JimConway
Instructor
I recently had in inquiry from a prior graduate of our Basic handgun course,"
regarding whether we will be offering any "more advanced" pistol courses this year. I was looking over my response, and thought it was worth asking the question of how we define "advanced." I have answered this question many ways, but think that the best answer that I have seen came from another instructor.
His answer is found in the excerpt below. I welcome any additions or new ideas.
------- Excerpt Follows --------
. . . . Our school motto is "The more you know of the basics, the more
advanced you are." That is not just a slogan; it is truth.
We can have you lie on your back and shoot over your head; but all you are
doing is sight alignment, trigger press and follow-through. We can have
you fire 500 rounds in a day, and, if you are performing competently, each
round will involve nothing more than sight alignment, trigger press and
follow-through. We can have you step to the left, fire a string, reload,
turn around, fire again, unload, holster, do a backward summersault, reload
and waive at the crowd . . . and the only firearms skills you will be using
are the ones with respect to which you were [previously] instructed by Mr.
Stock.
There are certainly things about hand-guns that are not covered in Basic
Pistol. There is no time [in that 3-day course] to cover some of the
shooting positions, "tracking" a moving target, different draw strokes and
more complex movement (primarily turns and moving off the line of
attack). Randy Cain covers some of these in his "Hand-gun 101," and I
recommend that course to you. While I do think those are things any
advanced student of pistolcraft must master, I do not believe [mastering
those] skills [would be] sufficient to make one "advanced" (and I think
Randy would agree with me).
One can also become familiar with multiple guns, acquire technical
information, and learn to fix them. We have little interest in any of
these "finishing" skills, and so we only run a course on them every couple
of years. In any case, while those skills add depth of understanding and
polish, they do not constitute an "advanced" pistol operator, either.
To my mind, "advanced" means the shooting portion of a drill (or a fight)
is smooth, reasonably fast, complies at all times with the Universal Safety
Rules, and is done without any conscious attention being devoted to the gun
(all conscious thought being devoted to recognizing and solving the problem
which has necessitated the use of a firearm in the first place). An
"advanced" shooter is thinking about the problem at hand, and running his
firearm the same way he tells his lungs to breathe or his feet to step;
unconsciously.
One must be reasonably fast, but nowhere near the fastest guy out
there. One's marksmanship has to be reasonably good and consistent, but
nowhere near perfect. What is indispensable is the ability to competently
and consistently perform, on demand, without having to think about the
gun. I think that is an "advanced" shooter. (Whether that advanced
shooter is also an advanced fighter depends upon a lot of other factors.)
I also think the only way to become an advanced shooter is to shoot a lot,
under supervision (if only the supervision of an educated shooting
partner), solving problems while focusing on execution of the
fundamentals. . . . . If you do [this] 2 or 3 times a month, you are on
your way. If you have been doing it once every couple of months, it is
almost certain you are not ready to perform at an "advanced" level, and you
would do well to either take another basic course, or skip the course and
devote substantial time to organized, supervised practice.
regarding whether we will be offering any "more advanced" pistol courses this year. I was looking over my response, and thought it was worth asking the question of how we define "advanced." I have answered this question many ways, but think that the best answer that I have seen came from another instructor.
His answer is found in the excerpt below. I welcome any additions or new ideas.
------- Excerpt Follows --------
. . . . Our school motto is "The more you know of the basics, the more
advanced you are." That is not just a slogan; it is truth.
We can have you lie on your back and shoot over your head; but all you are
doing is sight alignment, trigger press and follow-through. We can have
you fire 500 rounds in a day, and, if you are performing competently, each
round will involve nothing more than sight alignment, trigger press and
follow-through. We can have you step to the left, fire a string, reload,
turn around, fire again, unload, holster, do a backward summersault, reload
and waive at the crowd . . . and the only firearms skills you will be using
are the ones with respect to which you were [previously] instructed by Mr.
Stock.
There are certainly things about hand-guns that are not covered in Basic
Pistol. There is no time [in that 3-day course] to cover some of the
shooting positions, "tracking" a moving target, different draw strokes and
more complex movement (primarily turns and moving off the line of
attack). Randy Cain covers some of these in his "Hand-gun 101," and I
recommend that course to you. While I do think those are things any
advanced student of pistolcraft must master, I do not believe [mastering
those] skills [would be] sufficient to make one "advanced" (and I think
Randy would agree with me).
One can also become familiar with multiple guns, acquire technical
information, and learn to fix them. We have little interest in any of
these "finishing" skills, and so we only run a course on them every couple
of years. In any case, while those skills add depth of understanding and
polish, they do not constitute an "advanced" pistol operator, either.
To my mind, "advanced" means the shooting portion of a drill (or a fight)
is smooth, reasonably fast, complies at all times with the Universal Safety
Rules, and is done without any conscious attention being devoted to the gun
(all conscious thought being devoted to recognizing and solving the problem
which has necessitated the use of a firearm in the first place). An
"advanced" shooter is thinking about the problem at hand, and running his
firearm the same way he tells his lungs to breathe or his feet to step;
unconsciously.
One must be reasonably fast, but nowhere near the fastest guy out
there. One's marksmanship has to be reasonably good and consistent, but
nowhere near perfect. What is indispensable is the ability to competently
and consistently perform, on demand, without having to think about the
gun. I think that is an "advanced" shooter. (Whether that advanced
shooter is also an advanced fighter depends upon a lot of other factors.)
I also think the only way to become an advanced shooter is to shoot a lot,
under supervision (if only the supervision of an educated shooting
partner), solving problems while focusing on execution of the
fundamentals. . . . . If you do [this] 2 or 3 times a month, you are on
your way. If you have been doing it once every couple of months, it is
almost certain you are not ready to perform at an "advanced" level, and you
would do well to either take another basic course, or skip the course and
devote substantial time to organized, supervised practice.
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