A warning
In general, I’m skeptical of Internet warnings, but this one comes from a good source:
Gun lovers public service announcement: While I was in a Denver gun store today, my car was tagged on the wheel in the parking lot. The gangs do this on wheels or bumpers at gun stores, shooting ranges, gun shows etc. Later when you are parked at a restaurant, hotel, or other location that’s less well guarded or under video surveillance, other gang members spot the marker and break into the car for a quick gun grab. This is so RAMPANT in San Antonio where we were for a National shoot this summer, the police chief of that county came out to brief the 400 participants of our competition. Too bad three teams had already been victimized the first day. This is the first I’ve heard of this in Denver. Please pass this info along to your 2nd amendment list.
Jane Anne adds a note from a Gunsite instructor:
I don’t know how widespread this is becoming , but the info regarding the NSCA Nationals in San Antonio is correct, as all of us who compete in sporting clays know. Competitors there were having their vehicles marked with a small adhesive dot on the rear license plate or rear bumper, then followed for miles and having their vehicles quickly and efficiently broken in to when parked for lunch etc.
Some crews were working the parking lot at the Nationals itself. 27 high end shotguns were taken there recently. They know when 1400 shooters with high $$ competition guns are in town.
Again, I’m generally skeptical, and I’m not sure how deep the market is in stolen competition shotguns, but gunnies take note.
Plurality of Americans see “Pro-gun” as positive label
Story at Rasmussen here. 39% see it as a positive label, 27% negative. 30% say somewhere in between. (Question wording is here.)
Gunsite offering Glock class
I just received an email from Gunsite:
Glock 25th Anniversary 250 Pistol Class
October 10-14, 2011, Gunsite Academy and GLOCK will be joining forces to host a week-long “GLOCK 25th Anniversary 250 Defensive Pistol Class.” The class, which is being held in celebration of GLOCK’s 25th Anniversary in the United States will be held at Gunsite Academy.
During the “all GLOCK week” shooters will participate in standard Gunsite tactical curriculum with the focus specifically on training with a GLOCK pistol.
Supplementary to the tactical training, shooters will be given the opportunity to train with certified GLOCK armorers, as well as learn the history of GLOCK.
You do not want to miss this event. It is the premier Industry/Gunsite training event. The weather is remarkable here in the high Sonoran Desert in mid October, perfect for training.
The GLOCK Shooting Sports Foundation (GSSF) and the GLOCK Armorer Group will be on hand providing demonstrations and tips for those who are interested during the course of the week. Glock has provided many Glock giveaways for this event, including Glock pistols- it is a Glock Christmas in October.
Cost for the class is $1428.00 or
Special for this class, tuition, ammo and a Gen4 Glock 19 is $2300.
This is a $3500 value, sign up today.To register for the class, or for more information, please visit www.gunsite.com or email coordinator@gunsite.com.
I can’t recommend this experience highly enough. Gunsite 250 was, for me, literally a life-changing experience. This is a great deal on a fantastic class.
Sen. Klein off to gun school
The blogosphere is abuzz about the story of Arizona State Senator Lori Klein, who is under fire for allegedly pointing her LCP at a reporter.
When I read the story, I shot an email to Jane Anne Shimizu, the PR director at Gunsite suggesting that they might want to offer the Senator a spot in one of their 250 classes. Jane Anne replied that they did just that, and that the Senator has accepted the offer.
Good job, Gunsite, and good job, Senator.
Edited to add:
Much has been made of what Sen. Klein did or didn’t do; whether she swept the reporter or whether he did it to himself. No matter what, the bottom line is that even a few yars ago I can’t imagine that an elected politician would be talking about the fact that they carry a gun for self defense. Self defense is mainstream. Good for Sen. Klein for taking the next step down that road.
Using your sights
On of my takeaways from my Gunsite experience last year was the importance of seeing your front sight. Now, I always intellectually knew that. But this was highly re-enforced during my training. I had a nasty habit of firing a shot, looking at the target, then re-acquiring my sight picture for the second shot. One of the instructors asked me why I was doing that.
