This time, I went to the Gunsite Academy training facility in Paulden, Arizona. For those of you not familiar with every small town in Arizona, it is between Phoenix and Flagstaff. My previous firearms training trips were to the late, semi-lamented Frontsite in Pahrump, Nevada. Frontsite went through bankruptcy and was acquired by a new company, and now goes by Prairie Fire. I haven’t been to Prairie Fire since the switchover, but I got the general impression they were going to focus more on competitive shooting than self-defense.
For me, Gunsite is an easier drive – about 4 ½ hours from Tucson, as opposed to 8+ hours to Pahrump. Gunsite is also a nicer facility in almost every way, probably because it wasn’t run as a Ponzi scheme with the owner skimming revenue rather than re-investing it. The site is hilly, lots of pinon, and really kind of a nice location. To be fair, I haven’t been to Prairie Fire since the switchover, so I couldn’t say what it’s like now.
Enough blah-blah. Go to the websites and poke around if you want more info about the two operations. What about the actual training?
I am still running my Beretta 1301 Tactical. Highly recommended – it went through three punishing days without a single problem.
I did the three day shotgun course, which is really the first three days of a five day course. The last two days are the advanced class. I’ll be going back for the full five day course, because I liked what I saw.
Gunsite encourages everyone to take their five day handgun course first. Neither Mrs. Dean nor I have taken that class (she did their three day carbine course earlier this year), as we both prefer long guns. We’re both planning to take the handgun course next year. This is relevant, I think, because for their long gun courses they just kind of toss you in the deep end, on the theory that you’ve already taken the handgun course, where I believe they spend some classroom time on self-defense law, mindset, etc.
For shotguns, its fill out the paperwork and head for the range. Our instructor figured out pretty quick that we were all reasonably well acquainted with our weapons, so we hit the range right away. Gunsite wants you to shoot heavy loads as much as you can – 00 buckshot and slugs. You can use birdshot instead of 00 buckshot whenever you want, but the ammo loadout for three days is heavy on buckshot and slugs. The heavy loads really beat up their steel targets – we probably broke four a day.
We had fifteen people in my class, and I think ten did the full five days. We had a rangemaster (former LA SWAT) and two instructors (former Marine and former CA SWAT, can’t recall the city). I thought they did an excellent job, although CA SWAT had a pretty abrupt and abrasive bedside manner that rubbed some of the attendees wrong. Meh. I didn’t go to be babied.
The techniques and training on the range were pretty similar to what I learned at Frontsite – no surprise, there’s only so many ways to run a shotgun. One difference: we spent very little time on malfunctions. Gunsite’s theory is that if you can’t get your shotgun running again by racking the bolt a couple of times, that weapon is out of the fight and you need to pull your handgun.
Because you carry a loaded handgun at all times at Gunsite, regardless of the class (except, I think, for their Tactical Medicine class). For those of us who hadn’t been through their handgun class, they had a quick half-hour to show us the basics, because they train on transitioning from the shotgun to the handgun. The rangemaster was a Sig guy, and drooled over my “antique” P228 (originally Mrs. Dean’s wedding gift from me, old enough to have been made in Austria). Other than the transition training, though, they want you to carry a loaded handgun because they think it gets your mind right as far as going armed and being mentally prepared to engage in self-defense.
The pace and intensity of the training was great. Over three days, I went through an estimated 75 rounds of birdshot, nearly 400 rounds of buckshot, and close to 80 slugs. Mostly on the range, but even during the first three days we hit a couple of shoot houses (one for a walk-through on house clearing with a dummy gun, and one live-fire exercise with targets outside the windows). Those were both exhausting mental workouts.
We did a night shoot, with weapons lights and handheld flashlights. The night shoot was a very valuable experience, as I have never fired a weapon in the dark. We had our only negligent discharge during the night shoot. It was easy to see how you could fumble your controls and get a negligent discharge. The instructors made sure to tell us “See, we’ve been telling you to stop looking at your weapons. Can’t see ‘em now, can you?”
Other exercises included a timed drill shooting slugs at range (probably 45 yards to 80 yards) at seven different targets from seven different stations. My slug shooting was crap because I am developing a haze in my right (dominant) cornea, resulting in sometimes two, sometimes three dots from my optic, and difficulty focusing well in general. I still got six out of seven on that drill (the first go, the second I only got four). We also did a sort of outdoor room clearing drill down a wash, which to me was just hunting, so I did much better than the indoor room clearing exercises.
