Quick Rangemaster 2018 Tactical Conference AAR

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  • cedartop

    Grandmaster
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    Apr 25, 2010
    6,687
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    North of Notre Dame.
    Rangemaster Tactical Conference March 16-18, 2018 at Direct Action Resource Center in Little Rock, AR

    Friday: Got to the hotel early Friday morning after driving all night. Good thing Coach was along to keep me awake. Got a short night of sleep and headed out after some decent hotel breakfast. Arrived at the compound at around 7:30 am and got registered. After getting our credentials we took a tour and got our bearings. I headed off to the Distance Pistol class with Marty Hayes. It was full when I arrived, fortunately they announced they would be adding a class the following day. I watched for a while and then went off and did some socializing until the next block of instruction. At 10:00 am I attended Church Security with Steve Moses. It was a good presentation but definitely seemed more suitable for bigger churches than what I am a member of. Still good information though as I get asked a lot about this subject. Lunch was next. I had brought my own but there was also a lunch truck on site with a pretty good selection. After lunch it was on to Animated targets with John Holschen. This class was full as well but they were doing a second one immediately following the first so I hung out and watched the first and participated in the second. It was very interesting. I was happy with the way the instructor could use a simple target to in your mind simulate the movement of a person. I really liked this block. There were two other blocks going on at the same time that I would have liked to attend as well, but fortunately for most people, there is only one of me. That was it for instruction for the day. Coach and Randy Harris and I went to downtown Little Rock on the river to get something to eat. That was a very fun time when a homeless person decided to come to our table and join us. Coach and I blamed Randy, although in truth the guy seemed fascinated with Coach.

    Saturday: Up first was What Really Matters with Wayne Dobbs, with what was becoming a theme it was full. We watched for a while and then went over to heckle Randy while he shot the match. We must have done too good of a job because he screwed the pooch. Then so did Coach, and then so did I. What was disappointing about this was that it was actually a pretty easy course of fire that 38 of the 185 men shooting cleaned. We should have and all come close, but all messed up in some way. No shoot offs for us. After that failure it was on to the rescheduled Long Distance pistol. This was enjoyable class though I was a bit disappointed to be on a thousand yard range and only shoot at 50 yards on reduced size steel. Lunch was next. I had forgot my lunch that morning so I got some pulled pork from the truck. It was pretty good. After lunch it was on to Historical Handgun with Karl Rehn. That was a very interesting class even if I took exception with a few of his "facts". Well presented and full of detail almost anyone who is into this sort of thing would have found it enjoyable. Last class of the day for me was Evolution of AIWB with Spencer Keepers. Supper for St. Patricks Day was at some steak house (Logan?) where we took in some local culture and Coach ate a monster cut of prime rib.

    Sunday: We were determined to get to the range early enough for Coach to get a spot in Gabe Whites block of instruction. That meant getting there at about 6:15 am. We weren't the first ones in line but Coach did get in. I watched until it was time to start helping Randy set up for his Point Blank Pistol Skills class. That started at 10:00 am. Even though we pointed out this wasn't a class for beginners, we still had quite a few in it. Considering this was probably the most dynamic class of the weekend, it was a pleasure to have extra help on the line in the form of Lee Weems and Adam Gochenour. We also had help from the Rangemaster RSO Scott Stewart. With all of the information Randy had to share in such a compressed time frame, the extra help was appreciated. I think the block went pretty well and I know the women on my end enjoyed it as they were squealing with excitement. After class we cleaned up the range and with what looked like impending rain, Coach and I decided to head on for home. I was glad we did as it was about 3:00 am when I arrived at home, very tired and sleepy.

    This is a great thing that Tom Givens puts on and I wish everyone in our community had a chance to attend at least once.
     

    Coach

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    Apr 15, 2008
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    Coatesville
    On Friday morning I sat in on a panel of ladies that was headed by Vicki Farnum. The other ladies on the panel were Lynn Givens, Lori Bigley, Elizabeth Saunders and Tiffany Johnson. I learned a lot of things during the conference but this might have been the most valuable for someone who teaches as many women as I do. I knew who Vicki Farnum was but had never heard her speak before. I was impressed. I received a lot of confirmation about how do the Ladies Guided Shoot at Parabellum and somethings I will utilize in the future. The panel provided great answers and many do's and don'ts. The men and women in the audience that asked the questions and provided their own commentary was also very valuable to the people who were paying attention.

