Fighting Pistol
Trainers: James Yeager, Tim Morris, and Nate of Tactical Response
Location: Defiant Munitions Private Range, Sturgis, SD
Date and Time: August 18-19, 2018, from 8am to about 2-4pm
Introduction
If you’ve taken the same class three times, then it’s tough to go into it without some preconceived notions and expectations, even though you’re not supposed to if you’re trying to be a good student. Also, if a class rocked your world the first time you took it (like Fighting Pistol did for me a little over ten years ago) then you’re going to have to accept that the third time through will be more review than revelation.
Prelude to Training
When I saw that both Tactical Response and TMACS Inc were going to be conducting training in the Black Hills of South Dakota, my former stomping grounds from years ago, on August 18-19th, I sent word out to my friends in the area that they should look into both classes as I’d be interested in taking one of them. Which one I was going to take was something that I was hemming and hawing about; while Tactical Response’s “Fighting Pistol” class is great, I had already taken it before... twice! PatMac is on my short list of people to train with for many reasons and I was strongly considering taking his class this time around instead. When my friend, Brian, called me out of the blue and told me that he couldn’t train due to a bad injury at work and that his wife, Paula, would be taking his place in class instead (Brian had already put a downpayment on the Tactical Response class) he asked me if I’d be willing to attend the class too, as Paula felt more comfortable taking a class with someone that she knew. For me, that sealed the deal and I signed up for Fighting Pistol for the third time.
Shortly after signing up, my case of tennis elbow went from mildly annoying to mildly debilitating in my right arm. This condition came about from repetitive stress at work and got to the point where extending my elbow straighter than about 45 degrees or grabbing anything tightly became very difficult and painful; obviously not conducive to pistol shooting! All my doctor told me to do was to wear a forearm brace and to rest my arm as much as possible since recovery could take up to two years. This was in my right arm which is my dominant side, so on the surface this was a sign that I’d made a bad decision to sign up for this class. However, Tactical Response’s “MFCEO”, James Yeager, has long advocated for students taking Fighting Pistol for the third time to do so one-handed, with the non-dominant side so really, it was actually a sign to me that I was on the right path.
Another exciting aspect of this go-around was that nine of my friends from the Black Hills area had also signed up for Fighting Pistol! It’s a rare treat to take a class with anyone else that you actually know; in addition to most other people just not being particularly dedicated to training, there are conflicts that arise due to finances, scheduling, and other “life happens” type stuff that keeps many people from attending. This time, however, a solid third of the class would be people that I personally knew which, in my experience, is almost unheard of for an open-enrollment class.
Gear
There isn’t really a lot of gear needed for most pistol classes and Fighting Pistol is no exception. Tactical Response publishes a gear list on their website and students are expected to read this list and actually bring the stuff listed on it! I am in the process of evaluating a Beretta APX and was considering bringing it to the class (I should have been done with the reviewing process by now but my injury has kept me from shooting pistols much this year) but I only had a couple of magazines for it and wasn’t too interested in buying more at over $30 apiece as I doubt that I’ll keep the APX once I’m done testing it.
Years ago I dubbed my Glock 26 “The Constant Companion of My Walks” as it is highly concealable while also being very easy to shoot. My move back into empty-handed martial arts (centered heavily around jiu-jitsu) has led me to believe that appendix carry is the best method for me. With my somewhat slim build, however, I haven’t had the best luck with keeping even the “baby Glock” from printing to at least some degree. Thankfully, the majority of people don’t pay attention to printing (and probably attribute any unnatural bulges under a shirt to a smart phone rather than a gun in the event that they even notice one) but given the choice, I’d rather eliminate printing than just hope that others remain oblivious.
To reduce printing I could just revert to 4:30 IWB carry, which I did for years, but after taking Shivworks’ ECQC a couple of times as well as some VBJJ (vehicle-based jiu-jitsu) instruction from Craig Douglas at Paul-E-Palooza 2 and other weapons retention training, I’d rather not give up what I believe are substantial advantages of appendix carry and go back exclusively to a carry method that I now believe to be second-best. The next obvious option to reduce printing was to try out a smaller gun.
While I’m not terribly brand-loyal to anyone, I can’t deny that Glocks have treated me very well ever since I learned to stop worrying and love a plastic gun. When Glock came out with the G43 (finally!), I had to wonder if it was something that could supplement or even replace my trusty G26. I had concerns about magazine capacity (and really, still do) but figured that, statistically, 6+1 ought to be enough for “the average defensive scenario”, whatever that is. I decided to take the plunge and bought a G43.
I ROed a shooting competition earlier this summer and was allowed to walk the prize table after all the competitors had taken their pick. There was a surprising amount of prize packages still on the table when it was my turn and when I saw one package that had a certificate for XS Sights, I snapped it up. XS Sights is one of the companies that I’m always glad to deal with and they got me a set of their new F8 sights very quickly when I emailed them about that certificate. I knew those crappy OEM Glock sights wouldn’t survive a Fighting Pistol class anyway so I was doubly glad to get those F8s.
I picked up an extra 6-shot magazine from a local gun shop, knowing that I’d be reloading a lot at a class that is designed around full-sized modern guns that usually hold double or more what a G43 does. This brought my total magazines to three and my friends that would be attending the class assured me that I could borrow some G43 mags from them as well so that I wouldn’t have to buy any more than I already had.
The final thing I’d need for the class (and, indeed, to make use of the G43 “in real life”) was a good concealment holster. I researched online what was out there and stumbled across a video by Sonny Puzikas on a holster that he’d designed, the Berkut. The Berkut had many features that appealed to me and so I searched for it online and found that it was being produced by Green Force Tactical, a company that I’d heard many good things about before. I ordered the Berkut as well as an IWB magazine pouch for the G43 and considered myself all set for the class. Upon arrival to South Dakota, my friend Chris lent me a Glock-brand injection-molded G43 magazine pouch to use. I’d actually searched for these online before ordering the one from Green Force Tactical but apparently not too well as I’d not found one.
