I saw something recently that fits in with so many people these days…. “You don’t need a $3000 AR, you need a $700 AR and $2300 of training and ammo” There is no better words than these for most people I see at the range. So spend some money on training you will not regret it in the least.
Training Courses
There are a lot of classes offered out there and before taking one be sure to do some homework to find out some background on the instructors and just what it is they teach. The following offer courses that I have heard good things about. I sure would like to take one or two….
Mast Solutions https://mastsolutions.com/
I don’t know why but Texas seems to get all the cool stuff…. Going to have to get down there for some training one of these days. This is run by Matt Brockmann, you might recognize his name from episodes of Modern Shooter. He offers a good selection of courses that you might want to check out.
Plus I recently got to spend some time with Matt and he is just a plain good guy with tons of know how. Can’t wait to get back down his way.
Trident Concepts http://www.tridentconcepts.com/
This is run by Jeff Gonzales, a former US Navy Seal. He has an awesome attitude about defense and also has a great book that covers his philosophy. He offers courses all over the country but sadly not close to me. Someday….
Thunder Ranch http://www.thunderranchinc.com/home/
This one is a lot closer to me, he has moved the program mostly to Oregon. And if you have not come across Clint Smith’s name when it comes to defensive handgun training, you might be living under a rock…
Firebase Academy http://www.firebaseacademy.com/
Jack Furr has a long history in Law Enforcement and the training business. He was an instructor at Gunsight and Thunder Ranch before they moved to Oregon. You will love his attitude if you like to train for reality.
Dark Angel Medical http://www.darkangelmedical.com/Training.html
These guys make my first aid kit and also teach how to use it. Classes are set up locally then they come in and teach them. If they ever have a class near me I will definitely be there. If you are interested in putting a class together get ahold of them through their website.
Books to Have
Tech Information
The Colt .45 Automatic, A Shop Manual
The U.S. M1911/M1911A1 and Commercial M1911 type pistols, A Shop Manual
Both by Jerry Kuhnhausen and considered by almost everyone to be the ultimate shop manual for our 1911’s.
I really couldn’t imagine working on my guns without these two books nearby. Covers absolutely everything you will ever do to your guns and lots of things you may not even consider.
Gun Handling and Conflict
I do not doubt there are many more out there… Let me know if you know of one
Combative Fundamentals by Jeff Gonzales Well worth it, available from Amazon
Practical Shooting by Brian Enos Available lots of places and also direct from www.BrianEnos.com
Principles of Personal Defense by Jeff Cooper How can you not have a book by the guy many consider to be the father of modern defensive handgun use….. This is more essay than book but epitomizes that less is more. If you could only have one book about the proper mind set for personal defense this might be it.
Handgun Combatives by Dave Spaulding Had to buy this book after reading some of his ideas. What he has to say is well worth the time to read it.
Combat Shooting with Massad Ayoob As I have said elsewhere you would have to be living under a rock to not have heard about Massad. Much of this book will be familiar if you have read any of his articles in the last couple of years as it is primarily a compendium of his work. I had seen some of it before but most of it was new to me and well worth having as it puts the info in one place, not in 20 different magazines.
The Gift of Fear, Gavin De Becker This one is tough to read but worth it for the information about trusting your intuition (gut feelings for guys) and such. More aimed at females. What the book really needs is an editor to cut out the long winded verbiage and keep the meat and potatoes…. Book reads like an infomercial sounds but worth the effort to find the good stuff.
Eastern Thinking
The Unfettered Mind, Takuan Soho Like most Asian writing, to the western mind (including mine), it can seem hard to read. But worth the info you will get from it. Amazing how relevant his thinking is in todays world considering the words are from almost 500 years ago…
The Book of Five Rings, Miyamoto Musashi More writings from early Japan from a well known samurai. Lots of wax on, wax off thinking but I get more from it each time I look through it.