    I sat in on the Church Security seminar. Steve has run a very serious operation at a very large church. I did find some pieces that would be helpful sitting up a program in small churches. There was also some explaining of how/where shootings at churches start.

    The next session for me was a four hour block on Active Shooter Threat and Reaction presented by Ed Monk. It was a well done lecture. I was depressed after this session. I knew the point he was making before the presentation. I have more specifics and some equations for the material now. I need to create a shorter version and start presenting to people in the community with the hope of getting some schools more prepared. It is all about math.

    Friday night spent eating down town with the homeless guy that Randy attracted to the table.

    Saturday morning I sat in on Darryl Bolke's session about the offensive shotgun. Which from this point on I will be referring to as "The Gauge". Darryl is pretty cool and has great stories. I was unable to make it into the live fire session that accompanied this on Sunday afternoon.

    Next was historical handgun by Karl Rehn. It was pretty cool history of guns, gear, drills and events of the last 90 years. Being a guy with a masters degree in history I found it interesting. Some were disturbed by a few facts and conclusions. That is history folks. It all contains bias and perspective and at times becomes self serving. You just have to confirm things with multiple sources and make your own conclusions.

    I found it amusing to see Steve Anderson mentioned with the other shooters and trainers in this presentation. His dry fire book was the first of its time on the scene and it works, but seeing him listed with the others does not seem like justice to me. Plus I personally think he is beyond douche bag. I regret buying the book despite how much improvement it has helped me with in the past. Oh well.

    Jelly Bryce, Ed McGivern, Rex Applegate, Charles Askins, Jeff Cooper, Elmer Keith, Bill Jordan, Ray Chapman, Jerry Barnhart, Massad Ayoob
    Steve Anderson (just seems weird)

    Just hung out after lunch as things were either full or not very interesting to me. Sat in on Spencer Keepers for a little while talking about appendix carry and his holsters.

    Saturday night was prime rib at the bar at Texas Roadhouse. They slipped me green beer on the first one. I drank it just to be polite and then told the bartender no more green beer. My people are English and we spent many year oppressing the Irish.

    Sunday morning I managed to get into the Gabe White session for four hours despite some chicanery with the list. had to be there at 6:15 for a class starting at 8 am.

    This was a very helpful session. I learned several things about dry fire and I got better in the live fire portions. My trigger pulling will be improving as a result of this exposure. Learned a few new drills and some new mental approaches as well. Gabe White is a very polished instructor and obviously a great shooter. I am considering looking at this schedule a taking the two day class from him.

    I regret that Randy Harris was teaching during the Gabe White block because I wanted to take his class as well, but the schedule did not over lap. I am going to find a way to get that in pretty soon.

    Overall a great conference. Plus I did not have to drive a single mile to or from.
     

    Randy Harris

    Marksman
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    Oct 22, 2012
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    As to history and bias....when Coach reappeared after my block was over I said ..."traitor ! " to which he replied "hey, I never pledged any allegiance to anyone"....so whether someone is a traitor or not is often a matter of perspective and of oaths taken or not taken...

    I'll kick in my synoptic gospel version of the events of March 16-18 in Little Rock....

    I arrived on Thursday afternoon after a drive that was two hours longer than it should have been thanks to traffic slowdowns between Jackson and Memphis in TN and another one just inside the Arkansas border. I was pretty wiped out by the time I got there so after a power nap I went and hit the fitness area in the host hotel and then the whirlpool....nice...... after that I greeted some of the other presenters and ate dinner in the hotel restaurant and went to bed.....

    The next morning I spent the first hour or so picking up my name tag, talking to Tom Givens and walking around getting my bearings with Cedartop (Mike Swisher). We stopped in on Marty Hayes' Long Range Pistol block where Cedartop introduced me to Gabe White who my first comments to had been " you suck Gabe White !" from a distance as I heckled him. He and I knew each other through internet forums and by rep but had never met in person yet...we talked for a bit and then it was on to the range where I'd be teaching on Sunday to see what we would be dealing with logistics wise on Sunday morning. Upon further review I really wish I'd sat in on the women's panel but hind sight is 20/20.

