What are your going to in 2018 to be a better shooter and Gun Handler?

[Coach]

Rhino was out at the range cheating today according to his own definition. Good job!

 

[devildog70]

I'm basing my comparison off of multiple FLETC firearms courses, and NRA LE Division courses.

Tom's class is a very full three days (five, if you count both classes together). About half of the three day IDC is range time. About 3/4 of the Advanced is spent on the range. There are zero teach-backs, and adult learning theory is touched on for less than an hour. Coaching is covered fairly thoroughly, and the shooter/coach model is used during almost all range portions.

The main thrust of the class appears to me, to be about how to design a program, with cursory coverage of how to teach it. There is also a heavy focus on the why's of how he thinks courses should be designed, and a very heavy focus on instructor shooting skill. I disagree with little, if anything in those areas.

My statement was not meant to be negative. In the timeframe allowed, it would be impossible to cover everything, so choices had to be made as to what to include in the curriculum. Tom is engaging, knowledgeable, and a master of his craft. I would recommend these courses without reservation...but this is not a class about how to teach.

 

[Coach]

I wonder if anyone who sign up to take a class on "How to Teach".

 

[devildog70]

I have no idea why anyone else signs up. I know Tom mentioned specifically that he took teach-backs out, due to time constraints. Which implies to me that at one time, he thought that was one of the things he should teach in an instructor course. Personally, I've done enough elsewhere that it wasn't a factor for me. Because it might be for others who don't have access to schools that do train people to teach, I mentioned it. If it wouldn't apply for you, great. If it might apply for others reading my post, also great. Now they know.

 

[Coach]

I am grateful for your observations. So many times people just comment the class was great and that is not very helpful. Even a great course has things about that are sub-optimal and they do not improve without effort.

As a full time teacher I will say this in a general fashion and not directed at any one person specifically. Some people have the ability to teach and many others do not. Ironically those without the talent are often are critical of those who do teach. You are not going to learn to teach in three days, five days or even likely a year, and that is if you are making an effort to get good at teaching. It takes some time. I think you have to basically figure it out on your own. You can be taught some methods and practices but you have to figure it out. There is more than one way to skin the proverbial cat as well. Letting people learn by doing a task over and over with proper instruction is not teaching.

I have some more thoughts on this but I am out of time this morning.

 

[turnandshoot4]

Done with everything through #6, #1 & 2 are on-going, 2 of 3 of # 15 are done, and the checks have been cut for the rest, except for #13. Everything through #12 will be done as of September.

Oops. Forgot something in the "done" column for this year - Glock Operator Course.

All that FLETC, hey homie! Great to shoot with you all week at Tom's courses.

 

[devildog70]

All that FLETC, hey homie! Great to shoot with you all week at Tom's courses.

You too, man!

 

[rhino]

The DTI/John & Vicki Farnam instructor course has a significant emphasis on how to teach. There is even a section taught by Vicki on their methods for teaching female students and how to accommodate their needs that differ from most men's needs. That ranges from discussion of how our respective brains are wired to learn, to how our hearing tends to be different, to learning how it feels to have tiny hands trying operate a handgun.

When I did a carbine instructor course with Louis Awerbuck, it was the first time I was in a class where the students took turns taking control of the line and assisting, then we each got critiqued by the other students and then Louis. I still remember that the guy who spoke the fastest in the class criticized me for speaking too slowly. I may do that sometimes, but it is by intent. I think he forgot that all of us in that class already knew everything we were learning to teach to each other. You can't feed brand new information that quickly to people who are not experienced learners of shooting and gun stuff.

 

[BehindBlueI's]

My current goal is to suck less with my BUG. The Shield is the only BUG size semi-auto I own. I shot a 3y dot torture today, 49/50. One WHO shot was high (the shot in the bottom of the '5' circle should be in the WHO circle). No actual draws, our range is closed for repairs so "draws" were just presentations. I started with the gun in the strong hand as though it were half way between the holster and meeting the weak hand, then did the drill. No timer, just trying to be reasonable.

7y headshots from presentation, 30x. Dropped one shot.

Failure drills with remaining 20 rounds.

On a side note, 9mm brass that gets behind your shooting glasses isn't all that bad, comparatively.

