Going to Gunsite in December for the 250 Pistol class. Anybody been there and done that?

Thoughts? Tips?

Also, I may have my wife fly out and meet me after the class. We’d basically have Saturday and Sunday free. I know the Grand Canyon is close enough. Anything else in the area?

Thanks

If you take 89 south from Paulden you hit 89A which can take you through Jerome & Cottonwood to 260 which will take you to Out of Africa Wildlife Park.
Very cool place to spend an afternoon.
Stay to 3:00 in the afternoon when feeding starts...Sunday is a feeding day. If you want to witness POWER in a predator, watch them eat.

I wouldn't wish a weekend Grand Canyon trip on anyone I liked.

ETA ->There is also a list on the OOA page of area attractions:
Linkage

Bring every magazine you have for your pistol and a spare pistol if you have one. Load the magazines ahead of time and reload empty ones as soon as you can. Oh, and if you bring more than the required amount of rounds, you may get to use them.

I got a lot more shooting drills in while other shooters had to take breaks to reload magazines. I had my regular carry gear (1911 Gov) with a dual mag carrier and a 5 mag inline pouch on me.

As for the spare pistol, mechanical things break. I had a sear fail and it was awesome to grab the spare out of my bag and keep training. Their gunsmith fixed it for me rather quickly.

Oh one more thing...... a source of water and some energy food. They have coolers of water on the ranges but I always brought my own as well. Even in winter, always had water.

Love the training there and will be back soon.

Consider the pistol you will be shooting. If there is checkering consider gloves or at least take a pair. Nothing worse that having to quit 1 day into class because of blisters.

Good shoes with support most of us are not used to being on our feet all day.

Open mind if you shoot icoselese don't be afraid to try the weaver. If you don't want to try the weaver find a different school.

Consider hearing protection with electronic amplification so you can hear the instructions. Follow those instructions.

Gun lube and cleaning kit. Get a holster now if you don't have one. Get a good belt now. I had a cheap holster and belt. First break I ran to the pro shop and got outfitted. Still wear the belt. I had a good holster on order but I didn't get it in time.

Wow... guess gunsite is really stuck in the 70/80s. Too bad they don't move up to the modern accepted shooting stances.

I'm guessing they endorse single eye only instead of 2 eyes open as well??

Andrew

quote:

Originally posted by El Cid 92:
Wow... guess gunsite is really stuck in the 70/80s.

Keep in mind that their curriculum is based around techniques developed and championed by Jeff Cooper in the 1960s/70s/80s. His self-titled "Modern Pistol Technique" is about a half-century old at this point. (Though it is undoubtedly more modern compared to the predominant pre-1960s style of one-handed bullseye-style shooting.)

Not saying it's bad instruction, but I could easily see why it would be focused on some older concepts.

Don't get too wrapped up in any "proper" shooting stance. Much is dictated by the equipment and how much time we have to train. Fast solid hits are what count. Isosceles, Weaver, Interview, Combat crouch, Bill Jordan, Thell Reid, etc., etc. all have their place in time. 20 years from now what we are using today as "modern" stances will be "obsolete" to the young turks of the future. Try them all and find what works for you. All of those positions are good on their own merits But the truth is, when the shooting starts a shooting position is where you are standing (or sitting) when the shooting starts.

quote:

Originally posted by HayesGreener:
Don't get too wrapped up in any "proper" shooting stance.

If we plan to spend a lot of time, money, and effort to travel and attend a course that dictates using a particular style of shooting, then getting wrapped up in such issues is a must, IMO.

One of my peeves is the fact that many instructors and training companies don’t make certain things clear to prospective students. “My way or the highway” is fine—as long as I know what your way is. If it requires some rethinking on my part, I may be willing to do that, but not after I’m in the class trying come to grips with something that I rejected as a bad idea decades before. The claim will be that if we practice something enough we’ll become proficient with it despite its flaws. Well, that may be true, but the question is how proficient would we become if we used a technique that wasn’t flawed.

Out of curiosity I looked at the Gunsite precision rifle courses. On one part of the web site they say they’re “not a boot camp or commando school,” and that physical requirements are not very taxing. The description of the one rifle course I checked had all good information about the rifle, ammunition, and gear required and a little description of the training, types of shooting, etc. Finally, though, under “non-essential” equipment there’s mention of this: “crawling head down for a long distance.” Really‽ Low-crawling for long distances? That immediately raises a bunch of questions that I would like to have answered before arriving and being told something like, “Oh yeah; you really should have a proper drag bag, and we’ve found that anyone who can’t do at least 30 pushups will probably not pass that portion of the course.”

IMO one of the best things about the class is all the drawing and shooting.
It becomes second nature to draw, acquire/assess the target and shoot.

You will be drawing 100s of times.

Expect finish wear on your pistol after this class.

On a side note, I hope they improved that crappy dirt road off the highway to the facility.

Some people bring their lunches to class, but I chose to buy the ones they have and they were quite decent.

Do the class, you won't regret it.

quote:

Originally posted by Austin Millbarge:
Going to Gunsite in December for the 250 Pistol class. Anybody been there and done that?

Thoughts? Tips?

As already stated,bring every magazine you own for the pistol you're going to shoot. I brought 15, but I was shooting a 1911 (it was the Centennial Class). If I didn't have at least 10 double-stack mags, I'd get some more before the class.

Make sure your rounds work with all your magazines. We had a couple of folks who had magazine related failures the first day

Bring your magazine loader to reload between relays. Don't count on borrowing one from a fellow shooter as they'll all be reloading also.

Don't worry about bringing the frangible ammo for the Shoot House. You'll be able to buy the rounds in the ProShop

Bring Moleskin, band-aids, and Motrin. Bring knee pads unless you're used to dropping into prone and kneeling positions.

They provide a water/sports bottle, with your name on it, at registration (which will take 30mins). You can keep this filled on the range from the Gatorade coolers...drink water during every break.

Bring money, on the first day, for lunch sandwiches for all 5 days. They are a good value and were pretty good

quote:

Originally posted by El Cid 92:
Wow... guess gunsite is really stuck in the 70/80s. Too bad they don't move up to the modern accepted shooting stances.

I've been shooting Modern Isosceles since before I taught with Bruce.

I went to Gunsite partly to see how they taught the Weaver and their philosophy on recoil management. It really isn't fair to criticize something based on how someone, who might be doing it wrong, is using it. You also have to realise that many techniques they teach are based around the limitations of the 1911 platform

Lo and behold, most folks shooting their version of the Weaver aren't performing the technique as taught at the "Home of the Weaver." It was definitely an eye opener. Their recoil management philosophy, arm tension, was very different from what I was using, but it was interesting enough that I was willing to give it a try.

I utilized the Weaver platform for the first 3 days of the class before reverting to my preferred technique for the practical portions of the class

Check the weather, it may be cold, for Arizona, in December. It's high enough elevation to get snow and freezing temps at night that time of year. Or it may be lovely. In addition to knee pads, I wore elbow pads for the day we shot prone.

A couple of days in Sedona would be nice, if crowded. Won't be as crowded as the Grand Canyon. And prettier. Make lodging reservations near Gunsite and near wherever you plan on going afterward now.