Cousin Wallace Trains them up.

All this week I've been @ APD Firing Range assisting/instructing our current class of Cadets in firearms.

We've cussed and discussed just about every conceivable aspect of shooting and launched a lot of lead at paper, falling plates, reactive paper targets and steel silhoettes (sp).

 

Shooting stance. Orientation of body armor to threat. Proper grip. Proper sight alignment. Proper trigger control.  Drawing from level three security holsters. Focusing on front sight. Weak hand/strong hand drills. Transition from handgun to carbine drills. Immediate action drills. Remedial action drills. One-handed malfunction clearing drills of handguns (Not once in thousands of rounds have I seen an actual malfunction of their Glocks in both 9x19mm or .40 S&W...we purposefully load 2 or 3 dummy rounds in their mags so they never know when their weapon will FTF). Tactical reloads. Slide lock reloads. Turn left/right/180 degrees toward threat & shoot drills. Shooting from sitting. Shooting supine. Shooting from side laying on non-weapon side/weapon side. Shooting prone flat/left side/right side. Shooting moving forward/laterally/backing up. Shooting w/weapon mounted lights. One-hand hand-held flashlight techniques. Two-handed flashlight techniques. Shooting with backlight. Shooting with no light. shooting with take-down/overhead flashing and/or strobe lights. Shooting with ambient light. Shooting after being blinded by light. Shooting with and without night sights. Being aware of muzzle flash. Getting off the "X" after delivering fire or during reloads.  Shooting drills with shotgun/birdshot. Shooting and what to expect from different types of buckshot (regular 00 Buck vrs Federal Tactical 00 Buck). Shooting shotgun slugs. Shooting practicals with less lethal (bean bag rounds). Shooting from cover vrs concealment. Shooting from under vehicles. Bounding overwatch drills. Providing cover fire. Communication during critical incidents. Shooting targets and being aware of the 3-D aspect. The 21 foot edged weapon rule, demonstrated. Timed hit from holster drills. Timed hit from sewell drills. .... I'm sure I've forgotten some of the other stuff we've done all week.

 

Training has come a long way in the last few years. I'm proud I'm able to help teach these new troops some of this. Also glad we have top-notch instructors! We really put these guys through the ringer! Our ultimate goal is to teach them enough to survive if they are unfortunate enough to get into more & more frequent deadly encounters. Our officer involved shootings have really been on the increase over the last few years...not good.

 

I'm also glad/fortunate to see what really works & don't work with different types of weapons. Like em or not, the Glock is one heck of a tool for law enforcement work. When you are charged w/training these FNG's, some of which have never fired a handgun, this is an important consideration. We have the data and experience to show the modern striker-fired sidearms have many advantages over DA/SA or SA autos....not trying to ruffle feathers as I like a lot of those types too....but have to admit SA XD's, Glocks & other striker-fired pistols are just superior in many categories.

Also got to admit I'm not as hard-headed on caliber choice as I used to be. With our wonderful Winchester "Talon" bullets, even the 9x19mm is a damned fine performer! Never been a big proponent of the .40 S&W but got to admit it's really performed nicely in actual shootings we've had. The .357 SIG and .45ACP ought to be icing on the cake! With that being said, some of these guys have no bizzness trying to shoot anything bigger than a 9x19....some were not performing up to par with the .40S&W were switched to a 9x19 and they are doing very well....guess that's what Tx DPS was thinking when they were going to switch from .357 SIG since it's quite a bit more frisky to shoot. I'm sticking to my .357 SIG as long as they allow it but, if forced to switch, as long as I could shoot +P+ Win Talons in a 9x19, I wouldn't feel nearly as bad as I would have 20 years ago without Talons. ( Can you tell I'm a fan of W-W Talons???? hahaha! ).

 

Anyhow, we've had some very practical/valuable training this week....probably would have cost a person $3K @ places like Thunder Ranch!  Good stuff!