We finished with a competition – a hostage scenario at 15 yards with buckshot (tagging the hostage with a single pellet was an automatic loss), and a slug at 50 yards. I was one of only a few who didn’t tag the hostage, because I walked my shots in (utterly unrealistic, I know), and then I completely botched the slug shot. Next time, I’m bringing Flite-Control shells for the competition (and, hopefully, a functional cornea).
I gather the final two days of the five-day class are mostly house clearing, fighting from a car, shooting slugs at extreme ranges (200 yards!), that kind of thing.
I’ll be going back. I think my next class will be their three-day Tactical Medicine class, because I have accumulated a pretty good supply of first aid stuff that I really don’t have a good idea how to use. After that, the handgun class. I also plan to hit one of their “range days” for shotgun. This is an excellent thing they do for people who have taken their classes – set aside a day or two for people to come back and review/practice what they learned with instructors.
As I told Mrs. Dean after the class, the training wasn’t so much how to run a shotgun, as it was how to fight with a shotgun. Two emphatic thumbs up.
“house clearing” – This is what grenades are for.
Gonna get us a nice little place with a white picket fence.
You know the kind.
Two-car garage.
Maybe a fishing boat.
And in 15 years, when they’re all paid for I’ll set my charges and blow the shit out of them.
Well Frank settled down in the Valley
and he hung his wild years
on a nail that he drove through
his wife’s forehead
he sold used office furniture
out there on San Fernando Road
and assumed a $30,000 loan
at 15 _ % and put a down payment
on a little two bedroom place
his wife was a spent piece of used jet trash
made good bloody marys
kept her mouth shut most of the time
had a little Chihuahua named Carlos
that had some kind of skin disease
and was totally blind. They had a thoroughly modern kitchen
self-cleaning oven (the whole bit)
Frank drove a little sedan
they were so happy
One night Frank was on his way home
from work, stopped at the liquor store,
picked up a couple Mickey’s Big Mouths
drank ’em in the car on his way
to the Shell station, he got a gallon of
gas in a can, drove home, doused
everything in the house, torched it,
parked across the street, laughing
watching it burn, all Halloween
orange and chimney red then
Frank put on a top forty station
got on the Hollywood Freeway
headed North
Never could stand that dog
Get out of my head. Even though I got the Hot Shots reference, it put me in mind of exactly the same thing.
Do those fragments not go through walls like buckshot would?
My takeaway: it’s basically just a series of bad decisions waiting to be made (as in, no good ones on offer). Close to a suicide mission to do it by yourself, IMO. Unfortunately, Mrs. Dean sleeps on the other side of the house, so holing up with a gun and waiting for the cops isn’t an option. I have a plan, that I practice occasionally at home, but our house layout makes it the proverbial suicide mission if its a full-on home invasion.
And, of course, there was a broad daylight break in not far at all from our house last week. The homeowners were out at the time, but the fact that it happened at all in our middle to upper middle class area on the edge of Tucson is not a good sign.
We fortunately have only one room to defend from, and I have no intention of clearing my house otherwise. I’m bunkering.
The Dean beasts might help with house clearing. I’m thinking that changes the calculus a bit with clearing your own house that have guard dogs present.
I’ve been assuming my dogs will give me the first alert someone if someone is breaking in and where the entry is. Then dogs will either take them out or distract them.
Sounds like a good course.
I’m sure the instructors love having competent students.
When I was a weapons instructor some of the PFC’s coming through were scared of their shotguns, consequently, I was scared of their shotgun.
One of my buddies had an ND hit next to his foot.
Never fired the Beretta, we had Benelli’s.
One of these days, I will get me one of those.
I’ve had one negligent discharge. After a long day of hunting, tired, unloading the rifle in the near-dark. Just fat-fingered the damn thing. Fortunately, I was facing a rise in the terrain, so no harm done (other than to my hearing).
It’ll give you religion, I tell ya.
Closest I’ve come was disassembling my (sadly lost to a boating accident) Glock. To do so you need to pull the trigger.
I removed the magazine but forgot to confirm it was empty. It WAS empty, but in mid pull I remembered I hadn’t checked. I still remember my heart and that feeling of dread.
