Was utterly awesome. I learned the hard way that I am a much better shooter with our Glock 19s than with my beloved Beretta 92s. I’ll have more in a bit.
For now, photos! Click for bigger. Also, a brief initial review below.
AAR: LMS Defense Pistol I, January 26-27, Sacramento
My wife and I attended this great class and it was the most valuable training either of us have received to date.Class: LMS Defense Pistol I
Instructor: Josh Jackson + 1 staff
Cost: $400.00
Date: January 26 and 27, 2013
Hours: 8:30am-4:30pm both days
Location: Sacramento Valley Shooting Center, Sloughhouse
Students: 8 on Saturday, 9 on SundayAmmo used: Course materials suggested 800-1000 rounds, but we ended up using far, far fewer. Hopefully someone will chime in with a rough round count.
Instructor Josh and assistant instructor Scott did a fantastic job. There was a mix of skill levels among the students, with my wife and I at the low end. Safety was paramount, and Scott ended up spending a significant amount of time with my wife during some of the drills, but in a way that did not interrupt the flow for the rest of the students. Thank you, Scott and Josh!
Instruction was a mix of short lecture/discussion and drills. Josh mentioned that some training companies are cutting round counts in half across the board due to the current ammo shortages; LMS was not going to be so dogmatic. At the end of the class, everyone felt that the drills we ran would not have been significantly improved with more rounds. Josh changed up our drills as needed to reemphasize certain fundamentals; centering everyone with an impromptu close-range shoot-the-dot drill reinforced the importance of accuracy, for example.
Curriculum was (I thought) complete and comprehensive for a two-day class. Topics started with basic fundamentals of mindset, weapons handling, and accurate delivery of rounds to the target. Stance, grip, sighting, trigger control, reset, scanning, reloading, reload drills, malfunction drills, and more. I’m not listing everything in the sequence it was taught, but more advanced topics included movement with the firearm, shooting on the move, multiple targets, longer ranges, cover and concealment, positional shooting including various kneeling and prone methods, and combinations of the above.
Josh included a useful timing drill for students to use as a baseline to track our improvement through this class and in the future. I thought this was a really good addition, and a great way to self-diagnose issues as well.
There’s much more, but I’m sure Josh and other students will chime in with their experiences.
This was my second class with Josh and my third LMS Defense class. I have been very impressed with the level of instruction, safety, and professionalism throughout. I cannot recommend Josh’s courses highly enough.
On that note, Josh will be teaching a Home Defense course at LMS’ shoot-house facility in Oroville February 16 and 17, and I would encourage anyone interested in world-class instruction on the topic to attend.
__________________NRA Life Member
Honorary Board Member, the Calguns Foundation
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Opinions posted in this account are my own and not the approved position of any organization.
Yes I’m an attorney. No, this post does not contain legal advice or opinion.
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Glocks or Berettas – who’da thunk?
Sounds like you had a good learning experience!
Glad it was worth your time, sounds like a lot of fun. Yesterday was my wife’s birthday, she got the .380 that she asked for (major brownie points for me). We are going to take a basic course together in the near future… after she applies for her Washington CPL.