[valleyforge.1777]

I have the Magpul handgun DVD's and the Viking Tactical DVD's for handgun as well. Kyle Lamb is a true professional, comes across as a real gentleman, a good guy and a good teacher. The drills in his video were not really what I was looking for. Too much shooting at distances that I consider game-playing and not real self-defense distances. I know, law enforcement and military might have to shoot at those distances, but I do not. Also, I don't know if anyone else feels this way, but those darn shot timers are so freaking annoying to listen to over and over and over again. Just drives me up the darn wall. Anyway, it is a shame because as I said, Kyle Lamb seems like a great guy and he does share a few really good points, but the videos contain too much of people shooting at long distances with shot timers and it all just seems like game training more than self-defense training.

The magpul handgun set of DVD's is good, I like it. I am about half way through the four discs now. Some good stuff in there. The one instructor is a bit too much of the gung-ho rah, rah, rah, etc. A little too over the top on that stuff. Reminds me of a preacher on Sunday morning. And, I can do without the repetitive admonishments regarding hand grip and stance, but once you get beyond those segments of the initial disc, the content is pretty good, kind of what I had expected but did not get from Kyle Lamb's video. At this point in my life and my training, I am not going to pay anyone to set off a shot timer in my ear over and over again. No thanks. But anyway, the Magpul videos are pretty good and worth the money, I think. If you like traditional handgun training, you'll like the magpul videos a lot.

And, just a general comment about all these videos: Why do these instructors think I want to watch 4 or 6 or 10 people in the class each doing the same darn exercise or drill, one right after the other, etc? Just show one person going through each step, maybe also show an instructor doing it, and then the student, but I don't need to see each student individually doing each drill. Kyle Lamb only had 2 or 3 students in his video, but even that was too many. How many people do I need to see shooting for speed at 50 feet or 25 yards? And with that shot timer going off over and over for each shooter, oh my God, whoever invented those darn things needs to undergo brain surgery done with a rusty can opener.

I think the Ralph Mroz videos and books are the best for the kind of realistic self-defense instruction that I was looking for. He has a series of videos called Armed Response. Good pointers, lots of important info. Good overall teaching. I also have the DVD's of the first season of "The Best Defense" TV show with Michael Bane, Rob Pincus, and Michael Janich. You might be tempted to dismiss Michael Bane as too polished, too much hollywood, but he is awesome in his knowledge and experience and I really learned a lot even though I thought I already knew it all. Rob Pincus is a great teacher. Michael Janich is my hero. That guy could rip apart a bad guy with one hand tied behind his back and the other hand tied to the first hand! He's a true warrior. He comes across totally professional, all calm cool and collected, but if you've read any of his books or seen his other videos, you realize that guy is a warrior. Anyway, that first season DVD set is sold by midwayUSA and really contains some useful info. Also, Andy Stanford and Michael Janich have a video called Martial Marksmanship and if you can find it, you should get it. Really good stuff. Great info, great training. Michael Bane is a member of TFL forum and he is such a naturally good teacher that you can learn a lot just by reading his forum posts. You really can't go wrong with any of his videos.