I had my first professional lesson

[runningfast]

And it was pretty cool. 8-)

Well, first off- the day started by hanging out with ricky_awesome. His name is an apt descriptor. He's pretty goddamned awesome. We shot my P229, his Glock 30, his FN Five-seven, and his AR-15. It was bunches of fun. He's a great shot, and together we destroyed several silhouettes.

We had a funny moment where one of the instructors there at Philadelphia Archery and Gun saw a loaded weapon off our bench and rushed over and grabbed it and cleared it. We apologized for having a loaded weapon off the bench, but that didn't get back the round that was lost when the guy unchambered it and it rolled somewhere in the distance... while I understand them wanting all actions open, the guy could have simply asked us to clear it ourselves or move it over to the bench. To his credit the guy offered to give us a round, but still. It felt, to me, like kind of a dick move.

I also had my first ever hiccup (two of 'em!) with my Sig. I hesitate to call it a malfunction because I believe it was caused by either the ammunition or my grip. All shots fired and were extracted, but on the final round of two separate full magazines, the slide failed to lock back. Upon inspection, two rounds (out of 150) of the Remington UMC I was firing had seriously messed up primers (I didn't attempt to fire either one), so it's possible I just had some underpowered duds that slipped through those boxes... or I was limp wristing. However, all rounds struck were fired.

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The second half of the day I went and had a lesson with John at Classic Pistol.

I'll get the 'bad' out of the way first- and note, the 'bad' isn't necessarily objectively so, it's just a few things that turned me off.

1.) They don't permit rapid fire. That seems kind of lame, to me. I'm sure they have their reasons (safety, preventing damaged equipment from rapid fire, other customers being irritated, etc.) but it is still a turnoff to me. Granted I haven't been to many ranges (only three indoor ranges and one outdoor range), but this is, I believe, the only one so far with this restriction.

2.) The cost of the lesson is high. I enjoyed it very much, so this isn't really what I'd call a legitimate 'bad' thing, but hey, it always sucks to shell out top dollar, even when you're getting your money's worth.

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Otherwise, I was super pleased with CP. Before we get into the lesson I want to talk about the good things about the place in general:

1.) The workers are super attentive. I once browsed at Tanner's and ended up walking out because they were too busy ordering lunch to give me the time of day even though I tried for five minutes to establish eye contact. At CP I was greeted immediately, and we all joked and talked about various things. If I walked away from the counter for a few moments, as soon as I was back and obviously looking for assistance, someone was back to talk to me. I felt completely catered to without being 'overwhelmed' at all.

2.) Their selection is wonderful. Lots of pistols (my main passion), ammunition, ears, targets, bags, safes, reloading equipment, etc.

3.) The owner himself is very cool. When I got there Bob had just finished getting FUBAR by a little Diamondback 380 that had come apart in his hands and gashed up his face. Despite bleeding through his bandages, he still took the time to joke with me (a totally new face) and ask me about my lesson and how I liked it and all.

So, to the lesson itself: it was awesome! My instructor (John, the former owner) was very friendly, knowledgeable, and efficient. His rate is by the hour, and so he was quick but thorough. At every turn he gave me the option to 'move on', so to speak, or to have him continue. It was a very courteous way for me to control the level of instruction and manage the cost.

He addressed all of my issues (from my concern about my slide not locking back to my awful double action trigger control), and I walked away better educated and far more competent.

My first run through (with the ability I 'brought to the table'), it looked like this:



Out of 40 shots fired, 20 were touching orange (50%).

With John coaching me, my second run through looked like this:



Out of 10 shots fired, 9 were touching orange (90%).

I don't mean to brag but that is by far my best shooting yet. That's at about 18 feet, and every shot is double action. The last five rounds made a single hole, as you can see. John is an amazing instructor, and it still stuns me that I improved so much over a single box of ammunition.

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Then I fired a box of Speer Gold Dots, as I'm trying to settle on a defensive round. They all fed fine, and so I'm considering using it as my carry ammo. It seems popular here. The one thing that confused me was that the jacket of the round looks like the aluminum used by Blazer which I thought was considered a very cheap, low quality round? Can someone clear this up for me? I thought Speer was a premium brand defensive ammo.

Anyways, there is everything. Thanks again, ricky_awesome, and thanks John and everyone at Classic Pistol. You guys were great.