2013 PDN Training Tour: Update #10

All right, we are in Colorado. Absolutely one of my favorite states. Of course, they're under a little bit of fire. This is the western front in the fight for our firearms rights, right now. In just a couple of weeks, the 15-round magazine limit takes effect.

They've already got some background check changes that have happened for the dealers here. But, you know, again, we're fighting the good fight, and the guys here in Colorado are fighting the good fight. And, as usual, I'm here to provide training. So, whatever people have been training with, if I'm coming back next year, and they only have 15-round mags, so be it. No problem.

We did some training in New York earlier this year. I don't think the right idea is to just ignore the people who are responsible firearms owners and who want training. So, the Person Defense Network Training Tour is a little bit behind enemy lines here this week. And we were in Leadville, Colorado. We did a class.

And now I am in Eagle. Actually in Gypsum, but we're staying in Eagle. And Alpine Arms, which is based in Eagle, Colorado, is hosting this class. And we're doing a rifle class. One of the things we do with our rifle class is we bring the vehicle out on the range, after, of course, warming up on some cardboard and some wood, and we get used to shooting around cover.

We get people in some different positions. Then we actually go ahead and get the vehicle out and we let them shoot in a lot of different ways. They might get down in the urban prone on their back, shimmy out around the tire, take some shots under there. We might get 'em into the other position that you can use around a tire which is to kneel and place your support hand down on the ground, get your head very close to the ground, keep your core and your torso behind that wheel and that disc brake, lean out around, get some elevation, get your hand up there underneath that fore-end, if you have a foregrip, hook around, take that shot on the target as well. Those can be really precise ways to shoot and you get some maximum protection.

You get all that good stuff that's gonna stop, not only the rounds that are coming directly at you, but those tires right up against the asphalt, can catch a lot of the skip that might be coming in if someone's firing at you from the other side of the vehicle. And we also talked about using other parts of the vehicle as a rest. Now imagine you have a rifle in your vehicle and there's an active shooter situation. You were going to pick the kids up at the mall, you had your rifle in the truck and you were coming back from the range. Now you're there, and there's the kids coming out of the mall, and there's a shooter in the parking lot.

Maybe you're gonna be able to take action to stop that threat. You're 50, 100 yards away, but you've been practicing with your rifle. Rifle comes out of the truck. Now, in this situation, when you're not actually taking fire, we're gonna break one of those old rules about never going past cover. About never, you know, putting your hands on what it is that you're gonna be using to protect you from bullets.

And we're gonna let you go ahead and come right up on that bumper. In this case, put your hand up there, get that good rest, get up around the fore-end, and actually take a very, very precise shot. So, in this case, we had the guys shooting out at about 75 years, maybe. They were taking head shots on our silhouette targets. And then, we're out here in Colorado, plenty of trucks have that spare tire carrier on the back of the truck, and that's a great place, as long as you're not resting the barrel.

So we talked about why it's important to rest the fore-end of your rifle, rest that rail. Of course, hopefully a free-floated rail like we use on the Daniel Defense guns when we're out here on the tour. And we're able to actually use that rail to rest on that spare tire carrier. And again, get very stable, and take another precise shot. So, Connor and I like to train together when we go out shooting.

A lot of times, it's just stating it, practical shooting. We wanna make it realistic. And we've had a good time. You know, shooting through vehicles, shooting around. Decided he and I would come out, do the course.

And, learned a lot. We were debating on whether bringing the sisters out, but that was immediately taken off, because, you know. I don't know if we want 'em to shoot better than us, but. What about you, Connor? I didn't think that sisters thing was up for debate.

Um, yeah, I've had a wonderful time. It really gets your heart rate going. Shooting through the vehicles, like you said, I thought that was fantastic. But, yeah, Steve takes me out as much as he can. We were looking for a course that would be practical and realistic in training.

Be able to practice basic shooting and rifle malfunctions, practical shooting positions, being familiar with the weapon system. And, you know, looking at a lot of different courses, and a lot of different instructors, we decided to take one of Rob's courses with I.C.E. Training and, since I was investing in it, in training myself, and I knew Connor here would be really interested in learning the same basic fundamentals, 'cause he's really apt at firearms safety and marksmanship, but this would take us the next step. So, I thought it'd be a great course. And I love it, and it's been great.

So, we're out here, we're running the guns. I've got my Daniel Defense gun in one of the students' hands, he's trying it out. You know, we love to let the loaners go, and let people beat them up a little bit. We're having a great day out here. I hope you're having a great day.

There's still plenty of time left to get into training in 2013, but the tour, there's only a few weeks' left. We've got Salt Lake City, and then we're going out to the Pacific Northwest after I jump on a plane, fly back to the Midwest, I'm gonna do a course in Michigan, and an extreme close-quarters tactics course in Columbus, Ohio, back at my home base, at Endeavor Defense and Fitness. We'll see you later in the next PDN Tour update.