Training Course Review – NRA PPITH Instructor Course

 

I love teaching new instructors! There are a number of reasons for this . . .

They are truly motivated. You simply don’t put in the raw time, the range time and, frankly, the money it takes you, as an individual, to become an instructor unless you are serious about it. This particular course – the NRA Personal Protection in the Home Instructor Course has a couple of requirements.

• You must be a NRA Basic Pistol Instructor
• You must successfully complete the live fire qualification requirement of ten, two-round hits in two seconds from the low ready at 21 ft.

There are simply no short cuts to becoming an instructor for the NRA – or any other organization for that matter.

An added bonus this time was that two blogger friends were coming from the east coast to take my course. Old NFO of “Nobody Asked Me” came to my NRA Basic Pistol Instructor course in March and signed up for a return trip. And, “Keads” of “Another Day . . . Another” had been looking to be able to offer additional training for the range he instructs at, also decided to come as well. Both are definitely “shooters” and had good information to share on the range while they were listening to my thoughts on the subject. The bottom line out of exchanges like that is that everyone learns something new!

Another class member was my son Mike. He’s fast becoming a fine shooter and had a 3^rd place finish in his latest IDPA outing. Damn he’s quick! And, he’s developing a fine instructor “feel” as well. It does make a dad proud to watch these transitions!

The course was rounded out by Tim – an engineer where I worked years ago and also the owner of a flight training company. Again – broad training experience is a win for everyone.

FRIDAY:

Friday was a day for Keads and I to become “well acquainted”. The NRA has a requirement that each instructor attend their BIT – Basic Instructor Training – every two years. You would think that with only a single candidate in the class you could fly through the information . . . . and you’d be mistaken. We started at 8AM and finally finished up by 3:30PM. The information – the exercises simply take what they take, period. So, we spent the day reviewing the training methods of the NRA and, frankly, it was a great time together. He’s been teaching basic pistol and concealed carry in North Carolina for over 5 years and there’s always something to learn from a new instructor.

After time for both of us to freshen up a bit it was time to go to the airport and pick up Old NFO. Weather delayed him about an hour but by 8PM we were at the local Appleby’s having a fine meal!

SATURDAY:

The proscribed length of time for the PPITH course is 9 hours . . . good luck with that! There is just plain a lot of material to cover. While I do some lecture – the majority is done by assigning the candidates parts of the course – giving them 5-10 minutes to prep and then let them present it to the rest of the candidates. Once complete – we all critique the presenter. I like the process. It gets candidates over their “stage fright” as well as allows them to hear what other instructors see and hear. Everything from where their hands are to how they use the power points and other props to their tone of voice and delivery is reviewed. It is NOT the place for big egos – and that was not an issue for the weekend either.

The second portion of the course is the range work. For the students these candidates are going to be teaching – it is typically their first serious exploration of the use of a firearm for their personal defense. Given that – it is important that the range work go well. If their first exposure to dedicated range work learning skills to defend themselves is poorly conducted, poorly structured or – God forbid – flat out unsafe, many will simply choose not to continue to practice the basic skills required to defend themselves.

So, Saturday ended with a full run-through of Sunday’s range work, but with SIRT pistols. I know you all are getting tired of me singing the praises of the SIRT pistol . . . . tough! What a great tool. Each candidate ran each drill from beginning to end, meaning from taking a shooter to the line to confirming their firearm was empty and properly reholstered before they left the line. For one candidate, it was his first time actually running a range exercise. By Saturday’s end, everyone was clear on how the next day’s range work would go and we wrapped up about 4:30 PM.

SUNDAY:

Sunday began with the candidates taking their exams and our reviewing and grading them. Passing for instructors is 90% and all exceeded that number. A final review of what was coming for the day took a bit of time and then we headed for the range.

I set the candidates up in three lanes and just started with numbered 9” plates, 6 per lane on their target frame. We ran each drill 4 times with one mag per drill. With 4 candidates, things truly ran very, very smooth. All I had to do was to release the line to each new “instructor” as we ran through the drills – and take photos as I acted the part of RSO.

Skills covered were simple marksmanship from the low-ready; shooting using a low barricade over the top, to the right and to the left; shooting around a corner both to the left and the right; and, shooting rapidly with more than one shot; dominant hand only and support hand only. Both “instructors” and shooters did a fine job.

As an instructor watching new instructor candidates I am looking for everything from their basic skills to their ability to be heard, to “command” a range and for consistent use of defined vocabulary. And, while it sounds like simple drills – the repetition, the newness of the experience and the candidate’s own personal expectations of themselves make it much more stressful than one would expect.

The very last drill was the candidate’s range qualification. The NRA course calls for a 9” plate to be used – I hate that. I use my standard student target set at 21 feet. The drill was 10 engagements, 2-rounds each in 2-seconds on the “UP” command. One of the beliefs I have – and stress to new candidates – is that you shouldn’t expect a student to do something you either cannot do or are unwilling to do. So . . . . I went to the line and had my son run the drill for me. No pressure . . . .

Thankfully, I did hit 20 out of 20 – even though one round was by the closest whisker! I’ll still take it! I’ll show you my target – they can share on their own blogs their targets if they wish – everyone did just fine!

