Lesson Learned #3: Sometimes the little things mean a lot. 

MAG-80 includes training on weapons retention. This is hands-on training in the strictest sense of the term, I try to grab your gun, you keep me from doing so, and vice-versa. Instructions called for a training simulator (i.e. Rings Blue Gun) and a "sturdy pair of leather gloves" for this part of the class, which was 2-3 hours every day.

My yard work gloves are in good enough shape for yard work, but getting raggedy enough I went and bought a new pair of leather work gloves, to be precise, Wells  Lamont Cowhide Full Leather Adjustable Work Gloves model #1132. Good gloves, you can get them at pretty much any chain or big box hardware store. If you look at the photo you'll see that they have the common strap across the back to adjust size; I bought a size large, which fit snugly enough I paid little attention to it...

Wells  Lamont Cowhide Full Leather Adjustable Work Gloves model #1132

...until during the retention training I was experiencing sharp pains in my hands. I thought my training partners were applying some Vulcan nerve pinch I had missed in the descriptions. I thought my hand was broken. I thought... I don't know what I thought. 

But if you take another look at the photo of the glove again you'll what it was. That little bead at the end of the tension strap? Enough pressure exerted straight down on the back of the hand wearing it in just the right place is very distracting...

Great if your actual assailant is wearing the gloves, bad if it's a classmate... 

EDIT To add: In at least one of the videos on the subject Mas showed us one of the assistant instructors was wearing these same gloves, and did not seem to have any problems. So the gloves are fine.

 Still on the shotgun, but without the fancy language this time.

Lessons Learned Part 2:

2A. If circumstances require you to fire your shotgun one handed, you should do so from cover, using said cover to brace said shotgun.
2B. If, when doing so the slide opens upon firing, do not assume that it has opened far enough to pick up the next shell, even if it has ejected the fired one.

Mas had said that the slide opening was a possibility, for Remington 870s, and  seemed surprised that it happened on a Mossberg. I guess that spray-can gun lube is better than I thought, or the action on my Mossy is smoother than usual. Or, I suppose it could have something to do with having replaced the stock fore-end with the Surefire replacement, with light. 

Anyway, the slide opened, ejected the spent shell, I slammed it shut, not realizing that it had not picked up the next shell, and the bolt was closed on an empty chamber. Since the chamber was empty I had to depress the Action Lock to chamber a shell. On the range doing a drill, this merely slows me (and potentially everyone else) down a second or two, but when the excrement hits the rotary air circulation device...

BTW, if anyone has been following these drivelings for years, I can say that the Surefire fore-end gave me no problem this time around, so possibly the issues I had during the FAS Defensive Shotgun class back in 2015 were due to the Magpul sling adapter.

I was also able to acquire a supply of Federal Low Recoil Tactical slugs, and Low Recoil 8 Pellet 00 Buckshot with the Flite Control wad, which may have also led to a less-punishing experience. 

The other issue I ran into with the 'scattergun was due to having the "Persuader" version of a Mossberg 500, with the 20" barrel and full length magazine. The barricade/cover positions for shotgun call for bracing the front of the mag' tube against the vertical or horizontal cover as a rest -- thus Part B of Lesson 2 above -- but that full length tube puts the muzzle right there, which is less than optimal. Fortunately I had added an after market clamp-on forward sling adapter which served OK as a brace. 

 Yes, I'm stoked, balanced by not wanting to be "that guy".

Again...

(Actually, I don't think we had "that guy" in MAG-40.) (Uh-oh, we all know what that means...)

I have a t-shirt, black with red lettering saying "D.A.R.E"! It looks familiar, except in small letters it says "Derp Abuse Resistance Education". It was a limited edition at SKD Tactical, a Todd L Green memorial of sorts, raising money for Tod's Rampage For The Cure. I wore it at MAG40 last summer, and at the Langdon Tactical class.
Holster Derp You still see people using Serpa holsters, or imitations. I have a couple myself. I bought them because they're reasonably priced, and retention seemed like a Good Idea.

Then I learned that there were reports of the locking mechanism getting jammed. "Well", I says to myself says I, "I've heard Internet rumors about this problem but not met anyone who saw it happen, and I'm not planning on wearing these things on a deployment or rolling around in the dirt while wearing them..."

Well, apparently it doesn't take rolling around in a bear pit to jam the mechanism, and I've now read too many eye-witness accounts of having to retrieve a gun from one of these with a pair of tin snips to want to risk it.

