Mastering the Handgun, an Advanced Tactical Handgun Class
by Jack Knight, June 2004
| I have been lucky enough to be a participant with a group of very fine
shooters in a local IDPA style shooting group. These gentlemen have
always been mentors to my novice capabilities and have assisted with great
patience my desire to become a better prepared handgun owner.
In the spring of 2003 we were fortunate to have a tactical handgun class
with instruction by Randy Cain of Cumberland Tactics that greatly improved
my abilities. As the case is for me, I always want to learn more.
Summer was approaching and family schedules were such that I assessed that
there was no opportunity for a well planned family vacation. So,
a look at personal training opportunities revealed I had no option to participate
in a Cain class. Having hit the Cumberland Tactics site I noticed
how Ken Hackathorn was listed in Randy Cain’s credentials which also connected
for me from reading his articles in Combat Handguns Magazine, being
a co-founder of IDPA and associated with Wilson Combat as an endorser.
Searching the net, I came across Midwest Training Group (http://www.midwesttraininggroup.net/)
of Bloomington Illinois and found a weekend of training that was perfect
as a scheduling opportunity for the Mastering the Handgun an Advanced
Tactical Handgun Class. The question was, would I be accepted as
per their standards. Sending in the necessary paperwork and then
a copy of the certificate from the Cumberland Tactic’s Tactical Handgun
101 class I was accepted. Midwest Training Group provided great personal
assistance by director’s Andy Kemp and Bob Houzenga for accommodations
and to accomplish all I needed to arrive June 25th prepared to participate
in the two day class..
For anyone not familiar with Ken Hackathorn, his instructor’s bio reads: Ken Hackathorn has served as a US Army Special Forces Small Arms Instructor, Gunsite Instructor, and NRA Police Firearms Instructor. He is currently an FBI Certified Firearms Instructor, Certified Deputy Sheriff with Washington County SO, Ohio, and a SRT member and Special Response Team trainer. Ken has trained US Military Special Operations forces, Marine FAST and SOTG units and is a contract small arms trainer to FBI SWAT and HRT. Ken has provided training to Federal, State, and local law enforcement agencies and been active in small arms training for the past 25 years. He has written firearms related material for Guns & Ammo, Combat Handguns, Soldier Of Fortune, and currently American Handgunner and contributed to at least six other gun/shooting journals. He is a founding member of IPSC and IDPA and currently serves as the Vice President of IDPA. The trip to Bloomington, Illinois from southern Arkansas took approximately 10 hours on great roads. After checking in to the Ramada Limited I found Darnall’s Range (http://www.darnalls.com/) where Ron Darnall and family demonstrated real hospitality. Saturday morning arrived and I was one of seventeen participants from three walks of life people came from in the class. The categories were law enforcement officers, lawyers, and private citizens. The ages ran from one fourteen year old to one sixty-seven year old. The instruction began……
It was soon time to hit the range and gear up. The drills began…..first basic firing drills from low ready, then the high ready position, strong hand, weak hand and the draw, all emphasizing the line of sight and trigger control. We progressed into movement. The drills included the El Presidente, moving forward, back, the box, the triangle, the lateral, the angle, the Bill drill and in everything you did….survey, paint, and recover. Dinner came and so did friendship as most of the participants decided to go eat at the same place and get to know each other. Great folks and a great time. After the break, the drills resumed at 8:30 p.m. to emphasize low light shooting. Tandem drills involving more than one shooter were included and as Hackathorn says….. “I am a dangerous man”….. is it safe…. Yes…. if your finger isn’t on the trigger….is it fair….no….but guess what…life isn’t fair either. The Sul technique was analyzed and taught. As the night darkened the flashlight drills came out. The 3 flashlight positions were used in quick target acquisitions with clear focus being on identify, shoot, and move. The reptilian mind training continued in developing the point shooting aspects and to caution about flashlights being bullet magnets. As the night continued to fall the focus shifted to ammunition in night fighting. Various ammunitions were fired by participants to analyze their flamethrower capabilities. Ammunition found undesirable gave a bright white light muzzle blast while those that were extremely desirable gave a red muzzle trail not blinding the shooter. I quickly determined I needed to change my Hydroshok for Winchester SXT after I could see again. The session ended at 11:30 p.m. with high spirits for the group still intact. The next morning it began again at 9:00 a.m. by addressing close quarter combat situations, hand fighting, gun acquisition, and then malfunctions (the dreaded gun quits shooting stuff). After another great lunch provided by Darnall’s it was then down to how fast is fast? Hackathorn emphasized how fast is fast? Each participant was timed on the basic draw and shoot. How fast can you acquire your handgun and fire a round in the zero area? This was a set up for the 3 corner drill and the tactical order versus placing 2 shots on each target. It was found it only took a few tenths of a second to double tap each target placed at 0, 90, and 180 degrees from the shooter. The graduation was a modified “Snake Drill” using the “Sul” technique. Like my friends here told me after they had taken the Cain class in
my questioning about that upcoming class we all were taking in spring of
2003.....I will say the same about this class and the MTG experience…..ya
just have to try it…you will like it. But, if you are looking for
a “how to shoot” class …this is not it….it is one that is full of out of
the box thinking and “Big Boy” rules.
|