Compact Pistol
If you are like many people who carry a concealed firearm you train and practice with a full-size pistol or revolver and then carry a compact or sub-compact handgun. While it is most appropriate to initially learn on a full-size handgun, we must not underestimate the importance of training with the pistol that we would likely use if forced to defend our lives or the lives of our loved ones. In the Compact Pistol Class, you will learn to use your compact every day carry pistol from concealment. Your everyday carry ammunition will be used in some of the drills. In this one-day class you will learn to apply the skills you have acquired with your full-size pistol to the pistol you usually carry.
Compact Pistol Class:
Sub compact pistol options
Holster options
Short barrel ballistics
Ammunition recommendations
Presenting from concealed carry
Function testing carry ammunition
Comparing point of impact with practice ammo and defensive ammo
Close contact weapon retention shooting techniques
Shooting from a jacket pocket
Revolver vs auto pistol advantages
Compact Pistol Class Equipment list
Handgun– Bring a safe, reliable, accurate and appropriate handgun. Call us if you need help with handgun selection. You may use a striker fired or a double action or a single action cocked and locked pistol that you know how to manipulate correctly. You may also use a double action compact revolver. Call us if you have any questions as we are happy to make recommendations for those who have not yet acquired a concealed carry pistol. We suggest that you bring the full-size pistol that you used in Pistol 1-4 as a back up to be used in case of a breakage.
Magazines– minimum of three functional, reliable high capacity magazines (ten rounds or more) are required. If you have a single stack magazine pistol (such as a Glock 43) you will need 4 magazines rather than 3. We also suggest that if you own a single stack subcompact pistol you should own and bring at least 3 increased capacity magazines such as “Taran Tactical plus 2 magazines” or HYVE extended magazines floor plates. These can be used for training, skip loading, home defense and carried in your spare magazine pouch on your person every day without adding any bulk to your sub compact pistol riding in your holster. You should probably own at least 6 magazines for every semi auto pistol that you own. A pistol without magazines is almost useless. Magazines get lost in combat and they break.
Ammunition- Approximately 200 rounds (classes will vary) of reliable, accurate, factory practice ammunition, no Russian or reloaded ammunition, no tracer ammunition or steel core bullets. We have had serious problems with some “factory loads.” We do not recommend no name or brand X ammunition. We recently had a no name factory 9mm cartridge rupture, blowing the magazine out of the pistol, damaging the magazine beyond repair and stinging the shooters hand. We have seen cheap factory .40 ammunition break up in the barrel and hit the target as a bunch of fragments. As a result, we strongly suggest that you consider bringing only Winchester, Remington, Federal or CCI practice ammunition. For those who would like a specific ammunition recommendation, our current favorite 9 mm practice ammunition is 147 grain CCI FMJ followed by 147 grain Winchester FMJ. The CCI 95 grain TMJ .380 ACP is our favorite practice load in that caliber.
We have had nothing but problems with clients bringing reloaded ammunition. Yours may be great but the problems have been so serious that we have had to stop classes and send everyone to the store to buy factory ammunition to resume training. As a result, we were forced to adopt this policy. No reloads.
Ammunition– 50 rounds of your everyday carry ammunition. These will usually be quality Jacketed hollow points such as Federal HST or Winchester SXT. This will provide you an opportunity to check zero and function test your ammunition.
You should be familiar with firing your self-defense ammo which usually has a bit more recoil and is louder and may have a different point of impact.
Holster– A belt holster carried on the primary side, pistol butt to the rear, leather or kydex, made specifically for the pistol being used, no generic and no nylon holsters. We prefer Kydex holsters for range work and we strongly suggest a vertical draw and not a canted holster and an outside the waist band not an inside the waist band holster. If the package states that the holster will work for “the following long list of pistols,” you can bet the holster will not suffice. No shoulder or cross draw holsters for range safety. Our good friend and fellow instructor Thomas Erickson is local and makes excellent concealed carry holsters.
Due to the number of people who have accidently shot themselves while drawing from the popular holster which has a plastic tab to unlock the pistol we cannot allow its use in our classes. If you have a question about this please call us.
Magazine Pouch- At least one, appropriate for the pistol magazines being utilized.
It should be cut low exposing about half of the magazine. It may be leather or kydex but not nylon.
