Vickers Shooting Method Pistol Class
Location: Coshocton Gun Club
Instructor: Grant, VSM regional instructor for Ohio
We met and went over safety and what to expect from the class. Evidently, these classes were set up so that you could go to one prior to going to a Vickers level one class and kind of know what to expect and be ready for it. To take away some of the nervousness and potential fear of being the worst shooter in the group at a training.
The first thing we did was set up IDPA style targets with an NRA target on the “A” zone. The NRA target had an approximately 5 inch black zone with x, 10, and 9 rings and then outer rings of 8 and 7. We then did a 10/10/10 drill. From low ready, 10 shots in 10 seconds at 10 yards, cold, no warm ups for a score. Passing was a score of 90 or above in under 10 seconds. After we all shot, Grant asked if anyone passed and then said “Good” when no one had passed.
We then went through additional drills such as ball and dummy drills, tactical reloads, drawing from concealment, etc. It was a fluid class with questions or moments for training leading into the next point or points or drills. Some of the other tests were drawing and placing one single round in the head of an IDPA target in under 2.5 seconds from 21 feet, another was shoot 2 rounds in the A zone, and then tactical reload and one shot in a the head in some amount of time. Another drill dealt with placing all 5 of your shots in either a 2 inch vertical or horizontal line, first on your cadence and then in 10 seconds and then in 5 seconds. Another test was drawing from concealment and placing 6 shots in I think 6 seconds in a 9 inch circle from 21 feet. During this drill we had a major pistol malfunction.
A Glock 19 blew up when one of the shooters shot his 6th shot. The shot sounded different from the others. The magazine blew out, and he got rid of the pistol pretty quick. The shooter had been shooting TULA the entire day and Grant said it was the 2nd time he had witnessed TULA cause a catastrophic failure in a firearm. Thankfully the shooter was unharmed other than a pretty sore right hand. There is an entire thread dedicated to the firearm on M4Carbine found here. There is one slightly morbid aspect to the situation which is shown in this next picture. Post if you figure it out.
So I didn’t pass any of the drills, and honestly I was probably in the lower end of the shooters there. I have never had so much fun while failing, nor have I learned so much. I would do this class again in a heartbeat and plan on it later this year and probably also taking the carbine class Grant offers.
Other things that I thought were great in the class was that when Grant would bring up a technique, or a piece of equipment he would go through the pros and the cons for them. For different types of pistols he suggested ways in which you could improve your shooting with that particular pistol. I was asking him about some different grips for my 1911 and he actually suggested I go to Ebay rather than his shop for a better price for what we were discussing.
Definitely a class act and a great class. I highly recommend it.
Location: Coshocton Gun Club
Instructor: Grant, VSM regional instructor for Ohio
We met and went over safety and what to expect from the class. Evidently, these classes were set up so that you could go to one prior to going to a Vickers level one class and kind of know what to expect and be ready for it. To take away some of the nervousness and potential fear of being the worst shooter in the group at a training.
The first thing we did was set up IDPA style targets with an NRA target on the “A” zone. The NRA target had an approximately 5 inch black zone with x, 10, and 9 rings and then outer rings of 8 and 7. We then did a 10/10/10 drill. From low ready, 10 shots in 10 seconds at 10 yards, cold, no warm ups for a score. Passing was a score of 90 or above in under 10 seconds. After we all shot, Grant asked if anyone passed and then said “Good” when no one had passed.
We then went through additional drills such as ball and dummy drills, tactical reloads, drawing from concealment, etc. It was a fluid class with questions or moments for training leading into the next point or points or drills. Some of the other tests were drawing and placing one single round in the head of an IDPA target in under 2.5 seconds from 21 feet, another was shoot 2 rounds in the A zone, and then tactical reload and one shot in a the head in some amount of time. Another drill dealt with placing all 5 of your shots in either a 2 inch vertical or horizontal line, first on your cadence and then in 10 seconds and then in 5 seconds. Another test was drawing from concealment and placing 6 shots in I think 6 seconds in a 9 inch circle from 21 feet. During this drill we had a major pistol malfunction.
A Glock 19 blew up when one of the shooters shot his 6th shot. The shot sounded different from the others. The magazine blew out, and he got rid of the pistol pretty quick. The shooter had been shooting TULA the entire day and Grant said it was the 2nd time he had witnessed TULA cause a catastrophic failure in a firearm. Thankfully the shooter was unharmed other than a pretty sore right hand. There is an entire thread dedicated to the firearm on M4Carbine found here. There is one slightly morbid aspect to the situation which is shown in this next picture. Post if you figure it out.
So I didn’t pass any of the drills, and honestly I was probably in the lower end of the shooters there. I have never had so much fun while failing, nor have I learned so much. I would do this class again in a heartbeat and plan on it later this year and probably also taking the carbine class Grant offers.
Other things that I thought were great in the class was that when Grant would bring up a technique, or a piece of equipment he would go through the pros and the cons for them. For different types of pistols he suggested ways in which you could improve your shooting with that particular pistol. I was asking him about some different grips for my 1911 and he actually suggested I go to Ebay rather than his shop for a better price for what we were discussing.
Definitely a class act and a great class. I highly recommend it.
