AAR Advanced Application of Pistol Fundamentals 03/04/2023

AAR Originally posted at Reddit.com

So, this is my first after action report. Please bear with my rambling. Full disclosure, I first bought a pistol in 2005. Shot a lot for about 2 years and completely stopped. I got back into about a year ago and got serious about getting better at shooting pistols. Especially red dots. Also, when I first shot, I was taught the Weaver stance. Boy things are very different than it was in 2005. I will consider myself a beginner at this point. Very low intermediate at best.

Last November I took the Practical Red Dot pistol class by Green Ops. That was my 2nd instructor led class I took. At the time of signing up, all Modern Jedi Project classes were full, and Scott recommended that I take the class from Green Ops. Long story short, it was a great class. Two of the instructor Luke, and Julian both recommended that I try to take the Advance Application of Pistol Fundamentals class. They both told me it is their favorite class to teach, and I will get a lot out it as the class focuses more on the grip and trigger pull.

Fast forward to 2023, I signed up for the Advanced Application of Pistol Fundamentals class. Start of the day was pretty much like the last time I took a class with them. Meet at a specified location, they do roll call, and the class follows them to a range. Different range than the stone quarry range.

Class started off with introductions of the instructors, all the students, and safety briefing. I’m guessing this is all pretty standard in all firearms courses. Students ranged from newbies like me, law enforcement, military, and people who compete. There were 18 students, and 3 instructors. Instructors had us start off with some warmup exercises and gauging all the students’ shooting abilities. Checking everyone’s grips. If you were shooting red dots, making sure the dot was zeroed properly. A lot of one-on-one instructions were happening, and this continued throughout the class.

Instructors broke down the class into few sections. Grip, trigger pull, and the draw. When talking about grip, they talked extensively about hand placement and the importance of being high on the frame of the gun. Also, talked about being high with the support and how the placement of the thumb really doesn’t matter. It’s more about how much pressure you can generate with the support hand to create a vice for your pistol. Not only pressing with the base of the thumb (thenar muscle) but squeezing with all the fingers including the pinky to create lateral structure. The shooting hand, they had use squeeze hard enough to get a good grip of the gun, but not over doing it to the point where the trigger pull will be impacted. All the instructor answered questions and had a lot of one on ones with the students. I had a lot of questions, and they spent a lot of time with me and other students to refine their grips. We also ended up shooting with a round in the chamber and with the magazine out of the pistol. This showed us when you are trying to anticipate recoil and dropping shots. But, with changing up the support hand grip, students got to see that recoil can be managed for the follow up shot. This is a drill I plan on keeping.

During the trigger pull section of the class, instructors had the students shoot their pistol with just their thumb and the trigger finger. They were really trying to emphasize if the pistol isn’t disturbed during the trigger pull, pistol will hit what you are aiming at. I have never done this exercise, so it was foreign and felt weird. But good lord they were right. You do hit exactly what you are aiming at when you take a lot of the elements away that will disrupt the pistol during the trigger pull.

After that we moved to shooting B8s at 25 yards. Oh B8s… I suck at shooting B8s. Sucked at it when I was shooting them in my last class. I suck at them shooting in the range. And I was sucking at shooting at them during this class. I’m very inconsistent with them. I have shot B8s in the range scoring around the low 90s. But I could never do it in a consistent basis. Same in this class. But, as I took my time with the trigger pull, stopped aiming when I prepped the trigger, and taking my time pulling the trigger as soon as I get an acceptable aim, I started to hit them more consistently. There were guys who were scoring 96+ in a consistent basis, but majority of the class were not doing too hot.

