Pistol Operator Level One (Argive Defense Systems, www.argivedefense.com, Hellertown Sportsmen Association, Hellertown, Pennsylvania, $300.00): September 22nd, 2007

[netw0rkpenguin]

I signed up for it, can't wait to take it. If anyone cares I can post a review afterwards.

[Mtbkski]

Post Reviews. I want to hear what you think.

[netw0rkpenguin]

I took the class this past weekend. I thought it was well organized
and very well presented. The instructor had all his materials
together and definitely knew what he was talking about.
The class started out from going over the basics in a classroom,
reviewing safety rules, going over what we will cover and laying down
some ground work. One of the things the instructor stated upfront is
that this class will not help you win competitions. If you follow what
you learn there you WILL do worse in IPSEC, what it will help you
with is if you are ever in a SHTF gunfight. He will stop you in a
middle of the drill and tell you to get behind proper cover or tell
you that you are leaning out too much from behind cover. The class
part took maybe 40 min. We then moved on to the range. Did a few
accuracy drills and spent a lot of time practicing failure drills,
reloading, moving and looking after we shoot. Almost all the drills
are based on things learned in real world shootings (ie don't just
stand there, there's someone shooting at where you are so MOVE,
looking around after firing shots at the threat to make sure there are
no other threats present, counteracting effects of tunnel vision).
I was not as well prepared for it as everyone else because I have only
been actively shooting from a pistol for a few months. Since some of
the drills didn't stop until the number of shots that he called out
were placed where he called out I ended up putting more lead down
range then others in the class and having to reload more often. If you
take his class, bring 5 or so spare magazines, not 3. The instructor
took some time during lunch to work with me on accuracy and gave me a
good drill to practice. I'll be working on that until the vehicle
tactics class.
After lunch we worked on 1 handed shooting, moving while shooting,
engaging multiple targets as you move and shoot and all the drills
incorporated the failure drills, tactical reloads and administrative
reloads.

On the first day everyone with the exception of 1 woman had either a
glock or an XD. By the 2nd day the woman switched away from a 9mm 1911
to an XD. There was 1 major pistol failure and it was a glock :-P .

Second day we started out shooting at a moving target, moving to keep
up with the moving target. We then went outside and practiced
retention, shooting from pistol against the body position, shooting
from your back, shooting from kneeling, shooting while recovering from
on your back to standing. Spent a few hours practicing how to use
cover effectively, providing cover fire for yourself while moving for
cover and effectively shooting from behind cover.


One of the things I learned from taking the class is how much I don't
know. A lot of stuff he discussed as related to tactics made complete
sense once he told us about it but it never occurred to me and I sure
as hell wouldn't have figured it out on my own in that 3 seconds I had
if someone started shooting at me while I'm getting a slurpie.

Only thing I would have changed about the class is sometimes it would have been more beneficial for there to have been 2 instructors on site.

Overall the class was very good and well worth the time and $. I am
signing up for the vehicle tactics class.

[vic2367]

excellent write up,,,am thinking of taking this course,,,need some extra mags though..

[MarcS]

Originally Posted by netw0rkpenguin

I was not as well prepared for it as everyone else because I have only
been actively shooting from a pistol for a few months.

And now you're better prepared for an armed confrontation than 99% of people who have been shooting for decades.

One of the things I learned from taking the class is how much I don't
know. A lot of stuff he discussed as related to tactics made complete
sense once he told us about it but it never occurred to me and I sure
as hell wouldn't have figured it out on my own in that 3 seconds I had
if someone started shooting at me while I'm getting a slurpie.

See my sig line. Glad i'll have another defender of tactical truth on the forum. Now practice, practice, practice everything you have learned!

See you in Vehicle Tactics, bro.

[TonyF]

Originally Posted by netw0rkpenguin

One of the things I learned from taking the class is how much I don't know.

Let me welcome you to the ranks of the enlightened.

You are now "conscious competent". Good for you.