I had plenty of CBC 124gr 9mm ammo lying around and so I decided to shoot that at the class. I’ve been wearing a rather old Liger Belt recently and decided to wear that to the class too. Though I don’t normally wear contact lenses (they make my close-up vision worse than with my naked eye and that’s unacceptable at my full-time job) I decided to wear them for Fighting Pistol to get the most potential out of the training; the more you can see, the more you can learn.
Day One
I had been to the Defiant Munitions range before, but when I had last it wasn’t called that. Defiant Munitions didn’t yet exist back then but the range was still being used to host classes and other shooting events. Today, the Defiant Munitions range has a taller berm than it used to (a positive thing) but was still recognizable to me from my previous visits.
My nine friends that showed up, Jared, Chris, Derek, Paula, Spencer, Thomas, Chance, Tim, and Trent, were joined by nineteen other students including myself. Included in the other eighteen were a 21 year old who had decided to get some training with his new guns as well as a guy old enough to have gray hair… who had decided to get some training with his new guns as well. No matter how old you are, it’s always encouraging to see that some people make education a priority early in their gun-owning life. Experience levels varied but it seemed like most people had at least a little experience with firearms before the class.
Some other familiar faces included Peter Pi Jr., owner of the range and Defiant Munitions. Pete, along with his dad, built CorBon into the ammo company that it was for so many years before starting up Defiant. I’m not totally sure if they’re taking pre-orders just yet I’m eager to try out whatever they bring to market.
Another familiar face was someone that I knew only thanks to his YouTube presence: Rex of the “TiborasaurusRex” channel. I’ve learned a lot from his videos and it was pretty cool to meet him in person. Rex is at home behind a precision rifle but admitted that he was less comfortable with pistols and wanted to learn more about them. Rex has also started teaching rifle classes in meatspace I only hope that he can dumb the content down enough for someone like me to understand it, as I want to take one of his classes in the future.
Finally, there was the teaching cadre: James Yeager I’d met about seven years before at the same place for the same reason and I’d also known about thanks to his internet presence. Tim Morris was another Tactical Response teacher who I’d seen on Yeager’s videos, as well as on some other channels. Finally, a newer addition to the Tactical Response crew, Nate, was also in attendance. He wasn’t introduced as an instructor and I got the impression at first that he was there more in the capacity of a helper or “gopher”, which didn’t turn out to be the case.
Introductions were made, safety was gone over, and a short lecture was given on what the class would teach us. An emphasis was placed on the martial use of the pistol rather than on just how to shoot one. While shooting technique is heavily covered in Fighting Pistol and I credit that class heavily with making me the pistol shooter that I am today, it is the martial slant on pistol craft that sets it apart from many other classes that I’ve taken. That’s not to say that classes that lack the fighting emphasis are of no value (indeed, the classes that I teach are far more slanted towards building basic skills with the pistol than gunfighting) but the fighting emphasis is rare and valuable and is what keeps me coming back.
Things like grip, sight alignment, sight picture, and trigger press are pretty timeless and I didn’t expect these topics to have changed much since the last time I took Fighting Pistol. The draw stroke is covered early and the only catch this time around was that I was drawing to count “2” of the draw stroke right-handed and then handing the pistol off to my left hand for the final leg of the draw stroke. I asked about drawing from the right-handed Berkut holster with my left hand (I’d done this before at a Tactical Response class; I thought that it was Fighting Pistol but perhaps it wasn’t until Advanced Fighting Pistol) but Tim told me to do the hand-off method instead. I was actually fine with this as the real problem that I’ve had with my right arm is bringing it to full extension, not the actual shooting. I’ve done a lot of reps bringing the pistol to the thumb/pectoral index right-handed and I figured that if I had to shoot someone from a clinch or other “sleeve-length” distance fight that I’d just draw and shoot right-handed. If a longer, sighted shot was required, I’d hand the pistol off to my left hand to make those shots.
I hadn’t shot the G43 at all before the class and had only installed the sights to the center of the slide with the assistance of my dial calipers. Chris had lent me a variety of G43 magazines, several of which had MagGutz internals and one of those had a Pearce Grip +1 extension on it as well. The G43 had a few malfunctions along the way, many of which I think happened with that MagGutz/+1 extension combo mag. Between all of these factors (new gun, modified mags) I am willing to give the G43 more of a chance to prove itself reliable down the road.
The XS Sights F8s seem to be a great way to go with the square notch rear sight and the bright orange front ring. I tried some Trijicon HDs a few years ago and didn’t care for the glare that I got off of their orange ring when the sun hit them just right. The F8s don’t seem to have that same defect. The front face of the rear sight is somewhat sharp which is great for one-handed manipulations but gave me a little boo-boo on my right hand from the repeated racking to reload or clear malfunctions. In part, I must also attribute this to getting used to the new technique I learned at the class for racking a pistol when running it left-handed: the fingers of the right hand grasp the slide behind the ejection port and the thumb grasps the slide on the opposite side, tip pointing towards the muzzle. This prevents the hand from blocking the ejection port when racking (in case something needs to come out of there) and also makes for a more natural angle to hold the gun at while pointing the ejection port towards the ground (also to help with clearing ejectorate).
