You Suck, It's Not The Gun

[Mac66]

YSINTG is an interesting name for a handgun class I just took. It's the first formal handgun shooting class I've taken in over 20 years. It was co-sponsored by MGO (Mich Gun Owners) which is a state wide gun org and forum) and (MDFI) Mich Defensive Firearms Institute. MGO had a drawing and picked 20 members to take the class free. MDFI is the best and most well known firearms training in Michigan and I always want to take a class with them. This was good way to try them out inexpensively, just had to pay a $25 range fee.(which I think is why they co-sponsored the class, to draw in new students).

It was pretty much a fundamentals of pistol shooting class but I was surprised how many guys had taken a bunch of classes with MDFI and came back to do the fundamentals again. I teach a concealed pistol license class occasionally but I learned a lot, new ways to think about, do and teach the fundamentals. No high speed, low drag drills, just stance, grip, trigger control, sight alignment stuff. It was real good to get back and practice the fundamentals.

MDFI says to bring to the class what you carry. I took my Ruger LC9s Pro. Apparently everybody else carries full size combat tuned Glocks because other than one other guy I was the only one with a pocket 9. Having said that, I did pretty well considering it has a low capacity, small grip, short sight radius. It ran flawlessly and I learned a lot by shooting 150 rounds through it. I'm much more confident knowing that I can shoot it as accurately as people with combat tuned Glocks. I'm kind of glad I used it.

I may just take another pistol class from them as well as a carbine class. I've never had any formal training with an AR. Classes are filled the rest of the fall so It'll be next year before I can take another class.

https://trainmdfi.com/courses/ysintg/

[tom mac]

sounds like fun too!

[David]

Back when I taught martial arts we had a saying, 'a master is simply someone that really knows the basics well'. That applies to handgunning as well. As experienced as we are, it's always good to review basic fundamentals. And that sounds like a really good course and glad you found good value in taking it.

Reminds me of one of our training stories from some agency, don't recall which one. They had an annual qual of 120 rounds. Their first-shot hit ratio in street shootings sucked. Someone with some wisdom came up with the idea of shooting 12 rounds once a month rather than 120 rounds once a year. This kept the Officers constantly familiar with all the basics and as a result the % of first-shot hits went up enough that we were talking about it years and decades later.

A buddy of mine does the same thing. He and his FIL go once a month and shoot a single 50-round box of 9mm each. Is it the same as running-n-gunning and shooting thousands of rounds a month in competitions and high-speed-low-drag training? No, but it has a lot of value all to itself.

[Mac66]

It was surprising how much simply tuning the fundamentals (i.e. concentrating on one aspect at a time) improves your shooting. We started off shooting a one inch dot at 5 yards to get a baseline accuracy in the morning. We then shot it again at the end. Everybody's groups were smaller. In some cases a lot smaller.

One of the things that really helped me was a dry fire drill where you balance an empty casing on the front sight and then squeeze the trigger. We had to do that 10 times with no falls. I got the first two, then missed 3, then got next three, missed one then got the last 5 in a row. We then went into a loaded/not loaded/flinch drill where you partner would either hand you a loaded or unloaded gun (you didn't know which) and you would have to shoot it at the target without flinching. I did really well on that one after the trigger drill.

Some of our drill targets...we just shot dots all day



The hardest thing for me was keeping my focus on the front sight. I don't see the front sight very clearly anymore so my eye kept wanting to jump to the target. It's hard to focus on something when it's always fuzzy.

And a photo of my shooting partner running a drill. It's been sunny and in the 70's the last 10 days, It was 46 degrees and raining all day Monday.

[Ronin.45]

A few friends have taken multiple MDFI courses and recommend them highly. Neither is a top shooter, but I think the classes really helped them improve. At the very least, they didn't return from those classes with any new idiotic techniques like I've seen with other instructors.

[Mac66]

In interesting thing about safety....Before we shot we got the safety briefing. The instructors went over and over and over muzzle control among other things. They said over and over if you have an unsafe muzzle you're done. We get up on the line for the very first course of fire. The guy next to me (a retired cop) shoots it, steps back off the line and then while ejecting his magazine turns his body and sweeps the line to his left (I was on his right waiting for my line to shoot). I told him to watch his muzzle, "watch your muzzle, watch your muzzle". He was oblivious. The instructor caught him and kicked him out of the class.

[David]

MDFI says to bring to the class what you carry. I took my Ruger LC9s Pro.

I think it was a very good choice. As you know, I very much like the Ruger LC9s and LC9. I like them better than any of the other single-stack 9mm’s. A good looking pistol but also functional with the melted edges. Capacity options of 7+1 or 9+1 is decent. If the P365 hadn’t come out I’d likely still be carrying the LC9s I had set up with night sights.

[Mac66]

MDFI says to bring to the class what you carry. I took my Ruger LC9s Pro.

I think it was a very good choice. As you know, I very much like the Ruger LC9s and LC9. I like them better than any of the other single-stack 9mm’s. A good looking pistol but also functional with the melted edges. Capacity options of 7+1 or 9+1 is decent. If the P365 hadn’t come out I’d likely still be carrying the LC9s I had set up with night sights.

You mentioned night sights...The instructors, both former special operations guys recommend regular black on black sights. They say if you need to shoot in the dark you need to identify the target i.e, with a light.

They also don't recommend fiber optics or white dot sights. They say those dots are usually below the top edge of the sights and the eye will naturally raise the sight picture causing you to shoot high.

Interestingly both instructors were carrying full size custom glocks with mounted optics and lights.

So much for practical carry guns.

[David]

Well, folks have different opinions on things based upon their experiences. I can't speak for all Police departments, but every one I'm familiar with has night sights on their pistols. And having taken and taught night and dim light courses I can say they are extremely useful. I personally would not advocate for black on black when better options are available. As for shooting high with fiber optics or white dots, well, again they're entitled to their opinion and I would have to respectfully disagree with their assessment.

I think that they were carrying full sized custom Glocks with the added jazz may speak volumes.

[tom mac]

I can't speak for all Police departments, but every one I'm familiar with has night sights on their pistols. And having taken and taught night and dim light courses I can say they are extremely useful.

We had and I still use the tritium ones installed into the front and/or rear sights. The tritium vials give off a soft radiant glow
Which for me help in low light.