Dummy Rounds- “A-Zoom” brand in the appropriate caliber. A minimum of 5. Essential for dry practice drills and possibly for skip loading drills. Due to breakage and malfunctions caused by using Tipton dummy rounds those will not be accepted for use in our class. We have also witnessed accidental discharges which occurred because other dummy rounds being used could not be easily distinguished from live rounds when observed in the feed way during a chamber check.
Note: In every class, someone asks if they may use some type of dummy rounds other than A-Zoom. If they were not essential to our teaching methodology and the progress of the class, we would not insist on the A Zoom dummy rounds. You need a minimum of 5 and more would be better as some will no doubt be lost on the live fire range. We suggest that you paint the tip of the nose of the bullets (only) in the dummy rounds so that they will be easier to find on the range and yours can be identified from those of other shooters.
If you paint the entire nose of the bullets in the dummy rounds, they will become lodged in the firing chamber and leave dry paint residue in the pistol causing malfunctions.
Skip Loading is a corner stone of our program and one of the primary reasons that we are so much more successful at teaching marksmanship than other schools. Without them you will be unable to participate in much of the training. Thank you for your understanding. These items are indispensable, and this issue is not negotiable.
Hearing protection- Rubber (not foam) ear plugs on a string and a muff type head set. Foam ear plugs must be squeezed and compacted with your fingers to get them into your ear canal. Your fingers will be contaminated with airborne lead and Mercury. The time required to compact your ear plugs perhaps 10 times a day adds up. Often shooters will have difficulty compressing their foam ear plugs and cannot get them to properly enter the ear canal while the class stands ready and waits. The soft rubber tapered ear plugs (with multiple flanges) are easy and quick to insert. They do not require you to touch them with your contaminated fingers. If the use of foam ear plugs had not been a constant hindrance in the past we would not insist on a specific type of plug. You may buy these at Wal Mart or most any sporting goods or gun store.
Note: If you cannot hear the range commands while wearing both plugs and muffs you may wear only the muffs. Wearing only the plugs is insufficient to protect your hearing and is not allowed.
Eye Protection- clear and shaded shooting glasses.
Small Pocket Note Book- For taking notes on the range.
Belt- A wide thick belt that will fit and fill your belt loops and accommodate your holster will be required.
Trousers with wide belt loops- such as cargo trousers (preferred) or jeans.
Boots or sturdy shoes- high tops providing ankle protection preferred. We are off the concrete. There are rocks and occasionally snakes.
Dress in Layers: so that you can adapt to changing temperatures.
Chair– Folding and Camping chair.
Baseball Cap- A cap or hat, not a visor and make sure it is compatible with your head set and your shooting glasses. You may also bring a brim hat to wear during lunch and other breaks.
Mosquito Repellent- Optional.
Sun Block- Strongly suggested.
Sun Shade- Umbrella or Awning optional– Beware of strong wind gusts.
Bring a Lunch- You will not have time to leave the range for lunch. This is a time to relax and not rush to get back on time. The dirt road is slow. Nothing is close by.
Water- We suggest a gallon of drinking water plus sports drinks for electrolytes each range day.
A garment to be used for drawing from concealment.
A heavy vest such as a fishing vest or photographers vest should work very well.
A Levi vest works well too.
You need a heavy garment that will stay out of the way once you sweep it back.
A light thin over shirt will likely get caught up in your presentation.
This can be dangerous.
If you wear a heavy shirt you will be too hot on the range.
Therefore, we suggest a vest which is also easy to take off during breaks.
A sweat shirt or similar garment with side hand pockets. We would like you to try shooting your pistol from within your pocket. You might want to use an old garment as it will of course be destroyed and might even catch on fire. How much fun is that? We want you to learn if your pistol will function when fired from a pocket and how hard it is to hit the target from that position. We have done this in other compact pistol classes, and it has been an interesting learning experience.
Note Book– Your note book should contain all the pre-training documents we emailed to you and we suggest that you include a copy of the articles on our web site as we consider them part of the course.
Writing Implement- You will need to take notes.
Optional Item-Fire Extinguisher- If you have a fire extinguisher or two please bring them. The possibility of starting a fire with the type of ammunition and targets that we use is almost zero, but due to the recent wild fires we wish to err on the side of caution. If we have 10 or 12 fire extinguishers, shovels and water we should be able to stop a problem before it gets out of hand. Fire can start from a hot exhaust pipe.
Any questions regarding equipment please call us at 801-669-1886
Larry and Stacey Mudgett
Marksmanship Matters LLC.