liftmorebitchless
04-08-2021, 07:47
This is a long overdue review of a great local instructor's course on Gunfighting - I noticed this class was coming up again end of the month and my notes from last time I took it might make a good review
Background: Me
Knowing a bit about the person reviewing a class can help frame a review so broad strokes about me and shooting ability. I'm a C class shooter who shot quite a bit of USPSA for a year and a bit but never pushed the limit too hard. I've taken a few fight centric classes from instructors around the Shivworks group (Cecil Burch, Jerry Wetzel, Paul Sharp etc) - all empty hand focused but not yet taken the Shivworks ECQC class. This was the third class I took with Demonstrated Concepts having run through Pistol 1 twice.
Background: The Class
This class is about closing the gap between shooting ability and accessing your weapon in extremely close quarters with a bad guy where the situation has gone to shit. A lot of defensive shooting classes focus on drawing the gun and making good solid hits, some with simulated stress. This is less about your shooting ability, although Rhett is a very qualified instructor who has helped me with my raw shooting ability in other classes, and more about the conceptual framework of dealing with violence that may require the use of deadly force.
You should take this class if you are interested in understanding real world self defense scenarios.
It is a low round count class which in these times is very welcome and the retention shooting taught is applicable and gives you confidence.
It included the use of a sim gun when I took it.
Class Structure
This class is a single day class that is packed with a lot of information. Anyone who takes similar classes describes the experience as drinking from a fire hose. Rhetts class is designed to be a bit more introductory in nature and allow someone to enter into understanding the nature of fighting to your gun.
It starts off with talking, as most classes do, introductions of other students to gauge training background and context as well as a discussion on what people carry on a day to day basis. This is important as this is all about accessing your carry gun and so talking about where you carry/what you carry/ when you carry is a good intro and allows commonalities to be discussed.
Following the introduction the concept of MUC is introduced. MUC or managing unknown contacts is a cornerstone of any sensible class focused on defensive use of a gun. Bad guys who want something from you conduct what is generally referred to as an interview as part of their victim selection - but MUC isn't just for the nefarious criminal who wants to rob you - it is applicable for the crazy homeless person, or the very upset person coming up to you on the street, or even to a harmless fellow citizen.
MUC is all about space management and dialoguing. Rhett sets up and runs drills here to get people comfortable with practicing this skill and this skill is a difficult one. It requires elements of role play and for a lot of us stepping outside comfort zone in how we interact with people.
It is hard to describe the benefits of this kind of training in writing but once you actually partake in it it they become obviously clear. In quickly developing situations people who mean no harm and who do mean harm will often approach and begin to encroach.
Rhett takes care to show and discuss the importance of this encroachment management.
I should add, at this stage no one has weapons on them and a patdown was done by each participant. The shooting portion of this class is a bit later.
After introducing MUC and working on exercises around this the class moves onto engaging with being in contact.
Assuming all things have gone bad what are some principles that I can apply in a hands on situation?
Standup grappling - now this class isn't going to turn people into accomplished grapplers BUT I have to say I saw a bunch of fellow students with almost no background in this really learn some basic skills that Rhett taught. It is something I am not great at either and the instruction really helped. The focus on this stage of the class is on getting to a dominant position if you have not yet been able to draw a gun.
A lot of discussion and thinking was done around this stage in the class, what happens when you get to someones back, can you push them away, draw, engage in the time?
Sim guns
This class makes use of a sim gun - Rhett uses this to demonstrate the power of a pectoral index position being able to engage if you are on the ground with a badguy over you. It's a simple but very effective exercise and reduces fear of the sims, they sting like paintballs but not worse. I'd recommend a cup or just cover your goolies if you are playing bad guy.
The Shooting Portion
Ok! This is a shooting forum and a class about the gun is it not? Yes! So lets discuss the shooting portion.
The shooting portion was great - I really liked some of the drills we did and Rhetts instruction.
Understanding the 4 count defensive draw stroke ( vid of Rhetts take on this draw from AIWB https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-7iOfeJulE )is part of this.
A few notes on the drills we did in no particular order.
Everyone thinks they can draw a gun on an attacker - but do people have a real idea how fast attackers can move?
Rhett set up an exercise where two class participants lined up. One was shooting, one was running. Obviously shooter is shooting into the berm and runner is running opposite direction. On the beep both went, runner stopped/noted where he was when the shot went off. We then placed cones to show how far people got before you got that shot off. This really illustrated in a realistic but non ego shattering way to people where they were with their draw and how much distance a determined badguy could cover.
This is a good gauging exercise.
We then moved onto close in shooting from pectoral index - Rhett manages this very safely and it's a good way to do what is not the easiest form of shooting.
There were also some drills and exercises on shooting whilst moving.
The focus on the shooting is geared towards what we covered earlier in the class. Accessing your gun in a very closer range position - maybe you can't fully extend and are shooting from retention.
This wrapped up the class with a debrief and feedback session on what people learned and any feedback for Rhett.
Final Thoughts
This is a class everyone interested in self defense shooting should take. It explores the real world difficulties surrounding managing bad situations and gets the mind thinking on when to access a firearm and how that would be if things in a situation deteriorated. The split of morning working concepts and non gun drills and the inclusion of a sim gun portion with some force on force in a structured way is very valuable. The shooting instruction is also very solid. These aren't drills we can do on static commercial lane ranges and are also drills that it is good to have an expert take you through.