I’m not a fan of that design quirk.
You guys talking about desk pops?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=948-2Vzgi3w
Ron – when you’re ready to pull the trigger, take a look at Langton Tactical. What you see up there is pretty much what they build (although I did it myself – ProTip: doing it yourself probably won’t really save you much money). The stock 1301 is just fine, especially now that it has an extended mag, but if you want to build it out some, they use what I think are the best aftermarket addons.
They have gotten significantly spendier than when I got mine a few years ago, though.
Fun read. Thanks for putting it together.
I thought they did an excellent job, although CA SWAT had a pretty abrupt and abrasive bedside manner that rubbed some of the attendees wrong.
I was reminded of someone I was knew who always loudly proclaimed that women were the best shooting students and men would never listen.
One day at the range getting some pointers and instruction from him, I noted that he was pissed any time I asked a question and wouldn’t answer the question. But a friend’s girlfriend who was there also getting some pointers and instruction? He was all over her. Flirting, answering her questions very nicely.
A few weeks or a month or so later, I took a CMP clinic. My instructor was great and very helpful. I learned stuff and improved my shooting.
Actually on topic – is green the new thing for laser sites? The actual use and photo of one being used in NYC is a new one for me.
Shocking moment neighbor executes NYC dad and stepson during argument over noise
https://nypost.com/2023/10/31/metro/nyc-neighbor-executes-dad-and-stepson-during-argument-over-noise/
All my lazers are green.
https://www.crimsontrace.com/complete-focus/education/red-green-laser/#:~:text=In%20very%20bright%20conditions%20%E2%80%94%20such,red%20light%20in%20dim%20conditions.
So, how does this pertain to laser sights? That depends on lighting conditions. In daylight, especially in very bright conditions, the eye is better able to see green light since the wavelengths emitted by green light trigger both the M-and L-cone receptor cells within the eye. Essentially, green light triggers a higher number of those 6 million cones inside the eye to react. In very bright conditions — such as at the range on a clear, sunny day — a green laser sight will be more visible on target than a red laser sight.
Green light offers less of an advantage over red light in dim conditions. In reduced-light conditions, the cones in the eye are able to pick up both red and green light almost equally well, so while green laser sights are significantly more visible than red light in bright sun, the two colors are both easily discernable in darker lighting conditions.
I have Crimson Trace on my Springfield 1911 EMP. I have a different brand on my Sig p938. Both are green.
I’ve looked at red and green holosun sights at the range. I do think the green may be a little easier/crisper in really bright conditions. Red lasers do tend to disappear in bright conditions, but I haven’t compared green and red lasers side-by-side. We only have one laser “sight” – on Mrs. Dean’s weapon light for her carbine. She doesn’t use it.
I am far-sighted. If I do not have my glasses on, I cannot see the iron sights on my pistol at arms length. I can see a green dot on a target at 3 to 25 yards just fine. My carry pistols have lasers in case shit is happening and I have lost/broken my glasses.
When I read that they neighbor was a body builder who threatened the shooter with scissors, I thought maybe not murder. But then I saw the actual shooting took place when the neighbor was walking away. Definitely murder.
Yup. Plus the shooting of the step son and the (not pictured) coup de grace.
Last clause – attempt to be poetic, or written by someone without a firm grasp of vernacular English? (It took four people to write this article??)
I wonder if someone’s turning tricks out of Barbra’s old apartment.
I just saw long bearded Forrest Gump jogging down the main hallway at work.
Excellent costume!
The rangemaster was a Sig guy, and drooled over my “antique” P228
I have a Sig P226 in .40 S&W that shoots like a dream, but it’s a little heavy for comfortable EDC.
Doubt.
I’ll have to check. It is pushing 30 years old.
W. Germany is more likely for a Sig. I remember when there used to be tables of such ones at the gun show. Stupidly…
lol my landlord is always doing shit like this –
Came back from shopping and there was a little bag hooked on my door handle with the following contents:
1 giant Lemonhead
1 Now ‘n Later
1 Rice Crispy treat
1 piece of sour taffy
1 Chuckle
Aw, cute.
Great article. This looks awesome. I’m going to try to find something comparable in VA that isn’t a day’s drive away.
