675 rounds in one day is a good amount of shooting! 

Those targets with the scoring zone is pretty cool.  I had a class once that had three zones.  The ocular cavity, the thoracic/CM, and the last was the groin!  There were a few female in that class and they really seemed to enjoy the groin/pelvis shot!  Maybe a little too much! 

Do you have a break between the pistol and the rifle class? 
 

Day 5.  11 Navy Sailors arrived for a day of handgun training.  I erred in my previous post in that the Sailors were getting instruction and not going through the action bays.  Each student taught a class on the range to the sailors, I had the barricade and accuracy firing drills.  Basically teaching what I learned in the first 3 days of class to them in a single day.  A major problem quickly arose on our first firing drill.   We had assumed the sailors were somewhat proficient with the pistols.  However though they were trained and qualified with pistols, most had a lot of problems in operation and accuracy.   We had to adjust on the fly and give them a quick basic pistol course which solved the problem.  The sailors were fine for the rest of the day going through our drills, some even taking good 8" steel plate shots at 50 yards.  Amazing what motivation can do and our main job as instructors is to keep the students motivated so they want to improve.  Our goals for the day were met:  get them trained and better than they arrived, and keep them highly motivated.

I also erred in thinking there was a final qualification test, but I just had to pass one of the previous ones which I did.  7 of us passed the course.  2 others were having trouble qualifying, probably too tense and rushing shots, and still received certificates of attendance.

I only fired about 25 rounds for my class demonstrations.

Sig Sauer Semiauto Pistol Instructor review.

Round count:  about 1250 rounds 9mm fired.  I went with 9mm for cost and I thought I would've taken a beating firing a lot of rounds in one week, but I was fine using the more relaxed shooting position in class.  I feel I could've passed just as well using 40S&W.  The course requirement was 1,500 rounds and difference was due to taking less qualification tests (by passing earlier) and using less rounds in the action bays and on my day 5 demonstrations.

Equipment:  Glock 22 w/9mm conversion barrel & mags.  Bladetech OWB holster & dual mag pouches & 1.5" nylon tactical belt.  Electronic earplugs & clear eye pro.  That's all the equipment you need.  Sig Sauer will also loan you firearms and holsters at no extra charge.  I was the only one with a Glock.  Most had Sig 320's and others with Sig 229, 1911, & M&P.  Bring whatever works good for you.  My Glock jammed a couple times after firing 400 rounds, probably due to my dirty ammo.  SIG has a weapons cleaning room with supplies for your use.   I suggest bringing 3 standard cap magazines or 4 10 rounders.  An extra mag is good, but not really needed.  Electronic ear pro should be required.  Have clear lenses for your eye pro.

Clothing:  Dress for the season.  For April it was cold in the morning and warmer at noon so dress in layers, including base layers under your pants.  Bring rain gear too.  Comfortable and durable shoes or boots.  You'll be standing and walking on the range all week.

My Trainup:  To prepare for this course  I competed in military matches, taught about 17 NRA Basic Pistol Courses, coached shooters in pistol and rifle, Military Range Safety Officer, Front Sight Advance Tactical Handgun Course, NRA Protection Outside of the Home Course, Police Academy, dry firing with SIRT pistols and LASRapp program, and practicing shooting the 25 yard target at Koko Head with strong side/weak side and one handed both sides.  I think all of those helped me to pass this class.

To be successful in the class, I recommend you to:
1.  be an instructor (NRA/Military/LE/etc) and be comfortable teaching classes, coaching, and diagnosing problems.
2.  consistently hit a 8" circle at 25 yards.  (in DA mode for those with DA/SA)
3.  shoot one handed (strong/weak hand)
4.  be a range safety officer or help to run the range/call commands
5.  practice shooting with a timer
6.  participate in a competition (military, USPSA, IDPA, etc)
7.  dry firing from a holster.  Practice reloads and malfunction drills.

TO BE CONTINUED......

