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With a Little Class!

M-Taliesin

Regular Member
Joined
Apr 22, 2011
Messages
1,504
Location
Aurora, Colorado
Howdy Folks!
I am relatively excited (well, about as excited as I ever get these days!) about having a date for my wife and I to take our CCW class this coming Saturday.

We have arranged with one of the better training outfits in the area to do our class this Saturday and will enjoy a bit of time on the range along with classroom instruction. While I have been around guns since I was fairly young, my wife is a brand new shooter. I've been coaching her on firearm safety, taking her to the range to fire her weapon, and talking about the basics of firearm carrying.

While I know the instructors will need to spend more time with the wife, I will be watching intently as she receives instruction and expect to pick up a few gems of wisdom along the way myself.

So, we anticipate a real good Saturday and hope to emerge from class with our certificates of training so we can apply for our CCW permits.

That being said, I anticipate carrying openly much of the time as summer turns up the heat. Then again, it will be nice to have the option to conceal carry my weapon where open carry might not be advisable. (i.e. at a stage performance of a Broadway show).

Anyhow, we are looking forward to our training class with eager anticipation.

Blessings,
M-Taliesin
 

Gunslinger

Regular Member
Joined
Mar 6, 2008
Messages
3,853
Location
Free, Colorado, USA
Howdy Folks!
I am relatively excited (well, about as excited as I ever get these days!) about having a date for my wife and I to take our CCW class this coming Saturday.

We have arranged with one of the better training outfits in the area to do our class this Saturday and will enjoy a bit of time on the range along with classroom instruction. While I have been around guns since I was fairly young, my wife is a brand new shooter. I've been coaching her on firearm safety, taking her to the range to fire her weapon, and talking about the basics of firearm carrying.

While I know the instructors will need to spend more time with the wife, I will be watching intently as she receives instruction and expect to pick up a few gems of wisdom along the way myself.

So, we anticipate a real good Saturday and hope to emerge from class with our certificates of training so we can apply for our CCW permits.

That being said, I anticipate carrying openly much of the time as summer turns up the heat. Then again, it will be nice to have the option to conceal carry my weapon where open carry might not be advisable. (i.e. at a stage performance of a Broadway show).

Anyhow, we are looking forward to our training class with eager anticipation.

Blessings,
M-Taliesin

Don't get your hopes up. Most of what you'll hear is old hat or common sense unless you are brand new to handguns.
 

M-Taliesin

Regular Member
Joined
Apr 22, 2011
Messages
1,504
Location
Aurora, Colorado
Don't get your hopes up. Most of what you'll hear is old hat or common sense unless you are brand new to handguns.

Howdy Gunslinger!
That's probably true enough. However, the guy who will be instructing us is a deputy sheriff, and my wife also works for the sheriff's office, so I'm hoping he'll impart a few trade secrets along the way.

Whatever the case, we are ready to go for Saturday, and looking forward to getting those training certificates. One more step on the road to gain 'official' permission to exercise our 'inalienable' rights.

Blessings,
M-Taliesin
 

Ilikesa

Regular Member
Joined
Mar 24, 2010
Messages
15
Location
, ,
Have fun with that! Did ya'll decide to do a class with firearms instruction/live shooting?
 

M-Taliesin

Regular Member
Joined
Apr 22, 2011
Messages
1,504
Location
Aurora, Colorado
Have fun with that! Did ya'll decide to do a class with firearms instruction/live shooting?

Howdy Amigo!
Yep! We'll have 4 hours of classroom training, break for lunch, then head out to their range for 4 hours of shooting drills.

Took the wife to the range yesterday to fire her new .380 and her shooting was excellent. She did really well, and I think she will do fine with classes.

With my attention focused on her shooting, I probably need to work more on my own shooting and get more comfortable with my new XDm. We need to have 70% on target to qualify for our certificates, but I don't think that'll be a problem. We seem to get those rounds downrange pretty good now.

Blessings,
M-Taliesin
 

M-Taliesin

Regular Member
Joined
Apr 22, 2011
Messages
1,504
Location
Aurora, Colorado
How'd it go? Was it what you expected? Better? Worse?

Howdy Pard!
The classroom portion went much better than I figured it would. He gave some great information. My wife is totally green regarding handguns, except what I and my partner have taught her. We covered the basics, such as don't point your gun at anything you don't intend to destroy, don't put your finger into the trigger guard until you are on target and ready to shoot, always point the weapon in a safe direction, etc, etc.

While my partner has been handling handguns since he was like 12 (now 29 years of age), I have only been around handguns for about the last year. I used a handgun as part of a job I had in Chicago about 40 years ago, but had to learn much all over again, and learn much that was new to me. My partner learned some things too, despite his much greater experience with handguns.

The instructor has an impressive resume. Military, CIA, FBI, Sheriff's departments in New Mexico and Colorado, instructor to army and also navy seal teams, he showed us some impressive moves that we hope to learn as part of our overall technique. Watching him demonstrate (without the gun in hand) some handling techniques was impressive. His mental attitude left no doubt he'd fire if he had to. He is certified by the government and the state as an instructor, and we are real pleased with what we learned already.

Now comes the downer. We drove to the range outside of Brighton. After we got there, he had us practice holster skills. Bringing the gun up and out of the holster, bringing the weapon to 'retention' position, punching out to the target, staying on target, returning to holster, etc, etc. I learned that the holster I was using won't do for this class. The pistol (XDm .40 3.8 barrel) does not return to the holster easily. You gotta shove it in there to make it secure, and when you do, the slide wants to come back just a bit. The instructor educated me on using my thumb against the rear of the slide to keep it from doing that, but once holstered, it takes quite a bit of pull to draw it again. He told us to practice at home and maybe (in my case anyhow) get another holster.

We did do some firing, but it started to rain. The temperature dropped and nobody was dressed for how cold it got. He gave us our certificates and swore us to return to complete the range work. We agreed we would faithfully complete the shooting segment of our training at a later date. While it was a "downer" to go home without completing the shooting portion of our class, we look forward to returning to the range and getting that part done.

As for my holster issue (I have a Galco leather IWB holster, and purely don't much like how tight it is) I have two other holsters that allow a smooth and quick draw and an easy reholster on return. I have practiced at home with both (gun unloaded and triple checked, btw) and learned that I can do really well with them. I will need to do a bit of work on the Galco to make it useable before relying on it again.

So it was a great day for the classroom, but for the range, not so much.

Looks like rain for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday so the range won't be usable on Saturday. The next week is Memorial day, and the wife and I will be going to Sapulpa Oklahoma for a competition I've entered. As things stand right now, maybe the first week of June will finish our training class.

But my, those certificates sure do look real nice. We figure to have them framed!

Blessings,
M-Taliesin
 
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