Suarez Int'l Close Range Gunfighting report

[Black Majik]

Whew. The weekend flew by so fast.

So Bambam-31, Voo and myself decide on taking a defensive shooting class. What a humbling experience. This course focused on shooting while moving off the X, flashlight techniques, close range shooting, and proactive and reactive manipulations.

A few points I took away from the class:
* Keep moving! Move that feet!
* The different ways to grip and fire a gun while shooting off the X. Shooting while going to the right may/will be different than shooting while running left. We learned that shooting while going to the right can be done with a two hand grip, while going to the left can simply be achieved by shooting one handed instead. You gain more range of motion shooting one handed while going towards your weakside.
* Same thing applies to flashlight usage as above. Different grips for differet directions
* Take the shot once the gun clears the holster. The time it takes to fire while at full extension, you can comfortable shoot 3-5 rounds in that time until reaching full extension.
* Shooting from the hip and pointshooting does work.
* Flash the light, then move. Make sure the light is off before you move so the opponent can't track the light and shoot at you.
* Verticaly stringing your shots to the headshots. We touched upon the mozambique drill. The classic 2 to the chest, 1 to the head. This time we applied shooting until full extension letting recoil do the work for vertically placing our shots to the head.

Here are a few taken at the course:

Lecture on flashlight techniques


Flashaholic




Flashlight drills

[Black Majik]

Vu (voo)


Mikey (Bambam-31) at the malfuction drills. Gotta love teh 7.62 stovepipe


Vu and Ryan


Mikey and Ryan

[Black Majik]

Shooting while moving off the X


Going towards weakside while shooting off X

[Black Majik]

Rich Coplin on shooting from hip (2nd position)


Ryan shooting until full extension



Richard on switching hands


Mike running to cover engaging BG on right


Switching to weakhand


My target on vertically stringing our shots.

[Black Majik]

This is pretty funny captured by Mikey.
Vu all serious as he does 360 scan


Still Serious


Almost


then..




Congrats Vu!



Thanks for reading!

[BamBam-31]

Fantastic pics, Rich. As always.

I really enjoyed the class. Packed w/ tons of practical information, presented in a friendly, funny, infinitely accessible fashion. Definitely worth the $$$.

Off the top of my head, I recall:

--Point shooting as soon as the gun clears the holster. No need to see a perfect sight picture at contact range, just "metal on meat." Full extension not needed either--you can get off good hits from a close retention position. Just remember to cant that slide away from your own ribcage (ouch ).
--Doing 1-2-3 combos of one-handed point-shooting from close retention, two-handed semi-extended, then two-handed full extension. You really can get off a few good hits before the gun reaches full extension.
--Malfunction clearing drills. For some reason, my Glock keeps choking on that pesky 7.62x39. The double feed jam (which needs more than a tap-rack-bang) drill was particularly useful.
--Moving off the X. Getting out of the line of fire to interrupt the attacker's OODA loop. Shooting and getting hits while moving left and right. The importance of simply pacing normally to the left and right instead of using some type of tactical duck-walk. Letting go of the support hand and shooting the pistol one-handed and w/ a slight cant while going left.
--Taking one step back and letting five shots rip vertically "from navel to nose" to maximize damage from "bad breath" range.
--Flashlight use. Flash and move, don't keep "shoot here" light on. Modified Harries Technique, FBI Technique, Neck Index Technique.
--Pro-active reloads, w/ mag retention.
--Post-action 180 degree scan w/ weapon pointed, followed by 360 degree scan from Position Sul, followed by pro-active reload and self-check.
--Left/Right hand transitions. In addition to strong hands getting hit during firefights, sometimes going to the support hand can even give you an advantage w/ angles and cover.
--Shooting from behind cover.
--Drawing and engaging attackers from different angles.
--Engaging multiple attackers.

A lot of info crammed into a two-day class at Burro. Big thumbs up to Uli and Richard. Knowledgeable and experienced instructors w/ a real knack for presenting the material in an easy to understand way. Will probably take more classes from them in the near future.

ETA: Thanks to Ryan, Rich, and Vu for making it more fun than it really should have been.

[slowfire]

I haven't taken any classes from Suarez Int'l but I have met a couple of the Instructors when they came to the range. There sure is a difference between dynamic and static shooting.

[DrunkSkunk]

how much they charge

[Black Majik]

how much they charge

Tuition was $350 for 2 days.

[TBoliv]

Sorry I missed the class. Looks like you guys had a great time.

[JohnnyBangBang]

That looks like fun. Cool pics.

[WokMaster1]

nice....I've been reading his newsletters..seems like a no BS guy. Sure looks like you all had a great time.

[Voo]

I thoroughly enjoyed the class and IMHO, for what it was, I felt it was money very well spent.

Im too tired to try and write a review (plus Im at the office), but suffice to say, I'm very very happy with what I learned.

That and I want another Gabe Suarez Certficate kodak moment..

[BamBam-31]

Sorry I missed the class. Looks like you guys had a great time.

It's okay, Pattie. I'll photocopy my certificate and crayon your name onto it so you can be cool, too.

[Black Majik]

Mikey, I forgot to post this one up of Ryan. Since I know he checks here sometimes. Good shooting Ryan!





And well, Mikey being... well.... Mikey....
I have no idea what the heck you were doing..