FAS-4 "Advanced Handgun Skills" Class

[pax]

This weekend I spent two days taking FAS-4 from Firearms Academy of Seattle ( http://www.firearmsacademy.com/overview.htm ) The class was very challenging for me and moved quickly through the material at hand. There was almost no classroom time and little discussion of tactical considerations in this shooting course, so every possible moment was spent on the range improving our shooting skills. We burned through some 700 rounds of ammunition in two days, and all of it profitably.

Marty Hayes was the instructor for the class, and there were six students. Marty reports that FAS-4 usually runs 6 to 12 students; if there are 8 or more students, the class usually breaks up into relays for much of the day so that each student can receive maximum time on the trigger.

Saturday morning, I met my classmates outside the main classroom where we were quickly directed to the shooting bay where we would be spending the bulk of our time. Classwork began first with a quick check of our basic skill levels. Marty explained that a big part of his goals for this course is to get plenty of one-on-one instruction for each of the students, fine tuning their skills.

The skills primarily emphasized in class were marksmanship, draw and fire speed, multiple targets, speed reloads, low light draw and fire, low light multiple targets, and one handed shooting and speed reloads with either hand. In addition, we spent part of Saturday morning working on accuracy out to 100 yards (try that with a baby Glock for an excercise in frustration!).

A lot of valuable little minutes and milestones stick out in my mind as I think over the weekend. Memorable moments:

• Watching the videotapes of our draw strokes was very useful; a good draw stroke is composed of a lot of little details. It's hard to get a handle on all those details, but a picture of what you are doing now, compared to what you could or should be doing, is pretty darn valuable. I learned not to 'swoop' up to my target, but to laser my arms straight out. That swoop looked pretty silly on TV!
• Class drills which involved some team competitions. For example, we did one drill which involved speed reloads. Every student was set up with an empty gun on lockback. On 'go,' the first student was to strip the mag, reload, and fire one shot into the A zone. The next student could not begin reloading or shooting until the first student had achieved an A zone hit, so if the first missed, the second student would call out, "Reload!" and the first student had to reload and fire a second shot. First team done down the line was the winner. The pressure not to let your teammates down was surprisingly intense.
• Learning how to clear malfunctions safely with only one hand. The process is fairly straightforward, but must be taught. The real learning point for me was the discovery that I simply cannot strip the mag on my cute little baby Glock one-handed when there is a double feed clogging the works. I'll need to do some rethinking of my basic equipment, or just decide to give up and die if I'm partially disabled and get a jam (not a viable option, really).
• The incredible satisfaction of watching my shooting as it measurably improved over the course of the weekend, with better hits in less time than I ever thought was possible.

One moment in particular really sticks out in my mind. I've always had a personal bugaboo with speed draws. I just can't do it! Prior to this weekend, I'd have said that 2.5 seconds and C zone hits at 7 yards were the best I could do. (Yes, I am aware that's pretty darn lousy, thanks. I could get the hits if I took the time, or get the time if my shots didn't hit. Couldn't do both.) We worked, and worked, and worked at speed draws ... and so help me, my shooting was getting worse every time we ran through it again. I mashed the trigger. Flinched. Fumbled. Bumbled. Slow out of the holster. Shots all over the paper (but not, thank the Deity, off the paper... that would have been even more humiliating). Out of the whole pantheon of bad mistakes to make when trying to draw and fire, I probably performed every one at least once, and most of them over and over again. Coaching me wasn't helping. Encouragement wasn't helping. Stress wasn't helping. Chiding me wasn't helping. Nothing, I mean nothing, was helping. Everyone else had pretty well met the standard of A zone hits under 2.0 at 7 yards at least 6 times in a row. And I just flat out couldn't do it, except occasionally by accident. I'd finally decided that the major difficulty was really with my carry method: the cute little baby Glock just doesn't give me much of a handle to grab it by coming out of the holster, and the holster is set pretty low, so it's no wonder I fumble so much. Just an equipment difficulty. It wasn't me. Couldn't be.

Then down to the low-light range we went, all six students and our instructor. Time for a little low-light work. Marty explained the basics of low-light shooting again (at FAS, it's essentially point shooting, with some interesting variations which are worth discussing at length some other time). Set us up to do the pre-test on low-light draw and fire. One shot, repeated six times, from the holster, A zone hits, at 5 yards, in low-light conditions. No flashlights or lasers need apply... How fast could we do it?

Marty was standing behind me with the timer. Buzzzzzzz... BANG! Buzzzzzz... BANG! Buzzzzzz.... BANG! Buzzzzzzzz.... BANG! Buzzzzzz... BANG Buzzzzzz... BANG!

All A zones.

Every single shot was under 1.5 and some of them were as fast as 1.2 seconds.

What happened?

Marty glared at me. "All right, Kathy. No more excuses. If you can do it with your eyes shut, you can do it with 'em open." Flicked on the lights and marched me down to the other end of the range with a fresh target. Seven yards, draw and fire. Gotta get 6 in a row under 2.0, at least 5 in the A zone.

I passed, too. It was easy.

Sometimes, I think, I think too much. I kept trying to figure out how to beat the clock and pass the standard. But a physical skill doesn't need to be figured out after a certain point. It just has to be done. I'd seen other people do it, but didn't think I'd ever be able to. Just as soon as I knew I could do it, I did it.

This time around, I passed Expert level on the end test, but the piece of paper doesn't matter to me half as much as the skills I learned and the tools I was given to keep learning.

Next time around, I'll pass the Master level.

pax

Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival. -- W. Edwards Deming

[KSFreeman]

Way to go, pax. Excellent report; sounds like a solid class.

[KyRedNeck]

this was a very good post. I have the same prob. some days i can shoot the bottom out of a pop can and other days im lucky to hit the target. I think i try to hard at looking down the sights!
There are only a couple of indoor ranges near me and they dont like rapid fire at their range so i dont do it. Most of my pratice is during a match. I wished there was a class near me
Eather way im still having fun