The month of May started off with a Basic Pistol 1 class. We’ve seen a slight drop-off in BP1 enrollment given the shift in the market and climate, so originally I was going to teach the class solo to a small group. However, we had last minute sign ups, Tom Hogel joined me, and we had a good class of 8 students, with the majority of the class being women. We had young and old, a range of backgrounds — folks, you just cannot stereotype gun owners and people who are willing to take responsibility for themselves.

Class rolled well. While a key stress of Basic Pistol 1 is about “gun fit”, it was quite prevalent in this particular class. We had numerous people with small hands, and common handguns like a Glock 19 just would not fit. In fact, while we try to get folks to shoot as many guns as possible during the “buffet” section of class, numerous students didn’t need to bother trying a lot of guns because it was evident the gun would not work for them at all. The Smith & Wesson M&P Shield ended up being a fair fit for a lot of folks, but then they saw the trade-off with smaller guns transmitting more felt-recoil. Everything’s a trade-off.

For those in class (or those not, but shopping for a first gun), please give a read to this handgun guide. It talks about the factors that really matter, like proper fit. Because if the gun fits, it becomes easier to shoot, more fun to shoot, which means you’ll shoot more, practice more, get better, and that’s what it’s all about.

All in all, class was good. Thank you all for coming out, and to Mother Nature for the good weather.

As an aside, the class was extra special to me because one of the students was Oldest. He’s always had an interest in guns, but it was casual. He’s recently grown his interest, and while he knew a bunch of the things that we teach in BP1, it was good for him to get the formal class (and certificate). He helped me set up and tear down, and was a great assistant all day. After class was over, he and I went through the buffet together — it was the first time he shot some larger calibers, and shooting a .357 Magnum round out of a small S&W 640 was an eye-opener for him. 🙂  We had a late lunch at the Elm Creek Cafe, then hung out until the sun started to go down. Karl’s been seeing some feral hogs around the ranch, so we hunkered down for a few hours to see if we could do something about that. Alas, no hogs nor coyotes taken, but that’s alright — it was just so nice to spend the day together.