Plus, there's the whole "Using your trigger finger to activate the release" thing.

Now, when I first heard these particular concerns raised I did some "dry practice" draws, and concluded that the Serpa locking mechanism positioned my trigger finger along the frame of my Combat Commander where it belongs.

Trouble is, well, here's a video:

Note that Mr. "Only a fool can't use a Serpa safely" has his trigger finger inside the trigger guard pretty much during the whole draw stroke.

So in last week's Weekend Knowledge Dump Greg Ellifritz linked to a post Why NOT SERPA | Stuff From Hsoi which included a video of a Serpa jamming up hard during a self-defense training session. (Which also links to a Facebook post that includes the video I just embedded.)
Holster Non-Derp Last week I found myself trying to explain why you really do need to expect to spend more than a Jackson* on a holster. All too often we see someone dropping five hundred or more on a pistol, just to carry it in what Tamara calls a "sausage sack"; a soft nylon holster that collapses on the draw and that might, even if it covers the trigger guard, might not do a good job of protecting it.

Fortunately, Kathy Jackson (smooth segue, huh?) has just completed a six-part series on holsters:

• Holster Conversations | Cornered Cat
• A Better Holster, Part One | Cornered Cat
• A Better Holster, Part Two | Cornered Cat
• A Better Holster, Part Three | Cornered Cat
• A Better Holster, Part Four | Cornered Cat
• A Better Holster, Part Five | Cornered Cat
• A Better Holster, Part Six | Cornered Cat

Her Bottom Line: A good holster

1. Protects the trigger, 
2. Holds the gun securely, and 
3. Allows the user to access the gun when they need it. 

Ammo Derp Speaking of Greg Ellifritz, in the same Knowledge Dump I referenced above he links to a poll of the Best Self-Defense Ammo...

The Best Self-Defense Ammo, Voted by You, and One Takes Home 45% of the Vote

Contemplate this. (Did you say that in James Earl Jones' voice, and continue with "...on the Tree of Woe?" 'Cuz I did while typing it...)

Anyway. They crowd sourced what everyone thinks is the best self-defense ammo!

There are decent loads on this list.There are loads on this list that have been off the market for over two decades. There are loads on this list that were hot stuff three decades ago but are now, shall we say, passé. And there are loads on this list that are pure derp.

If one has questions about what round to carry, the standard advice is to carry whatever the local constabulary carries. If one still has questions, the best bet is to start your research with the "sticky" threads on this page: Ammunition -- Pistol-Forum.com. Note that a couple of those stickied threads have to do with ballistic gelatin testing and wound ballistics. Minimal research will tell you that one does not simply walk into one's local Safeway and buy ballistics gelatin (do we need a Boromir meme for that...?) so when that YouTube celebrity says he was using clear Knox gelatin for his test, well...
Guns You get what you pay for. The $500 (new) gun is better than the $300 (new) gun, and the $1000 (new) gun is better than the $500 (new) gun. (Granted, there may be exceptions, including lucking into a Steal of a Deal.)

Mind you, the qualitative difference between the three Franklin gun and the five Franklin gun may be greater than between the five and the ten. All other things being equal, an all-metal gun is almost certainly going to cost more than a polymer gun of equivalent size and quality. Do your research, and determine what you are giving up by going with, say, the Kel-Tec P3AT versus the Ruger LCP, S&W Bodyguard, or Glock 42.

Ideally, read those ammunition threads I just linked to and buy a 9mm instead of a .380...
Training "Derp Abuse Resistance Education"...

Since I mentioned Pistol-Forum.com, one of the members has put together what is shaping up to be a pretty useful tool, which he calls the Firearms Training Hub. Looking for a specific type of class? Or classes in a specific area? Here you go. Mind you, the trainers have to let him know that they're available to include, so it is not necessarily 100% as to what is scheduled where, but it's certainly a good place to start.

Archives

I've written a few posts on the subject of derp, using the tag Derpitude

And a few tagged Training as well.

***

*AKA an "Irony". If that puzzles you, research Andrew Jackson's relationship with the US Bank, and extrapolate to the concept of the Federal Reserve. One must assume that Andy J would be fine with having someone else's face on the $20, although how he would feel about being replaced by Harriet Tubman I refuse to speculate.

Realized a few days ago that, when I listed local shooting schools in the area (in post The Clue Meter: Gun Skool Thoughts, Part I -- Pugetopolis), I left one out.