Shooting one-handed (and left-handed) forced me to slow down to get my hits. Yeager and Tim emphasized that if you were rushing in a class like this that you had your priorities wrong so I didn’t feel bad about being slower at all. The simple process of firing an accurate shot (align sights with target, press trigger without disturbing sights) was the same with the left hand as with the right and I had little trouble getting my hits… as long as I actually followed that process. Tim scolded me more than once for “banging the trigger like Suzy Rottencrotch in the back seat of a Chevy” rather than pressing it smoothly and then properly resetting the trigger. These days training has become popular enough that simply shooting accurately doesn’t seem to impress people anymore and so speed always has to be part of the equation. Proper marksmanship fundamentals are almost treated with scorn by “tactical” shooters who seem to value looking like badasses on Instagram and being “combat accurate” (i.e.: not accurate) more than placing bullets exactly where they need to go. To a degree, I’ve apparently been swept along with the crowd and have slowly started sacrificing precision and accuracy on the altar of Speed At All Costs. This was one of the many things that I “knew” but needed a reminder of over the course of the class.
The Berkut holster left me with zero complaints during the class (I’ll have to carry with it for a few months before I can give a more complete review) but the magazine pouch is clearly designed for concealment over speed. This is probably the proper order of priorities for a G43 magazine as I doubt that the G43 is a pistol that many folks have bought to burn down USPSA stages with. Still, I found the Glock-brand magazine pouch to be quite a bit easier to access than the Green Force product. This isn’t to say that the Glock pouch is a better way to carry a magazine but I had to do a lot of reloads to keep with the the other students (who were all running double-stack guns) and so I got intimately familiar with my reloads and the pouches that reloads came from. In addition to the two magazines on my belt in the pouches, I also had about four more G43 magazines dropped into my left hip pocket to refill the pouches with between iterations of the drills, which worked out well.
Targets used early in the day were the DEA Dot targets but then we switched to the Shoot Steel cardboard targets that closely replicate the shape of a human target but that also more accurately represent the critical anatomy of a human being with a “heart ring” high in the middle of the chest and a “sniper’s triangle” in the target’s head. In the future I will buy these targets to use in my classes so I don’t have to take the time to draw the heart and brain zones on IPSC targets where they ought to be.
At some point Jared’s “Gen 1.5” Glock 19 started having failures, including doubling! Thankfully, he’d also brought his G17 which has a far lower round count on it and he simply switched over to it for the rest of the day. It was still disturbing to know that a Glock could have that kind of malfunction.
We made it to one-handed shooting on day one but since I’d been doing that all day anyway, I didn’t really change what I’d been doing the whole time except to stop using my right hand to help with reloads. Instead I put the pistol in my pants pocket and used my left hand to grab a magazine and insert it into the pocketed pistol before drawing, tapping the inserted mag off of my hip, racking the rear sight off of my belt line, and getting back to shooting.
On the subject of reloads, I found that I had to strip the on-board magazine from the G43 pretty frequently whereas I can usually rely on gravity to get the mag out of a G26. I think that the G43’s thinner grip allows more of my hand to contact a greater portion of the magazine floor plate then with the G26. Additionally, the wider grip of the G26 allows me to shuffle my hand away from the magazine with ease whereas the G43 leaves not only little need to do this (the mag release is far easier to reach thanks to the G43’s thinner grip) but less ability to as well. As I sit here typing this, I have two small blood blisters on the palm of my hand (hypothenar eminence for you Latin speakers), the larger of which is no bigger in diameter than a grain of rice. These came from pinching my left hand between the G43’s frame and the magazine floor plate on reloads, something that I can’t recall ever doing on any other pistol I’ve ever owned. Not a deal-killer by any means, but a small disadvantage compared to the G26.
By this point in the day there were nasty-looking clouds rolling in and we didn’t want to get caught in the open if lightning started getting closer so we ended the day early. We were told that, since we didn’t have a dedicated classroom for the following day’s opening lecture, we would be meeting for breakfast at a restaurant in the nearby town of Whitewood and then holding the lecture in the back room (really, the bar; not otherwise in use at 8 am… even in small-town South Dakota). Once we had the address of the restaurant we packed up and headed off our separate ways.
Day Two
The rain that had rolled in at the end of the previous day had intensified overnight and was still coming down strong when we woke up. The rain was “supposed to” be done falling by 11 am but, as we all know, the weather doesn’t really have a habit of always doing what it’s “supposed to”, much less what we want it to. Derek and I (who both came to the Black Hills from out of state and were crashing at Trent’s place) drove off to Whitewood for the morning lecture hoping not to get rained on later during class.
The student introductions the day before had been pretty quick-n’-dirty with little being revealed about the students’ backgrounds during the intros compared to previous Tactical Response classes. While the large class size of twenty eight students explained why the intros were done so quickly, I was still a little disappointed that there hadn’t been more time for us to get to know one another. It was for this reason that I had a really good time at The Hideaway Restaurant and Bar talking to my fellow students over breakfast. Topics ranged from our day jobs to guns, to martial arts, to the broken American criminal justice system. At 8 am we all moved to the back room (which we had all to ourselves) for Yeager’s morning lecture.
Whatever else you might think about James Yeager, you owe it to yourself to hear this lecture at some point. If you’ve ever done even a little bit of public speaking, you’ll want to pay attention to how well Yeager delivers the information contained in this lecture. Even when I’m listening to a speaker who is talking about something that I’m interested in, I have the habit of letting my attention wander from time to time so I find it remarkable that Yeager can talk to me about things like getting a living will and keep my attention so well.
During a bathroom break I got the chance to talk a little more to Rex about long-range shooting and scopes. Since we hadn’t mentioned our occupations during the introductions, Rex didn’t know I worked for Burris down in Colorado and asked about tours of the factory. Stay tuned to his YouTube channel as he might be doing such a tour down the road.
The lecture ended a little before noon and we were given an hour to have lunch and then show up at the Defiant Munitions range.
