This past weekend I attended a 2 day Pistol 1 class taught by Bob Whaley. This may end up being a little longer post than I usually do and I'll start with my overall thoughts and finish with a little about the actual agenda.
I have taken more than a few training classes. When I lived in Virginia I taught Hunter Education, and classes required to get your CCL. I have taken rifle classes (.22 rimfire, M1 Garand, AR15). I have taken several level 1 and beyond handgun classes from multiple instructors.
The handgun classes were taught by LE, military, "gamers", NRA instructors and organizations that intertwine a history lesson along with some shooting skills training.
The training I received this weekend was top notch. Bob is very experienced and is good at what he does. He is the total package; proficient with firearms, 40 years of martial arts training, and is physically fit. His background is in law enforcement. I felt like I could trust what he was telling us and understood the "why" of what he was teaching.
His teaching fundamentals were great, he has a good personality and kept the class for both days from getting boring. He noticed when the class was getting a little fatigued later in the day on Sunday and had us retreat to shelter to sit a spell while he explained the next training session.
I would highly recommend his training if you are specifically looking for solid self defense training. He is about being able to defend your life when the SHTF. He is serious in the student getting it right.
I do think that if you are a brand new shooter and you are just starting to make your way in the shooting world, you might seek out an instructor who doesn't feed you with a fire hose! I would call this more of a level 1.5 course. It has much more content and moves faster than several level 2 classes I have taken.
I probably won't move up to Level 2 unless I have really done a LOT of dry fire and live fire to tighten my groups and be super proficient in handling everything from loading, unloading, clearing malfunctions, presentations to the target and am in better physical condition. I have a feeling his level 2 classes will be fast and furious with little time to dink around with a student who can't remember the sequence to clear a double feed.
One last thing which is a pet peeve of mine. If you are an instructor and you see people do things at the line that are incorrect, sure, yell out to everyone the corrective action. But be sure to specifically call out the student that was in error. I don't always know that I didn't do something correctly. I need you as the instructor to point it out. Otherwise, how will I learn that I didn't have my pistol high enough up in my workspace? I experience this from most instructors, not just Bob.
Here is a snip of what this class was about:
Equipment selection
Building the basic tenants for a good shot
Dry-Fire drills
Threat assessment
3, 5, 7 yard drills including:
Shot groups
malfunction drills
Trigger reset
Shooting from low ready
Shooting from holster
Controlled pairs
Failure to neutralize threat
Tactical reloads
Administrative reloads
Emergency/speed reloads
Shooting from a kneeling position
Shooting out to 15 yards for groups
Medical brief
What to do once you leave the class...and more.
I have taken more than a few training classes. When I lived in Virginia I taught Hunter Education, and classes required to get your CCL. I have taken rifle classes (.22 rimfire, M1 Garand, AR15). I have taken several level 1 and beyond handgun classes from multiple instructors.
The handgun classes were taught by LE, military, "gamers", NRA instructors and organizations that intertwine a history lesson along with some shooting skills training.
The training I received this weekend was top notch. Bob is very experienced and is good at what he does. He is the total package; proficient with firearms, 40 years of martial arts training, and is physically fit. His background is in law enforcement. I felt like I could trust what he was telling us and understood the "why" of what he was teaching.
His teaching fundamentals were great, he has a good personality and kept the class for both days from getting boring. He noticed when the class was getting a little fatigued later in the day on Sunday and had us retreat to shelter to sit a spell while he explained the next training session.
I would highly recommend his training if you are specifically looking for solid self defense training. He is about being able to defend your life when the SHTF. He is serious in the student getting it right.
I do think that if you are a brand new shooter and you are just starting to make your way in the shooting world, you might seek out an instructor who doesn't feed you with a fire hose! I would call this more of a level 1.5 course. It has much more content and moves faster than several level 2 classes I have taken.
I probably won't move up to Level 2 unless I have really done a LOT of dry fire and live fire to tighten my groups and be super proficient in handling everything from loading, unloading, clearing malfunctions, presentations to the target and am in better physical condition. I have a feeling his level 2 classes will be fast and furious with little time to dink around with a student who can't remember the sequence to clear a double feed.
One last thing which is a pet peeve of mine. If you are an instructor and you see people do things at the line that are incorrect, sure, yell out to everyone the corrective action. But be sure to specifically call out the student that was in error. I don't always know that I didn't do something correctly. I need you as the instructor to point it out. Otherwise, how will I learn that I didn't have my pistol high enough up in my workspace? I experience this from most instructors, not just Bob.
Here is a snip of what this class was about:
Equipment selection
Building the basic tenants for a good shot
Dry-Fire drills
Threat assessment
3, 5, 7 yard drills including:
Shot groups
malfunction drills
Trigger reset
Shooting from low ready
Shooting from holster
Controlled pairs
Failure to neutralize threat
Tactical reloads
Administrative reloads
Emergency/speed reloads
Shooting from a kneeling position
Shooting out to 15 yards for groups
Medical brief
What to do once you leave the class...and more.