AAR - 3 Rivers Tactical Training Solutions - 2 Day Pistol Gunfighter - Jan 17 & 18

[John A Brown]

3 Rivers Tactical Training Solutions conducted a 2 Day Pistol Gunfighter course this past weekend - Saturday, January 17th & Sunday, January 18th at the Beaver Valley Rifle and Pistol Club Training Range.

Ashton Ray taught this class with me, and as always his perspectives and input add a lot of value to the class. I sincerely thank Ashton for all he provided to this great class.

We had 15 students signed up for this class, but in the final days leading up to the class 3 students had personal or family issues arise and had to reschedule. So we started day 1 with 12 students, and then Dave had a work emergency and couldn't make it to day 2, so we had 11 students on day 2.

As far as weather, we really couldn't have asked for better weather for a January class in western Pennsylvania. It was downright warm on day 1 - sunny with highs in the mid to upper 40's. Day 2 was slightly cooler, but we mercifully missed all but a few minutes here and there of very light rain. The only weather related issue we had at all was that there was still some snow and patches of ice here and there on the range. This caused us to not do some drills I wanted to put the students through for the sake of safety. Otherwise, fantastic weather.

Hopefully this is a good omen for weather during our 2015 classes!

This class was unique in that everyone brought a quality, striker fired pistol that was up to the task of this class. Believe me when I tell you - this is not always the case. Dave was the only non-Glock shooter in the class - he brought a Springfield XD that I believe was a 9mm but might have been a .40 S&W. Dave couldn't make day 2 of the class, so on day 2 not only were all of the students running Glocks, but amazingly they were all 9mm Glocks. The only student who had an issue was Mike, and I am 99.9999% sure the issue he was having was due to a magazine, not the weapon itself.

Having quality weapons is a huge help in running a smooth class, and I thank the students for not bringing junk pistols.

This was is called Pistol Gunfighter, which the students almost immediately renamed Bad Ass Pistol. This is not a paper shooting / target shooting class. Proper mindset was stressed at all time. 100% accuracy is the only acceptable performance standard, and Ashton and I held the students to this standard throughout the entire course. The students were told from the beginning that they would be held to a very high standard, and they responded by being the hardest working class I've taught in a long, long time.

After introductions and our safety and emergency medical briefings, we moved to the range and immediately put the students through two performance tests. Cold. These tests were the first rounds the students fired - it doesn't make much sense to me to test the students after they've "warmed up" for a couple hours and fired a couple hundred rounds. Our attitude was "What is your skill level, right here, right now?" Both tests were what are known as "Walk Back Drills" and were very similar except for one thing - the first test was not timed, the second was under time. It was pretty eye opening to see how the time induced "stress" in the students. The word stress is in quotes because I by no means am suggesting that a range timer can even remotely approximate the stress one experiences in a real gunfight. But it did make a difference, and the students skill level was affected by the timer.

After the skills assessments we moved right into the drills that were the bulk of the class - getting multiple, accurate hits on the threat as quickly as possible. A detailed discussion on target zones preceded the drills. The students were constantly urged to push themselves and get out of their comfort zone. Some did this on their own. Some did not and had to dragged out of their comfort zone kicking and screaming. Performance degrades when one exits his comfort zone, but this is truly the only way to get better.

Weapon manipulations were constantly stressed throughout the entire course. Being able to "run the gun" i.e., reloads of different types and malfunction are a clean and distinct measurable standard between shooters. You have to know how to fix a problem that occurs with your weapon, and it needs to be subconscious. We saw tremendous strides by all the students in this area over the course of the 2 days.

One gear related issue to note........several students learned that their sights were less than optimal. One student had the XS Big Dot front sight and the "V" shaped rear sight that proved inadequate for distance shooting at 50, 75, and 100 yards. These sights just didn't work. Several other shooters had a front sight made by one manufacturer and a rear sight made by another. This is a recipe for disaster. I can't say this strongly enough - DON'T DO THIS. It might not be an issue for you at 5, 7, or 10 yards. Get much farther past those ranges, and mismatched sights will significantly affect your accuracy.

Understanding your pistols zero helps a lot too. It's just a simple math problem, but if you don't know where your point of impact is at 25 yards, it's almost impossible to get accurate hits beyond that range.

We ended day 1 with a night shoot, which mixed results honestly. Most people are not used to doing things in the dark. Things students did very well all day long because significantly more difficult when the dark monster showed up. Performance on the hostage and shoot / no shoot targets during the night shoot was not acceptable. Ashton and I had a bit of a "come to Jesus" discussion with the students to start day 2. We made it very clear to the students that their performance on these targets was not acceptable. To their credit the students responded exactly like I hoped they would - they owned their mistakes and started working harder. This was a really great thing to see.

We ended day 2 with the students shooting the qualification course from my former federal agency. While most did pretty well, we had only 2 who passed by meeting the 100% accuracy standard.

Jon S. won the Top Shooter and there was no question about it. He kicked ass both days and ran his Glock 19 like a boss. Very well done!

Below is PAFOA member M&P Chris, taking instruction on the line from Ashton. This was, I believe, Chris's 5th class with me. His skill level now compared to the first class he attended are light years apart. He just keeps getting better and better, which is directly related to how hard he works.



Below is a good shot of one of the relays during day 1. Paul in in the foreground. The students who you see who appear to be aiming their pistols toward the groud are doing a proper follow-through. They ARE NOT utilizing a Low Ready position.



Below is Top Shooter Jon S. getting some instruction on the line from yours truly. Jon flat out kicked ass all weekend.



Below is Mike marking his target. I use the Viking Tactics VTAC targets in pretty much every one of my classes. My hat is off to Kyle Lamb of Viking Tactics for coming out with a truly great target.



