Defensive Pistol Skills - Los Angeles January 17-18

[Uli Gebhard]

I spent the last two days teaching defensive pistol skills to a group of eight shooters. It was a very diverse group with husband + wife, father and son, ages ranking from early twenties to ... well let's say the age where I for sure want to be retired . One of the students is disabled and the skill levels ranked from barely any experience to lifetime shooters.

Folks, I enjoyed teaching this class -- A LOT, walking you through the exercises, from establishing a solid foundation of basics all the way through the holster work and finally to dealing effectively with multiple attackers.

Again, thank you guys for making this a fun and safe teaching experience.



We had a couple of very interesting experiences during this class. One of the most fascinating technical aspects was the gun of one of the students. This is by far the oldest piece of equipment ever used in one of my classes. A 1911 that was build in 1913. The gun has hardly any finish left, is on its fifth barrel -- and this old battleaxe is still going strong!



I am already looking forward to seeing some of you in three weeks for CRG or in March.

Thank you again - it was a pleasure (a lot of people say that lightheartedly - I MEAN IT!!! ) working with all of you.

[vstardog]

Uli, Thanks for a great weekend class! I having been shooting since age 5 -your presentation of the SI material was on task for evan the shooter with two weeks experience and an incredible refresher of the basics for others -getting us all up to speed safely. What made the class great was the emphasis on the practical to tactical, all at our collective pace (great teacher!)..... Getting off my X to learn -I cannot wait to get into another class -to build on my newly refined skills.!.!.!.
I can't say thanks enough to SI, Uli and my fellow classmates.

vstardog
PS The old 1911 came as my back up & was put to use before the first clip was finished on the newer 1911 (extractor problems) -the old girl was meant to shoot & shoot she did!

[Juju]

I'm jealous, Roger didn't mix in any AMOK in our class.

I am not a 1911 guy, but I do like the historical pieces up to the Big 2. Nice piece there vstardog.

[Abednego]

This class was excellent! I am a new shooter and one of the more naive youngins' during the course. Boy did I learn a lot! I took a NRA handgun safety course and a FTA recreation class before this one, and I have to say that the fundamentals we reviewed were at good pace and explained very well. I particularly thought the material was explained expertly by Uli which helped me understand and remember the concepts more easily. One thing for sure though, I still need to practice the fundamentals a lot!

I agree with vstardog that the pace was perfect. I couldn't ask for a better experience...except maybe doing the last excercise a couple more times...I was scared at first. But boy it was fun.... The people and instructor in the class were great. I am glad I met them in all their diversity. It brings a lot of interesting discussions.

The next portion of the class I think I really learned the most. It is packed full of tools to use in a hostile environment, and I feel more confident in actually knowing what to practice the next time I go to the range. We discussed not only the tools (types of handguns), but also techniques. Thanks for the how and why of things and not just the do's!

Also, 2 very important thing I learned is by actually practicing and going through our drills I learned that practicing the drills to become second nature is essential and that I could really benefit with more than 7 rounds in a mag... expecially in a hostile environment with more than one attacker.

That 1911 there is the coolest! I think it is loads better and cooler than the 1911 I had. I was soo tempted to ask if we could trade during our training just for fun...but I didn't want to mess with your baby vstardog!

[desertdog]

My wife and I had a great time. I have taken many pistol classes with numerous instructors (many of whom Gabe is familiar with from the failed Bakersfield endeavor), but have never been able to teach my wife anything beyond basic safe handling because neither of us seem to have the patience for it.

But Uli was awesome, and had my wife running shot for shot with me by the end of the second day. She is now very interested in continuing her training beyond the basics. I am very grateful to Uli for having the patience and giving personal attention. Now she understands and better shares my interest.

Uli was also one of the few instructors I have trained with that was very open minded about firearm and caliber choice. I really got sick of other instructors telling me about the superiority of .45 because of "bigger holes", and then turn around and tell me that the .223 is better than 7.62x39 ! And yes, Ive heard the "9mm is a 45 set on stun" thing for the last 10 years. My wife tried about 15 pistols and chose her XD9 because she thought it felt and shot the best for her, Uli told her she chose a fine weapon - no time was wasted browbeating everyones guns.

Even as an experienced shooter, I took much information from the class and Uli even took time to fine-tune some of my mechanics that got sloppy over the years.

Uli talked about doing a rifle class with California Saigas. I will be first on board with that!

[Uli Gebhard]

Folks,

Thank you very much for your kind words -- I can only say again that you were a fun group to work with .

The request for the rifle course is noted... I'll make sure to get one on the schedule soon. Right now, I'm aiming for September, I just need to figure out a date that does not collide with the family schedule .

Abednego: yes - you had only 7+1 rounds, but the accuracy of your shot placement was outstanding.

Desertdog: great work on those Saigas - I'm looking forward to see you put them to work

[Abednego]

Aww...shucks...thanks. I still think my fundamentals needs a lot of work. I started noticing I pulled the trigger when the sight alignment looked really awful...had quite a bit of fliers during the faster strings. Hehe, I can't wait to take the Fighting Rifle Skills with the Saiga...either that or bring my black rifle...

[Uli Gebhard]

Originally Posted by Abednego

Hehe, I can't wait to take the Fighting Rifle Skills with the Saiga...either that or bring my black rifle...

We need to get you going on the Saiga ... My AR has hardly seen the outside of the safe since I got the Saiga . And no - you will not have to duplicate the field stripping of the rifle as I demonstrated it...

[Abednego]

heheheh.... I wouldn't mind if you proved it on yours though. Uli, would it be possible to bring both to your next class? Pending that I do get a Saiga of course... Can't wait! I am still excited about going to your CRG class...

Are we there yet?

[Uli Gebhard]

Originally Posted by Abednego

heheheh.... I wouldn't mind if you proved it on yours though. Uli, would it be possible to bring both to your next class? Pending that I do get a Saiga of course... Can't wait! I am still excited about going to your CRG class...

Are we there yet?

another demo? I just got finished scraping the gunk off the bolt carrier ...

And yes, you can bring both.

A little more than 2 weeks to go to CRG - looking forward to it!