I recently wrote about my visit to the G4S ITI – VA Campus for some training for the upcoming 2012 Shooting Industry Master’s event. That blog was all about seeing the campus for the first time and what they have to offer. This week I’m going to tell you about my pistol training.
Once the campus tour was over, Brandon took me to the campus armory to get our guns and ammo for the day. I thought I had seen large armories at some of our other client’s facilities, but I must say I was thoroughly impressed by what G4S ITI had behind its closed doors. We grabbed three different pistols, two shotguns and seven different rifles. Not a bad assortment for a half day of training!
We put everything into the car and drove to the outdoor range that we would be training at. Everything came out from the car and onto the very long table by the range – guns, holsters, belts, ammo – you name it, we had it.
So the goal of my trip to G4S ITI was to get some experience firing pistols, shotguns and rifles. First up for the day were the pistols. We had grabbed three from the armory: a SIG SAUER P229, a GLOCK 17 and a Beretta 92. First up was the Beretta. We took the gun and went over to the range, starting at about 7 yards from the paper targets. Brandon explained to me the three methods of pulling the trigger: 1) slapping the trigger, 2) removing the slack and then easing through the trigger and 3) pulling through. He recommended method two and this is how we practiced throughout the day no matter the weapon we used.
After the trigger lesson, we focused on shooting the paper target in center mass. I did pretty well, and soon I wanted to try for the head shot (gotta be ready when the zombie apocalypse hits, right?). So on my first attempt at a head shot I hit him square between the eyes. I was pretty proud about that. After seeing I could hit a paper target accurately, we moved onto steel targets.
As the training wore on and I proved my valor, Brandon felt I was ready to learn a few training methods that competitive shooters employed. We practiced moving from three steel targets, two shots each, all the way through and back. Once I had that down, we timed it, and I believe my fastest time was 19 seconds, which he informed me isn’t too bad for a newbie. At this point he even let me try out his competition pistols, including a Springfield Armory 1911 and a Smith & Wesson M&P Pro. Of course, the M&P Pro ended up being my favorite to shoot.
Once I felt secure we moved onto the rifles and shotguns, but at the end of the day we had about an extra half an hour where Brandon let me train with any of the guns I wanted. I chose pistols and we worked on a few more drills. At the end of the day, he gave me my target (with the head shot) to take home. Thanksgiving was just a week later so I left the target in my car to show my family. My family is full of retired marines, army Colonels and government types, so after dinner when I mentioned I had the target in my car, they were all excited to see it. The family came out and gathered around the trunk of my car as I showed off my target. They were all proud and the questions about my training started to pop up. It was a good feeling, and I feel good knowing that I got that training from G4S ITI.
To see more pictures from my day at the range, visit our Facebook page.
Check out this video of our pistol target training:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKKxmc4CJgo&feature=youtu.be]
Next week I’ll talk more about my rifle training, so stay tuned!
