This past weekend (Aug 31, Sep 1) I was able to attend one of Gabe White's "Pistol Shooting Solutions" classes at Condition 1 training facility in Tennessee. Gabe is a very accomplished shooter, earning Master Class ranking in both USPSA and GSSF using his appendix carry gear. He has FAST coin #9, one of only four people in the world to clear the Roger Shooting School test, and the only one to do so from concealment.
Gabe White Training ? High Performance Concealed Carry
Temperatures were in the mid 90's and humid, some rain on the second day.
Gear used: CZ P-10 C, Parker Mountain Machine comp, HBI Theta trigger shoe, Primary Machine slidework/Optic cut, Trijicon RMR06, ANVL magwell, drawn from concealment out of a TI Defense Type 2 AIWB holster. This is my EDC setup.
Class began at 8am *SHARP* on day one. Gabe is very time-conscious and has done a terrific job planning his classes down to the minute to ensure that he's not shorting anyone of their experience, or their hard-earned money. After a brief introduction and safety brief, all shooters took the line and performed some warm-up shooting drills consisting primarily of Gabe's performance test drills (Bill Drill, Failure to Stop, Immediate Incapacitation, and Split Bill Drill.) From there he entered a learning block consisting of sight acquisition and his take/opinion on the popular phrase of "seeing what you need to see" to make a shot in a timely manner. There were a good mix of students shooting iron sights and red dots and he covered both adequately, though his personal focus (at this time) is on iron sights. We personally demonstrated our sight allowances by standing several distances from our targets and moving our front post (I turned my dot off for this) around the maximum allowable distance in our rear sights, firing carefully, and checking what the results were down-range. He gave a short talk on drawing methods, hand positions, and how not to telegraph your intent to draw. As an important note - if your personal drawing method involves any type of pre-grabbing your shirt, he will not allow this to be used on the performance test - a la the "fig leaf" draw where your hands are in front of your body with your hands overlapping, one of which is grabbing your shirt. You can use this draw, but you can't be grabbing your shirt.
Gabe went over some dry-fire drills that were great for demonstrating the steadiness in your handgun when firing from three different finger positions (finger off the trigger and snap, finger on trigger, then pressure almost to the wall). And a small block on shot-calling from distance, where you shoot from 25 yards, then point on a fresh target near you where you think the shots went. Very cool stuff.
Next we entered our first steel target contest. Two students had to race each other to put hits on steel while performing different tasks. Students on side A had to draw and fire one shot on a 10y steel target, while students on side B had to hit two targets at 15 yards from a ready position. This made for some very interesting matchups (and lightning fast draws) where 9 out of 10 times the student who shot the most carefully emerged the victor. Several times students would get caught up in beating their opponent at a relatively simple task, but the stress and pressure of the competition would bring out wild shooting from those on both sides. Defeating an opponent would earn you one of Gabe's "Aim Patches" which is his logo in gray on a black background.
We then began the first of four Performance Tests. For the uninitiated, a core part of Gabe's classes are being tested on your shooting skills through a set of four drills, under time, for score to earn a colored pin based on your performance. More on that on Gabe's site here. The first performance test was the Bill Drill. Gabe shoots the tests with the rest of the class, and does so not only to subject himself to the pressure of performing, but to provide an example of the "tax you pay" depending on how you are shooting. For example, shooting these drills by yourself on the range, vs. shooting them in class for practice, vs. shooting them in class under time for score will produce three very different results. With each layer of pressure you add to yourself, you will demonstrably "pay a tax" which will reflect in your technique, hits, and time. You practice the Bill Drill multiple times "pushing it" then multiple times "how you would like to shoot on the test". You then do two runs under time for no score, followed by two runs under time for score for your pin.
The second test concluded the day with the Failure to Stop. Shot in the same manner as all tests would be - Gabe demos several times and scores himself, then we practice, followed by two runs under time not scored, followed by two scored runs.
We dismissed around 7:30pm local time, a very long day in the sun.
Second day began with a brief discussion about choosing the head as a target over the body and what situations that's a more desirable tool to use. From there we began the block on his third Performance Test drill, Immediate Incapacitation which is two rounds to a 4" circle in the head box from 7 yards. Again, this was demoed, was practiced many times, then shot for no score, followed by a shoot for score.
We then had a mixed "social/lunch" period where Gabe takes roughly an hour and a half to individually take students by themselves, and walk them through a moving course of fire. He does this to ensure the safety of all the other students, so people aren't running into each other on the line and less mistakes are happen to occur. You go through firing while fast walk/jogging from left to right, sometimes multiple rounds if he feels you're capable. This goes on through lunch and does take a little time, but all students seemed to appreciate going the extra mile to ensure the safety of everyone else.
Then the fourth Performance test was conducted with the Split Bill Drill - Four shots to the chest zone, two shots to the 4" circle in the head. Demoed, practiced, practiced under time, then performed for score.
Afterwards began what is, in my opinion, the most interesting part of the class (of which they were all very interesting, but this was my favorite) involving moving attackers and fighting around barriers. Gabe sets up several drills, challenges, and demos involving how to react if an attacker is moving, hiding, and even if you *THINK* they are moving. This involved a lot of barrier/cover work using barrels as faux cover, popping out, moving around, and navigating courses of fire that he really understood well. These were where most of my "a-ha" moments came from, as I just honestly haven't been exposed much to this type of instruction personally. We used multiple numbered (1,2,3) targets in a line as a "poor man's moving target" where you would have to navigate around a barrel shooting the targets in order as they became visible. Moving in figure 8's around barrels while shooting called targets, as well as multiple shots from multiple positions on targets from behind barrels. Not only was it very informative, but honestly it was just plain old fun. I have sordid history with height-over-bore issues as a relates to shooting around/over barriers, but that's another story for another time. The fact of the matter is the instruction here was great.
We then finished the day with another steel challenge where a simulated moving attacker was firing from behind cover from two positions, and the defender had to hit 5 targets from a ready position in the time it took the attacker to make their two hits.
Then we did the performance awards and certificates as well as a debrief and we all went home. All in all 8 light pins, 4 dark pins, and one Turbo pin was earned. Dismissal the second day was around 7:30 as well, after range cleanup and tear down.
Personally, I would recommend this class to anyone. He has taken great pains to ensure he's developed a quality program that doesn't short anyone of anything, be it your time or money. Outside of being a great instructor, Gabe is the man. Very down-to-earth, willing to help, or even just have a conversation with you whether it's related to guns or not. There's a possibility of getting him to Indiana next year, I would very highly advise keeping an eye on that opportunity as I'm sure it will be posted here soon.