KYHillChick and I completed our CCI training last weekend. We used Woodhill Training out of Miamitown. I cannot say enough good things about Tom and Chris. They were excellent trainers.

I think one of the most helpful things I can say about the CCW training we received was that most of it was about how to avoid using a weapon. I have spent most of my 50-some years on this planet trying my best to avoid getting into trouble. I was always the big gawky kid who stuck out like a sore thumb. By the time I went to college, I had learned to stay as invisible as possible and avoid problems on the street. A lot of what was taught in this class agreed with what I have learned. It is far better to avoid the situation altogether than to fight your way out.

I learned a few things from the practical range I will share with you. I do not mean to crow about my handgun expertise, I do not claim any great prowess, but I did extremely well on the practical side of the course. However, the instructor beat me up on a few things:

1) I was shooting a Ruger P-90 in 45 ACP. It is a big hand cannon, but I have Johnny Bench hands, so it fits me. It is a Chevrolet kind of pistol. I have always had good service from it. The instructor was on me, because even at rapid fire, I was able to keep them in a pie-plate group. His point was that I was being too precise, and too much of a target shooter. I needed to open up more.
2) From condition 2, the trigger on the P90 is a good weight for self defense as a DA. I doubt I would ever fire the weapon unintentionally. However, succeeding rounds from my P90 are very easy to pull off. The instructor warned me about that. I’m planning on a DA-only revolver Ruger LCR for concealment in the summertime. It has a nice trigger, but it is still 10 lbs or so– you have to really WANT to make that trigger work. The P90 has a light touch.
3) The instructor caught me canting my pistol off to the left side between shots. Yes it’s a habit. In practicing, I was always worried about two things– practicing my target acquisition and also looking to see where the shot had gone. It is a hard thing to turn off. Shoot, Cant, Acquire, Shoot, Cant, Acquire– he told me to rid myself of that habit as soon as possible, otherwise I will do it if I have to shoot someone for real.

It all boils down to needing a lot more practice, even though I am a good accurate handgun shooter.

I’ve a target shooter’s mind and that will require considerable rearrangement. KYHillChick, in the big scheme of things, did almost as good as me with her GP-100. She kept them all on the silhouette. She did not have any major defects in her shooting. She has had a lot less practice, so she had far fewer bad habits.

Some thoughts on CCW in general: First and foremost, do it. Second, find someone who is going to do more than just read the law to you. Chris and Tom at Woodhill went above and beyond, and frankly they could have gone another 12 hours, and I would still be fascinated. A lot of CCW-trained folks I’ve talked to describe their CCW course as a boring formality. KYHillChick and I were stressed and challenged. We had to grow a little to make it through. This is not something you want to bargain shop. I’ve been a shooter and a hunter for most of my adult life, and I came away from this with a lot of new ideas.

I fully repent my ideas on open carry. I have not open carried in public in many years, but I never felt obliged to hide it. I realize that is wrong, given current situations. I do not want to make myself a target. I do not want to cause consternation with those around me. I understand now.

It is going to sound a little funky, but one of the reasons I took so long getting a CCW was a lack of confidence. It wasn’t that I wouldn’t be able to use a gun to defend myself, or that I would be too eager. The problem for me was not trusting myself to decide an ambiguous situation. The instructors must have picked up on that, because the scenarios they picked for me played on that. In the first instance, Chris came at me without a rubber knife and just left his hands out to the side. My first reaction was that he was trying to come in for a bear hug and I should shoot, then I realized he was just taunting me. I did not fire and I finally gave up and walked off on him. The second time through Chris came at me fast and pulled a knife in just the last few steps. I reacted properly and emptied the magazine.

This post has already been read 255 times!

Views: 1

Related posts:

Moose and Angus Pass Conceal Carry