Hey Ziipz,

I've been warned that I'm to radical for this site, so I'll keep it sociable.
My GI bill only paid for things like Calculus, Linear Algebra, Physics and such,
so I could become an engineer.
The military taught me police tactics to kill anything that moved.
(old school).  I was supposed to leave that in the military world.
You say today,  you can get paid as a civilian(GI bill) to get the same
training. I hope you don't become a cop, in civilian world.
Enjoy your class.

Hey Ziipz,

I've been warned that I'm to radical for this site, so I'll keep it sociable.
My GI bill only paid for things like Calculus, Linear Algebra, Physics and such,
so I could become an engineer.
The military taught me police tactics to kill anything that moved.
(old school).  I was supposed to leave that in the military world.
You say today,  you can get paid as a civilian(GI bill) to get the same
training. I hope you don't become a cop, in civilian world.
Enjoy your class.

you're not FBI?
We not like rap back.

Review Continued.....

Summery:
I enjoyed taking the Sig Sauer Academy's Semiauto Pistol Instructor Course. The main focus of the course was to develop law enforcement firearm instructors by teaching different solutions to shooting problems, having a mindset that people do things differently, and ensuring the instructor creates a friendly atmosphere which really helps with learning.  I know of some instructors that will put their students down or have a drill sergeant mentality which can turn off students.  The course covered the basic fundamentals of shooting a pistol in extreme detail with various drills to aid in practice, and trained us to be able to teach them to our students effectively. It's good to try new things and also the "not preferred" methods to see what works best.  This, along with the 1,250 rounds of practice, helped me to do the most accurate shooting up to this point and I can use this to help teach classes and coaching at home.  Jim, the instructor with a LE & SWAT background, was very knowledgeable as well as entertaining.  This isn't an automatic pass type of school, as 2 out of the 8 students didn't pass the qualification test most likely due to stressing themselves out.  But everyone learned a lot.

I think my train up was effective in helping me pass this class and was worth the cost.  I'm not sure how much it cost me for this trip, the certifications, practice, and classes I took in the past year, but it was quite a bit as well as a lot of time.  I think it was well worth it as I can now help others learn how to shoot better.  I highly recommend this class.
.
COST UPDATE:  I discovered Post 9/11 GI Bill can pay for the ammunition at SSA.  With my 60% GI Bill I could have saved $500 in ammo costs for my 2 classes.

I took a 4 hour drive to Njack, NY to attend an NRA Chief Range Safety Officer course with Matt Culhane.  This was an instructor level course to teach the RSO class.  He taught the class very well and we had a lot of fun for a dry subject.  I recommend all firearm instructors be an RSO to gain the knowledge and experience in running a range.  I needed to take this class so I could renew my NRA Basic Instructor Training cert so I can take another class next weekend.  The Tarantella Pizza Parlor across the street had some awesome pizzas.  Chicken ranch, pasta pizza, and lots of other goodies.

BTW, New York and Massachusetts require you to have a firearms license/permit to have a firearm in your vehicle so beware.  And in NY you cannot touch a firearm unless you have the permit. 

SSA Patrol Rifle Instructor Course Day 1

Excited to start my 2nd SSA class.  I learned that the Post 9/11 GI Bill pays for ammo provided by the Academy but too late for me since I already bought it outside.  There are 14 students in this class and it is pretty intimidating.  The entire class is made of Law Enforcement and current military/veterans and many are from SWAT or very experienced LE firearms instructors. My old mishmash AR15 with Aimpoint M2 sight also doesn't  compare to their newer and fancier AR15 type rifles and optics.  I'm still optimistic.  Our classroom instruction covered LE policies on purchase and modifying firearms, ballistics, penetration, ammunition, and other firearm technical stuff.  A lot of it was geared toward law enforcement. 

