Defensive Pistol Skills, Sept 5, Chattanooga

[flamingconservative]

My wife and I recently attended the DPS course taught by Randy Harris in Chattanooga. Randy covered a lot of "pre-fight" actions, from avoiding a fight to placing yourself in the most advantageous position, to covering your butt legally. Most of the stuff you read just covers the gun handling, so this was very helpful.
The shooting was also very positive...kind of an eye opener to me, as my skills have definitely degraded over the last few years of limited practice time, but I quickly improved. My wife, who had almost no gun experience prior to this, went from very cautious to a surprising level of comfort. And best of all, she ENJOYED it! This class was worth every penny. We're both looking forward to taking CRG1 as soon as we can...
Thanks to Randy for a great class!
By the way, I just joined as a member here at WT, and this is my first posting, but I've been reading through the threads here for some time. Thanks to Gabe, the SI instructors, and all of you who provide so much helpful information and yes, even entertainment :).

[PT Doc]

DPS with Randy was my first SI course as well. He really does a great job and sets the bar pretty high for any future instructors. I have no doubt you will get even more out of CRG. Welcome to WT.

[JohnH11B]

Welcome to WT:)

[flamingconservative]

Thank you sir.

[Randy Harris]

Thanks for putting up the review. There is nothing at all wrong with your skills...degraded or not. You did very well. And your wife did fine too especially if she was new to firearms.

As a side note, I sometimes get a rap for being anti 1911. That is not true at all, I am just anti "guns that have reliability issues" no matter who made them.But I must comment here that Flamingconservative's Commander length Sig 1911 worked fabulously all weekend. I was impressed. As far as guns in class I think we had 1 SW M&P which early on had some grip related malfunctions...(Grip IS important;))....2 1911s, a Sig P6 (German police version of Sig P225) , and the rest were glocks.

The lady with the P6 had the same issues we all have fighting through that first LONG trigger pull in the DA mode, but since she is issued a DA/SA pistol she shot the class with it and did well with it. When the trigger pull on your pistol is 4 times what your pistol weighs, you really have to focus on pulling the trigger smoothly to the rear to keep from pulling the sights off target before the gun goes BANG.Once she got used to it she did well and I'd not be in a hurry to mess with her.....or her dad.

Thanks to all in class and to the guys who were in the shotgun class too. Hope to see you all again soon...

[pbsodetective]

I attended the shotgun and DPS Classes with Randy in Chatanooga, both were a great experience.
Randy is an excellent instructor, able to break down the how and why into easily understood terms and keep it interesting.
I attended the DPS class with my daughter and what a great experience that was. She really enjoyed the class with Randy commenting on his abilitly as an instructor several times.
I must also thank the hosts for this class, they literally invited the class into their home.
It was a great weekend with good people and family

[bmp_sbi]

I helped host so I was there for both classes and had a great time also.
Glad everyone enjoyed the venue. I was surprised that we didnt really get any rain.
I had already had CRG but really got alot out of DPS.
I encourage people that may already have some training to go back and take DPS. It is considered the first or "basic" class but it is very informative and I found it very useful. It wouldnt hurt to go back and re-take this class once a year to make sure that you are keeping up with the fundamentals, it really is that useful.
I posted a thread for a separate review of the shotgun class a few days ago. Some of the shotgun info overlaps the AK material shearly because they are both long guns but thats where it ends. The shotgun is a different animal when you get to the range. I had kinda shelved the shotgun in favor of the AK and now I find myself going back to it. It is an awesome weapon that commands alot of respect in the home defense arena. Maybe I should keep one or two of each ready to go....couldnt hurt.:D

On the same note as Randy:
I too was impressed at the reliability of the 1911s. The only issue they had at all was the fact that they had to reload more often than the 17 rounders.

Brian