    At 10AM Coach, Cedartop, and I hit the Church Security block taught by Steve Moses......no relation....just kidding...a little corny bible humor. As mentioned before there was much usable info though Steve's experience is with working with churches much larger than ours.

    At noon I hit the lunch wagon for some BBQ....

    After lunch Mike and I sat and observed John Holschen's Animated Targets block. By "animated" he means moving targets. John served over 20 years in special operations and intel in the US Army. I had been in presentations done by John before when I was a participant at the National Tactical Invitational but I think this was Mike's first time seeing him teach. I mentioned it is a pleasure to watch a presentation like this and you can tell by his presence that he has been places and done stuff and is an authority on what he speaks about and his shooting was fast and accurate too. So much for "tactical guys" not being able to shoot..... Afterwards Mike stayed and shot the class and I went back to the classrooms.

    From 3-5 I did the Massad Ayoob block on Uncommon Wisdom. This was a 2 hour presentation on essentially how attorneys need to defend self defense cases instead of defending them like they do when they defend guilty clients. If your attorney is trying to defend you like a guilty client then he will likely get a guilty verdict. Much wisdom in Mas's presentation.

    That was the end of day 1 so Mike and Coach and I headed downtown to dinner. The place we originally were going ended up being far more expensive than we wanted to pay so we searched around the block and hit a "hippie bar" called Stickyz.....and then the weirdness began.....we got some work on our managing unknown contacts (MUC) skills when Mike went to the restroom and a homeless ? guy came over and took his seat and sat down and had a beer with me and Coach...I assumed that Coach must be a magnet for this kind of thing but I guess there is the off chance it could be me.....

    Saturday started with me shooting the match. It was a multi stage standards set up shot on turning targets. After some mechanical issues with the targets (and some other issues) it took longer than expected to shoot and by the time it was over I had ended up with a 199 when I needed a 200 to move on to the shoot off....oh well...such is life. There is a saying about monkeys and trees and falling and something like that..... Things didn't get any better for coach (good thing he teaches history and not math;)) or for Mike..... So none of us had any pressing business for Sunday afternoon after the standards stage was over....Next for me it was off to Greg Ellifritz's Escaping Restraints. We escaped (or tried) from Zip ties , duct tape and handcuffs. Hopefully you will never have to do that but it is good to know how just in case...especially for foreign travelers.

    The whole afternoon was spent in the UTM Instructor Certification class. Looks like I may be upping my FOF teaching technology by getting into using UTM. After that I went to Walmart to pick ups ome last minute supplies for my class on Sunday morning and headed back to the hotel. The instructor dinner was nice though I didn't win anything in the drawing..(maybe Coach is right...I'M the bad luck....)and some of us retired to the patio for a get together that I dubbed the "Craig Douglas Dance Party" I spent a little time talking to Gabe White , face timed on my phone with my wife, and then talked to Gary Greco and John Hearne for about an hour. I hadn't seen Gary Since NTI about 10 years ago so it was good to talk to him again.

    Sunday morning came early and I got to the range and Mike and I assembled targets and worked out what the signup situation was and then kicked off the class. Mike acted as my RSO with help from fellow presenter Lee Weems, Rangemaster RSO Scott Stewart, and Adam Gochenour. It went well according to all the reviews I've seen so far and people in the class said they enjoyed it. It really is hard to shoe horn all that info into 2 hours but the context and the interactive work is really needed to get the big picture across as far as extreme close quarters shooting goes. Hopefully the students came away with a better appreciation for what we were trying to accomplish.

    My crew that made all the magic possible...Mike, Me, Scott, Lee, Adam

    IMG_8439.JPG

    After that I watched the men's shoot off where Gabe White edged out Spencer Keepers 3-2 in the best of 5 final. I then said my goodbyes to Tom and Lynn and Tiffany and hit the road back to Chattanooga.....

    Next year will be in New Orleans and I hope to be presenting at that one too. And hopefully Mike and Coach will be there too so we can see what kind of weirdness we can attract in the Big Easy..... Looking forward to it!
     
