Hey Folks,
My pregnant wife and I went to Front Sight the week of the 22nd of October. I thought I would post about our experiences here.
I have been shooting since I was 3 yrs old, and my wife has shot about a dozen times all with me. I have always thought myself a pretty craptastic shot with a pistol, and when my brother came up with a deal on training at front sight for cheap I discussed it with the wife and decided to go for it. We took the 2 day Defensive Handgun course. This comprised 2 days of on range and classroom activities. We shot 250 Rounds a piece.
I shoot a full frame Glock 45 ACP and when my wife wanted to get a pistol I suggested she get a 45 so we didn't have to carry two different ammo varieties. Never fail the first time she shoots it her hands her and she wants to trade it in. I suggested she wait until after we go to Front Sight to receive training to make that decision. After the first half the day and 50 rounds of ammo I asked how her hands were doing, she gave me the deer in the headlights look and said I hadn't notice anything they feel fine.
Front Sight teaches an isometric push-pull method for holding the gun, so rather than using your hands to grip the gun you use your palms to push and pull the gun keeping it in place. Nothing revolutionary, but their different explanations of it helped a lot. Grab a friend and try this, have them hold up their arm and grab their wrist. Squeeze it with both hands in a crushing manner. Then using the same grip push with your firing side arm and pull with your support side arm, the friend should only feel pressure on the front and back of their arm. While doing this try and wiggle your firing finger, you'll notice a significant amount of difference tension between the two methods.
My result was instead of shanking every shot low and left (I'm right handed) I started hitting center mass with every shot. My wife at the end of 2 days was shooting better than me because she didn't have to unlearn any old bad habits.
The classroom portion of the class was also awesome. They had different lectures about shooting scenarios, the proper 911 call after a shooting scenario, the definition of acceptable use of force (generalized because of the number of different nuances by state), and what most likely would happen to you if you do shoot someone. It was a really grounding experience and personally I got as much out of the classroom stuff as I did on the range.
Pros:
Instructors were awesome, friendly, and very happy to answer any questions on the range or in the class.
Started from empty gun and progressed to firing from the holster giving a sense of familiarity with the gun.
Cleared the 3 most common malfunctions over and over to learn rapid clearing (3 being empty chamber or failed primer, stovepipe round out the side, or failure to eject)
Final scenario is a shoot no shoot situation with moving targets.
Cons:
Location, it is 45 miles from Las Vegas. (I won't stay in Vegas next time, but the wife wanted to catch shows after this time, so we drove back and forth.)
Stress over flying with a gun. (Not as bad as I thought, but still a pain.)
I had to buy a new holster because they don't allow Serpa style holsters, but I do like my new holster. (You can bring whatever as long as it doesn't have a lock in the trigger guard)
Desert heat, and cold mornings.
Final notes:
Would I do it again?
Yes, am already planning a trip with my brother next year.
How did the pregnant lady take it?
Other than being annoyed I kept making her drink water to stay hydrated she did awesome. Baby only kicked when we were in the classroom. She was 20wks along when we went.
Is it worth going all the way to Vegas when there are others available closer?
In my opinion, Yes. I have not trained at others, but Front Sight claims they train more people at their facility than all others combined. I had a great experience and decided to buy a membership so I don't have to pay for my training again. There may be great places all over, but for me and the wife with such a great experience we are going back.