Our first range session started with stance and grip.  We fired from different positions...feet together, on our heels, leaned forward, support arm bent, locked, and bent and slightly relaxed (preferred).  We then proceeded to rapid fire between 5 to 30 round sessions to gauge our recoil control.  I was far behind the class in this exercise as I'm used to only shooting controlled pairs.  My groups were pretty wild and it took me a while to get them under control.  Next was reloading where we did a drill loading a small number of random rounds in 9 magazines and we would fire and quickly reload.  I was faster than most at that drill as I've practiced it a lot before.  I did improve my technique with some instructor tips though.  Trick is to be smooth, relaxed, and efficient instead of fast.  Then we did some one hole drills and zerod.e

Last drill for the day was interesting.  Everyone placed their rifles on the ground and we rotated shooting each others rifles.  I felt like I had a ghetto rifle after shooting other peoples LWRC's, SIGS, ACOGs, Aimpoint T1's,  and stuff I've never seen before.  My milspec trigger sure feels gritty now.  The zeroing results were interesting after 14 different people shot each rifle at 50 yards.  The groups were all mostly centered and about 4 inches across.  So a rifle's zero for different shooters aren't all that different.

Roundcount for today was 300.

Last drill for the day was interesting.  Everyone placed their rifles on the ground and we rotated shooting each others rifles.  I felt like I had a ghetto rifle after shooting other peoples LWRC's, SIGS, ACOGs, Aimpoint T1's,  and stuff I've never seen before.  My milspec trigger sure feels gritty now.  The zeroing results were interesting after 14 different people shot each rifle at 50 yards.  The groups were all mostly centered and about 4 inches across.  So a rifle's zero for different shooters aren't all that different.

Did you folks discuss observations/opinions from the group regarding this exercise?  Wondering if there was a common theme, or one that the course instructors were trying to convey?

Seems like one point is that as an instructor, you're likely to come across a variety of different personal setups.  I recall in my first carbine class, the majority of the class had ARs, but one guy had a SCAR and another had an AK.  The class was setup around the AR/M4/M16 platform, but the instructor was familiar with both the SCAR and AK to generally accommodate them. 

Another aspect is many guys like to try out this and that.  That was one cool thing about taking a class with a variety of different setups.  I was able to try stuff like Trijicon 1-4x optics, different stocks, etc.  I like to try for myself and see how I like a particular gun or accessory, but that can get expensive.

The exercise was toe
- Be familiar with different types of rifles and sights, their parts and operation.  One thing they talked about was how Special Forces Soldiers shoot by pressing the trigger and taking their finger off the trigger during reset so they would be able to  any rifle they find.
- See if the rifle owner's zero was accurate.
- Show that zero's for different shooters on the same rifle arn't all that different (if they know what they're doing).

Sounds great!  Don't sweat the pass / fail as SSA does indeed hold tight standards.  In our masters courses, there were 22 guys in our pistol course and only 6 of us passed.  Quite happy to say that 3 of us were from Hawaii.  The rifle was a 50% pass and shotgun was about 90%. 

Did you folks discuss observations/opinions from the group regarding this exercise?  Wondering if there was a common theme, or one that the course instructors were trying to convey?

Seems like one point is that as an instructor, you're likely to come across a variety of different personal setups.  I recall in my first carbine class, the majority of the class had ARs, but one guy had a SCAR and another had an AK.  The class was setup around the AR/M4/M16 platform, but the instructor was familiar with both the SCAR and AK to generally accommodate them. 

Another aspect is many guys like to try out this and that.  That was one cool thing about taking a class with a variety of different setups.  I was able to try stuff like Trijicon 1-4x optics, different stocks, etc.  I like to try for myself and see how I like a particular gun or accessory, but that can get expensive.

Exposure and proficiency in a wide variety of platforms or variations on a certain platform is a huge plus as an instructor.  Often times instructors are somewhat specialists in a certain weapon platform, however being highly proficient in many platforms or variants on platforms only lends to an instructors credibility.  It takes a lot of time, dedication and resources to accomplish this, but a great instructor will be highly proficient no matter what the platform that they pick up and shoot. 

Being a specialist in a certain weapon platform / type is much more common.  But again being a top practitioner, no matter if it is a pistol, rifle, shotgun, subgun, scoped rifle, etc is not as easy.  Again time and resources.  Of course being able to perform like a champ in all genres is great, but the key is being able to translate that ability to others.  I often say a truly great instructor must first be able to have a truly great understanding of the topic and be able to show high levels of proficiency, but they MUST possess the ability to impart that information in a variety of techniques as people often learn in different ways.  They must be able to accurately diagnose the issue, as there may be several causes that manifest as a similar problem, and then after making the accurate diagnosis of the issue, a good instructor must have multiple ways of correcting the issue, again as people learn very differently.   