I’ve been mulling an Appleseed event for awhile, but this looks much more thorough.
Saving face?
Toyota (TM) is now doubling down on building out its battery capacity in the US. On Tuesday, the automaker announced it will be expanding its investment at its North Carolina battery manufacturing plant (TBMNC) by nearly $8 billion, an investment that will also add approximately 3,000 new jobs. Toyota says this new investment brings its total outlay to the upcoming facility to $13.9 billion, with 5,000 jobs created in total.
——-
Toyota’s about-face comes after a change in leadership late last year. Akio Toyoda stepped down as president in April 2023, handing over the reins to Koji Sato, who became the new CEO.
While Toyoda became chairman of the board, the change in managerial leadership was made to boost Toyota’s efforts in EVs. Toyoda was considered an EV skeptic, or at least someone who thought the EV transformation would take some time.
“Just like the fully autonomous cars that we are all supposed to be driving by now, EVs are just going to take longer to become mainstream than [the] media would like us to believe,” Toyoda said at the automaker’s annual sales meeting in Las Vegas last year.
That being said, Toyota’s new CEO believes EVs are still vitally important for the Japanese automaker as it builds out its game plan for the future, though he is cautiously optimistic.
“Battery EVs are the missing piece,” Sato said to Automotive News last week at the Tokyo auto show. “But we are not going to launch something imperfect just because there’s a deadline. We will ensure they are developed to perfection.”
It could be a way to placate the media and the EPA. Nothing says Toyota can’t just sell batteries to other manufacturers. Or they could be going all in on pure electrics.
They aren’t going all in on electrics. The bZ4X and it’s Lexus counterpart are pure compliance cars. Expensive and ineligible for subsidies due to origin batteries.
I’m guessing the talk about EVs is just eyewash. They will also need batteries for their hybrids, and that’s what those plants will make.
And/or possibly, batteries for other company’s EVs.
I really despise this trend in retail to ask if you want your change. Just do your fucking job and make the change.
Meh. I don’t mind the tap to “round up” for charity (depending on the charity, of course). I’m more annoyed by the constant prompts for tips, especially expecting me to tip before any service or items have been delivered.
I don’t like that either. If the business wants to be charitable, make a donation. Don’t guilt customers into supporting your pet causes and then taking credit for the amounts raised.
Headwinds
… Bud Light — which lost its spot as the top-selling U.S. beer over the summer amid a conservative-led boycott, protesting its partnership with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney — weighed on U.S. performance, the company said.
Revenue in the U.S. dropped 13.5%, while earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) in the country plunged 29.3% due to “market share performance,” along with productivity loss and higher marketing spend.
It marks the second quarter in which the Bud Light controversy, which includes criticism of the company for failing to support Mulvaney amid the backlash, has hit U.S. sales.
They refused to stand behind their noble spokesperson. That’s when things really started to go wrong.
Great article, RC!
My 1301 is now tricked out as I believe we once discussed here. Love shooting that thing every time I go to the range.
I think it’s at least as good as the Benelli and in a (literal) “bang for buck” comparison I think it’s the best there is.
Re: Home defense – a man in his own home with a semi-auto shotgun is a rough proposition. It’s what I hope gives the fascists running our government pause.
I would say out of the 15 shooters, most (10 – 12?) were running pumps, almost all 870s. One guy had a bone stock 1301. Don’t recall what others were shooting.
They aren’t going all in on electrics.
That was my assumption. It’s not as if Toyoda is suddenly not going to have any influence.
If they manufacture batteries in the US they can get subsidies.
And if doesn’t work out, Daisuke Toyoda can shitcan it when he takes over. Or build on the success. Whichever.
Doing a bang up job so far…
The World’s Biggest Carmaker Made a Huge Bet on Tech. Things Went Wrong Fast.
https://www.wsj.com/business/autos/toyota-bet-technology-woven-planet-c5579beb?st=wpg7jwag6wtrwvq&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink
Huh. I figured Woven Planet for an interior fabric producer. /dense
Apropos of nothing, I drove through Flagstaff on my way from Nevada to Texas. I had been considering moving there several years ago, before housing went berserk again. I’ll probably not acquire sufficient money during the remainder of my lifetime to effectuate such a move, but if I did, I’d probably retire there. It was gorgeous.