I took the Rangemaster Dynamic Marksmanship Class over the weekend (http://www.rangemaster.com/desc_dynamic_marksmanship.html. Most of the other students had 1911s in competition rigs and half a dozen mags around their waist but I stuck to the theme of the class and wore exactly the clothes I do on a daily basis and brought my P7. This meant I'd be drawing from concealed on every drill and would have only two extra magazines. I'd also be firing over 1000 rounds for the weekend so I knew heat was going to be a factor. I was just going to have to tough it out.
First of all, a little background. I've never be trained formally but I've been handling guns all my life, fire about 500 rounds a month at the range, carry daily, and have read just about every book out there. I know a lot about how to handle a gun. Or so I thought. After the first warm up drill I figured out I didn't know squat. Luckily, neither did most of the other students so I was in good company. After a few hours going over the basics however, we were all in good shape and ready to get to the serious stuff.
Now, the P7 in action.
The heel release. I was the only one allowed to perform tactical reloads since it's really the only way with a heel release but trying to perform tactical reloads under pressure is very difficult. I've practiced this thousands of times and can do it flawlessly. During the class, I was even reloading consistently faster then most of the other students with their 1911s doing speed reloads. However, during my final test which required 100% hits to pass the course and with everyone watching I got in a hurry and dropped the magazine during the reload. I managed to grab my second spare off my belt and finished the course just in time but it was still a bad screw up. To be fair, other shooters dropped their magazines during speed reloads so it might be more about the stress than the heel release.
The squeezecocker. At least twice, under pressure, I didn't squeeze the cocker far enough and I lost time trying to figure out what the problem was. Towards the end of my first day my hand was cramping up pretty bad. The second day I didn't have any problems at all.
The sights. I just have the standard sights. I was planning to get night sights but after this class I don't think so. We did several dim light drills and even shot with our eyes closed. I did just fine. If you just bring the gun up and pull the trigger like you've been all along you'll hit what's in front of you. Under pressure at six feet or less I don't think I'm even looking at the sights.
The heat. OK, yeah the gun got f'n hot but I really didn't feel it during drills. I brought gloves but I was unable to reload magazines fast enough with gloves on so that didn't last long. I mostly felt the heat during breaks while it was burning a new hole into my ass through my holster. I fixed it by putting a towel between the holster and me. After the class I noticed my hand was blistered in several spots from the heat. Oh well, combat hurts.
Malfunction drills. Stove pipes and misfires were easy but clearing a double feed was a nightmare. I had to transition to my left hand to lock the slide back which made the instructor angry to no end. He didn't really understand that the P7 has an itty bitty slide lock and I've figured out no other way to use it except in my left hand. From there clearing the double feed was supposed to be as easy as dropping the mag and racking the slide a few times except when I did it with the P7 the round in the chamber got hung up somehow and took forever to clear. Eventually I figured out it took an extremely hard rack on the slide to clear both rounds successfully. That of course, cut my hand up. Combat hurts.
Accuracy. Most of the drills were at six feet or less so I think even my Drozd would be sufficient at that distance. We did one drill at 40 yards against a steel target and I hit it two out of three times. I was grouping as well as or better than all the other students. In fact, I noticed my follow up shots were consistently better then other students which is no doubt due to the low recoil of the 9mm and the P7 versus their 45s.
Performance and Reliability. The twenty five year old P7 performed perfectly. Out of over 1000 rounds there were zero malfunctions. I can't say the same for other people. One guy lost a spring, another had a compact 1911 that was constantly jamming, I watched another guy's 1911 magazine break apart when it hit the ground, and someone else's Sig just didn't fire at all once. Could have been a bad round, I dunno.
The comments. Everyone certainly thought I was completely insane, instructor included. First of all for choosing something as esoteric (instructor's word) as a P7, second of all for choosing 9mm. As far as the 9mm vs 45 argument goes, if I can perform in real life the triple tap to the chest then two the head like I was in the drills I don't think the bad guy is really going to know the difference. Combat hurts.
