My Experience with Firearms Training

Introduction:

I want to preface this by saying that I am writing from the perspective of a civilian with no sort of military background. It is one thing to like firearms and think they're cool. So long as you're being safe, a casual shooter doesn't necessarily need to go out of their way to get formal training that is focused on self defense. However, there are those out there that, for their own individual reasons, want to increase their skillset with their weapons. For those people, there are tons of places and people that offer firearms training. 

Details:

Like many, my first experience with formal, firearms-related training was the class I had to take to receive my concealed pistol license. The class was taught by a former police officer from the inner city, so there were plenty of real-life stories of defensive pistol use. It actually felt similar to a drivers training class, when they tell you all sorts of stories of unsafe driving in order to scare you into not driving stupidly. It was pretty standard and I was kind of surprised at how little actual shooting I did. It didn't really feel like I was building any skills, more like just taking the prerequisite to get my license.

My second experience was much different. I signed up at my local range for a Carbine I class. I decided to sign up for the class because I bought my SLR-106 and customized it a bit. I had a rifle that I enjoyed shooting and handled well, so I decided that I wanted to build some practical skills around using it. I was weirdly nervous going into it, not knowing what I should expect, but I was pleasantly surprised by the whole ordeal.

My SLR-106 I used in the course

What really made the whole thing interesting was the instructor. He was a former Navy SEAL who had gotten out just over a year ago. We had a long PowerPoint of information that he was going through, but he really kept things interesting with various caveats and stories from his time overseas. We went over some basic stuff such as holding a rifle at a low vs. high ready, as well as some more advanced stuff like some basic CQB-type tactics. 

One thing that I appreciated but didn't expect, was the amount of dry-fire practice that the class employed. We went over every drill that we were going to do in dry-fire before we did any live fire drills. This is where I discovered a disadvantage that I would have to overcome. I was using an AK-style rifle in a class full of ARs. It's pretty hard to argue against the fact that the ergonomics of an AR are far superior to an AK rifle. The fact that an AR has a safety lever within reach of the shooter's thumb, as well as the presence of a bolt catch, theoretically would allow a shooter to manipulate an AR more quickly than a similar AK.

I was actually very pleased with my performance on the clock against the other people in the class. We did a timed drill at the end of the class that involved firing three rounds into three targets, performing an emergency reload, and then hitting all three targets again. Much to my surprise, I ranked around the middle of everyone in the class, even given the extra steps that are involved in AK reloads. 

Unlike my CPL class, I felt like the carbine course really helped me build my overall skillset and made me more proficient in handling and using my rifle. I valued the instructor's feedback as to my performance and I really feel like I got something out of the whole experience.

Conclusion:

Training is an often overlooked part of the firearms world. I'm not going to pretend like I'm not guilty of this, and I will be first to say that I have much more to learn. Looking to the future, I would like to take the next tier of carbine course that my range offers, as well as look into getting some basic medical training. Based on my experiences in the course I took, I would not hesitate to keep the momentum going and sign up for more.