Back on the Range
We hadn’t made it through all of Day One curriculum thanks to the lightning on the previous day so we actually started with some things that we “should have” already done the day before: covert ready, shooting on the move, and the Supine and Fetal positions. The Fetal shooting position was something new to me and I found that it helped a lot when shooting one-handed. Use of cover was gone over as well as shooting from retention, the latter of which resulted in me pulling a pistol trigger right-handed for the first time in months. Retention shooting is something that I first learned about at Tactical Response but whose importance was really driven home to me by Shivworks’ “ECQC” class and I was pleased to see that I was making consistent hits from “count 2” of the draw stroke.
Certificates were handed out to everyone afterwards and then we packed up and got ready to leave. There were a few good-byes but sixteen out of the twenty eight Fighting Pistol students would be back the following day for Fighting Rifle so not much time was spent on that.
What Went Right
What Could Have Gone Better
Stuff I Had That I Was Glad For
Stuff I Had That I Wish I Didn’t
Stuff I Didn’t Have That I Wish I Did
Stuff That Didn’t Bring That I Was Glad For
Lessons Learned
Stuff I’m Stealing For My Classes
Conclusion
If you’ve never taken Tactical Response’s “Fighting Pistol” before and you value pistols as a means to take back control of violent situations then you may very well be missing out on some important lessons. During the lecture at the start of day two Yeager said:
“People need to hear this stuff. If I gave this lecture for free then nobody would show up. Instead I charge them a few hundred bucks and promise them some shooting to trick them into showing up and hearing this lecture.”
All kidding aside (though I’m not convinced that Yeager is kidding when he says that), you really ought to hear the “boring stuff” that is said in this class. There is a lot there that you might never think about on your own and the stuff that you might actually have thought about before is going to be presented in a unique style that you won’t get anywhere else.
Also, the pistol shooting that Tactical Response tricks you into showing up with is stuff that will make you better if you practice and internalize the lessons. I’ve seen it in my friends that have taken the class and I’ve seen it in myself. I get complimented on my ability to shoot pistols frequently (it’s one of the very few things I’m actually good at) and I credit Tactical Response’s “Fighting Pistol” for getting my skills to where they are today. There is other training that I’ve taken before and since my first Fighting Pistol class, much of it beneficial, but Fighting Pistol propelled my skills forward by a quantum leap. Fighting Pistol isn’t a skills-based class but it will improve your pistol skills anyway.
If you’re a new shooter that’s intimidated by taking training then I want to encourage you to check out Fighting Pistol. The skills and mindset that you’ll learn there will save you a lot of bumbling around, making mistakes while trying to figure it out on your own. Once you’ve gotten some clarity from Fighting Pistol, you’ll have a much smoother path to becoming the shooter and fighter that you want to be. Also, don’t be intimidated by the stereotype of the drill instructor-like firearms trainer; not only have I never encountered that kind of individual anywhere I’ve trained, but Tactical Response’s crew in particular have always been very helpful and have a knack for getting students to laugh constantly throughout the class.
If you’ve got some experience shooting or even training then I still advocate attending Fighting Pistol for the unique perspective that the Tactical Response cadre brings to the table. As for pistol shooting skills, you might find that, like me, you’ve allowed some fundamentals to suffer as you’ve chased things that are less important and/or just gotten lazy.
Thanks to James, Tim, and Nate for teaching, to Pete Jr. and his friend (forgot the name, sorry) for getting the Defiant Munitions range ready and for letting us train there, and for everyone who showed up and made the class what it was. I hope to shoot with you guys again in the not-too-distant future.
Trainers: James Yeager, Tim Morris, and Nate of Tactical Response
Location: Defiant Munitions Private Range, Sturgis, SD
Date and Time: August 18-19, 2018, from 8am to about 2-4pm
Introduction
If you’ve taken the same class three times, then it’s tough to go into it without some preconceived notions and expectations, even though you’re not supposed to if you’re trying to be a good student. Also, if a class rocked your world the first time you took it (like Fighting Pistol did for me a little over ten years ago) then you’re going to have to accept that the third time through will be more review than revelation.
Prelude to Training
When I saw that both Tactical Response and TMACS Inc were going to be conducting training in the Black Hills of South Dakota, my former stomping grounds from years ago, on August 18-19th, I sent word out to my friends in the area that they should look into both classes as I’d be interested in taking one of them. Which one I was going to take was something that I was hemming and hawing about; while Tactical Response’s “Fighting Pistol” class is great, I had already taken it before... twice! PatMac is on my short list of people to train with for many reasons and I was strongly considering taking his class this time around instead. When my friend, Brian, called me out of the blue and told me that he couldn’t train due to a bad injury at work and that his wife, Paula, would be taking his place in class instead (Brian had already put a downpayment on the Tactical Response class) he asked me if I’d be willing to attend the class too, as Paula felt more comfortable taking a class with someone that she knew. For me, that sealed the deal and I signed up for Fighting Pistol for the third time.
Shortly after signing up, my case of tennis elbow went from mildly annoying to mildly debilitating in my right arm. This condition came about from repetitive stress at work and got to the point where extending my elbow straighter than about 45 degrees or grabbing anything tightly became very difficult and painful; obviously not conducive to pistol shooting! All my doctor told me to do was to wear a forearm brace and to rest my arm as much as possible since recovery could take up to two years. This was in my right arm which is my dominant side, so on the surface this was a sign that I’d made a bad decision to sign up for this class. However, Tactical Response’s “MFCEO”, James Yeager, has long advocated for students taking Fighting Pistol for the third time to do so one-handed, with the non-dominant side so really, it was actually a sign to me that I was on the right path.
Another exciting aspect of this go-around was that nine of my friends from the Black Hills area had also signed up for Fighting Pistol! It’s a rare treat to take a class with anyone else that you actually know; in addition to most other people just not being particularly dedicated to training, there are conflicts that arise due to finances, scheduling, and other “life happens” type stuff that keeps many people from attending. This time, however, a solid third of the class would be people that I personally knew which, in my experience, is almost unheard of for an open-enrollment class.