Not everyone makes a good instructor even if they are a hot shit shooter.  You must be able to make an individual want to learn from you.  If you lose them early, you have failed and will more than likely never win them over.  It is very true that it is easy to encounter instructors in Military and LE that have a huge ego and chip.  They are generally lesser practitioners at what they do.  A great shooter and great instructor will generally not have this problem.  They are usually very comfortable in their own skin and abilities and that clearly comes through and are easier to learn from.  Any instructor that is demeaning is generally not comfortable in their own skin, are not that proficient when it comes to performance and are not worth your time or money.   

The exercise was toe
- Be familiar with different types of rifles and sights, their parts and operation.  One thing they talked about was how Special Forces Soldiers shoot by pressing the trigger and taking their finger off the trigger during reset so they would be able to  any rifle they find.
- See if the rifle owner's zero was accurate.
- Show that zero's for different shooters on the same rifle arn't all that different (if they know what they're doing).

Gotcha.

The familiarity part was mostly what I thought.  Interesting comment about "how SFS shoot".  I've shot with a few here and there, but didn't particularly pay attention to that aspect, nor did they mention it.  One of the newer responsibilities of my job is to certify small arms ranges (currently being mentored by the SME who is about to retire).  It's not all that common nowadays, but there's potential for one in the 6-12 months or so, and one is for a NSW group.  I know previous groups were invited to try out their simulation training (video) module.  I doubt they'll let me shoot, but I'd be down! 

Hadn't thought of verification of rifle zero.  One would think at that level, everyone would be proficient at that, but better to iron that out up front.  In one rifle class, this one guy just couldn't zero is red dot.  No matter what he did, wouldn't zero.  Checked mount, checked this, checked that, no joy.  Turns out his optic just wouldn't zero and it was a T-1!  It was almost funny because this guy was a pretty seasoned shooter and the rest of us were like, WTF dude!  Hurry up!   

Anyways, good stuff!  Looking forward to more updates!   

Exposure and proficiency in a wide variety of platforms or variations on a certain platform is a huge plus as an instructor.  Often times instructors are somewhat specialists in a certain weapon platform, however being highly proficient in many platforms or variants on platforms only lends to an instructors credibility.  It takes a lot of time, dedication and resources to accomplish this, but a great instructor will be highly proficient no matter what the platform that they pick up and shoot. 

Being a specialist in a certain weapon platform / type is much more common.  But again being a top practitioner, no matter if it is a pistol, rifle, shotgun, subgun, scoped rifle, etc is not as easy.  Again time and resources.  Of course being able to perform like a champ in all genres is great, but the key is being able to translate that ability to others.  I often say a truly great instructor must first be able to have a truly great understanding of the topic and be able to show high levels of proficiency, but they MUST possess the ability to impart that information in a variety of techniques as people often learn in different ways.  They must be able to accurately diagnose the issue, as there may be several causes that manifest as a similar problem, and then after making the accurate diagnosis of the issue, a good instructor must have multiple ways of correcting the issue, again as people learn very differently.   

Not everyone makes a good instructor even if they are a hot shit shooter.  You must be able to make an individual want to learn from you.  If you lose them early, you have failed and will more than likely never win them over.  It is very true that it is easy to encounter instructors in Military and LE that have a huge ego and chip.  They are generally lesser practitioners at what they do.  A great shooter and great instructor will generally not have this problem.  They are usually very comfortable in their own skin and abilities and that clearly comes through and are easier to learn from.  Any instructor that is demeaning is generally not comfortable in their own skin, are not that proficient when it comes to performance and are not worth your time or money.

I volunteer with HRA at the shooting sports fair each year and you definitely get exposed to a wide variety of guns that I normally no have access to.  Not that it makes me proficient at anything my more than loading and sometimes unloading, but there are just to many types of operating systems and what I perceive as pros and cons. 

