to take these classes. If you want the straight unvarnished truth about a gun, part, technique, etc. Larry will tell you. Now sometimes he will ask you not to repeat it on the net, because he doesn't want to catch hell, but he will tell you. I will honor his wishes, but rest assured the class was a real eyeopener.

My bud Shane was there. He brought his bizzilion dollar Chuck Roger's custom. He let me bum a room in his pimped-out cabin. This guy knew Jeff Cooper, and actually has some of his stuff (And I mean, COOL stuff). Yeah, Shane sucks.

We did a lot of drills. Larry, as he is famous for, is Mr. Accuracy. Still, he is no plinker, he ran plenty of timed drills and various competitions for us.

Again, the shooting portion stressed the strengths of the 1911, but wasn't the core of the class. The class was really geared towards getting the 1911 owner where he needs to be if he is really going to trust his life to one. As Larry said, (or something approximately like it), a 1911 is like a Ferrari. It runs faster than anything else, but you better find a mechanic and bring money.

A big plug for the Talon folks. Mike Benedict and his wife are awesome (again, she is way out of your league Mike). Mike is a phenomenal shooter, and an all around nut. He teaches a lot of classes himself and charges nothing. If you are in GA you should get up and shoot with Mike. A lot of folks in this class were from his little gang, and they were all awesome shooters.

More later.

**Sam** · 06-29-08, 21:04

Greg,
Thanks for your kind words. It was good to see you again. I'll brag a little about my holster though. It was given to me by Mr. Hackathorn. It's a Milt Sparks holster prototype for the 1AT made famous by Ross Seyfried. Once Jeff Cooper was in Ohio doing a class (before Gunsite) and he didn't bring his identical holster, so Ken loaned this holster to Mr. Cooper to use for the entire class. That's history.
You sure are a fast driver! When was the class dismissed? Shane was a hoot.