Final Protective Line Academy

At my concealed carry course, the students got some experience training some scenarios that 99.99% of concealed carriers will never train on. What's it like to draw your concealed pistol from the sitting position, with a seat belt across your lap? What's it like to engage targets from a seated position? If your vehicle was disabled and you are being attacked, how would you escape? Have you ever crawled over your center console, and what challenges would there be? Have you ever unbuckled your seat belt with your non-dominant hand while reaching across yourself? It's not so easy. Once out of the vehicle, what would your plan be? Fight in place, or fight your way out? What commands and considerations would you have for any family members in the car? These are all questions that are best not answered under combat conditions but in training. These students got a good look at these challenges, along with executing their fundamentals of pistol shooting, all while under duress. It was a great day of training and a great class of students.

It was a great day of concealed carry tactical training for these gentlemen. This course runs on the assumption that you have already tried your best to avoid this situation, but it still turned into a deadly encounter. It focuses on the tactical and strategic skills necessary to be successful in that deadly encounter, from the fundamentals of tactical shooting to draw stroke development, magazine changes, handling malfunctions, use of cover and concealment, and strategic concepts of fighting in a real world environment. These fellas got some experience in dealing with dynamic targets in a 3D world, and the learning curve was off the charts.

In a gunfight, you need to strive to achieve three things: accuracy, speed, and violence. Can you put bullets where they need to go? Can you get them there quickly? Can you repeat that process rapidly? While doing that, you also need to know how to find cover and fight from it, how to keep your gun in the fight, and how to improve your situation by getting to safety or better cover.

It was a great day of training on Sunday. A customer wanted a full day of concealed carry training. This was me demonstrating the final drill of the day, which was a conglomeration of everything he had learned. Drills like these are a test of the shooter's fundamentals under stress. I always tie my drills into real-world applicable situations. If you are back in a summer of 2020 situation, with packs of rioters, looters, and pillagers roaming freely, could you fight your way out of an attack?

*SAFETY DISCLAIMER* The ammunition being used in this drill is frangible. NEVER shoot regular high velocity ammunition at a steel target within 25 yards.

This was me demonstrating a drill for my student at the range. It was a cold, wet day, but we didn't let that stop us from training. Being caught out in the open during a gunfight is a pretty bad feeling. Along with engaging the enemy with accuracy, speed, and violence, getting to cover (something that can stop a bullet) must be a priority. However, once you get there, you have to be able to fight from that position, all while making a rapid decision as to what the next series of moves will be. Do you stay in the fight, or do you fight your way out?

*SAFETY DISCLAIMER* This drill is being shot with FRANGIBLE AMMO. DO NOT shoot steel targets within 25 yards with regular high velocity ammunition.

Awkward shooting positions. Gun fights don't take place in the vacuum of a flat range. They place in a 3D world, and the shooter has to be able to adapt to that world. Drills like these give some experience with non-standard shooting positions, get the heart rate up, and test the shooter's ability to make rapid decisions under stress.