“I don’t know…I guess so I know if I hit or not.”
“Why does it matter? If the shot hit, it hit. If it missed, it missed, and you need to deliver another one right now. Just stay focused on your front sight.”
At some point over the week, I came to understand that when they say “focus on your front sight,” they really mean “your front sight should be the only thing in your universe when you make that shot.” And once I realized that, my shooting got a lot better. Still not great, but a lot better.
Now, I know that a poor craftsman blames his tools, but I’ve been thinking about replacing the sights on my M&P for a while now. The three dot system is just too busy for me. So, as an experiment, before I went to the range today I took a black magic marker and blacked out my rear two dots. And I put some white out in the white circle of my front sight.
BTW, that is my interpretation of a perfect sight picture. Blurred rear sight, blurred target, nice sharp front sight.
Anyway, I took my newly modified gun to the range:
Yep, I’ll take that.
A note from Gunsite
My buddy Terp just got back from a Gunsite 350 class. He dropped me a note:
Well, I am back from 350. It is an intense training course, that’s for sure. Still a good time, but very intense. We fired over 1500 rounds in four and a half days. I did bring my GLOCK 21, which is the full-size .45. I had some failures to return to battery, and light primer strikes (probably due to the pistol not locking up fully), that Cory Trapp could not diagnose or fix. I used it for the training, though, and at least did not have a catastrophic, pistol-disabling failure, like last time. I had a new crew of instructors, Charlie McNeese, Ed Stock, and Jay Tuttle. They were all good, as expected. I did visit with Mrs. Cooper again, just to pay my respects, as she is such a warm and caring person and again invited the class to the Sconce on Friday. Although I wasn’t able to win the shootoff this time (an incredibly fast “kid” who lives near Gunsite and has taken a bunch of classes won, and deservedly so) I did get another Expert rating, along with the gold raven pin. New twists in 350: more room clearing exercises, a force-on-force scenario, and a 35 yard prone shot added to the school drill. If you do go to 350, you’ll enjoy it, I have no doubt. Take care, stay in yellow, and stay safe!
Terp
Terp is a fantastic shooter….he was the high shooter in my 250 class, and earned an expert rating in both classes.
I’m super jealous, Terp. I can’t wait for next April.
Guns and Gear
If anyone catches this week’s “Guns and Gear” on the Versus network, you will notice a very good looking bunch of shooters on the line at Gunsite. Tom Gresham was there filming when I took my 250 class, and they used footage of one of our drills for the cutscene.
Oddly enough, I was supposed to be back there this week for 350, but finances and lack of vacation got in the way. But I’ll be back in April for 350. I can’t wait.
Guest Post: Visiting the Sconce
After the end of our Gunsite class, we were invited to visit Mrs. Cooper in her home. One of my fellow Gunsite students, JT, wrote this excellent reflection on the experience:
At the conclusion of our week long training at Gunsite, the entire class was invited to the residence of Mrs. Cooper–I shan’t call her Janelle without a direct and personal invitation to do so–for refreshments.
A gaggle of dusty, hot and tired students trudged unceremoniously up to the home built by Gunsite’s founder, the late Colonel Jeff Cooper. We were warmly greeted by Mrs. Cooper, and welcomed to look around. Mrs. Cooper was as gracious and charming a hostess as I’ve ever seen. To her, class and warmth and grace come naturally.
The views from the deck are priceless, stretching out over the vast expanse of valley to distant mountains. But the real majesty of this house lies inside.
A cross between a museum and library, gun vault and shrine, the interior of the Sconce (meaning a small, detached fort), as Mrs. Cooper’s home is known, is as magnificent as the views outside.
Col Cooper had a vast library of books, to match his varied interests, and a few singular mementos. Of course, it almost goes without saying that trophies taken around the world and firearms–each with some particular significance–were there, as well; I will leave them for others to describe in greater detail.
Photographs of Col. and Mrs. Cooper, along with other family members, line the walls and shelves. Mrs. Cooper is, by any measure, a devoted spouse and her love for her husband is evident in almost every thing she does. The attention she devotes to his memory borders on worship. Yet, who can blame her? Col. Cooper was, in many respects, larger than life, and a true American hero.
