Forum

I took this course on 11-08-2008.

The instructors were Matt Sims and Stan Smith. I first met Matt in Feb.
2007 when he sponsored Gabe Suarez' Extreme Close-Range Gunfighting class at his private home range. Matt is a Master Class IDPA shooter, a Christian brother, and a
really nice guy. I don't know Stan as well, but all the above applies
to him as well.

We met at Gadsden (AL) PD Training Facility at 8:30. After getting the
“lawyer stuff” and introductions taken care of, we hit the range by
9:00. Matt was very up-front about his class. One statement he made an
impression with was that “Everything I teach here is stolen from
someone else. I don't have a 'Matt Sims Technique' for anything". He
gave credit where due.

10 students took the course. One was a Gadsden City officer who shot
from his duty rig. Glock and Sig were most popular. One BHP and one CZ,
IIRC. And one man brought about a dozen different guns, although I
don't know how many he actually shot during the course. I used my Glock 26
during the morning part and Glock 19 in the afternoon.

During the class we did everything from close-range contact shooting
back to 50yds. We did quick-and-dirty point shooting up close and
worked on marksmanship at distance. We did “getting off the X” drills,
and it was the first time for several of the students to do dynamic
movement. Seated and on the ground were also practiced. One-hand
reloads with strong and weak hand were practiced, but Matt quickly
pointed out that it would be rare to actually use these techniques.

I had spoken with Matt before signing up about Appendix-Inside Waistband carry. He knew I had
been carrying that way since ECRG and didn't have a problem with it. I
was the only one, and I was used as an example several times. AIWB
worked well for everything except if you have to go prone before
drawing.

We took a break and cleaned up the range waiting for nightfall and
low-light. We didn't do any movement drills at night. In a close-range
gunfight, I agree with several instructors-you won't have time to draw your
gun, your light, and move off the X. The light comes into its own
pro-actively, searching for that noise in the night, and used
sparingly. Cheap Energizer/Ray-O-Vac LED lights work about as well as
SureFire (I know, blasphemy) and AA batteries can be found easily and
cheaply anywhere.

Problems: I haven't fired many live rounds in the last year, and
it showed horribly. I've been slack on my practice, but will change
that if possible.

I found the slide lock on my G19 has quit working. It didn't lock back
on any magazine. I continued to use it and got plenty of practice with
my malfunction drills.

As I said earlier, Matt is a Master Class IDPA shooter. But he is quick
to show what works in IDPA MAY get you killed on the street.

We were told we would probably shoot 700-800 rounds, and I think class average was 600. A lot of shooting for one day.

A very good class and I'd recommend Matt and Stan to anyone in the
local area. Special thanks to Gadsden PD for the use of the excellent
range facilities

ICCCSecurity said:

Is anything of this nature offered in the Indiana/ Ohio area?

http://www.suarezinternational.com may have something similar on their schedule.