AAR: MDFI Shotgun I & II 6/25/11 & 6/26/11

[Steve MI]

the old saying of rather a miss in good form, than a hit in poor hold true to some things
and not others

 

[rhino]

Hey, I can miss with good form and with crappy form! I got skillz.

 

[Steve MI]

I bet you can i have no doubt.....but let me tell you........

 

[samrothstein01]

Well, I intended to post an AAR much sooner, but that pesky thing called work always seems to get in my way. Better late than never….

Shotgun I & II was an opportunity for me to get my 3rd and 4th full days of instruction under MDFI, and as expected, there was no disappointment. I have now also been subjected to 4 different instructors throughout my 4 days of coursework with MDFI, and “top notch” is the only descriptive necessary. Tom and Trek were fantastic and offered some great insight on mind set, gear, tactics, but mostly relative to weapon manipulation.

I entered the Shotgun I & II with the only shotgun experience being recreational, mostly via clays and trap. I went in to the course with extremely high expectations and assuming I would be exposed to several revelations of “shotgunning for defense”. While this didn’t necessarily occur as expected, it did provide several very eye opening experiences and “ah-ha” moments. What I quickly realized is that many of the “tactics” apply regardless of platform and can be carried over. What I did enjoy and was the best part of the course for me was learning how to manipulate the tool to achieve desired results. This was what I was missing in my repertoire, and it was by far the greatest takeaway.

I ran an 870 express magnum with a 18.x” barrel, with a pistol grip/adjsutable stock, Blackhawk sling, and a war belt with a CCW shell holder and dump pouch.

I immediately figured out that I had some gear setup awkwardly, and made some slight adjustments at the first break in class. I have found that classes are a great way to shake out issues with gear and to try different setups and methodology. All in all, I am very pleased with how my gear performed, although I did have a few issues I will mention later. The 870 ran perfectly with no mechanical malfunctions, and the pistol grip was very useful for me to manipulate the weapon in my workspace. The collapsible stock assisted with putting myself in a better stance, although it took me quite a while to realize, change this.

Day 1 started with covering safety, gear choices, and some basics. We quickly got into sending some lead down range to “shoot off the cobwebs”, which is very important to me. I find that in these particular settings I get inexplicably nervous until I get the first few shots off. We then quickly moved to weapon manipulation and the differences within platforms.

Day 1 continued with repetitions and becoming comfortable with our platforms, along with some friendly competition and some much needed instruction. I will point out that mid day of day 1, fatigue was noticeable in many of the participants (including myself), and I felt obligated to ask for some reinforcement of safety issues as it was apparent that there was some lackadaisicalness with muzzle discipline, specifically off of the firing line. It was only to reinforce the safety of everyone in attendance, and absolutely not to belittle anyone or their competency.

Day 1 wrapped up with some additional drills and some maneuvers tied to friend versus foe. It also wrapped up with a bit of a bruised shoulder, and a bit of a bruised ego.



As is typical with me, I try to push myself extremely hard every step of the way, and I managed to beat myself up a bit with several lacerations that while bleeding looked much worse than they actually were. A bottle of water to rinse off and some band aids took care of those issues, and I even resorted to putting duct tape on my 870 where a rough screw head was scraping the heck out of my hand.

Day 1 I had two equipment related issues. A sling that I keep on the 870 came loose during drills, however it was never used as a sling nor was it ever intended to be used as such. I keep it on the 870 simply because it holds 15 additional shells and allows me to keep more ammunition on board should I ever need to grab and go. So, while this did not necessarily interfere with the intended function or usefulness during the course, it was a good test to see that it needs attached more securely. I simply dumped it and moved on. The second issue I had was that my collapsible stock/pistol grip came loose towards the end of the day, and as it got progressively loose, I took myself off the line as I felt it could very soon result in a safety issue. So I disappointedly missed the last two or three rounds of drills. During the overnight, I re-tightened the stock and was back for Day 2 in proper working order, and had no further issues.

Day 2 started with a review of day 1, and some repetition of lessons previously learned. We quickly dove into new territory and drills that incorporated a lot movement and target acquisition. This was when things got much more complex and it became difficult to “do everything” correctly. Those manipulations that were starting to become second nature, proved to remain difficult when you start to incorporate movement and target selectivity. I forced myself to slow down a bit and really digest the steps before proceeding.

We then worked on some ballistics, trying out different ammo and different platforms. This was enlightening to say the least… WOW does different/the correct ammo make a HUGE difference. This was a valuable lesson learned specifically for the shotgun that I had not taken into consideration before. Typically, I can use a less expensive or less accurate ammo for cheap range work when it comes to pistol and carbine and get decently accurate results, but with the shotgun, cheap range ammo doesn’t cut it.

We also worked on some transition drills, which is when I realized I need a lot more range work, and could probably really use Handgun I again. My single handed shooting was deplorable and I was very disappointed in myself. This also caused confidence to drift slightly, which is not the state I wish to operate any firearm in. I was also less than pleased with my Safariland holster, which proved to be problematic with draw stroke and getting the pistol back into the holster. I never encountered this problem before with the Safariland, but it was highly disruptive this time around and less than optimal. I typically use a Raven except for on my war belt, however with the problems I encountered I will now be finding a way to attach the Raven to my war belt instead.

We wrapped up with some chat about statistics (which were made highly available during the entire course…thanks Trek!), and some overall course discussion.

All in all this class was exactly what I needed and wanted out of the class. I am now much more confident in my ability to use a shotgun as a defensive weapon. And although I never subscribed to the “point it down the hall and shoot” nomenclature associate with the shotgun, this certainly reinforced that it is in fact a complex platform.

Lessons learned:
1.) I need to practice more, on all platforms. I often times blame the expensive of ammo or the lack of time with family/work obligations, but if I am going to take my study of the firearm and defensive tactics seriously, I need to practice what I learn more often. Some of the techniques were replicated from Carbine I, but I realized that over the course of the past year I have forgotten or become lazy with them.
2.) I need to work on my skills with a handgun. This one caught me off guard and was very disappointing.
3.) Manipulating a shotgun takes practice and can be done very effectively when done as taught. I need to continue practicing and incorporate movement on my own rather than get stuck in the “box”. I don’t want to lose what I have gained over this past weekend to becoming content.
4.) Continue training. I have committed to myself to take at least one formal training course per year, and I managed to exceed that last year. I have met my goal this year, but remain unsatisfied. I need to prioritize my dollars available and take training every chance I get, perhaps increasing my goal to two courses per year.
5.) Although it cannot replicate an active shooter situation, the stress of a class and having instructors yell at you can certainly increase your heart rate and cause you to fumble. I actually enjoy this part of a class as it drives the comfort zone out and causes errors that become teachable moments.
6.) Lastly, I never remember to bring a camera…need to start remembering that to take pictures.

 

[Tom Fineis]

Wise words brother. Good having you out.

 

[Trek]

Thanks everyone for the feedback! We had a great time and hope to see you all soon