The entire home is, in effect, a tribute to Col. Cooper, from its site to its construction to its contents.
But perhaps the greatest tribute to the late Col. Cooper is not some object or saying or slogan or view, no matter how spectacular. The greatest tribute to Col. Cooper is that his legacy of preparing–one class at a time–Gunsite students to defend themselves and their loved ones from violent criminals is both ongoing and enduring.
Thanks, JT, for the thoughtful post!
Gunsite Day 1
This is part of my series on my Gunsite experience. Part 1 is here.
Lewis and I woke up early on Monday morning to the jazzy music of his cell phone alarm. (Seriously, buddy…5 am? Is that truly necessary?) We both got geared up. I had not brought my range bag due to space limitations, so I stuffed my backpack with everything I thought I would need. Eyes, spare eyes, ears, spare ears, gloves, sweatshirt, gun belt, spare gun belt, two kinds of holsters…I think I over packed a little.
We were not exactly sure where we were going, so we left early. After a few wrong turns (turn left. No, your other left.) we managed to find our way to the road that we needed to be on. We had a little spare time, and so we decided to stop at a reliable breakfast choice: McDonalds. Unfortunately, the woman in front of us in the drive-through must have ordered food for the entire population of Chino Valley, because it took her like 15 minutes to get her food. This put us back behind schedule. We found the turn we were looking for, and got onto West Gunsite Road.
West Gunsite Road is a four mile or so dirt road that leads to the school. On this particular day, it was soaked through with the prior night’s snowfall, and was essentially all mud. Following Lewis’ advice for driving in mud (“Whatever you do, don’t stop!”) got us up to the school, and we got the first glimpse of the gates.
Clearly this picture was not taken on the day in question, but you get the idea.
We made our way to the classroom and got ready to begin.
We entered our classroom, and a pile of paperwork was waiting for us. It was what you might expect…guns are dangerous, don’t sue us, if you commit safety violations we are shipping your ass home.
The demographics of the class were interesting. The class consisted of twenty people, sixteen male and four female. We had two husband and wife couples. I think we had four doctors, three nurses, four computer geeks, two Greek bodyguards, and one DEA agent.
Our rangemaster, Jerry, introduced himself as well as his fellow instructors: LaMonte, Chuck, and Hutch. All of them had impressive resumes, including police experience, SWAT experience and other interesting things. One was a former SEAL. Each of these guys were very professional, very friendly, simply excellent teachers. With such a impressive backgrounds, you would expect them to perhaps be a little intimidating. Nothing could be further from the truth. They were amazingly helpful, and very perceptive on how to correct shooters. More on that later.
The classroom lectures began with a quick history of Gunsite and the goals of the school. Gunsite does not shy away from the fact that they are a gun fighting school. Make no mistake…these guys are teaching you how to defend your life with a firearm.
The class quickly moved into the basics of shooting. Gunsite does not assume any prior experience with firearms. Maybe another way to say it is that they want to get everyone on the same page. Therefore, we began with the four rules of gun safety:
- All guns are always loaded.
- Never let the muzzle cover something you are not willing to destroy.
- Keep your finger off the target until your sights are on the target.
- Always be sure of your target.
These rules are posted everywhere at the school. And I mean everywhere. These guys take their safety seriously.
We also reviewed the proper sight picture, how to press the trigger and how to load and unload the gun. This last part was important. Gunsite runs a hot facility. At the end of each range session, we are told to “put the gun in the condition you want it in when you leave the range.” The school doesn’t particularly care what condition that is, loaded or unloaded. The only rule is that the gun stays in the holster until you are at the range. I was very impressed that attitude, and I never saw any example of unsafe gun handling.
And with that, maybe an hour and a half into the class, we were off to the range.
Five days at Gunsite-Prologue
As the plane touched down in Phoenix, I felt a flash of excitement and anticipation. It had been three years in the making, but I was really doing it! I was going to Gunsite!
