More Previews of Coming Events

Gunsite Class

OK as you saw in a previous post, we’re hosting a three-day pistol class presented by Gunsite Academy at Hendricksen Range over May 2, 3, and 4.

The class will cover the curriculum outlined in Gunsite’s 250-pistol course description on their web site. The 250 class normally takes five days, but a fair amount of this is spent conducting enough repetitions of each technique to better engrain them into muscle memory. The three-day class we’re hosting will cover the same material, but won’t have as many repetitions of each technique. However, we plan to run drills in our monthly shoots that will give you a chance to exercise the techniques learned in the class.

Gunsite’s handling class registration through their business office, just as they do for the classes they teach at their home facility in Arizona. If you’ve not taken a class at Gunsite in the past two years, you’ll need to complete Gunsite’s vetting process in order to demonstrate you’re of good character. If you have a concealed weapon permit, sending them a Xerox copy of your permit and drivers license will suffice. This, and the application form can be FAXed or mailed with your payment for the class.

Typically, Gunsite requires a 50% deposit at the time of registration and payment of the balance at the start of the class. As they won’t have facilities to handle payment at Hendricksen Range, they are requiring payment in full when you register for the class. Additionally, the Utah Polite Society will charge a $25 range fee on the first day of class to cover our range rental expenses. The registration fee for the class is $550.

Here’s the direct link to Gunsite’s downloadable registration form:

http://www.gunsite.com/assets/Media/application.pdf

Defensive Carbine Series

As soon as the weather warms up a bit and the snow melts (hopefully ‘round-about April) we plan to start running a series of defensive carbine exercises. We did this a couple of years ago and have had several requests to do it again.

Last time John was kind enough to run the exercises for us, this year Robert will be running them. For those of you who may not know Robert, he’s of a very practical bent. If you’ve ever wondered how to apply a particular technique in a specific situation, Robert’s probably tried it. Not only has he probably tried it, he’s probably tried several variations of it, figured out which one works the best, and then practiced it until he’s proficient with it.

Here’s the general progression we have planned.

Prior to beginning the exercises, we’d like to start a dialogue with those of you who’d like to attend. We’d like to discuss this with you both at our next scheduled shoot in March and by responding to the replies you post to this Blog article. We’d like to find out the kinds of defensive situations you’re most interested in practicing with your defensive carbine. A few examples could be things like defending your home, defending a remote campsite or cabin, use of a carbine during civil unrest or natural disaster, or any other circumstance you would like to learn how to deploy your carbine in. So, please post your thoughts and suggestions here.

Next, Robert plans to start with the basics – shooting positions/techniques, manual of arms for various and sundry carbines/rifles, etc… Speaking of various and sundry carbines and rifles, we don’t want to limit this just to “black” rifles. If you don’t have a black rifle, but have a lever-action rifle, bolt-action rifle, a .22 autoloader, or just about any other kind of rifle gathering dust in the back of your closet, bring it and learn how to make it work to your best advantage as a defensive tool. Individuals of any skill level with just about any kind of rifle are welcome to attend.

Once we have basic shooting techniques down, we’ll move on to how best to employ your carbine in the defensive circumstances you’ve told us are of interest to you. We’ll start by setting up simulations on the range at Hendricksen - along the same lines we’ve been using for setting up simulations that employ handguns.

As part of this series, we plan to study the use of carbines in conjunction with hand-held and/or weapon-mounted lights in low-light environments. We’ll demonstrate the techniques involved and then run a couple of simulations as part of the night shoot we plan to put together later this summer. Stay tuned to this Blog for more info on the night shoot.

We also plan to employ carbines and rifles at longer ranges than are available at Hendricksen Range. Later in the summer, we plan to spend a day in Skull Valley doing longer-range exercises and penetration tests on things typically used as soft and hard cover. These will include things like car doors, windshields, sheetrock walls, cinderblock walls, and anything else we identify that’s of interest and practical to test.

There’s a small canyon adjacent to the area in Skull Valley we plan to use for our carbine exercises. This canyon provides a small area with 360-degree backstops we plan to use for 360-degree handgun and, possibly, carbine exercises.

So, that’s what we have in mind so far. To help us better develop this along the lines you’d like, please post your suggestions as replies to this article.