Gear
There isn’t really a lot of gear needed for most pistol classes and Fighting Pistol is no exception. Tactical Response publishes a gear list on their website and students are expected to read this list and actually bring the stuff listed on it! I am in the process of evaluating a Beretta APX and was considering bringing it to the class (I should have been done with the reviewing process by now but my injury has kept me from shooting pistols much this year) but I only had a couple of magazines for it and wasn’t too interested in buying more at over $30 apiece as I doubt that I’ll keep the APX once I’m done testing it.
Years ago I dubbed my Glock 26 “The Constant Companion of My Walks” as it is highly concealable while also being very easy to shoot. My move back into empty-handed martial arts (centered heavily around jiu-jitsu) has led me to believe that appendix carry is the best method for me. With my somewhat slim build, however, I haven’t had the best luck with keeping even the “baby Glock” from printing to at least some degree. Thankfully, the majority of people don’t pay attention to printing (and probably attribute any unnatural bulges under a shirt to a smart phone rather than a gun in the event that they even notice one) but given the choice, I’d rather eliminate printing than just hope that others remain oblivious.
To reduce printing I could just revert to 4:30 IWB carry, which I did for years, but after taking Shivworks’ ECQC a couple of times as well as some VBJJ (vehicle-based jiu-jitsu) instruction from Craig Douglas at Paul-E-Palooza 2 and other weapons retention training, I’d rather not give up what I believe are substantial advantages of appendix carry and go back exclusively to a carry method that I now believe to be second-best. The next obvious option to reduce printing was to try out a smaller gun.
While I’m not terribly brand-loyal to anyone, I can’t deny that Glocks have treated me very well ever since I learned to stop worrying and love a plastic gun. When Glock came out with the G43 (finally!), I had to wonder if it was something that could supplement or even replace my trusty G26. I had concerns about magazine capacity (and really, still do) but figured that, statistically, 6+1 ought to be enough for “the average defensive scenario”, whatever that is. I decided to take the plunge and bought a G43.
I ROed a shooting competition earlier this summer and was allowed to walk the prize table after all the competitors had taken their pick. There was a surprising amount of prize packages still on the table when it was my turn and when I saw one package that had a certificate for XS Sights, I snapped it up. XS Sights is one of the companies that I’m always glad to deal with and they got me a set of their new F8 sights very quickly when I emailed them about that certificate. I knew those crappy OEM Glock sights wouldn’t survive a Fighting Pistol class anyway so I was doubly glad to get those F8s.
I picked up an extra 6-shot magazine from a local gun shop, knowing that I’d be reloading a lot at a class that is designed around full-sized modern guns that usually hold double or more what a G43 does. This brought my total magazines to three and my friends that would be attending the class assured me that I could borrow some G43 mags from them as well so that I wouldn’t have to buy any more than I already had.
The final thing I’d need for the class (and, indeed, to make use of the G43 “in real life”) was a good concealment holster. I researched online what was out there and stumbled across a video by Sonny Puzikas on a holster that he’d designed, the Berkut. The Berkut had many features that appealed to me and so I searched for it online and found that it was being produced by Green Force Tactical, a company that I’d heard many good things about before. I ordered the Berkut as well as an IWB magazine pouch for the G43 and considered myself all set for the class. Upon arrival to South Dakota, my friend Chris lent me a Glock-brand injection-molded G43 magazine pouch to use. I’d actually searched for these online before ordering the one from Green Force Tactical but apparently not too well as I’d not found one.
I had plenty of CBC 124gr 9mm ammo lying around and so I decided to shoot that at the class. I’ve been wearing a rather old Liger Belt recently and decided to wear that to the class too. Though I don’t normally wear contact lenses (they make my close-up vision worse than with my naked eye and that’s unacceptable at my full-time job) I decided to wear them for Fighting Pistol to get the most potential out of the training; the more you can see, the more you can learn.
Day One
I had been to the Defiant Munitions range before, but when I had last it wasn’t called that. Defiant Munitions didn’t yet exist back then but the range was still being used to host classes and other shooting events. Today, the Defiant Munitions range has a taller berm than it used to (a positive thing) but was still recognizable to me from my previous visits.
My nine friends that showed up, Jared, Chris, Derek, Paula, Spencer, Thomas, Chance, Tim, and Trent, were joined by nineteen other students including myself. Included in the other eighteen were a 21 year old who had decided to get some training with his new guns as well as a guy old enough to have gray hair… who had decided to get some training with his new guns as well. No matter how old you are, it’s always encouraging to see that some people make education a priority early in their gun-owning life. Experience levels varied but it seemed like most people had at least a little experience with firearms before the class.
Some other familiar faces included Peter Pi Jr., owner of the range and Defiant Munitions. Pete, along with his dad, built CorBon into the ammo company that it was for so many years before starting up Defiant. I’m not totally sure if they’re taking pre-orders just yet I’m eager to try out whatever they bring to market.
Another familiar face was someone that I knew only thanks to his YouTube presence: Rex of the “TiborasaurusRex” channel. I’ve learned a lot from his videos and it was pretty cool to meet him in person. Rex is at home behind a precision rifle but admitted that he was less comfortable with pistols and wanted to learn more about them. Rex has also started teaching rifle classes in meatspace I only hope that he can dumb the content down enough for someone like me to understand it, as I want to take one of his classes in the future.
Finally, there was the teaching cadre: James Yeager I’d met about seven years before at the same place for the same reason and I’d also known about thanks to his internet presence. Tim Morris was another Tactical Response teacher who I’d seen on Yeager’s videos, as well as on some other channels. Finally, a newer addition to the Tactical Response crew, Nate, was also in attendance. He wasn’t introduced as an instructor and I got the impression at first that he was there more in the capacity of a helper or “gopher”, which didn’t turn out to be the case.