The story begins last December. I had wanted to make it out to Gunsite for a few years, but with a small child at home it had been a bit of a challenge. I had gotten some downtime, and had some spare cash, and decided that I would finally make it out to Gunsite for a class: 250 Defensive Pistol. I didn’t want to go alone, and so I asked a friend and colleague if he wanted to join me. Lewis had recently begun shooting, and I suspected he might be interested. His email came back in about 30 seconds: absolutely!
I called Gunsite, and spoke to a very nice woman named Jane Ann. She answered all of my questions, and emailed me an application. This presented the first hurdle. Gunsite requires either a concealed carry permit or a statement from local law enforcement that you have no criminal history in order to register. I had my CCW permit, but Lewis did not. Jane Ann said no problem…just bring it with you when you come. Lewis applied for his Washington CCW, and had it two weeks later. (Gotta love Washington…no class required, and very quick turnaround.)
The next few weeks were dedicated to getting geared up. The first decision I needed to make was which pistol to go through class with. I ended up deciding on my Smith and Wesson M&P in .40SW. My M&P compact is one of my regular carry guns, and I thought that would be a good place to start. I decided to bring the full-size M&P, though…no need to be a masochist. Gunsite requires 1,000 rounds of ammo for the class, so I knew that we would be shooting a lot over the week. I thought that the compact would be a bit of a handful for that much shooting. Lewis also went with the M&P, but in 9mm. I talked him into letting me bring him my wife’s full size 9mm rather than him trying to go through the class with his compact. (He thanked me later.)
As I mentioned, Gunsite requires 1,000 rounds of ammo, as well as 50 rounds of frangible for their shoot houses. I decided to buy the ammo directly from Gunsite rather than running around trying to find it locally. If you want to bring your own ammo, you can. You can even have it shipped to Gunsite ahead of time so you aren’t traveling with all that weight. Good thing, too…1,000 rounds of 180 grain .40 weighs almost 26 pounds! You can also ship your gun ahead of time, although I elected to travel with mine. Gunsite also has rental guns available, as well as an on-site pro shop that carries several major brands if you want to buy your gun at the school. They sell basically at cost, and if you are renting and decide to buy, they rebate your rental fee. More than one of the people in my class showed up with the wrong gun and ended up buying replacements, but more on that later.
I had most of the other things I needed: eye protection, hearing protection and appropriate clothing. I’ll deviate from the time line here and make a few gear recommendations. Electronic hearing protection is mandatory. It’s tough to hear range commands without it. I brought the Peltor TacSport muffs, and they worked very well. Eye protection: either bring a couple of pairs or ones with interchangeable lenses. Amber lenses worked well for most things, but it is the desert, and you can get a lot of glare and might want to switch to dark lenses. I’d also recommend shooting gloves. I used Pro-Aim 3/4 finger gloves with the braces removed.
Finally, the day arrived, and I got ready to fly from Charlotte to Phoenix. I had never flown with a firearm before, and I wanted to make sure that I left plenty of time at the airport for the inevitable hassle. I arrived two hours early. I needn’t have bothered. Time elapsed from arrival to air-side: about 6 minutes. It couldn’t have been easier. I went to the counter, told the attendant that I needed to declare some firearms, showed her the pistols, signed a form that they were unloaded, locked the case, and was on my merry way.
After a long flight, I arrived in Phoenix and met up with Lewis. He was brimming with excitement, and brought me a present: a black leather cowboy hat! I felt very dressed for the occasion. The bags and guns came though baggage claim without delay, and we started the long drive up to Prescott. It took about two hours. We stayed at the Residence Inn in Prescott. Prescott is about a 35 minute drive from Gunsite, which is located between Chino Valley and Paulden. There are options that are closer, but we thought the Residence Inn made sense. Rooms are suites with kitchens and a small living room. There are also more dining options in Prescott than there are closer to Gunsite.
It was snowing as we checked into the hotel, and I hoped that we would not be spending the next day on the range in the snow. I was exhausted from the trip, but pumped and excited for the big day tomorrow.
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Do your part!
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