Some teaching takes place in the classroom, some on the range. This shot was taken during a range discussion. From left to right are Jon H., Jon S., Matt, Chris, and Charlie.



Below is a pretty cool shot of Phil during a drill. I believe the round is just about to exit the barrel. Note the round has gone off but the slide is not yet moving to the rear.



Stage 1 of the night shoot. Student unknown. The gas and smoke coming out of the barrel can cause significant issues at night.



Another picture from stage 1 of the night shoot - Matt in the foreground, Dunny in the background.



Very cool night shoot pic below. Student unknown.



Below, Ashton and I inspecting Gary's target during stage 2 of the night shoot.



Very cool pic of stage 2 of the night shoot below. Student unknown.



Below is Matt during the one handed drills on day 2.



Below is Jon H. during the one handed drills. If you aren't doing some one handed drills, you must be able to see the future and know you'll never need to.



Charlie in the foreground, Dunny in the background, both with multiple magazines on the ground at their feet. We tried to get the students doing as many reloads as possible.



Below is M&P Chris doing a one handed reload. This was by far my favorite part of the class. After being shown one handed reload and malfunction clearing techniques, the students ran with it and did very, VERY well. This isn't rocket surgery, but you need to know what you're doing.



One more pic of Top Shooter Jon S. doing some kneeling drills. It didn't matter what the drills was, he rocked all weekend.



Below is Phil doing a reload from the kneeling position. Note magazine still falling to the ground.



Below is a group pic of the students taken on day 2, so unfortunately Dave wasn't there to be in the pic.



This class was a joy to teach. I sincerely thank all of the students for their hard work and dedication to this craft, as well as Ashton for his invaluable perspectives and hard work as well.

I welcome everyone's comments and input.

John
www.3riverstraining.com

[Dunny]

This was a great class, and to be honest a real eye opener to my skill level. I now know what my weakness are and will work to improve them. By the second day I was catching myself making mistakes, to me that is pretty important in becoming a better GUNFIGHTER. I know exactly what 2 shots I missed in the federal qual course. The shoot no shoot part of the night shoot proved that 2" could be the difference between helping an innocent person or killing an innocent person. 100% accuracy is only option.

This was my 4th class with 3T and plan on attending this class again and carbine 2 this year. I must say that Ashton proved to be a very valuable asset. Running 2 flights with 6 people in each flight means 1 instructor per 3 students. That's a win for everyone. If you are considering this class I would highly recommend taking it. Thanks again.

[John A Brown]

Thanks for the kind words Dunny. I strive to make every class an eye opener for every student.

This is how we learn.

John
www.3riverstraining.com

[John A Brown]

Below is Jon S. getting hits on steel with a Glock 19 at 100 yards.

He went 4 out of 5.

Very, very impressive.



John
www.3riverstraining.com

[MB223PGH]

Matt here - another great class John. The Air Marshall qualification at the end was cool - still pissed I failed by one shot. All in all it was a very humbling experience. I learned a ton especially training at distance.

BTW - John S. was a freaking animal on the second day

[2k2wranglerx]

man, i wish i could have made it! i took this as a 1 day class and it was my favorite class so far. It looks like as a 2 day class it was even better.

i'm pretty damn jealous. If the bronchitis fairy hadn't visited me on thursday i would have made it!

and was "M&Pchris" shooting a glock?!

[John A Brown]

We missed you at this one for sure Ryan.

Yep - M&P Chris was running a Glock. Come to think of it, I don't think he's ever used anything but a Glock in any of my classes he's attended.

He needs to explain this.

John
www.3riverstraining.com

[Hollerman21]

This was my third class with John Brown and 3T (I also took Carbine I and Carbine II). As with the others, I learned more than I could possibly hope to retain and will definitely take more classes with 3T in the future. I plan to immediately start to train harder and implement the techniques taught to me to become a better gunfighter. John and Ashton were great at finding your weak spots and pushing you to shoot faster yet still maintaining safety.
On a side note, congratulations to Jon S. who was ridiculous while running his G19 this weekend and definitely deserved Top Shot honors.

[2nd Amendment Advocate]

Jon S. here. Still processing the impressive volume of information we learned over this two day class with 3T (3 Rivers Tactical Training Solutions). My big picture take away from this class was a major mind-set shift. No longer will I go to the range with the intention of shooting pretty holes in paper with relaxed time frames. I intend to go to the range and "train" to a new level using the techniques and knowledge John Brown and Ashton Ray imparted to us. John and Ashton set a pace and a level of pressure that I was not familiar with at the range. This pushed us as a class to really test or strengths and very quickly find our weaknesses. It was a very effective teaching method and I learned more in the two day class than I have in the previous decade of casual shooting. I was one of the students who had to be "pulled out of their comfort zone kicking and screaming" as John put it. I realized how complacent my shooting style was and how that complacency doesn't allow for any improvement especially in a real world scenario.

This was my 3rd class with John and 3T Tactical Solutions and it was the best yet. I would highly recommend any of the 3 classes I have attended (Carbine 1, Carbine 2, and 2 Day Pistol Gun Fighter) and I plan on attending two more classes this year. (Home Defense CQB, and Citizen Response to an Active Shooter)

One more note about the instructors. John and Ashton brought our training "home". By this I mean they created an intense atmosphere in which we were presented with mock scenarios and themes while visualizing our homes and loved ones as opposed to paper targets. For me this sense of realism and the gravity of what was at stake with every trigger pull was the best training I have ever been exposed to.

Thank you John and Ashton and thank you fellow class mates. It was an awesome weekend! Hope to see all of you in another class.

-Jon S.

[ARay]

Often times it isn't fun teaching classes, sometimes it is personnally rewarding. Sometimes students aren't serious or worse.

This class was one of those that made me glad that I teach.

Great work ethic and effort from the students. Good job guys.