Who Has Had Formal Edged Weapons/firearms Instruction.....sound Off

GPB

GPB

Joined
Nov 9, 2000
Messages
1,219
What School?, Was It Quality?, Recommendations from Chris?, Attended with Your Wife?

Let's hear it!

Where have you taught Chris (that you can tell us that is)?
 
I have had firearms training in the past at Gunsite for basic, intermediate and advanced handgun. All courses were superb and I learnt a lot. My wife went with me on each occasion and we both felt it was money well spent. On the intermediate course, CJ gave an input as wel1 !

I have also attended Blackwater on my own and found it to also be superb.

I have also been on an Emerson hand to hand combat and edged weapons course which I thought was one of the best. This one left me sore for days after so I know I worked hard ! :D
 
Hi, gang! First post here.

I studied self defense under John McSweeney back in 92-94, and the curriculum included knives, clubs and point shooting. More recently, I've studied eskrima under Nate Defensor in Chicago. Heading off to a place like Gunsite or Thunder Ranch is included in the "future plans" column.
 
My first course was a college ROTC "Development of Weaponry" course which briefly covered history of firearms and then we shot target .22s on the range, with some .22 pistol familiarization (about 1980).

My first "real" :) course was the General Pistol 250 at Gunsite in 1982. Unfortunately, Cooper was out of country, but Clint Smith was the rangemaster. Unforgettable!

Next, Ohio Peace Officer Security firearms certification with revolver and shotgun (1987). This was part of a 130 hour Private Police Course at Columbus Technical Institute (now Columbus State Community College). I used my Colt Lawman Mk. V.

From then on, I attended two other OPOTA certs with revolver (my cert has run out) and semi-auto pistol. One recert, I believe, with auto pistol. Even though there is no CCW in Ohio, and I was never an armed guard, I wanted to be certified to some recognized standard for home defense purposes. Weapons used: Colt Lawman, Colt Agent, Colt GM Series '70 .45, Glock M19.

In 1988, Lethal Force Institute's Armed Citizen course (LFI-1) with Mas Ayoob. Like Gunsite, top notch.

In 1989, I signed up with the Army Reserves, and attended Ft. McClellan for Basic training and AIT. Military Police. We qualified with both 1911A1 and M9 pistols, as well as the M16A1s, M60s and other, LARGER :D toys. I also got three runs on FATS, the "Firearms Training Simulator," a high-dollar electronic system. A lot better than the old Motorola tapes we tried at LFI! (Yeah, the blonde in the halter top killed my a**!)

After Desert Shield/Storm, Gunsite was offering half off for that war's vets. I couldn't resist! Back to Paulden for the Rifle Class (API 270) and I finally met Col. Cooper. I used my M-1 Garand, and got a beautiful trigger job at the smithy. Also met Dennis Tueller, one of the guest instructors, and "Naish" Piazza, the top student, who also founded the Front Sight Training Academy now in Las Vegas.

Last fall, Hocking Technical College's Ranger Training Institute hosted John Farnam (as they have for several years). I took the "Urban Rifle/Shotgun" course. Two days of hardcore training with my GI M-1 Carbine. I borrowed an 870 for the shotgun part, and also qualified with my M-1 Garand in the "final exam."

Considering I only teach unarmed S-D to college students, I need to start spending more money on H2H training!

Karl
 
I took several handgun classes, low light shooting class, shotgun class, & rifle class from Top Gun Training Center located in Southern California (San Bernardino county). The class costs are unbelievably reasonable. They attract security people, LEO, & civilians.

http://www.topguntrainingcentre.com/
 
Wylycoyte,

Louis Awerbuck of Yavapie and Gunsite travels each year and gives top notch instruction. Check out his website at yfainc.com for scheduling or call and I am sure they would be glad to advise. This is great instruction without the travel time and expense.
 
Any good empty hands training should naturally lend itself to knife fighting. If you've had any martial arts training at all, just do what you've learned with a knife in your hand, making obvious modifications so you don't cut yourself and you keep your weapon in a grip that lends itself to the situation.