Introductions were made, safety was gone over, and a short lecture was given on what the class would teach us. An emphasis was placed on the martial use of the pistol rather than on just how to shoot one. While shooting technique is heavily covered in Fighting Pistol and I credit that class heavily with making me the pistol shooter that I am today, it is the martial slant on pistol craft that sets it apart from many other classes that I’ve taken. That’s not to say that classes that lack the fighting emphasis are of no value (indeed, the classes that I teach are far more slanted towards building basic skills with the pistol than gunfighting) but the fighting emphasis is rare and valuable and is what keeps me coming back.
Things like grip, sight alignment, sight picture, and trigger press are pretty timeless and I didn’t expect these topics to have changed much since the last time I took Fighting Pistol. The draw stroke is covered early and the only catch this time around was that I was drawing to count “2” of the draw stroke right-handed and then handing the pistol off to my left hand for the final leg of the draw stroke. I asked about drawing from the right-handed Berkut holster with my left hand (I’d done this before at a Tactical Response class; I thought that it was Fighting Pistol but perhaps it wasn’t until Advanced Fighting Pistol) but Tim told me to do the hand-off method instead. I was actually fine with this as the real problem that I’ve had with my right arm is bringing it to full extension, not the actual shooting. I’ve done a lot of reps bringing the pistol to the thumb/pectoral index right-handed and I figured that if I had to shoot someone from a clinch or other “sleeve-length” distance fight that I’d just draw and shoot right-handed. If a longer, sighted shot was required, I’d hand the pistol off to my left hand to make those shots.
I hadn’t shot the G43 at all before the class and had only installed the sights to the center of the slide with the assistance of my dial calipers. Chris had lent me a variety of G43 magazines, several of which had MagGutz internals and one of those had a Pearce Grip +1 extension on it as well. The G43 had a few malfunctions along the way, many of which I think happened with that MagGutz/+1 extension combo mag. Between all of these factors (new gun, modified mags) I am willing to give the G43 more of a chance to prove itself reliable down the road.
The XS Sights F8s seem to be a great way to go with the square notch rear sight and the bright orange front ring. I tried some Trijicon HDs a few years ago and didn’t care for the glare that I got off of their orange ring when the sun hit them just right. The F8s don’t seem to have that same defect. The front face of the rear sight is somewhat sharp which is great for one-handed manipulations but gave me a little boo-boo on my right hand from the repeated racking to reload or clear malfunctions. In part, I must also attribute this to getting used to the new technique I learned at the class for racking a pistol when running it left-handed: the fingers of the right hand grasp the slide behind the ejection port and the thumb grasps the slide on the opposite side, tip pointing towards the muzzle. This prevents the hand from blocking the ejection port when racking (in case something needs to come out of there) and also makes for a more natural angle to hold the gun at while pointing the ejection port towards the ground (also to help with clearing ejectorate).
Shooting one-handed (and left-handed) forced me to slow down to get my hits. Yeager and Tim emphasized that if you were rushing in a class like this that you had your priorities wrong so I didn’t feel bad about being slower at all. The simple process of firing an accurate shot (align sights with target, press trigger without disturbing sights) was the same with the left hand as with the right and I had little trouble getting my hits… as long as I actually followed that process. Tim scolded me more than once for “banging the trigger like Suzy Rottencrotch in the back seat of a Chevy” rather than pressing it smoothly and then properly resetting the trigger. These days training has become popular enough that simply shooting accurately doesn’t seem to impress people anymore and so speed always has to be part of the equation. Proper marksmanship fundamentals are almost treated with scorn by “tactical” shooters who seem to value looking like badasses on Instagram and being “combat accurate” (i.e.: not accurate) more than placing bullets exactly where they need to go. To a degree, I’ve apparently been swept along with the crowd and have slowly started sacrificing precision and accuracy on the altar of Speed At All Costs. This was one of the many things that I “knew” but needed a reminder of over the course of the class.
The Berkut holster left me with zero complaints during the class (I’ll have to carry with it for a few months before I can give a more complete review) but the magazine pouch is clearly designed for concealment over speed. This is probably the proper order of priorities for a G43 magazine as I doubt that the G43 is a pistol that many folks have bought to burn down USPSA stages with. Still, I found the Glock-brand magazine pouch to be quite a bit easier to access than the Green Force product. This isn’t to say that the Glock pouch is a better way to carry a magazine but I had to do a lot of reloads to keep with the the other students (who were all running double-stack guns) and so I got intimately familiar with my reloads and the pouches that reloads came from. In addition to the two magazines on my belt in the pouches, I also had about four more G43 magazines dropped into my left hip pocket to refill the pouches with between iterations of the drills, which worked out well.
Targets used early in the day were the DEA Dot targets but then we switched to the Shoot Steel cardboard targets that closely replicate the shape of a human target but that also more accurately represent the critical anatomy of a human being with a “heart ring” high in the middle of the chest and a “sniper’s triangle” in the target’s head. In the future I will buy these targets to use in my classes so I don’t have to take the time to draw the heart and brain zones on IPSC targets where they ought to be.
At some point Jared’s “Gen 1.5” Glock 19 started having failures, including doubling! Thankfully, he’d also brought his G17 which has a far lower round count on it and he simply switched over to it for the rest of the day. It was still disturbing to know that a Glock could have that kind of malfunction.
We made it to one-handed shooting on day one but since I’d been doing that all day anyway, I didn’t really change what I’d been doing the whole time except to stop using my right hand to help with reloads. Instead I put the pistol in my pants pocket and used my left hand to grab a magazine and insert it into the pocketed pistol before drawing, tapping the inserted mag off of my hip, racking the rear sight off of my belt line, and getting back to shooting.