One of my first handguns is an HK with the ambi paddle type mag release.  Since then, I transitioned to Glock as my primary training and competition gun.  Even now, when I go to the range with the HK, the mag release is almost alien to me.  Not sure how long it would take me to get to a level of comfort with that gun, let alone proficiency.  All I know is that it would take a lot of range time and ammo!  Both which I don't have as much access to as I would like. . .

One trait of the people who in my opinion are great instructors are that they are always learning and trying to improve.  They aren't stuck in any one method and are willing to give other methods a try and see for themselves as well as their training cadre and other associates.  Then like you said, they are able to break the skills down and teach them in a way that connects with a wide variety of audience.  Not only that, to be able to adjust on the fly in cases of different equipment or even a certain level of physical limitations.

You bring up an excellent point about instructors.  I've had instructors that have an excellent attitude and "we'll figure it out" method.  Sure, they had their preferences and even would rib/talk trash about certain guns that they felt weren't the best, but never in a demeaning way.  In fact, usually always joking, which made it seem even more fun with those shooters who had the shunned equipment, like say a XD.    On the flip side, I've known people that take almost a dictator approach and while it was obvious that they are skilled at shooting, their social interaction skills could've used some work.  In the end, I learned from both, but I would not hesitate to say that I learned more from the instructor that was able to reach their students as opposed to practically alienating them. 

Patrol Rifle Instructor

I passed the qualification test  and passed the course today.  It was a tiring course as it's been pretty warm, 72 degrees today, and walking up and down the range all day.  Or maybe it's just fatigue from doing 12 straight days of training.  All 14 or us passed the qualification test which seemed a bit easier than the pistol test. Some of the rifle shooters didn't do too well on the transition to pistol part of the test.  I was told that if you don't pass the terst, you can come back to retest at any time within a one year period.  The passing certificates are valid for 3 years, so you would have to redo the course again or pass the Master level course to renew it.  I'll try for the Master level this summer or next summer.  I was pondering if 'should do it next week but I'm pooped.

Congratulations Todd!

Great updates and reviews and congratulations on passing...A couple years ago you gave me some insight and tips before heading out to Front Sight, this is the kind of support we have from guys like you....really appreciate it. .Thanks

SSA Patrol Rifle Instructor

Backtracking to last weeks class.  The first day was a little rough as I'm not used to rapid fire and other students seem to be experienced and not very friendly as they are LE(swat, special teams, etc) & military.  On Day 2 things became a bit brighter as all of the students opened up.  They admitted that they had trouble keeping up with the class on the first day and a lot of it was new to them, just as it was for me.  The instructor also commented that as an instructor it's difficult to teach LE/Military students because they don't show any emotions and don't give feedback if they are learning from the class, due to how they have to behave for their line of work.  They may be learning and enjoying the class, but just won't communicate it.  The lesson was to know your audience and be able to adjust.  Everyone was friends by the end of day 2.

We did another teachback exercise where I taught grip & the 4 points of contact, and malfunction drills.  I was a little unprepared and should've done rehearsals with my rifle the night prior.  My rapid fire was improving along with my speed to get on target.  I normally keep my support hand close in on the handguard, but now I'm sold with the forward grip as it helped to control the recoil and getting on target.  After shooting a 30 round burst the previous day, I learned to keep my weight shifted forward too.  Normally at the range, and LE/Military training it's frowned upon to shoot rapid fire for more than 2 rounds.  I think firing off a 30 round magazine is an excellent tool to teach the importance of recoil management.

Other topics we covered on Day 2 tdifferent positions, kneeling, prone, sitting.  The stretch kneeling position was a new one for me, where you lunge forward with your support side leg, and keep your firing side leg stretched out and calf/foot flat on the ground.  It was quick to get into and out of, fairly stable, and really helped to control the recoil.  Also did a malfunction with a bolt override, where a case gets stuck in the charging handle.  I haven't seen this being taught at any school, but basically you can't rack the charging handle so you collapse the but stock, hold the bolt catch down, and whack the buttstock on the ground several times while pulling the charging handle back until the bolt catch catches.  Then you whack the charging handle forward and the case gets ejected.

