I think the most important preparations we make are those that overlap in “fun” and “useful” categories. For me, that overlap is best represented in marksmanship. I’ve always loved marksmanship and being a better marksman makes me better able to defend my family if the second worst day of my life happens to be today.
I used a SurvivalBlog Writing Contest prize Course Certificate toward the full Gunsite 250 class. The 250 defensive pistol is their standard basic defensive pistol class. Because 250 Defensive Pistol is a 5-day course, the credit that I won writing an article for SurvivalBlog only went part of the way. I had to put my own money towards the rest of the tuition, as well as money for the ammo, gear, lodging, food, and transportation. Being so far away, this training was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, so making the jump to the 5-day course was the best choice for my family.
Possibly the biggest cost to my family was the time, something all the students invested equally. This was Dad doing something on his own for a week. That means that Mom had to take care of the kids using her Paid Time Off. That’s time that we as a family can’t use. Now, some things lined up, some grandparents were able to help, but it was still a big ask for my family. Now that I’m on the other side, I’m glad I did it.
Defensive Pistol 250
The Defensive Pistol 250 course is 40 hours of instruction. The lecture portions cover mindset, firearm maintenance, ammo selection, and self-defense considerations. There’s a lot more hands-on training than there are lectures. The training will have you practice basic marksmanship, quick shooting, malfunction clearing, low light shooting, use of cover, and “simulators” where you will use frangible ammunition to do room clearing. At the end of it, you will have more rounds downrange and more firearm specific training than most new cops.
This base course for pistol qualifies you to take more advanced training, where force-on-force, concealed carry, and low-light simulators are the focus. If you do exceptionally well, then you can advance to their most advanced courses without the intermediate ones. Completion alone allows you access to multiple things at Gunsite that are smaller than full-blown courses and occur throughout the year. At that point, you’ve demonstrated competence and a basic understanding of their approach. You’re safe and at a certain base level, and as a result you can now do more with them.
If you live within 800 miles of the Gunsite Academy in Paulden, Arizona, I’m pretty unequivocal: you should spend the money and get the training. If you are more than 800 miles away, then it might be better to spend that amount of money working your way up through another trainer’s curriculum. If you’re looking for options, I’ve reviewed the training by Warrior Poet Society before. Working your way through the multiple levels in another training “ecosystem” may be better for you if that ecosystem is closer. But if you live close to it, then I strongly suggest Gunsite.
If you are concerned that you might have to use a firearm to defend yourself or your loved ones, then you need to spend money, time, and ammo on training. Full stop. Training at Gunsite or a closer school/trainer needs to be a priority. Our actions ought to reflect our beliefs. Gunsite has enough unique advantages that if you are close enough to take advantage of their subsequent instruction or range days (I would say less than 800 miles though some travel further) I would strongly consider them. If I was closer than 800 I would definitely be back instead of it being a “once in a lifetime” opportunity.
Common Objections to Gunsite
There are three common objections to Gunsite’s style of training:
1.) “Fuddy school that teaches outdated techniques like Weaver stance.”
Simply not true. I can see no difference in what I was taught at gunsite compared to “Modern isosceles”, Warrior Poet’s “fighting is fighting” stance, “universal sports position” or “as if you’re going to push a car”. In fact, I started with more boxing-type footwork associated with the general understanding of Weaver (because I was going to try it their way) and they corrected it to be more square.
JWR Adds: A squared-up position — directly facing your opponent — makes the most sense in the 21st Century, because many combatants will be wearing body armor. Whether you are wearing a NIJ Level 2 concealment vest or a full-up set of Level 4 plates, you will want to be squarely facing Mr. Badguy, in a gunfight. That will give you the best chance of surviving.
I shared the raw notes I had taken (30 pages when typed out) with a friend who has taken more courses with more trainers than I have. He is also a much more accomplished shooter than I am and he said it didn’t sound fuddy at all. He had feared, based on reputation, that it would be fuddy and instead it was in line with what he had been taught at other organizations.
As a whole, Gunsite struck me as an organization carefully adapting itself to modern-day reality rather than a hidebound organization chained to the past. They respect the past, they do not jump on every fad that comes around, but their instructors do adapt the curriculum based on real-world experience. All the instructors have experience on “two-way ranges” as they say (either in policing or in the military) and they are committed to helping students win any gunfight that they can’t avoid. Lessons learned are fed back in to help the curriculum continue to be effective.
2.) “Aimed at older guns (revolvers and 1911s).”
There were a handful of 1911s and certainly some jokes about “God’s Own Caliber” but the vast majority were shooting modern 9mm striker-fired pistols. It wasn’t a red dot specific 250 but a third of us were using red dots. This is a reduced percentage compared to my friend’s experience of approximately 90% of students using red dots in the courses he has taken. It’s hard to pinpoint what causes that disparity. It could be selection where most red dot guys are taking the red dot specific 250. It could also be that the gunsite class was on average older than my friend’s classes and are less quick to adopt red dot technology. I must admit it was amusing seeing a red dot on a 1911. Even the old are adapting.
If it was true that Gunsite preferred older guns I think it’s fair to say that a transition is underway. I was looking at the courses offered and now revolver specific courses are only 3-day compressed courses not the full 250 course. I think you still can take 250 with a revolver but there aren’t enough of those students to justify revolver-specific 250 courses.
The basic curriculum’s friendliness to low-round-count firearms/magazines is also a benefit to students who come from more restrictive states. Given how much closer Gunsite is to California than Iowa, learning to use the gun you are limited to in your state is a good thing. If you really want to learn how to make a 1911 sing, you’re hard pressed to find a better group. But mainly, they teach students to use 9mm striker-fired pistols.
3.) “250 Requirements Are Not Real World.”
Especially the requirement for your holster in 250 to be an Outside The Waistband (OWB) holster I’ve heard get a lot of flack. The reality is that this is the introductory class. All “ecosystems” that you can train in have more liability concerns with the introductory classes. After you pass the 250 course, you can use Inside The Waistband (IWB) and appendix carry options. Instructors don’t know how safe you are until you have demonstrated it and OWB holsters are less likely to result in an injury than IWB holsters for the few unsafe students that inevitably crop up.
Newer shooters can get hung up on the differences between OWB and IWB from a ‘realism’ standpoint. Granted, it is a different draw stroke/ draw angle from the two holster types. That is something worth training and is not inconsequential. But once the gun is out and you’re pointing it at a hostile piece of cardboard, the training is the same. Accuracy at distance, target transitions, double taps, all of those things and more are training tasks where the holster has no impact. The benefits of an OWB set up are commonly the ability to more easily carry extra magazines, carry pens, target pasters, water bottle, a dump pouch, an earpro hanger and whatever other range tools you need. Plus you keep a hot gun an inch away from your body instead of right next to it.
Ultimately: You will need an OWB holster setup and should train with it. You can approach this either as a “battle belt” or competition application. Over at Everyday Marksman they plug the battle belt approach for concerned citizens. The logic being that you might run into a situation where the increased risk environment justifies more than concealed carry but less than strapping on a rifle. If you agree with that philosophy, then bring your battle belt, complete with first aid and canteen. Otherwise, look at this as your basic competition setup. I personally chose the competition application because that is on my radar as something I need to grow into to improve my skills. Regardless of which approach you take, you will need to practice with an OWB holster.
(To be continued tomorrow, in Part 2.)
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