On the subject of reloads, I found that I had to strip the on-board magazine from the G43 pretty frequently whereas I can usually rely on gravity to get the mag out of a G26. I think that the G43’s thinner grip allows more of my hand to contact a greater portion of the magazine floor plate then with the G26. Additionally, the wider grip of the G26 allows me to shuffle my hand away from the magazine with ease whereas the G43 leaves not only little need to do this (the mag release is far easier to reach thanks to the G43’s thinner grip) but less ability to as well. As I sit here typing this, I have two small blood blisters on the palm of my hand (hypothenar eminence for you Latin speakers), the larger of which is no bigger in diameter than a grain of rice. These came from pinching my left hand between the G43’s frame and the magazine floor plate on reloads, something that I can’t recall ever doing on any other pistol I’ve ever owned. Not a deal-killer by any means, but a small disadvantage compared to the G26.
By this point in the day there were nasty-looking clouds rolling in and we didn’t want to get caught in the open if lightning started getting closer so we ended the day early. We were told that, since we didn’t have a dedicated classroom for the following day’s opening lecture, we would be meeting for breakfast at a restaurant in the nearby town of Whitewood and then holding the lecture in the back room (really, the bar; not otherwise in use at 8 am… even in small-town South Dakota). Once we had the address of the restaurant we packed up and headed off our separate ways.
Day Two
The rain that had rolled in at the end of the previous day had intensified overnight and was still coming down strong when we woke up. The rain was “supposed to” be done falling by 11 am but, as we all know, the weather doesn’t really have a habit of always doing what it’s “supposed to”, much less what we want it to. Derek and I (who both came to the Black Hills from out of state and were crashing at Trent’s place) drove off to Whitewood for the morning lecture hoping not to get rained on later during class.
The student introductions the day before had been pretty quick-n’-dirty with little being revealed about the students’ backgrounds during the intros compared to previous Tactical Response classes. While the large class size of twenty eight students explained why the intros were done so quickly, I was still a little disappointed that there hadn’t been more time for us to get to know one another. It was for this reason that I had a really good time at The Hideaway Restaurant and Bar talking to my fellow students over breakfast. Topics ranged from our day jobs to guns, to martial arts, to the broken American criminal justice system. At 8 am we all moved to the back room (which we had all to ourselves) for Yeager’s morning lecture.
Whatever else you might think about James Yeager, you owe it to yourself to hear this lecture at some point. If you’ve ever done even a little bit of public speaking, you’ll want to pay attention to how well Yeager delivers the information contained in this lecture. Even when I’m listening to a speaker who is talking about something that I’m interested in, I have the habit of letting my attention wander from time to time so I find it remarkable that Yeager can talk to me about things like getting a living will and keep my attention so well.
During a bathroom break I got the chance to talk a little more to Rex about long-range shooting and scopes. Since we hadn’t mentioned our occupations during the introductions, Rex didn’t know I worked for Burris down in Colorado and asked about tours of the factory. Stay tuned to his YouTube channel as he might be doing such a tour down the road.
The lecture ended a little before noon and we were given an hour to have lunch and then show up at the Defiant Munitions range.
Back on the Range
We hadn’t made it through all of Day One curriculum thanks to the lightning on the previous day so we actually started with some things that we “should have” already done the day before: covert ready, shooting on the move, and the Supine and Fetal positions. The Fetal shooting position was something new to me and I found that it helped a lot when shooting one-handed. Use of cover was gone over as well as shooting from retention, the latter of which resulted in me pulling a pistol trigger right-handed for the first time in months. Retention shooting is something that I first learned about at Tactical Response but whose importance was really driven home to me by Shivworks’ “ECQC” class and I was pleased to see that I was making consistent hits from “count 2” of the draw stroke.
Certificates were handed out to everyone afterwards and then we packed up and got ready to leave. There were a few good-byes but sixteen out of the twenty eight Fighting Pistol students would be back the following day for Fighting Rifle so not much time was spent on that.
What Went Right
- Twenty eight people got together and each shot hundreds of rounds without anyone getting hurt. Pretty typical outcome for an organized shooting event, in my experience, but I’m still always thankful when it goes that way.
- All of my untested gear (G43, holster, magazines) worked well enough to get through the class. Nothing completely failed and adversely affected my training experience.
- I got to hang out with a bunch of friends that I hadn’t seen in a long time and got to make a few new ones.
- I got some reminders of what I’d forgotten over the years and got some motivation to sharpen those skills in the coming weeks and months.
- Aside from the lightning storm at the end of the first day, there was little to complain about in terms of weather; it was unseasonably cool for August which meant that it was actually very pleasant to be outside in all day.
- My quirky draw technique, a result from my injury, didn’t cause any issues.
What Could Have Gone Better
- I wish that the intros had gone on a little longer to get just a little more info about other students. I also wish that Nate had been introduced along with James and Tim.
Stuff I Had That I Was Glad For
- Quest bars. These are not only a convenient snack that actually has some nutritional value but they taste good enough that they were a genuine morale booster for me.
- Lots of magazines. If you’re going to take this class with a single-stack gun then you’re going to reload a lot.
- A notepad and pencil. I don’t know about you, but I don’t remember everything I’m told so I have to write it down. I’m paying for the information and so I’m going to use every available means to make sure that I get the most information out of the class.
- A large cooler full of water. While I didn’t bring it (credit for that goes to Chris) I knew that it would be there for my friends and I and I was glad that I didn’t have to lug my own water to the range.
- Backup pistols. While I didn’t carry them during the class or even need to go get them to use, I felt better about taking a class with a brand-new gun knowing that I had proven guns to switch to if things went wrong.