Someone did an interesting vision drill where you extend your arms outward to find the edges of your peripheral vision.  Then you compare it by looking down, like looking at a cell phone, and repeating the exercise.  It shows how your peripheral vision to the sides are compromised when you look down. So when sighting down a rifle you should keep your head up instead of tilting your head down and looking up with your eyes.

In other news, I attended PAX East yesterday in Boston.  PAX is a national gaming convention where thousands of gamers come together for video and board games.  There were hundreds, maybe a thousand, different games that were showcased in the exibition.  Most of them were small indie game companies, but there was also Blizzard, Capcom, and other large game companies there.  Many of the gamers were gaming board games on tables while others where challenging eachother on video games on the hundreds of computers and consoles setup.  There were also competitions displayed on the big screen complete with commentary which rivals any large superbowl or MMA event.  PAX is eprobably the largest congregation of Asians in New England.  I think they were all there.

In the evening I went to the Manchester gun range in New Hampshire to expend my remaining ammo of 600 9mm and 200rnds of 5.56.  I brought along a roommate who never shot a gun before to try out my new teaching skills.  I gave him a brief 20 minute class on shooting handguns and rifles and coached him on the line.  I'm not sure if he's just a natural or because of my superior teaching abilities, but he was nailing the targets in slow and rapid fire.  I was surprised by my rapid fire and one hand skills with the handgun and rifle, dumping whole magazines and keeping all of the shots in the center of the target.  That recoil management stuff works.

There were a lot of ranges in New Hampshire, but the vast majority required membership in a club.  Cost for the range I went to was $16 for first hour, $9 every half hour and we could use our own ammo.  It was a nice 20 yard indoor range with touch display to operate the carriages.

Days 3 & 4 covered reloads and malfunctions.  I never took on using the rifle in the "workspace" concept until now and I feel it does help to quicken my times.  We had to one handed (firing & support) side reloads and malfunctions which were new to me.  I thought one handed handgun reloads were tough at Front Sight, but doing it on a rifle takes it to a whole new level.  If you like keeping your rifles in mint condition then this exercise isn't for you since we were stuffing barrels into the ground, kneeling on the rifles on the rocky ground, and other things that might give you a heart attack.  In the end, we were able to clear difficult malfunctions, type 3 and bolt override, using just our support side hand.

A good instructor tip I learned is when teaching a process, ask the students to describe the process step by step in a round robin type environment.  For example for reloads, ask one student what is step 1, they say put the rifle on safe, ask another student what is step two which is pushing the magazine release button, and so on.   A good check on learning.

We did a fun reloading competition.  We gathered everyone's AR15 magazines and loaded them in sets of 3 with 1 to 3 rounds each.  We then gave the competitors 3 sets of magazines (9 total) and mixed them up.  We put 3 guys on the firing line and they had get all of their shots in an 8" circle at 15 yards while reloading on their own.  They didn't know how many rounds were in each magazine so they had to feel for the bolt lock and reload quickly.  The winner was the one with the fastest time that didn't miss.

Another drill was the unlimited magazine drill where we fired one handed firing/support side.  At the 25 yard line we fired one shot and swapped hands all the while keeping the rifle pointed in on the target.  Everyone's arms were sore by the end o the exercise and we realized why it was called the unlimited magazine drill.  We did some other cool drills and did some shooting on the move stuff.  We also went into transition to shooting pistol while on the move.  It was a tough drill for some of the less experienced pistol shooters in the class.

On Friday we taught 10 submarine sailors from the Navy who came in for a free rifle skills class.  We pretended to be Sig Sauer instructors instead of student instructors  .  Like the prior pistol class last week, most of them were still novices when it came to rifles.  A couple of them had trouble zeroing.  They had tight groups that were in random places despite adjustments.  We later came to the conclusion that they had their red dots too bright and did not have consistent sight alignment where they were aiming at reflections instead of the actual red dot.  They improved their rifle handling and shooting as the day progressed and morale was high.  We finished with the reloading drill which they enjoyed.

It was another good week.