Norpoint Shooting Center is far enough north that I forgot about it, but one of the owners was one of my instructors in the FAS Defensive Shotgun Class I took last year. Some co-workers (who have a simply insane commute) have taken multiple classes there and give it two trigger fingers up.

Looking at the course catalog, I may be enticed to make the trek up that way myself...

Anyway.

My notes from the classroom portion run over 30 pages, and I am not done¹ transcribing/editing them; I have no intention of trying to publish multiple uber-posts of the class, but that's what it would take, because I cannot distill the experience into a single post.

But here's an attempt:
(After the jump. It was kind of long...)

So, when talking to folks who have never been to formal training that did not involve everyone wearing the same clothes and addressing others as "Sergeant" or "Sir", I've found some... odd ideas.

When you are reading the course description, make sure you read the part that says what to being with you.

Yes, they expect you to provide your own ammunition.

• Some schools will provide it for you -- read "sell it to you" -- if you make prior arrangements, but usually the only ones that provide ammo are also providing guns. 
• Check the expected round count and take extra. 
• Try to figure out what works best on your gun(s), don't just go for the cheapest bulk pack. 
• Ask me how I know that last...

One colleague at work was outraged at the thought that he was paying all this money for a class and had to provide his own ammo. Of course, usually Uncle Sam had been providing his ammo...

There are several reasons for this:

As word got out at work that I had attended MAG40, I started being queried about going to a shooting school. Not surprising, I guess.

One of the things I was asked (including online) was "Where can I go for classes?"

I have personal experience with two sources of instruction:

• The Firearms Academy of Seattle, Inc.. This is where I attended MAG40, and the Defensive Shotgun Course I took last October. Training here is excellent. If you are taking a multi-day class, unless you live very close you might want to stay in town. (They do have provisions for camping: "Set up camp over in that flat area under the trees.")
• Classes at  Federal Way Discount Guns. I took several classes here (Basic, "Progressive" or Intermediate, and "Urban Defensive Tactics"). At this time they only show two courses in the "catalog", Basic Handgun and "AR-15 Rifle Tactics." They also do private instruction by arrangement. 

I just received an email from Janice, the lady who was running training at FWDG which announced that her operation, Women and Guns, is now teaching in Olympia. Classes shown on that site are for women only.

Another local source of training which is  highly reputable but which I personally have no experience with is InSights Training Center, which conducts it's classes locally at West Coast Armory and West Coast Armory North.

A training operation which markets itself heavily (they have a booth at the state fair!!!) but whose instruction I have no experience with is Friday Harbor Gun Runners.
(Not gonna lie: I hate the name, and I hate the pirate logo. But if their marketing is successful, I guess my personal taste counts for nothing.)
(OTOH, their training operation is actually and formally Northwest Safety First with an Eagle-and-Flag logo, which is nice and responsible sounding, but I had to research this post to learn it...)

Most or all of the local indoor ranges and clubs have classes of some sort. Other than my "local" noted above, I cannot speak to the nature of the training.
Indoor Ranges:

• The Marksman, Puyallup, WA
• Champion Arms, Kent, Washington

Clubs usually have members who are NRA Certified Instructors and teach the NRA classes.
Listed in no particular order:

• Paul Bunyan Rifle and Sportsman's Club Home Page
• Tacoma Rifle and Revolver Club
• Tacoma Sportsmen's Club
• Renton Fish and Game Club (Only lists Hunter's Education; they have a heavy match schedule.)
• Snoqualmie Valley Rifle Club. No classes currently scheduled, which is a shame, I helped run a couple of classes there.
• Kenmore Shooting Range. 
• Cascade Shooting Facilities (FKA Cascade Rifle & Pistol Club.) Currently only lists a woman's handgun course. Pretty extensive range facility, out in the country far enough that they should have a few years before they feel urban sprawls encroachments, unlike most of the other clubs listed.

Generally speaking, the NRA courses could be considered to be of the "Guns 101" types of thing; they have more advanced classes, but Personal Protection In The Home needs two days, and Personal Protection Outside The Home requires PPITH as a prerequisite, and another two (or more) days. And no one is willing to pay much for an NRA class; which is fine from most instructors points of view, we don't teach these to make money, but if it ties up range facilities for days....

By the way, Microsoft and Boeing both have active gun clubs for employees; Boeing used to have a corporate indoor pistol range, the backstop of which it gave to the club ("Get this out of our storage or we'll sell it for scrap!") , which donated it to a new indoor range in exchange for membership privileges.

