KR TRAINING JANUARY 2012 NEWS

 

KR TRAINING SHOOTING TEAM NEWS

Team member Tim Meyers recently earned Master rankings in two IDPA divisions (SSP and ESP). Tim will be joining Karl, Dave Re, Leslie Buck and Dave Reichek at the Polite Society Tactical Conference February 25-26. This year, Karl, Leslie, and long-time KR Training student Dr. Glenn Meyer will all present training sessions at the conference.

Karl and Penny will be coaching the Texas A&M Corps of Cadets Pistol Team this spring, helping them prepare for an appearance at the All Army Scholastic Steel Challenge match in March at Ft. Benning, Georgia.

MARCH 10th CLASSES

On March 10th we are offering Defensive Pistol Skills 2, AT-2 Scenarios Only, and AT-1A Low Light Shooting back to back. These courses are intended to be taken as a set. DPS2 is 4 hours of live fire training that reviews and extends the concepts taught in DPS1. The AT-2 scenario course consists of live action, "force on force"(FoF) roleplaying exercises covering home and public self defense situations. The Low Light Shooting course covers flashlight selection, techniques for using flashlights and lasers, live fire low light shooting drills, and a FoF scenario.

Many people mistakenly assume that the only training they need to be prepared to use a firearm in self defense are "gun classes" that involve firing lots of live rounds. If you study incidents involving armed citizens, particularly those in which the citizen ends up in court and/or jail, you'll find that the costly mistakes have nothing to do with live fire skills. They make errors in judgment, tactics and communication - skills that can't be learned shooting cardboard targets. Our scenario based training allows you to practice doing everything you would do in a real situation: observing and reacting to pre-fight cues, communicating with family, bystanders, attackers and responding officers, and experiencing the speed and intensity of a real gunfight, using Airsoft guns. The AT-2 course is suitable - and highly recommended - for any armed citizen.

TUNE UP YOUR GUN HANDLING ARTICLE

Concealed Carry magazine's January 2012 edition features another article by Karl, called "Tune Up Your Gun Handling". It describes many different bad and sloppy gunhandling practices that we frequently correct during our classes. Click the link to see the article online. Unlike most of the "grocery store" gun magazines, Concealed Carry is advertising-free, and the articles are mainly written by actual subject matter experts, including many active and well known trainers. Issues are available free online, or join the US Concealed Carry Association and get the print edition mailed to you every month.

COMPETITION PISTOL, RIFLE AND SHOTGUN CLASSES

National level 3-gun competitor Trip McIngvale will be offering two half-day competition long gun classes on March 3rd. The morning class will be on Competition Rifle, the afternoon class will be on Competition Shotgun. The focus of these courses will be to provide attendees with information about equipment, skills and practice drills useful for 3-gun, multigun, and tactical long gun competitions. These are intermediate level classes intended for those already familiar with basic operation of their long guns.

On April 2? we will offer our 1/2 day Competition Pistol class, paired with the frequently-requested Beyond the Basics pistol course. The Competition Pistol class will be co-taught by current US Modified Division champion Roy Stedman and local IDPA Master Tim Meyers. It covers basic concepts about skills and rules of each of the locally available types of pistol competition. The Beyond the Basics course, offered that morning, is a fundamentals tune up for those wanting to learn how the top competitors shoot faster and more accurately.

DYNAMIC PISTOL MARKSMANSHIP

Tom Givens returns at the end of March for his 2 day Dynamic Pistol Marksmanship class. This course is also known as "Combative Pistol 2". It's intended for graduates of our DPS2 and AT-4 courses, graduates of Combative Pistol 1 and similar multiday pistol courses, and IPSC/IDPA competitors looking to improve their speed and accuracy.

GANG MEMBERS ARE NOT PUTTING STICKERS ON GUN OWNERS CAR TIRES

We have received dozens of copies of an email that has been circulating warning shooters about gang members "tagging" gun owner vehicles with stickers applied to tires. The most commonly circulated version of this email references events at a major sporting clays event held in San Antonio. The host of that event has an official rebuttal of this widely circulated hoax email at the link below.

http://www.nssa-nsca.org/index.php/2012/01/nsc-response-to-rumors-about-gun-thefts/

AMMUNITION NEWS

Our new ammo vendor is Freedom Munitions, who have spun off from USA Ammo. Use the code "First 10" on their website to get a 10% discount on your first order.

A new local business, ParaBellum Research, offers a program where customers can bring their once fired, cleaned, sorted brass in and have it reloaded. Several KR Training folks have recently taken advantage of this service and will be testing the ammo and reporting back on the results.

GEAR - GOOD AND BAD

At last year's IDPA World Championship, most popular two guns? Glock and M&P. Most popular two holster brands? Blade-Tech and Comp-Tac.

SureFire earplugs. At NRR 16, they provide less hearing protection than the cheapest earmuff. Standard foam earplugs provide NRR 34 and cost far less. This is another case, like the SERPA holster, where a "tacti-cool" product is not as good as a more traditional, proven item.

The Heizer "Doubletap" titanium .45 ACP derringer. This article explains why you don't want a derringer - any derringer - far better than I could. The Heizer product is marketed to people who have all the wrong ideas about armed self-defense: that it's too hard to carry a shootable gun, that they will only need 2 rounds, that they will be able to actually get acceptable hits with a very unshootable firearm, and that .45 ACP is some sort of magic "one shot stop" caliber.

Raven Vanguard 2 (more info here) is a very minimal holster designed to appeal to those that insist that it's "too hard" to use a traditional holster. Traditional full length holsters are much preferred over minimal holsters (or belt slide designs) because they hold the gun at a consistent angle, provide a full length track for the front sight (so it doesn't hang up in your clothes or the holster as you draw), and allow easy reholstering, which makes it easier and safer to practice your draw. Additionally, in live fire training, the holster keeps the hot, dirty gun from staining your clothes and burning your skin. There are many thin, full length kydex and leather IWB holsters that would be a better choice than this holster, particularly for those with limited or no experience drawing from concealment. Until more is know about the safety of this design, use of this holster in KR Training classes will not be allowed.

BLOG-O-RAMA

Real world examples of why we teach what we teach:

The latest version of the CHL handbook of Texas laws is now available from DPS.

Customer shoots, kills robber in restaurant

Ft. Worth woman fatally shoots home intruder.

Good video on officer-involved shootings, also applies to armed citizen incidents

Marine, shot 3 times in robbery, uses fingers to block holes (so many lessons here - bad decisions putting him in a bad situation, going unarmed, no initial reaction to being shot, high survivability of handgun wounds)

Clerk punches, knocks out armed robber, then makes him clean up his own blood

The free download "Human Combat Manifesto" available at Low Tech Combat is an excellent summary of basic criminal behavior. Highly recommended.

Excellent article from the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy on the ineffectiveness of gun control in reducing murder and suicide.

Business Week article about Glock (pt 1, pt 2) and more at the Huffington Post.

Glock Gen 4 beavertail grip insert now available from Glock.

The New York Times tries to make permit holders look bad, but their data shows (once again) that we are far more law abiding than the population as a whole.

An Airsoft XDm is now available.

Julie Golob's book on competition shooting is now available. Julie is captain of Team Smith and Wesson, was US Army Athlete of the Year, and is one of the top women competitors in IPSC, IDPA and Steel Challenge.

Robbery gone wrong in Brazil - clerk is shot.

John "Hsoi" Daub blog highlights

WELCOME TO 2012!

2012 has started strong for us, with record interest in January and February classes, and many new classes and guest instructors visiting us this spring. We look forward to training you!


Karl, Penny and the KR Training crew