I took FAS-2 which is a two day class with 18 hours of instruction. This is the FAS-2 course description. We spent most of the class out shooting with 3-4 hours in the classroom. My most recent prior class was about a year ago, August 2003 at Gunsite. During this FAS-2 class I learned some new stuff and improved my skills. The class had 8 people including one woman. Everyone in the class had prior handgun experience, and most had been through at least one other training class. I attended with my good friend Bernd, who is former military and has safe gun handling skills, but no recent shooting experience. The instructor was Tom Haeflinger with Larry, his assistant.
My goal in taking this class was to refresh my training and learn new skills from a different school. For maximum practical benefit, I used my daily carry weapon and holster during the class. That is a Sig p245 with a Kramer horsehide IWB and double mag holder. This is a compact .45 (approx. 4" barrel) with single stack 6 round magazines. The small magazine capacity is a disadvantage on extended drills, but I believe it is sufficient for most self defense situations. Using a bigger gun with a higher magazine capacity would be easier yet less pertinent to real life since such a gun is not what I am likely to have in hand for daily carry.
The first day of the class included most (but not all) of the classroom time. The shooting on day 1 was tightly supervised on a cold range, going to a hot range on the latter half of day 2. The cold range was a change from what I had experienced at Gunsite. FAS-2 covered all the basic legal topics but did not go as in-depth as Gunsite did. For example, FAS-2 discussed criminal vs. civil law, while Gunsite provided detailed examples of how civil law provides fewer protections to a person involved in a justified shooting.
Shooting on day 1 we went through the standard drills. First we went through 3 different shooting stances while the instructors looked at our weapon position to determine which works best ergonomically for each of us. Modified weaver is my most natural stance which the instructors confirmed. Then they discussed holster presentation. It was similar to Gunsite's 5 step presentation but less "procedural". Gunsite has a reputation for teaching "The One Right Way" and to some extent this is true. FAS methodology, like Gunsite, is derived from practical experience and logic but FAS presented it in a less doctrinaire fashion. We then did basic shooting drills at 4, 7, 15 and 25 yards, This included standard stance, one handed strong hand, one handed weak hand, high kneeling, low kneeling, and shooting from vertical and horizontal cover. These drills were not timed or scored, we just shot them for learning and practice.
During these drills, I started slow and smooth and progressively ramped up the speed. My goal was to be as fast as possible while keeping all shots in the 10 range. Here is something new that I learned: We tested the reset length of our triggers and I found that the Sig has a long trigger. Even in SA mode, the trigger reset is about 3/4 of the way forward. This long trigger reset is why I have been shooting low in the drills. The long pull - not the weight of the pull but the length - causes me to mash the trigger. This was happening more or less equally on DA and SA mode. Over the course of day 1 and part of day 2, knowing about the long reset, I learned to use the reset to pull the trigger more smoothly without mashing. This significantly improved my accuracy and speed - COOL!
The FAS instructors also use humor where appropriate. As we were preparing for day 1 range shooting, the student shooting next to me said his 1911 style gun had not misfired in 5,000 rounds. Instructor Larry laughed and said he'd take $5 on that. Three shots into the first group the student's gun stovepiped. All of us (instructors & students alike) were grinning, especially when he said it wasn't really a failure because he cleared it without disassembling the gun! [Did it go "bang" when you pressed the trigger? No? Then *that* is a failure!] Also, the one lady in the class started with a Kimber compact 1911 style gun which didn't last through day 1. So she switched to her 2nd gun, another compact Kimber 1911 which lasted a few hours before it died. She finished the class with her 3rd gun, a CZ in 9mm. Bernd, shooting my S&W model 411, had 2 failures during the class, both cleared with a tap & rack. My Sig p245 had one failure - but not the fault of the gun. I had one round which didn't fire when I pulled the trigger. I cycled the slide and continued shooting. Afterwards I retrieved the bullet and the primer was slightly dinged. Hard reload primer + old weak hammer spring = light strike. This was really my fault for running the spring beyond its recommended life - it was about 6 years old with 5,000 rounds down the pipe. I am very meticulous about cleaning my guns but I learned to be equally meticulous about consumable parts like springs. When I got home I replaced the main hammer spring.
Back to the 1911 stovepipe - instructor Tom took advantage of this to provde another instructional insight, adding a few brief comments on handgun design. Regarding reliability, he pointed out there is nothing wrong with the original 1911 design. It is a superb, reliable gun. But some modern modified versions of it can be problematic. They attempt to tighten it up to improve accuracy which can make it less reliable. Also, it was designed for a 5" barrel and relatively large, massive slide. Shortening the barrel & slide requires other changes (such as a heavier recoil spring) which reduce reliability and increase wear & tear on the parts. The original unmodified 1911 A1 government model does not have these problems, and the accuracy is sufficient for self defense. My own vintage WW-II Remington Rand attests to this truth. It seems the most reliable compact guns are not shortened versions of full size guns, but those designed from scratch to be compact.