The class and instructors. Take it! Even though he didn't like my P7, Tom Givens is a great teacher. He's patient (to a point), laid back, and really knows his stuff. He said forty four of his students have been involved in gun battles and they've all won and none of them have been charged or sued. That's good enough for me.
First of all, a little background. I've never be trained formally but I've been handling guns all my life, fire about 500 rounds a month at the range, carry daily, and have read just about every book out there. I know a lot about how to handle a gun. Or so I thought. After the first warm up drill I figured out I didn't know squat. Luckily, neither did most of the other students so I was in good company. After a few hours going over the basics however, we were all in good shape and ready to get to the serious stuff.
Now, the P7 in action.
The heel release. I was the only one allowed to perform tactical reloads since it's really the only way with a heel release but trying to perform tactical reloads under pressure is very difficult. I've practiced this thousands of times and can do it flawlessly. During the class, I was even reloading consistently faster then most of the other students with their 1911s doing speed reloads. However, during my final test which required 100% hits to pass the course and with everyone watching I got in a hurry and dropped the magazine during the reload. I managed to grab my second spare off my belt and finished the course just in time but it was still a bad screw up. To be fair, other shooters dropped their magazines during speed reloads so it might be more about the stress than the heel release.
The squeezecocker. At least twice, under pressure, I didn't squeeze the cocker far enough and I lost time trying to figure out what the problem was. Towards the end of my first day my hand was cramping up pretty bad. The second day I didn't have any problems at all.
The sights. I just have the standard sights. I was planning to get night sights but after this class I don't think so. We did several dim light drills and even shot with our eyes closed. I did just fine. If you just bring the gun up and pull the trigger like you've been all along you'll hit what's in front of you. Under pressure at six feet or less I don't think I'm even looking at the sights.
The heat. OK, yeah the gun got f'n hot but I really didn't feel it during drills. I brought gloves but I was unable to reload magazines fast enough with gloves on so that didn't last long. I mostly felt the heat during breaks while it was burning a new hole into my ass through my holster. I fixed it by putting a towel between the holster and me. After the class I noticed my hand was blistered in several spots from the heat. Oh well, combat hurts.
Malfunction drills. Stove pipes and misfires were easy but clearing a double feed was a nightmare. I had to transition to my left hand to lock the slide back which made the instructor angry to no end. He didn't really understand that the P7 has an itty bitty slide lock and I've figured out no other way to use it except in my left hand. From there clearing the double feed was supposed to be as easy as dropping the mag and racking the slide a few times except when I did it with the P7 the round in the chamber got hung up somehow and took forever to clear. Eventually I figured out it took an extremely hard rack on the slide to clear both rounds successfully. That of course, cut my hand up. Combat hurts.
Accuracy. Most of the drills were at six feet or less so I think even my Drozd would be sufficient at that distance. We did one drill at 40 yards against a steel target and I hit it two out of three times. I was grouping as well as or better than all the other students. In fact, I noticed my follow up shots were consistently better then other students which is no doubt due to the low recoil of the 9mm and the P7 versus their 45s.
Performance and Reliability. The twenty five year old P7 performed perfectly. Out of over 1000 rounds there were zero malfunctions. I can't say the same for other people. One guy lost a spring, another had a compact 1911 that was constantly jamming, I watched another guy's 1911 magazine break apart when it hit the ground, and someone else's Sig just didn't fire at all once. Could have been a bad round, I dunno.
The comments. Everyone certainly thought I was completely insane, instructor included. First of all for choosing something as esoteric (instructor's word) as a P7, second of all for choosing 9mm. As far as the 9mm vs 45 argument goes, if I can perform in real life the triple tap to the chest then two the head like I was in the drills I don't think the bad guy is really going to know the difference. Combat hurts.
The class and instructors. Take it! Even though he didn't like my P7, Tom Givens is a great teacher. He's patient (to a point), laid back, and really knows his stuff. He said forty four of his students have been involved in gun battles and they've all won and none of them have been charged or sued. That's good enough for me.