This past Saturday was another fine day at KR Training. This time we held Basic Pistol 1 and Defensive Pistol Skills 1. It’s a bit of an unusual combination for a single day, but demand for classes has been high, especially these two classes.

Karl was at the 2013 Rangemaster Tactical Conference and Polite Society Match along with some others, but John, Tom, Greg, and I stayed behind to hold down the fort.

The hard part about both classes? The current run on ammo makes it hard to do things. We had to restrict BP1 students to fewer rounds, merely to ensure we had enough to go around. It’s a hard time to be getting into guns. 😦

Apart from that, Basic 1 went over as it usually does. I ran a station with “small guns” like a Kahr CM9 and an M&P Shield. I also had a full-sized M&P. In the end, it seems the point was made clear: small guns have a point, purpose, and place, but they are not a beginner gun. At this point you are trying to learn how to shoot, so why learn on something that’s harder to shoot? why fight the gun while you learn the fundamentals? Get a full-sized gun, learn to shoot. Once you can shoot, then you can learn a more difficult platform.

Otherwise, BP1 ran pretty smooth.

DPS1 had a few hiccups… the biggest of which was as soon as we got on the line and started shooting, one student’s gun broke. I’m not 100% sure what went wrong, but he couldn’t seat the magazine into his Bersa Thunder. Upon inspection, there were springs inside the mag well, one side grip panel had become detached from the side of the frame. It was gunsmith time. Not sure how it happened, it was nothing obvious, but it was total failure. Honestly, I’ve not been all that impressed with the Bersa’s we’ve seen in class, and that trend continues. I admit I’m seeing a small sample, but I also see small samples of other guns like H&K’s and Sigs and large samples of guns like XD’s, M&P’s, and Glock’s, and just don’t see the same track record as I have with Bersa’s.

At least he found out about it here, instead of when his life mattered.

We offered to let him borrow our M&P Shield (the most similar gun we had), but he said he didn’t feel comfortable making the switch and such, instead opting to reschedule for another time. Fair enough.

Otherwise, class was class. Eyes were opened, old habits died hard, and people got an introduction to what it’s really like and what skills are really needed.

Weather was great. Life is good.