Armed Dynamics Concealed Carry Critical Decision Class Review

[PA86]

I recently completed Armed Dynamics Concealed Carry Critical Decision class, put on by Jeff Bloovman of Armed Dynamics and William Aprill of Aprill Risk Consulting.

This was a 2 day class, consisting of lecture and live fire and was held at the Palmyra Sportsman's Club in June of 2015.

The class was excellent. We opened with introductions, a brief review of safe gun handling rules, and then headed out to the range.

I was impressed with the forethought put into safety. Immediately upon arriving at the range a vehicle was staged with the trunk open, keys in the ignition, GPS programmed for the nearest trauma center. Specific persons were designated to provide care, call 911, or help load a person if need be. A trauma kit was placed in a designate area by the firing line.

Lecture is usually done first, but as it was already raining and forecast to get worse, we did our live fire first. And we got wet. Very wet. Of course, everyone was prepared with rain gear as we were instructed prior to the class on all the gear that we would need. It was actually a good opportunity to train in less than ideal conditions, and probably more comfortable than if it were 95 with the sun blazing down.

We opened with a very simple scenario, which most people found eye opening. I don't want to give away what we did, but lets say it was a great primer for the rest of the class. We then moved onto a dot drill which included shooting, for accuracy, with both hands, stronghand and weak hand only, from the holster, and also incorporated target transitions and reloads. Targets used for the drills were later provided for students to take home to practice with themselves. We also did some cadence drills, to help us understand how fast we are capable of shooting. The answer: surprisingly so. We did a number of drills transitioning from a larger to smaller target, emphasizing the balance between speed and precision. This is by no means a complete list of the drills we did, just some of the major ones that I am thinking of off the top of my head here.

As the weather got worse, we wrapped up shooting for day 1 and proceeded to lecture. William Aprill gave a great talk about criminal psychology, ways to deselect yourself from being the target of an attack and myriad related issues. There was lots of good food for thought. I can't do the lecture justice here, so I won't try.

Day two we did some more drills, and some more scenario type shooting. This involved shooting in proximity of other people, and everybody was very safety conscious.

Some of this shooting involved walking with a partner, whom you would then need to control and position behind you before engaging a threat. We then sought cover with our partner after shooting. We practiced presenting our firearm from several starting positions as well.

One of the last drills, a 'serpentine drill' involved forming a stack, side stepping, engaging a target, averting one's muzzle, and threading one's way through the stack to the front of the line, engaging as you went. Some serious sh*t. But so is actually using a gun in public. In this controlled setting, everyone got the experience of shooting with real people downrange, with serious consequences.

After completing the live fire training on day two, which fortunately had better weather, we had some fun swapping guns and blowing off some left over ammo before the range went cold.

We finished with a 'working lunch' while William Aprill wrapped up with part two of his thought provoking lecture.

Some of the highlights of this class for were the fact that I honed in on the number one thing I need to work on to improve my shooting, getting that support hand nice and tight, and getting the experience of doing live fire exercises with real people. The class was a great experience that improved my skills and confidence. Although the only prerequisite for this class was an understanding of safe gun handling, I would recommend that someone take at least a 101 level defensive pistol type course before attending, so you aren't having to learn your reloads, offhand and weak hand shooting, hand to hand transitions, etc, as you go. That was the extent of my prior training, and I felt it was sufficient. I absolutely look forward to doing more training with Jeff and William as the opportunity arises.

[sprrdhawk44]

Bloovman is a douchebag.

The reference thread for all things Bloovman, including his banning from this very site:

http://forum.pafoa.org/showthread.php?t=180053

[bushcraft]

Bloovman is a douchebag.

The reference thread for all things Bloovman, including his banning from this very site:

http://forum.pafoa.org/showthread.php?t=180053

Thanks for the heads up!