Squeaky Wheel Seeks Grease

Y’all, I took EIGHT PAGES of notes, and it was a four-hour class, so there’s a lot to cover, even though I’m not attending the second half tomorrow.

A lot of it can be condensed by removing the things that were actually taught in the class that seemed specific to the program (that’s just polite), but it’s still going to have to be divided up into several posts so that you all don’t die of malnutrition or dehydration while reading it.  (Because I’m such a talented writer that you get sucked in and can’t look away.  Admit it.)

Anyway, this post is going to be introductory, and will give you my basic impression of the class - specifically, the classroom portion.

I’m hoping to review the topics taught and covered in the next post, and the last post of the series will focus on the range time.  How’s that sound?

One piece of advice I’m going to give you before you go, if you decide after reading this that you’d like to attend classes at Range Master (which is, well, why I’m writing this, so I hope I do it enough justice that you will want to):  if you’re easily offended, you might want to brace yourself a bit, because while Tom’s a fine instructor, he’s a little, ah, brash with his delivery of certain epithets.

Most people can just roll over it, and honestly, I don’t feel like I saw more than maybe two people in that class who’s humor styles wouldn’t have meshed with Tom’s, but just so you know - he cusses up a fucking shitstorm, compared to a lot of instructors I’ve encountered.  It’s (obviously) in a joking manner, but if you go in thinking that you’re going to be spoon-fed info, I’m just letting you know that you’re in for a bit of a shock.  He’s very clear, but he’s also very blunt, both with info and opinion.

And, like Uncle’s little vagina teeth quote (he was sitting right next to me when he delivered, and subsequently apologized for, that phrase), I didn’t care about the terminology, I was just kind of thrown by the particular combination of words.  That’s what taking a class from Tom Givens is like:  sometimes asking yourself, “wait, did he just say that?”  It keeps you on your toes, that’s for sure.

I think that the class was of a much higher caliber (no pun intended, really) than the video I watched yesterday.  It’s quite obvious that Tom does much better with a class than with a video camera, and most of what he did and said was well-received by the students.  He banters, but is very frank with descriptions, and lets you know up-front what you will and will not be covering.  I would honestly recommend more footage on a later version of the video that was of Tom actually teaching a class, so that you could catch the dynamics of his personality, which aren’t readily apparent on the DVD, since he’s talking to a lens, which, no matter how hard you try, just won’t laugh at your jokes.

Bill Baker assisted in the classroom and on the range, and proved himself to be an integral, if not more quiet, part of the learning process.  While Tom was giving the commands over the loudspeaker in the range, Bill was moving from booth to booth, correcting posture and helping with issues.  A female instructor came in at one point, but I unfortunately failed to catch her name - I believe she was brought in to help one particular female participant, and after that was done, she left.  (Several other instructors were actually taking the class themselves, and I found that interesting.)

This multi-person teaching style was also used at Range USA when I took the concealed carry class, so I was familiar with it.

Obviously my status in the class as a “reviewer”, rather than a student, was bound to set me up for some sort of calling-out, and it happened during the lecture on proper stock length.  I was asked to come up and demonstrate bringing a shotgun up from “high ready” (butt at hip, muzzle and sight in front of eyes, hands in position, but with finger off trigger) to “mounted” (firing position), to demonstrate the extra work involved when your stock is too long:  you have to swing it out slightly to clear your underarm before you can bring it back in to rest in the shoulder joint.

I found out that if I were to buy a shotgun (which may very well happen, and I would honestly not hesitate to take this class if that purchase were to occur), I would need to have the stock shortened to around 12 inches in length.  Good to know.  I’ve never held a shotgun before, and the one that Tom personally uses (which was the second one I tested) was surprisingly heavy, but well-balanced, if that makes any sense whatsoever.  Basically, I liked how it felt, but I’m willing to bet that I wouldn’t be able to begin to afford it any time soon.

From a personal viewpoint, I found that bringing the weapon up from “high ready” made sighting my target nearly instantaneous, which was gratifying, to say the least, considering that I’ve never held a shotgun before today (there goes my credibility…).

Several of the basic things covered in class, generally, were types of rounds used in shotguns, their purposes and uses in self-defense, and what, specifically, the class was to keep focused on as students of home defense.  In fact, I’d daresay that a good portion of the first section of the class was basically a rundown of what you do and don’t need in order to protect your home.

Merits and downfalls of the available rounds went a little like this:  “Here’s the list of stuff you can shoot out of your gun.  Don’t use 20-gauge shot in a 12-gauge gun, or you’ll blow yourself up.  Double-aught buckshot is your best friend in home invasion situations.  ‘Non-lethal’ buckshot and birdshot are both bullshit labels, and they can both seriously harm and/or kill someone if you’re enough of a dumbass to shoot them at someone’s face.  Guess what?  Buckshot can fucking kill a person.  Check out these photos of a dead guy with a three-inch hole in his side, and swiss-cheese organs - he was shot from 7 feet.  That’s called ‘billiard effect’.  Oh, ‘high-brass’ and ‘low-brass’ are bullshit terms and don’t mean anything anymore.  Pass around these dummy rounds so you’ll know the types of ammo when you see them.”

That is SERIOUS over-simplification of the discussion (and they’re also facts you can find in a very simple search on Google, if you’re so motivated), but it gives you an idea of the absolute scale of the topics covered in a short time - all that above?  Took place in about 30 minutes.  So you can imagine that it was padded with a lot more information than I’m able to provide, but I didn’t feel that any of it was unnecessary - nearly everything said in the classroom had a purpose toward the education of the people in there.  Multiply that amount of info by 6, and you’ve got the approximate amount packed into the classroom portion from today.

For reference, everyone was given a packet with more than a slight summary of everything that was covered.  I wrote all over mine, because that’s what I do.  Some of those notes will make it into subsequent entries on this topic.  My hand?  Is cramping.  I felt like I was in history class again.

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Overall first impression:  As I noted earlier, I would definitely be inclined take this class for certification from this range, with this instructor.

Even experienced users of shotguns were paying rapt attention (perhaps, because they are experienced?), and while one of the beginners had some problems on the range (more on that tomorrow, but only because it highlights another aspect of the class as instructed by Tom), it was from not following instructions, and wasn’t a measure of the class itself.

I had a couple of people ask me for the web address of my blog, so that they could come and read what I’m writing about the class - so hey, guys!  Hope you come back for the next installations, which will hopefully happen within the next 12 hours.