This is obviously a generalization, but many of us know more about knife fighting than we think. If you've taken the run of the mill Karate class in some strip mall, store-front school, you can probably migrate your knowledge of empty hand training to knife fighing, with a little common sense.

I've personally experienced Chen Taiji practitioners who can maintain proper body alignement and a ground path in any movement, which means that no matter what they have in their hands, there will be a good bit of force behind it using their ground.

I've trained in Tae Kwon Do and Shaolin Longfist, but I can't seem to find anything that parallels the beauty and effectiveness of Chen Taiji. Although, this does take a good while to become effective with, let alone master, so for immediate combat effectiveness, the Filipino arts (Eskrima, Kali, Arnis) are excellent.

By the way, the hand-to-hand training I recived as a U.S. Army basic trainee in 1990 was less than pathetic. I couldn't fight off a gnat if I depended on that training. Granted, I wasn't in the infantry, and I was just a lowly Military Intelligence type (rear echelon), but we should recieve a basic levle of hand-to-hand instruction. It was only when I sought out private training in Korea, and later in the States that I learned anything. I hope, for the sake of those going up against experienced fighters in the Middle East, that this training has improved.:confused:
 
Back in the 80's it was impossible to receive better training than Gunsite. I took the 250, 500, and Urban Rifle. Invaluable training.
Nowadays? Clint Smith at Thunder Ranch has some great classes. You might also want to try Ayoob for shotgun classes, as his was the best shotgun class I've ever taken, bar none. Take a Benelli Super 90 Tactical with you and Mas will teach you everything that you'll ever need to know about a tactical shotgun.
 
I took Mas Ayoob's LFI I, II and III back to back in 1991 and really enjoyed it. Also, a three-day seminar in executive protection from Dr. Richard Kobetz.

As far as hand-to-hand goes, I've been practising some form of martial arts since I was 14, including Shotokan karate, Western boxing (had UFC's Marco Ruas as a teacher way before his days of fame), Muay Thai and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Can't wait to start getting some professional edged weapons instruction.

Leo
 
We recieve h2h and weapons training 3 times a week from Datu Kelly S. Worden Excellent instruction. Free flowing, common sensed, real world approach.

SFAUC was great weapons training - another perk at work. Also highly recommended :D

Dan
 
Formal Training consisted of training in the Philippines and Taiwan with people who saw action during the second war. In Taiwan, My immediate instructor was one of the primary instructors for the Taiwanese Airforce Military Police where I started my training in Kuntao. This was back in the early 70's when I trained in Arnis/Eskrima, Kuntaw, and Comjuka (Filipino Version of Combat Judo Karate aka Baraw Defensa). My firearms training came from Military instructors while in the Philippines where I had the chance to be qualified on the "Toys" that were being used in the Airbase Defense Group.


Bill aka Silat1
Maharlika Kuntao
Guam
 
Leo Daher,

I also took the EPI 3 day CQB class, sponsored by Dr. Kobetz in Jacksonville in 1999. Vince Morris from the UK was our lead instructor, super good training! :)
 
Hi, Town Sergeant.

Funny how we seldom hear of Dr. Kobetz outside of certain circles, isn't it? I'm sure the full course at his facilities in Virginia would be quite an experience.
BTW, I did VIP protection jobs here in Rio for a couple of years, and the things I learned from EPI really made a difference.

Leo
 
I have watched this one for a while.
I am more interested in who has had multiple life threatening encounters, then I would talk training.
 
1.) Had a 12 gauge stuck in my face at about the age of seventeen. Told the guy "go ahead" like a complete idiot! Just as I figured he was too scared. But boy how STUPID was I!

2.) At a party in college this a$$hole showed up and was walking around with his hand in his jacket like Napoleon. People started asking who the idiot was. After a few inquiries (this was a large party) we realized no one at the party knew the guy. So about five of us went up to him and asked him to leave. Though I don't think he had any formal training, he took a couple of quick steps back, removed a 1911, racked and presented right in my face and the guy next to me. Had I had formal training at the time, the slide would not have been engaged before he was on the ground cryin' for mommy. As it turned out, we all froze in our tracks and said "hey man, no one wants any trouble, we just want you to leave". He backed out the front door and left. Later we found out he was looking for his girlfriend and thought she was in a bedroom (big house too) with somebody. Turned out he had the wrong party.