From there we moved onto shooting steel targets. Instructors made a game out of it. 2 lines and each person had three shots to hit the target. First starting at 25 yards, we kept moving back further and further. Instructors were very good at calling out shots and where they were landing when the students missed so adjustment can happen on the fly. Also gave out individual instructions to correct the student’s mistakes and lots of encouragement. I ended up being one of the last 2 students left at 110 yards. Let me tell you how big of a shocker this was for me. I never felt good at shooting long distance. Rifle? sure. But with a pistol B8 at 25 yards was like the bane of my instance. So, to be the last 2 left, I was shocked. Especially where there were a lot of better shooters who got eliminated. The other gentleman was a former Marine and one of the more consistent shooters. In my head, there was no way he was going to miss. It came down to one shot only from the draw, and whoever hit first won. Both of us missed the first shot. Second shot, I really took my time pulling the trigger smoothly. Really focusing on what the instructors being teaching. I hear the other shooter miss and took a little bit longer on my trigger pull. Shot went off and I hit the target. 110 yards on a USPSA sized target. Why am I writing this? This isn’t to gloat. The other guy is still WAY better shot than I am, and it’s going to take a lot of time and effort to shoot as consistently as he does. I was lucky that day and I’m sure if the other shooter took a bit longer, he would have out shot me. The reason why I’m writing this is because going into this I didn’t think I was even capable hitting beyond 50 yards. Luke talked about how we will be shooting 80 yards before class started and I thought there was no way I was going to able to do that. So, as I’m going through the line and hitting the target most within the 1st shot as the distance grew, I was realizing everyone is capable of it as long as you are doing what the instructors were teaching. Which is to practice good base fundamentals.

After that instructor had us go back shooting B8s at 25 yards. Majority of the students saw vast improvements. I was still shanking shots here and there. Overall score was a little better, but you would think I would have done so much better after hitting a target at 110 yards. Even the instructors were a bit confused, but they were also realizing some of the students were fatiguing. They were right, my hands felt weaker and getting super tight after a long day of shooting. I was still happy. The reason was I was starting to be able to call my shots. Even at 25 I was able have a better idea where the shots were landing. When I made it in the 9 ring, I was able to tell. I was able to land couple in the x ring. When I was shanking shots, I was able to tell where it was going and the most important part for me was WHY I shank the shot. I could feel when my grip felt off and if I rushed to pull the trigger. Knowing what I was doing wrong I was able to adjust on the fly. To me, this was the most significant improvement. I’m sure bunch of you guys who have been shooting are thinking who cares. But, for some who considers himself as a beginner, this will help me to be more consistent. That is what I wanted out of this class. Not hitting a target at 110 yards (which was still impressive to me), but to be more consistent. Instructors really broke the mechanics of shooting a pistol down where it was possible for me to really understand what right is and what is wrong. All 3 instructors spent a good amount of time with all the students to really work on the fundamentals and having them understand. Some picked it up fast, some took longer. But, all the beginner shooters made vast improvements, and the seasons shooters were reminded just how important fundamentals were. To give an example, there was a gentleman who was clearly a brand-new shooter. Beginning of the class, he was having a hard time hitting the A zone in 10 yards. By the time we got to shooting steel targets, he was hitting them at 50 yards. I think he might have gotten a bit further if I recall correctly. Everyone was impressed with the improvements he made and rightfully so.

Overall, the 3 instructors, Luke, Josh, and Julian did an amazing job teaching the class. At no point I felt unsafe. Also, at no point I felt like they were just going through the motion. They were very passionate about teaching and making sure everyone got the right amount of attention. They kept things serious but had right amount of humor where everyone seemed to be in a good mood and enjoying themselves. At the end we all talked about what we liked and didn’t like about the class. Everyone had good things to say. One gentleman who was clearly a seasoned shooter said he didn’t learn anything new, but it was really good reiterate the fact just how important fundamentals were and the instructors did a good job teaching it.

So far, I have taken 3 pistol courses. One defensive pistol from another company, red dot class, and now Application of Pistol Fundamentals. I see why all the instructors say this is their favorite class to teach. Because it really drives the importance of good fundamentals, and just how much better you should when you practice it. I know I have taken only 3 pistol courses so far, but this is the one class where I saw some impressive improvements from majority of the class. Even some of the seasoned shooters seem to adjust on how they were shooting.

I plan on taking this again after a year or so, because I got so much out of it. Do I think I will get the same amount of knowledge? I hope I get better to a point where I get less out of it by then. However, I will take the class again because it will help me to continue to refine my fundamentals. I also plan on taking more classes with Green Ops. I really enjoy how they teach, and how they run classes. Always entertaining and informative.

Thank you for reading my rambling.