Firearms Training: How Do I Get Ready for My Next Class?

I've noted that many students, upon completing a basic handgun course, are eager to obtain additional training...at least that is what they say when I tell them about the next course in the sequence that they might want to take and when it will be offered.

Unfortunately, few of them follow-up and actually take that course. One of the reasons may be the passage of time, because I tell students that before they take an advanced handgun class they should first practice what they have learned in the basic course until they are proficient in applying them. An analogy that Dave Spaulding, a prominent nationally-known firearms instructor, uses is that of a bucket filled with water. Training fills your “bucket” (i.e., it provides you with skills and proficiency in using a firearm). The “water”—your skills and proficiency—will be at the maximum level in your “bucket” at the moment you complete your training session but will immediately begin to decrease from that time forward just like having a hole in your “bucket” would allow the “water” to drain out. To keep your “bucket” full, you must replenish the contents and you do this though practice and additional training.

Seeking additional training not only keeps your “bucket” full, but it also increases the size of your “bucket”. That training may be in the form of taking one or more classes from a firearms instructor or watching one or more of the many training videos that demonstrate advanced handgun techniques. While these videos are useful, the one thing they cannot do is objectively measure how well you are able to apply the techniques.

Only someone that is already proficient in those skills can provide that assessment and give you the feedback you need, and that usually means going to a qualified firearms instructor. So, at some point you will need to take one or more firearms courses. I recommend you try to do this about once every year or so.

Most firearms instructors use a building-block approach to teaching shooting skills. Subsequent courses start where the last course left off with only a small amount of time devoted to a “refresher”. So, it is incumbent on the students to come to the advanced classes prepared. Instructors just cannot afford to take the time to provide students that come to classes lacking in fundamental shooting skills and still address the advanced topics that the rest of the class has come to get trained on.

Basic handgun classes, whether they are for concealed carry or just general handgun knowledge, cover firearms safety and the fundamentals of shooting—grip, stance, sight-alignment/sight-picture, hold control, breath control, trigger control, and follow-through. This is the foundation that all other shooting classes build from. Therefore, students taking those other classes must be proficient in the fundamentals as a prerequisite for attending the advanced classes. You develop that proficiency through practice— both dry-fire and live-fire.

You can practice all of the fundamentals during dry-fire without actually firing a single round of ammunition—except for the part of the follow-through that deals with recoil management. (If you do fire a round of ammunition during your dry-fire practice you have done something drastically wrong!) During dry-fire practice you can concentrate on individual elements of shooting without spending a lot of money on ammunition or time traveling to/from a shooting range. Subsequent live-fire practice enables you to verify that you can properly apply the fundamentals by placing bullets on the target at your point-of-aim.

So, what is an acceptable level of proficiency in applying the fundamentals before you should consider taking an advanced handgun class? Being able to place all of your shots on an 81⁄2 X 11-inch target from a distance of 5 yards is probably a good standard to achieve before seeking out advanced training. This is an accuracy standard. You will begin to develop speed as part of your advanced training.

You should expect the advanced class will “stress” you by “pushing” you to do things that you do not necessarily think you can do. This usually comes in the form of reducing the amount of time allowed for you to deliver accurate hits to a target, reducing the size of the target you must hit, and/or changing the distance to the target.

While many students have not yet selected their own handgun when they take the basic course, by the time you are ready to attend an advanced course you should have your own gun and you should be proficient in its operation. Just as you will be “stressed” during the advanced course, so will your handgun—and this is a good thing. Your self-defense handgun must be absolutely reliable; it must go “bang” every time you expect it to when you press the trigger. (One of the reasons I try to take an advanced handgun courses once each year is to “stress” my various defensive handguns to make sure I can rely on them. My “standard” is to fire 200-300 rounds through each gun with no malfunctions before I will consider it to be reliable enough for daily self-defense use.) During an advanced class, you will be pressing the trigger a lot more than you would probably do during your regular practice sessions. Issues with your handgun’s reliability—either with the gun itself or the ammunitionyou are using—will quickly come to the surface during an advanced handgun class, as will issues with your equipment (holsters, ammo pouches, etc.).

What should you expect to learn during advanced handgun training? Each instructor’s offering will be somewhat different, but in general the following topics are covered at the shooting range:

  • Different shooting positions—standing, sitting, kneeling, crouching, prone, etc.
  • Different grips—two-handed, one-handed (strong hand), one-handed(weak hand)
  • Different ready positions
  • Reloading your handgun with ammunition
  • Clearing handgun malfunctions
  • Drawing a handgun from a holster— both open carry and concealed carry
  • Moving before shooting—left, right, front, back, diagonal
  • Moving while shooting—left, right, front, back, diagonal
  • Shooting at multiple targets
  • Shooting targets at multiple distances
  • Shooting at targets of different sizes
  • Shooting at moving targets
  • Shooting around barricades
  • Use of cover and concealment
  • Situational/threat awareness

Some instructors may include additional topics, like team tactics and communicating while engaged in a gunfight, and they may divide their advanced training into multiple offerings so students do not have to absorb too much new information in a very short amount of time.

Each of these topics is important for you to know because you will not know what the situation will be when you are confronted with a violent encounter. The environment and your attacker will dictate the situation and your response. Your goal will be to survive the encounter. To do this you must either escape from the attacker or stop them before they can inflict harm to you and/or your family members, friends, and others in the area of the attack.

Are you ready to take the next step in advancing your self-defense skills? If so, find an instructor that offers the training you need to enable you to improve gun skills and proficiency.

Gary Evens is an NRA-Certified Instructor and Range Safety Officer.

Help us fight for your rights!

Become a member of Buckeye Firearms Association and support our grassroots efforts to defend and advance YOUR RIGHTS!

Subscribe to our FREE Newsletter

Get weekly news and instant alerts on the latest laws and politics that affect your gun rights. Enjoy cutting-edge commentary. Be among the first to hear about gun raffles, firearms training, and special events. Read more.

We respect your privacy and your email address will be kept confidential.

Mission

Buckeye Firearms Association is a grassroots organization dedicated to defending and advancing the right of citizens to own and use firearms for all legal activities, including self-defense, hunting, competition, and recreation. Read more.

JOIN