I'd recommend this course and any of Rhetts courses whole heartedly
https://demonstratedconcepts.com/
Background: Me
Knowing a bit about the person reviewing a class can help frame a review so broad strokes about me and shooting ability. I'm a C class shooter who shot quite a bit of USPSA for a year and a bit but never pushed the limit too hard. I've taken a few fight centric classes from instructors around the Shivworks group (Cecil Burch, Jerry Wetzel, Paul Sharp etc) - all empty hand focused but not yet taken the Shivworks ECQC class. This was the third class I took with Demonstrated Concepts having run through Pistol 1 twice.
Background: The Class
This class is about closing the gap between shooting ability and accessing your weapon in extremely close quarters with a bad guy where the situation has gone to shit. A lot of defensive shooting classes focus on drawing the gun and making good solid hits, some with simulated stress. This is less about your shooting ability, although Rhett is a very qualified instructor who has helped me with my raw shooting ability in other classes, and more about the conceptual framework of dealing with violence that may require the use of deadly force.
You should take this class if you are interested in understanding real world self defense scenarios.
It is a low round count class which in these times is very welcome and the retention shooting taught is applicable and gives you confidence.
It included the use of a sim gun when I took it.
Class Structure
This class is a single day class that is packed with a lot of information. Anyone who takes similar classes describes the experience as drinking from a fire hose. Rhetts class is designed to be a bit more introductory in nature and allow someone to enter into understanding the nature of fighting to your gun.
It starts off with talking, as most classes do, introductions of other students to gauge training background and context as well as a discussion on what people carry on a day to day basis. This is important as this is all about accessing your carry gun and so talking about where you carry/what you carry/ when you carry is a good intro and allows commonalities to be discussed.
Following the introduction the concept of MUC is introduced. MUC or managing unknown contacts is a cornerstone of any sensible class focused on defensive use of a gun. Bad guys who want something from you conduct what is generally referred to as an interview as part of their victim selection - but MUC isn't just for the nefarious criminal who wants to rob you - it is applicable for the crazy homeless person, or the very upset person coming up to you on the street, or even to a harmless fellow citizen.
MUC is all about space management and dialoguing. Rhett sets up and runs drills here to get people comfortable with practicing this skill and this skill is a difficult one. It requires elements of role play and for a lot of us stepping outside comfort zone in how we interact with people.
It is hard to describe the benefits of this kind of training in writing but once you actually partake in it it they become obviously clear. In quickly developing situations people who mean no harm and who do mean harm will often approach and begin to encroach.
Rhett takes care to show and discuss the importance of this encroachment management.
I should add, at this stage no one has weapons on them and a patdown was done by each participant. The shooting portion of this class is a bit later.
After introducing MUC and working on exercises around this the class moves onto engaging with being in contact.
Assuming all things have gone bad what are some principles that I can apply in a hands on situation?
Standup grappling - now this class isn't going to turn people into accomplished grapplers BUT I have to say I saw a bunch of fellow students with almost no background in this really learn some basic skills that Rhett taught. It is something I am not great at either and the instruction really helped. The focus on this stage of the class is on getting to a dominant position if you have not yet been able to draw a gun.
A lot of discussion and thinking was done around this stage in the class, what happens when you get to someones back, can you push them away, draw, engage in the time?
Sim guns
This class makes use of a sim gun - Rhett uses this to demonstrate the power of a pectoral index position being able to engage if you are on the ground with a badguy over you. It's a simple but very effective exercise and reduces fear of the sims, they sting like paintballs but not worse. I'd recommend a cup or just cover your goolies if you are playing bad guy.
The Shooting Portion
Ok! This is a shooting forum and a class about the gun is it not? Yes! So lets discuss the shooting portion.
The shooting portion was great - I really liked some of the drills we did and Rhetts instruction.
Understanding the 4 count defensive draw stroke ( vid of Rhetts take on this draw from AIWB https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-7iOfeJulE )is part of this.
A few notes on the drills we did in no particular order.
Everyone thinks they can draw a gun on an attacker - but do people have a real idea how fast attackers can move?
Rhett set up an exercise where two class participants lined up. One was shooting, one was running. Obviously shooter is shooting into the berm and runner is running opposite direction. On the beep both went, runner stopped/noted where he was when the shot went off. We then placed cones to show how far people got before you got that shot off. This really illustrated in a realistic but non ego shattering way to people where they were with their draw and how much distance a determined badguy could cover.
This is a good gauging exercise.
We then moved onto close in shooting from pectoral index - Rhett manages this very safely and it's a good way to do what is not the easiest form of shooting.
There were also some drills and exercises on shooting whilst moving.
The focus on the shooting is geared towards what we covered earlier in the class. Accessing your gun in a very closer range position - maybe you can't fully extend and are shooting from retention.
This wrapped up the class with a debrief and feedback session on what people learned and any feedback for Rhett.
Final Thoughts
This is a class everyone interested in self defense shooting should take. It explores the real world difficulties surrounding managing bad situations and gets the mind thinking on when to access a firearm and how that would be if things in a situation deteriorated. The split of morning working concepts and non gun drills and the inclusion of a sim gun portion with some force on force in a structured way is very valuable. The shooting instruction is also very solid. These aren't drills we can do on static commercial lane ranges and are also drills that it is good to have an expert take you through.
I'd recommend this course and any of Rhetts courses whole heartedly
https://demonstratedconcepts.com/