Eagle's Nest- Angeles National Forest
Not a complete AAR by any stretch but I was able to remember enough to write some notes down.
A mix of civilians, LE and military folks came out for Jeff Gonzales’ 2 day open enrollment Combative Pistol 1 and 1 day Shooting on the Move module. Students were an interesting mix, to include a local ER doc and a neurosurgeon who flew in from FL as well as a Surefire sales rep and a Navy Reservist who completed BUD/S in 1973!
Held at Eagle’s Nest, part of the Angeles shooting range.
Advertised at about 750 rounds per day and I finished right in the area of 2100 rounds at the end of the course.
Topics covered:
Mindset- Treat each shot with the idea that you are 100% accountable for every round you fire. Jeff emphasized that this was not a shooting class; it is a gun fighting class with the expectation that you will learn and apply marksmanship skills to winning the fight. It is a square range where the targets don’t shoot back but think of the class as a prolonged 3-day gunfight.
Jeff Gonzales watching students during Box Drill
Skills:
Being able to shoot at 25 yards; despite statistics about the average distance of a gunfight the ability to shoot well past average distances is still a critical skill. Shooter errors that can be masked at the 7-yard line will start to show up on the 10 and 15-yard line, by the time you get to 25 it will become readily apparent.
Engaging multiple targets, being able to prioritize based on distance(s) to threat, visible weapons of threats.
Training program is designed based on Jeff’s experience in gunfights as well as though who continue to go in to harm’s way. They research what works in a gunfight and reverse engineer it to develop the training drills to prepare student for what they may face in a real world confrontation.
Terminology:
Optimum- Good
Sub-optimum- Bad
Immediate action:
1. Tap, roll, rack. Jeff explained some of the different ways that the magazine you thought was perfectly seated could have worked itself free. Reminded us that we were on a square range and knew what the malfunction was so it’s easy to skip the Tap portion but we would be cheating ourselves out of the training.
2. The roll: so that we can take advantage of gravity when clearing the chamber by rolling the pistol over to allow any thing to fall out.
3. The rack: reaching over the slide with the support hand to grasp the back of the slide and pull all the way to the firing side shoulder to forcefully eject anything out of the pistol and to allow the slide to go fully in to battery.
Reloads:
Course host Bruce reloading during drill
1. Combat reload- essentially shooting until slide lock. Broken down by Jeff as while bullets are still flying in both directions.
Start off with Tap, Roll, and Rack- once you realize slide is locked back on empty magazine strip out empty mag while depressing mag release.
Grasp and insert fresh magazine in to pistol and reach over with support hand to release slide.
2. Speed reload- Bullets are flying outbound but not inbound. Same as Combat reload minus the slide lock.
3. Tactical reload- No bullets flying, preferably behind cover. Release and stow old magazine before grasping and inserting new one.
Processing through magazine pouches. Work from the center line toward the support side hip (industry standard of keeping magazine pouches on support side). Train to process through magazine pouches rather than always back filling the go-to pouch.
Clear and safe: Remove magazine, aggressively rack slide to expel round from chamber- look for round being expelled and rack slide again. Lock slide back before inspecting mag well and chamber, twice. Release slide (engage safety) and holster.
Power stroke- Brief discussion on the number of repetitions necessary to develop a gross motor skill, settled on the number of 2500 for argument’s sake. So, if performing a physical action such as releasing the slide after firing the last round in the pistol you would normally depress the slide stop with your firing hand thumb (fine motor skill) then you would have to rep that 2500+ times.
Or, you could rack the slide with your support hand which is a motion that you would already have repped 2500+ times while working on your malfunction clearances. In addition the slide doesn’t always lock back after you fire the last round, which would compel you to rack the slide anyway since the stimulus would suggest that you have a Type 1 malfunction. The idea is to maintain a commonality of training so that you can perform as well when you’re tired and under stress, the power stroke keeps things simpler.
Draw stroke- 3 count process
- Simultaneously acquire a firing grip on pistol (defeating retention device if necessary) while bringing support hand to chest.
- Bring pistol up and out of holster so that pistol is tucked in close to side of firing side, muzzle pointed toward threat/target
- Punch out with pistol while bringing support hand out to meet firing hand. As sight moves in to eye line, change focus from target to front sight, align for first, best sight picture. Touch the trigger during count, taking slack out until arms are at max extension and touch the frame. Shot should break almost at the exact moment of the max extension.
Training modifiers to take students out of the bubble:
1. Increasing distance to target
2. Decreasing size of target
3. Tell them they’re being tested
4. Place them under time constraints
5. Remediation
6. Physical Training to induce elevated heart rate (>150 bpm)
Shooting while moving- not very practical beyond 15 yards max. Separate the upper body (turret) from the lower body (tracks) actions. Walk as you would walk rather than trying to change lower body movements (e.g., groucho or duck walking).
