After Action Report - Vogel Dynamics - World Class Pistol Skills - Lima, OH

[JoshIronshaft]

Today I participated in the Vogel Dynamics World Class Pistol Skills 1 day class near Lima, OH.

Class schedule:

http://www.vogeldynamics.com/training/

This was listed on the website and planned to occur at a club range, but because only myself and another student signed up, Robert (Bob) Vogel moved the class to his home range and the price remained the same ($300 for the day). You can see an option to schedule private training with Bob below the listed class schedule on the website, which was basically my experience today.

I wanted to share my experience because this was overall a fantastic class.

Please excuse the lack of in depth details, as I am pretty tired after the class and a 4-1/2 hour drive home, but I figured I would write this up before going to bed while it's fresh.

I drove out the night before and stayed at a cheap airbnb about 25 minutes from Bob's house.

To state the obvious, I was very happy with the instructor to student ratio.

The class started at 9am, with a discussion on safety, grip, trigger control, dry fire practice, and Bob's philosophy on fast and accurate shooting. Any question that was asked, Bob was happy to answer. Bob is a laid back, humble, easy to talk to guy.

After that, we headed out to the range. Bob's home range would make most shooter's green with envy. It's roughly a 30 yard 180 bay with target stands, barrels, a variety of steel targets, etc. Solid dirt berms and good neighbors make him a lucky man.

The weather was perfect. Dry, warm, and a steady breeze all day.

We started out with a little dry fire, then we started working on speed and accuracy at various distance with challenging par times, using USPSA targets. Bob provided feedback and coaching. He also provided demonstrations of the drills before we did them, which was motivation to say the least.

We did a qualification course from up close out to 25 yards with pretty aggressive par times.

Then we switched into shooting exercises that I thought were more geared towards competition (which is what I wanted the most out of today).

First Bob set up two barrels at around 4 or 5 yards with just enough space between them to walk between. We took turns working around the barrels in a figure 8, shooting a USPSA target with two rounds while moving between the barrels then working around either the left or right barrel as fast as possible to repeat, alternating directions of movement, for a total of 10 rounds per drill. As simple as it sounds, seeing how fast Bob could do it and getting some tips out of it made it a more valuable exercise than it may sound at face value.

I think at this point we took a break for lunch.

Next Bob set up 4 shooting position boxes arranged in a square. There were two USPSA targets about 5 yards apart, and two boxes directly in front of them 5 yards away. The other two boxes were at 10 yards, directly behind the 5 yard boxes. The starting position was located in the dead center of the 4 boxes, and Bob broke down every piece of movement of the drill (footwork, body orientation, shooting, etc) before demonstrating. Then we took turns performing the drill: upon the start signal move to the rear left box wile drawing the gun, put two rounds on each target, move to the right rear box, two rounds on each target, move forward to the front right box while performing a reload, two rounds on each target, move to the front left box, put two rounds on each target. Again Bob provided great coaching and feedback.

Many topics were touched on and expanded on at the student's request, such as drawing the gun, reloads, etc.

Next we started working on shooting a standard USPSA swinger target. I really found this valuable because I usually just throw lead at swingers and hope for the best. I certainly have never had the chance to practice on one. We started out with just the swinger with a steel activator target, and then started to add in engaging other steel targets while waiting for the activator to move. After working on the swinger for some time today, I feel like I can take much better aimed shots on swingers, so I can't wait to test myself at a match.

Last, we moved to the plate rack, and we took turns hammering the plates for the last drills of the day. We finished around 430PM.

At one point in the day, Bob disassembled his Glock 34 next to mine and showed me some improvements I can make to improve my Glock for USPSA. I really appreciated that, and it really demonstrated how knowledge he is about not just shooting but the mechanics of the gun.

The total round count was around 325 rounds.

At the end of the day there was no secret sauce or magic wand that will take me from B class to GM, but I knew that.

Bob's final feedback for me was that I have good fundamentals, and that pushing myself while shooting and doing more practice are what can improve my skills.

This class presented me with confirmations of what I thought I knew, new techniques to try, and feedback from an expert. I wish I had taken this class 9 years ago when I started shooting USPSA, but it would of been valuable to me at any point in the last 9 years, just as it was today.

In conclusion, I would say this is one of those classes where a shooter with novice skill and a shooter with advanced skill can take away enough to make it worth their time.

I'm very glad I went today, and would definitely take another class from Bob.