- A synthetic, long-sleeved shirt. I bought this specifically with training classes and other outdoorsy stuff in mind. The tight-fitting stretchy fabric keeps the shirt from bunching up or migrating around when wearing it and gives flying brass no way to fall down my collar. The Raglan sleeve cut keeps the seam off of the top of my shoulder for classes/events where I’m wearing a pack or LBE (not applicable here, obviously). The long sleeves keep my arms shielded from bugs and the sun. Great piece of clothing all around.
- A neck wrap. I felt brass land on my neck at least once and I suffered no burns thanks to the combination of my neck wrap and my tight-fitting undershirt.
Stuff I Had That I Wish I Didn’t
- Magazine modifications. The MagGutz internals and the +1 extensions are something that I plan to experiment with down the road but at the class with an unproven gun they just served to cast doubts about the gun’s reliability. Now I have more testing to do to make absolutely sure that it’s just the modified mags that were to blame for my woes.
Stuff I Didn’t Have That I Wish I Did
- Very little comes to mind here. There was no moment where I inwardly thought “Crap! I can’t believe I forgot [blank]!” Yay me, I guess.
Stuff That Didn’t Bring That I Was Glad For
- Again, nothing comes to mind. I can’t recall seeing someone else having woes and thinking “I’m glad that’s not me!” Everyone seemed pretty squared away, gear-wise.
Lessons Learned
- Shooting left-handed is pretty much the same as shooting right-handed but with minor twists. I have two hands so I ought to be proficient with either hand, especially when you consider that a relatively minor injury like tennis elbow can really shut down the use of your dominant arm for shooting. Additionally, if you’re the guy in your group of friends that people come to for advice on shooting, you’d better be able to “speak Southpaw” to the tenth of the population that shoot wrong-handed.
- The Fetal position is a great way to take advantage of certain pieces of cover and also to stabilize your arm or arms for difficult shots.
- Every Glock can be a G18… if you wear it out enough.
- Carrying magazines in the appendix position makes accessing them with either hand a complete non-issue. It’s still something you ought to practice but, for me at least, it was very natural.
- You’re never too experienced to be reminded of fundamentals. It’s fun to try and go ever faster on a shot timer but there comes a time when you need to slow down and revisit the boring ol’ fundamentals of marksmanship, especially under the watchful eye of a teacher that won’t tolerate lackluster performance.
- Duct tape turns “No, no!” into “Mmm, mmm!”
- Shooting on the move is as simple (note: I didn’t say “easy”) as you want to make it. I’d always been told to just walk naturally and shoot but for some reason I’ve allowed “The Tactical Groucho Walk” to become a habit. It was nice to be reminded to not over-complicate the technique and just do it as naturally as possible.
- Hold the beer bottle by the neck, right side up, and hit the belligerent asshole on the bridge of the nose with the bottom of the bottle (dump the beer first to keep from spilling it on you). Yeager offers a 100% beer-back guarantee that the bottle won’t break.
- Pursue progress, not perfection.
- Coolness and competence are more likely to save your life than sheer speed.
Stuff I’m Stealing For My Classes
- Lots of shooters on a line shooting all at once sounds like really rapid fire. Remind your students to take it slow and not get the urge to shoot as fast as the rest of the combined group sounds.
- Describe the thumbs of both hands as “spooning” to clarify how they should be positioned in a two-handed grip.
- Compare pressing the trigger to squeezing an eye dropper; press gently enough to “get just one drop”.
- Get in sleepy-looking students personal space when talking to arouse their attention.
Conclusion
If you’ve never taken Tactical Response’s “Fighting Pistol” before and you value pistols as a means to take back control of violent situations then you may very well be missing out on some important lessons. During the lecture at the start of day two Yeager said:
“People need to hear this stuff. If I gave this lecture for free then nobody would show up. Instead I charge them a few hundred bucks and promise them some shooting to trick them into showing up and hearing this lecture.”
All kidding aside (though I’m not convinced that Yeager is kidding when he says that), you really ought to hear the “boring stuff” that is said in this class. There is a lot there that you might never think about on your own and the stuff that you might actually have thought about before is going to be presented in a unique style that you won’t get anywhere else.
Also, the pistol shooting that Tactical Response tricks you into showing up with is stuff that will make you better if you practice and internalize the lessons. I’ve seen it in my friends that have taken the class and I’ve seen it in myself. I get complimented on my ability to shoot pistols frequently (it’s one of the very few things I’m actually good at) and I credit Tactical Response’s “Fighting Pistol” for getting my skills to where they are today. There is other training that I’ve taken before and since my first Fighting Pistol class, much of it beneficial, but Fighting Pistol propelled my skills forward by a quantum leap. Fighting Pistol isn’t a skills-based class but it will improve your pistol skills anyway.
If you’re a new shooter that’s intimidated by taking training then I want to encourage you to check out Fighting Pistol. The skills and mindset that you’ll learn there will save you a lot of bumbling around, making mistakes while trying to figure it out on your own. Once you’ve gotten some clarity from Fighting Pistol, you’ll have a much smoother path to becoming the shooter and fighter that you want to be. Also, don’t be intimidated by the stereotype of the drill instructor-like firearms trainer; not only have I never encountered that kind of individual anywhere I’ve trained, but Tactical Response’s crew in particular have always been very helpful and have a knack for getting students to laugh constantly throughout the class.
If you’ve got some experience shooting or even training then I still advocate attending Fighting Pistol for the unique perspective that the Tactical Response cadre brings to the table. As for pistol shooting skills, you might find that, like me, you’ve allowed some fundamentals to suffer as you’ve chased things that are less important and/or just gotten lazy.
Thanks to James, Tim, and Nate for teaching, to Pete Jr. and his friend (forgot the name, sorry) for getting the Defiant Munitions range ready and for letting us train there, and for everyone who showed up and made the class what it was. I hope to shoot with you guys again in the not-too-distant future.
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