3.) Had another guy pull a .357 on me because I slowed down to let his tailgating Blazer pass me. He went around me and stopped. I got out, and he got out with a Revolver, strong hand, hangin' in hand by his side. I said "oh, what bad a$$ you are" ( I guess I can be real stupid sometimes ). After a few words we both got in our cars and left. I wasn't going to report it, but I saw a cop about five blocks later and thought "he deserves it" pulled over and told him. About this time the wise guy passed by where I was talkin to the cop and had the guts to point his finger at me. The cop pulled him over, confiscated the weapon, told me what it was, said it was unloaded ( I said "really, when do you think he unoaded it"?) and....... "there's one more thing, he is so and so's brother". So and so was my neighbor and a local County Detective. The cop let him go. I was pi$$ed enough to call the brother Detective and ask him "where do you think I'd be if I was the one who pulled the gun"? We talked a little more blah, blah, blah.

Ok, so mine are boring......

Now if you want to talk Motorcycle Racin', got plenty of life threatening ones to tell you.
 
Funny how I was telling my wife yesterday night about the two times I had pistols pointed at me when I was a kid - and how my stupid-assed reaction had been to tell them to go ahead and shoot. Good thing they were only bluffing.
Other than that, I lost count of the times I fought in the streets in my youth; rough neighborhood, bad companies and plenty of alcohol can be pointed as factors. That thankfully stopped when I was twenty-something (and I don't drink anymore).
While working VIP protection details, I never had any serious incidents, even though kidnapping by heavily armed gangs is pretty common here in Rio. I like to think that good planning prevented trouble - then again, maybe I just got lucky...

Leo
 
In 25 years as a street cop (1976 - 2001) I had a few "routine" (there is NO SUCH THING!) calls turn hellishly bad in a micro-second. A couple that come to mind include:

1. While writing a shoplifting report in my unit with a female prisoner in the back seat, I allowed an individual to approach my open window without paying close enough attention to him. Bad mistake on my part, as he was: A. her boyfriend, B. a cop-hater with a long history of attacks on officers, and C. a very skilled and aggressive street fighter. He attacked me through the window, beating on my face and ultimately doing a thumb gouge to my left eye (I still carry the scars on my face). I was working in plainclothes at that time ( and had ran the original call because no Patrol unit was free), and we were not issued mace, baton, etc...I finally shouldered the car door open and fought my way down the side of my unit, ultimately beating him in the face with my handcuffs, using them as metallic knuckles. I was able to subdue him and call for back-up, we both ended up in area ER's for treatment prior to his incarceration.
The only good thing that came out of the whole ordeal was that one of a neighboring state's police academies later requested and obtained all the info on the incident and pictures of my unit (door still standing wide open, blood splatter all up the side and on the trunk) and me (whole left side of my face in bandages), and utilized them in their Officer Survival training, stressing both my initial mistake and my use of an improvised weapon to quite possibly save my own life.

2. Responding to a "neighborhood disturbance" call, I entered a residence to speak with a lady with a long history of mental illness who (we later found out) had attacked a neighbor with a piece of firewood. When I confronted her in her kitchen, she brandished a butcher knife and approached me, slashing the knife from side to side. I grabbed a large meat platter off of the kitchen table and used it as a shield/impact tool, knocking the knife from her hand. My back-up arrived at that time and we secured my assailant and transported her to a mental health facility.

3. Myself and another officer were inside a multi-family residence talking to a couple that had been involved in a domestic disturbance, when the female's father entered the room with a fixed blade knife in his hand. An older gentleman with a violent temper, he screamed at us to get out of his house and wildly gesticulated at us with the knife. My partner immediately drew down on him with his service revolver and ordered him to drop the knife, when the suspect focused his attention in that direction I made a strike with my Kel-light to his hand/wrist and knocked the knife out of his hand. A third officer arrived at ths time and covered the other parties while we secured our assailant and took him into custody.

Nothing big-time or heroic, just the kind of situations that you run into working the street.
 
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