 

[Coach]

2017 went by so very fast. Have been thinking about 2018 and all that will be going on during the year. Time will be in shorter supply than ever. I want to improve. So here are a few plans:

1) 5 -10 dry fire draws from concealment everyday. Actually started three days ago.
2) Going to take the Home Defense shotgun to the range every three months for some live work.
3) Bringing John Murphy to Riley in March for two intensive days advanced pistol training.
4) Going to take the AR-15 to the range once every three months for some live fire work.
5) Going to make myself familiar with the AK-47 platform.
6) Going to dry fire regularly starting in January with comp guns. Both USPSA and Steel Challenge
7) Attend the Range Master Tactical Conference in March.

Revisited this post.

On schedule with the shotgun and the AR. Had another work out with the shot gun today. Pretty happy with the results. If I don't have to reload I am confident the problem will be solved with what is in The Gauge. Reloads are a little rough. Thinking about practicing with those in Dry practice. Doubt it will happen. Pretty sure I can win with what is in the gun.

Worked from concealment in LF with the carry gear today. I am not getting dry practice draws with the carry gear everyday. I am doing at a part of Dry work every time now a days, but did not even get close to that.

Dry practice is getting done regularly. After USPSA nationals I am going to take a break.

AK platform goal has not be done yet. I should do that after Nationals.

Saw some improvement today on Bill Drills live fire. It has been a point of emphasis in dry practice the last couple of weeks. Improvement shown is a reward in itself.

 

[rhino]

My rifle shooting is in better shape than I previously thought. I'm going to have at least one more practice session with the .22 before I shoot the next .22 long range match at RileyCC in September. I need to get a better zero at 55 yards and I need to confirm that I can dial elevation changes that will match (or improve) my results with the holdovers at 110 and 165 yards using the hashes in the reticle.

I'm not going to shoot in any pistol matches for a while, so I will try to get some pistol practice done after shooting the .22. I'll probably do some draw/fire one shot from concealment for a magazine-full (21 rounds), then some bill drills. I am actually considering doing some dry practice to work on my draw as well.

 

[Coach]

Went to the Cloverdale Conservation Club for a little trigger time today. I ran into no one at the range which is a big plus in my book.

I worked on 50 yard hits with the Limited Gun. Plenty of improvement to be made but it has been worse.
Worked on 5 yard off hand hits with the AR it was ok. I don't get much time in on the AR.
Did some up drills with 1 shot with the AR at 7 yards both with irons and the scope. I was better with the irons and that was nothing to write home about.
I did some some draws from concealment with the carry guns. Only a couple of sub 1 second draws at 7 yards. Lots of 1.1 and 1.2
Did some 3X2 work at seven yards sub 2 seconds only once out of five. Several 2.1 and 2.2. The hits were all fine. I am slow is the problem. Working on it.
WHO with the carry gun at 7 yards. Very happy with the hits. Worked failure drills with the weak hand. Not worried about the times.
Worked on Turn and draw with the Limited Gun at seven yards.
Shot six bill drills. I had three that were under 2 seconds. My slowest was 2.21. I was not using a USPSA target but a Rangemaster Q 2017 version. Not all would have been alphas. But getting the round off and under control was nice. Dry fire is making progress on the trigger pulling speed.
I worked a number of surrender draws with the Limited gun.

The session was the most productive thing I have gotten done today. After three days of being flat on my part with some sort of inner ear sorcery going on I will take it. Shooting USPSA at Oxford tomorrow with the boy.

 

[1stLast&Always]

Practiced in the rain today for 90 minutes. Defensive AR drills with malfunction and movement at 25 yards on steel. Next was standing shots at steel at 50 yards. Also got in some drawing from holster and firing at plates with my Sig at 10 yards.

 

[Coach]

Got a long range day in today. Mainly with the competition gun. But did get some trigger time in with the shotgun, AR and the truck gun. Carry gun got a little time as well. Was going to do some long range rifle work but ran out of time. Pretty happy with the day.

Have been successful at getting the AR and Shotgun to the range every three months. Was real happy with today's results with both.

 

[romack991]

I should have just kept my original post short and said not much. Disappointing year with minimal practice and inconsistent shooting. I withdrew from Nationals earlier this week. It doesn't make sense to spend that much time and money on something I haven't prepared for. I've only put about 3k rounds downrange so far. I tried to get back into it before Area 5 but just never got into a routine. With the state match in a few weeks, I need to work on hitting stuff and putting up consistent results.

 

[BehindBlueI's]

I'm taking Massad Ayoob's Mag40 this week up at Sand Burr.

 

[BehindBlueI's]

I'm taking Massad Ayoob's Mag40 this week up at Sand Burr.

Any other INGOers here?