During lateral movements step with leading foot (direction of travel) and bring trailing foot over without cross stepping. I believe Jeff stated there were 8 basic directions you can move, although 7 may be more realistic.
Cold skills test to start Day 1 starting at 25 yards and finishing with single head shot from the holster at 3 yards. Finish Day 2 with the same test. 25 round course of fire that is also timed. Any shots in the white (off target) are dis-qualifiers.
Failure drill: 2 to center mass and 1 to head
Neutralize the threat: shooting until the threat stops, for training purposes this would be 2-7 rounds.
Keep the pistol in your workspace during weapons manipulations, defined as high enough in your visual plane so that you can maintain visibility on the threat. Bad habit to fall in to of bringing your pistol down to the belt line as your eyes will naturally follow.
Aim small, miss small. Strive for 100% accuracy while shooting 2-inch dots, in combat that may result in keeping shots in 4-inch circle. Center mass target area of Jeff’s targets is an 8-inch circle.
Box Drill: 4 targets, 4 corners for shooter to move in.
Student starting Box Drill
Clockwise: start at rear left corner and advance toward front left corner, fire 4 shots- single target.
Move lateral right to front right target firing one shot at each target after each side step.
Move backwards toward rear right corner while facing and engaging single target with 4 rounds.
Finish by moving lateral left to start corner engaging each target with single round after each side step. Include at least one mandatory reload during drill.
Progression: start at rear right and move counter-clockwise. Same drill but fire two rounds at each single target during lateral movement.
Logistics: Course was fast paced and due to the weather we stayed in the sun for most of the training day. Jeff runs a fast paced course with a single relay so breaks were few and far between. There were times I wished there was a tent or sunshade behind the 25 yard line since I think that would’ve made it easier for folks to stay in the bubble. Definitely times when standing in the sun for a 15-minute lecture portion caused me to start spacing out. As Jeff noted during his safety brief, most range accidents/incidents can be traced back to the shooter not staying focused.
The range itself was easy to get to, I stayed in Van Nuys, which is about 20 minutes away. No AT&T cell phone service for me at the top of the hill. On Saturday and Sunday there was a hot dog stand set up which was OK. Nearest place to eat besides that would’ve been a cafe next to a 7-eleven about 20 minutes away. I think just about everybody brought something out with him.
I picked up 2500 rounds of 9mm (reloads) from Ammo Bros in Cerritos on very short notice, which functioned fine, I had one Type 2 malfunction which may have been caused by the ammo. Tim Lau from 10-8 forums had posted his positive experiences with it and I would recommend it based on my one experience with them.
Improvements?
The range has very little shade and with Jeff’s admonition early on that any student who was “late” coming up to the line would be barred from continuing training until the next drill probably kept some folks from seeking out the shade and hydration during the short breaks we had.
Jeff was teaching solo with Bruce occasionally doing range/admin duties and I thought that this would have have been a better class if there had been a dedicated Assistant Instructor (AI). With a full class its tough to watch 24 shooters for 8 hours and be able to give them the individual attention that they may need. An AI also could have picked up on any students who may have needed to be encouraged to take rest or hydration breaks earlier.
One person went down at the end of TD2 during the debrief as a heat casualty, fortunately he had two docs on him and another Fire Dept. guy (?) with an IV set. Another student started feeling faint at the beginning of TD2 who wisely took himself off the line to re-hydrate and get something to eat before coming back on about an hour later. Thanks to Stuart who hooked me up with a partially frozen 64 oz. Gatorade on the afternoon of TD2 when I caught myself getting dehydrated.
I was also warned by a friend of mine that Jeff runs a high round count class and at some point you may feel like you’re just wasting rounds. I certainly felt that way at the end of TD2 when I was at the 25 yd line and missing more than I was hitting. The frustration definitely got inside of my “bubble” and I began to question whether my sights were off. Jeff assured me that it wasn’t the sights and after watching me fire off a couple of magazines with no improvement he asked me for the gun before firing a nice tight group center mass to prove it wasn’t the gun.
If you’re able to keep up with the accuracy standards the high round count can be very beneficial as you are burning in the muscle memory but if you struggled at any point in the class you may as well have stepped off the line. Jeff teaches to push through the sub-optimal performance in order to improve, overcoming frustration is part of the combat mindset.
Conclusion:
Class was good and I certainly left shooting better than I started. Also have a whole new set of self-diagnostic tools to take away with me. I enjoyed meeting and training with the different students and wish I’d had more time to get to know everyone.
Thanks to Jeff for making the trip out and to Bruce for hosting the course.
Tags: Angeles Shooting Range, Eagle's Nest, Firearms training Southern California, Jeff Gonzales, Pistol training, Trident Concepts