Everyone helped tear down the range and we headed back inside for the wrap-up.  We took some time for feedback on how the course felt to them. I had certified instructors sitting in front of me – simply too valuable of a resource not to use to find out what they liked, what they felt could be improved and any other thoughts they had. Virtually all of them loved how the SIRT pistols played into things and all are looking at placing orders for their own.

And that was that – done, finished, outta there . . . . what a great weekend.

Only to be topped by an early supper at the local Amana Colonies to our south that feature good old fashion home cooked meals. Old NRO, Keads, Mike and I ate too much, had some great pie and then called the weekend “well done”!

Thanks for coming guys, it was great! Looking forward to the next one!

A video of the course qualification:

 

 

		PPITH Instr. Crs. 9-28-13 VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

A couple of yours truly via Old NFO:

Range Trip–9/24/13 Steel Shoot . . . Cameras, Lessons and Fun

 

Last night was our final scheduled steel shoot of the year.  It was tough to see towards the last run – summer has passed for another year and early evenings are upon us.

The guns I used were my favorite range bag gun - a Ruger 22/45, my carry weapon - a Glock 17 and my alternate carry weapon – a Springfield 1911.  It was a fun night with an “OK” run, a crash or two and the just plain “clean but slow”.

I used the Contour camera to film this for a couple reasons.  It’s one thing to come to this blog and “talk” about a range trip . . . . but something entirely different to actually show you the runs.  The value in that for me are numerous:

• It actually shows me the run.  You can’t “imagine” when you film it, you just record it.  That clearly shows me – and you – those things I’ve done well and those I’ve really blown.  We both learn.
• Cameras keep you honest.  I’m human – I can tell myself stories just like anyone else.  When I talk about my grip with the Glock in a bit, honestly – that was something I’d didn’t “see” while I was shooting because my focus was on my front site – and not watching my grip.  The camera is an extra set of eyes that allows me to watch something over and over and over. . . .
• It also keeps me honest with you.  Most of you don’t know me from Adam.  Yet many of you take much of what I say and teach to heart.  You deserve to see me at my best and worst.
• Finally – on the off chance I have the “mother of all runs” – and I film it – you can be damn sure tootin’ you’ll see that sucker over and over and over . . .

So, let’s look things over in a bit more detail.  First, the stage.  We are a very small Ikes chapter and we only have two lanes on our range where we can set up stages.  On this particular night a total of three shooters showed up – heavy sigh.  Good news – lots of runs. Bad news – only three shooters.  So, we only set up a single stage and this was it’s layout:

Nothing tricky – two 8” rounds, two 8” x 10” rectangles, one red 8” round stop plate.  All are mounted at 4 ft.  We have a shooters box you step into to load and shoot from.  The orange panel directly in front is your aim point for low ready.

.22 cal Complete Run

My best .22 cal run was 6.15 seconds.  Notice the things that went well – only a single pickup on the stop plate.  My grip was firm with no adjustment between plates.  The pace was smooth and the movement was sure.  Only thing to do to make this run faster is to drive to the next plate quicker.  You can do this by being confident of your shot and moving your eyes first to the next plate, then bringing your sight picture into your eyes.  Not a bad run but lots of room for improvement.

.22 cal “Malfunction Run”

Plenty of malfunction clearing practice in this run.  Still – I completed the run in less than the 30 par time. 

Yep, some runs just plain go to crap.  Stay focused, work each malfunction and stay in the “fight”.  And, if you have a single run or multiple runs that look like this – hey, everyone has one – get over it.  Make sure your weapon in clean, your mags aren’t defective and just get on with it.  Your next run will be awesome!

9mm “Shootin’ It Dry” Run

There are some runs that just plain don’t jell.  Here is one such run from last night.

The biggest thing I noticed here is that I “adjust” my grip frequently.  NOT GOOD!  That is the whole thing of “follow through” while engaging a target.  This would imply I need to “firm” up my grip a bit.  Things just never felt “good” on this run – from sight picture to grip.  I’d tell you why if I knew – need to spend a bit more time with the film.

9mm “Clean the Plates” run

When you have a crappy run or drill, you just need to gather yourself and, if need be, slow down and succeed first – then work on building speed.  As you can see this run was “slow” – 9.74 seconds.  But, I cleaned the plates and will build from here next time.

.45 “Clean the Plates” run

By the time we got to the .45 – it was getting dark quick so only a couple passes.  Here is a clean one at 14.33 seconds.  I had slowed down a bit, had a tougher time acquiring the plates in the lower light but still ran it clean.  Notice a couple things – my grip is once again firm for the whole run, no adjustment.  This was due to a couple things – I was “working” on it and a 1911 has much more mass than a Glock 17 so the recoil is much less allowing for better control.

So there you go – a night of fun with some good guys and a couple of videos that we all can learn from.  If you’re a new shooter, consider a camera you can wear.  There are a number that start for under $100 and, of course, there are some that cost much, much more.  Regardless – you can learn a tremendous amount by “looking over your shoulder” to see how you are doing.  And, once it’s in a file – you can take your time, study from it and pick up those little things that can help you make real progress.

And, if you’re an instructor – it’s good to let your students see the good, the bad and even the ugly once in a while.  We’re all learning – every range trip.  Don’t be shy about sharing your experiences!