Since I had at least one query for "My brother lives in the Puget Sound region and he wants to know where to go for training", I welcome any additions to this list that others may have. Leave a comment or shoot me an email at the address over there on the left side of your screen and I'll add it. Thanks!

EDIT TO ADD: I suspect the paucity of classes listed at the clubs is due to the effects of Initiative I-594 a couple of years ago, which made it illegal to hand a gun  to someone not your relative without a background check. The training exemption makes it legal to do so if the gun remains at the range full-time. Not a lot of help...
Note this well, you who live in states considering similar "common sense regulations."

Still going over my notes, going to start transcribing them in a few days, and will start working on the AAR at that time.

The short version is, if you own a gun for self-defense take MAG-40 if you have to manufacture the chance to do so.

In the meantime...


(The Andy Sanford version is what was played in class, and is preferred for many reasons, but the YouTube recording has so much background noise I went with this one instead.)

...'cuz I was takin' a class from Mas at FAS. 

But I got a couple.

Me and Mas. Note to self: Take the hat off. This is after adjusting lighting...

The bandanna came out of the pocket and was applied to the back of my neck after the hot brass issue mentioned in the previous post.
Come to think of it, it's as old as the Colt and Pachmeyr magazines mentioned in the previous post.

Marty Hayes and I. Marty (in case you didn't know) is the Chief Executive of FAS, and of the Armed Citizens Legal Defense Network

In my previous post, as I was lamenting the fact that I had discovered by day three of MAG-40 that the three "generic" stainless steel magazines for my 1911s were crap, and the feed lips had spread to the point where, not only would they not lock back the slide when empty, but I couldn't even get one of them in the mag well, I added as an aside

the blued ones actually marked as GI mags seem to be working OK.

By the time we had finished shooting the last drills and were about to shoot the qualification several of my blued steel mags were also failing to lock back the slide.

I suppose the "COLT" marked ones have an excuse, since they came with my Combat Commander, which I purchased almost exactly 30 years ago.

Annoying, but nowhere near as annoying as getting that hot brass down my back from the Marine shooting his Ruger LC9S S&W Shield next to me was. ("Mas! The blogger is doing Saint Vitus' Dance!""Is his muzzle pointed in a safe direction...?")

That and it made the Glockenspielers even more insufferable.

Dear Self:
Remember writing this post? 

Turns out that when you said

• On the one hand, my habit of buying 1911 magazines over the last year or two seems like a good one.
• On the other hand, buying the cheap ones marked and packaged as GI 1911 mags may not have been so smart.

the twinge you felt when typing the first bullet was not just your bursitis acting up at the self-back-patting, it was foreshadowing.

Bullet two OTOH, was prescient. (Except the blued ones actually marked as GI mags seem to be working OK.)

Day three of MAG 40 and I now have three fewer 1911 magazines than I came with. Turns out those "generic" stainless steel magazines simply marked ".45 ACP" weren't even worth the sawbuck each they cost me.

In mitigation, I would like to point out I bought the things strictly for use in training.

Too bad they won't even go into the mag well easily enough to use them to practice reloads.

Partly because the bloggable events have been so... infuriating... that I have largely refrained.

Partly because I have been spending my not-at-work time re-reading a couple of books, getting ready for MAG-40 starting tomorrow.

Firearms Academy of Seattle is about an hour and a half from here, for a one day class I'll drive there and back, but for a 4 day class, well, I've got a room reserved. It has wi-fi, of course, but I don't know that I'll have time or energy to do much more than maybe transcribe my notes.

We'll see.

Oddly, I could only find a couple of reviews of the course online. I expect I'll change that...

(EDIT: Because of my accidental posting of the first, partial draft of this yesterday, it shows up as a post from yesterday, which screws up the continuity of the blog, so I've changed the "Posted At" time.)

Last Saturday I took a Defensive Shotgun class from The Firearms Academy of Seattle, Inc.

I have mentioned a couple of times that I want to take such a class, but my local range does not offer it. So when I saw that FAS had a class scheduled, I checked my schedule and signed up.

Despite the name, the Firearms Academy of Seattle is in the thriving metropolis of Onalaska.

About 2 hours from Seattle, and one and a half from Portland, depending on traffic conditions...

Why? Well, it's a lot easier to build a range complex in the woods than in Seattle; the name wasn't changed because, well, the business was established, and who would go to the Firearms Academy of Onalaska?