    Last edited:

    Tom Givens

    Marksman
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    Dec 31, 2014
    182
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    Memphis
    Tac Con 2019 notes:
    186 shooters completed the defensive pistol match this year (many attendees opt not to shoot the match). This total included 160 males and 26 women. We tracked their equipment this year and found the following trends.
    Equipment Stat’s
    Calibers
    9mm- 89.6%
    .40- 4.8%
    .45- 3.6%
    .38- 1.2% (2 revolvers)
    .357 SIG- 1 example

    Handgun Type
    Glock 70.5%
    M&P 23.2%
    1911 4.4%
    Other 1.9% (Beretta, SIG, HK, Kanik, CZ)

    Holster Type
    IWB 58.4%
    OWB 41.6%

    Optic on pistol- 9.6% (Top 3 in both Open and Ladies Championship standings had no optic)
     

    jlw

    Plinker
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    Mar 30, 2018
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    Georgia
    When I wasn't teaching, I spent most of my time helping other presenters by working the lines.

    As for the match, the target company sent incorrect targets. The generous scoring zone allowed more people to "clean" it than they would have otherwise. The weed out match was more stressful than the actual final 16 shoot-off. I was happy to make the field of 16 and even happier to win my first match-up. It was fun to watch the head to head match-ups taking place.

    My levergun block took place at the same time as the ladies shoot-off; so, I didn't get to see it.
     

    cedartop

    Grandmaster
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    Apr 25, 2010
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    North of Notre Dame.
    So I told my wife and mother the homeless guy story separately from each other. Both asked me if we bought him a meal. Must be a women thing. No guy that I have told the story to asked me that.
     

    Coach

    Grandmaster
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    3   0   0
    Apr 15, 2008
    13,411
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    Coatesville
    So I told my wife and mother the homeless guy story separately from each other. Both asked me if we bought him a meal. Must be a women thing. No guy that I have told the story to asked me that.

    That homeless guy did not need our help. He is a master at working people. There was one table of people in that place where he could come over sit down and do what he did without being thrown out. He picked us. Sat down and got a couple of free beers. Any other table and he is gone. He is doing just fine.
     

    Tom Givens

    Marksman
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    Dec 31, 2014
    182
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    Memphis
    A couple of people have asked me about posting the scores from the pistol match at the recent Tactical Conference. We’re not going to post the full results, but let me explain why.




    First, for the men, this was a three-tiered match, which can get pretty confusing. The paper match was a series of standard skill drills, fired on turning targets, which increases the stress a bit. The scores from this match, however, do not determine the winner. This match was strictly to identify the top shooters from among a large crowd. We had 186 shooters complete the match, and we needed to narrow the field. The average score was 188.86 out of 200 points possible.




    Of 160 males, 38 shot a perfect 200 out of 200 score on this paper match. Those 38 then shot a preliminary elimination round on a scored drill, again on the turning targets. We used Justin Dyal’s excellent “5 Yard Round-Up” for this portion of the match. Only one shooter, Mas Ayoob, shot a perfect 100% score on this one. The Top 16 shooters from this elimination went on to a man vs man shoot-off.




    The man vs man shoot-off pitted two contenders against each other on a mirror image problem based on the old Middle Race shoot. Each contestant had two mannequin type reactive targets, one at about 8 yards and one at 10 yards, plus a Split Popper at 9 yards. Shooters began while holding an empty cartridge box in both hands, chest high, to simulate a cell phone. On signal, the shooter must drop the cell phone, draw, knock down the closer mannequin, knock down the farther mannequin, then knock down his side of the Split Popper, all before his opponent could finish on his side. Two out of three falls wins the bout, and advanced the winner to the next level. This continued until the only two undefeated shooters met for the championship, when their bout was for best three out of five.




    Gabe White won this shoot-off with a dazzling display of both marksmanship and coolness under pressure. Spencer Keepers took second place, and Kirk Clark was third.




    The Ladies were well represented this year, with 26 women shooting the match. We did not have a mass of 200’s as with the men, so we simply had the top 8 female scores shoot against each other as described above. Melody Lauer won this shoot-off, with Lynn Givens in second place, and Sarah Ryan took third.




    As you can see, especially for the men, the full results would be confusing, at best. Among the 38 men who shot 200 on the paper standards, for instance, that does NOT mean a 38 way tie for first place. Some of those men did not survive the preliminary cut and some who did were eliminated on the first round in the man vs man event. So, this year the only scores that really mattered were the top 3 in the men’s shoot-off and the top 3 in the ladies’ shoot-off. Congratulations to these six intrepid contestants who clawed their way to the top of a contest full of talented and dedicated shooters.
     
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