At the end of day 1 we ran Teuller drills and our average time to go 21 feet was under 2 seconds. My time was 1.4 seconds.
On day 2 we watched a video of a police incident in which officer Linda Lawrence was killed.
Searching a burgled house, the two officers encountered a goblin who grabbed one officer's gun.
In the ensuing struggle Lawrence was shot dead
and the goblin continued attacking even after being shot 11 times including once through the head.
Lessons learned from the video:
Officers unnecessarily engaged the suspect
Officers did not authoritatively command the suspect at the beginning of the encounter
Officers unnecessarily got too close to the suspect
Officers could not shoot the suspect because they were in each other's way
Officers lacked sufficient training to prevail in the melee encounter
Officers were using handguns with inadequate firepower
NOTE: the biggest mistake here was the first one. This is not primarily about fighting tactics or caliber sufficiency. It is about zones of awareness (white, yellow, orange, red) and situational control. They did not have to engage the suspect in that manner at that time.
The surviving officer was later involved in another shooting. This time he applied the lessons learned from his past experience and did the right thing. He kept out of melee range of the suspect, commanded authoritatively, and fired without hestitation when the suspect went for a gun. Result: armed suspect stopped in a clean shoot with no risk to bystanders.
Shooting on day 2 got more fun and interesting. We learned our stress fire index at 4 and 7 yards. I found that my Sig points naturally in my hand so that at 21 feet or closer I do not have to use the sights. In darkness with only enough light to see a dim outline of the target I can draw, fire and hit the A zone without the sights. It is all about repeating the action until the hands and arms gain muscle memory to do it on their own. This is faster and more consistent than having your brain tell them what to do. The only drawback is that it is not as accurate and only useful from 20 feet or closer. Of course, most self defense situation are well under 20 feet distance.
We did a qualification shooting test which is similar to the WA state police test. Of 600 possible points, I shot 588 on the first round and 585 on the second. None of my shots missed and I made all the head shots, but a few of my body shots at 75 feet went into the B zone instead of the A zone (trigger control errors on my part). This put me at 98%. Police officers must shoot 78% or 468 to pass this test. Most (if not all?) people in the class exceeded that score.
The class also covered shooting while moving. Lateral movement is important especially engaging an attacker with a melee weapon. I found that shooting with the weak hand was not any harder than with the strong hand. This suggests that the barrier to weak hand shooting is psychological not physical.
The night shooting was similar to Gunsite only they added stress fire index drills in pitch darkness.
All my shots went into the A and B zones, even the ones with no aiming.
There really seems to be something good behind this muscle memory and point shooting.
However, my fast shots went low which showed I tend to mash the trigger during speed drills.
To correct this, I did 3 things:
1. I forced myself to slow my finger down and pull the trigger at what feels like slow motion.
2. I held the gun looser - eliminate the death grip and hold it about as tight as I'd hold a hammer when pounding nails.
3. Don't anticipate or try to control the recoil - let the gun recoil and return on target on its own.
When I do these things the shot is fast and accurate every time.
At this point the class was over but we had 2-3 hours to spare so we played some IDPA drill games.
The first was 2 shooters going simultaneously on a standard range with steel knockdown targets. One shooter on the left moving left, the other on the right moving right. At 15 yards, each shooter had to do a double-tap on the first, then run to cover (a large barrel) and from cover (or while moving to cover) knock down 6-8 other steel targets in tactical order. Tactical order means, from cover, shoot from the outside in (shoot the outside most target first then work toward the center). We watched the instructors first, then we went up against each other. My small mag capacity required me to reload during the drill, but I defeated the other students - some by a very slim margin which made it exciting. This was due not to speed, because I was really not that fast, but the other students were not hitting the targets, wasting time and ammo. Some of the students used up all 3 of their mags and completely ran out of ammo during the drill, where I was shooting a little slower but (mostly) hitting them.
The next was an even more fun and interesting drill. We set up steel targets along a narrow ravine, partially hidden as if they were bad guys taking cover. The targets were grouped in sets of 2-3 from different shooting positions. The player started behind cover, knocking down all targets from his current position, then running to the next position and knocking down those targets from cover, reloading as necessary until all the targets from all the positions were down. 3 of the 8 students completed the drill; the others ran out of ammo (emptied all their mags) before shooting all the targets. The scores were 61, 58 and 53 seconds, with 53 being my time. To put these scores into perspective, instructor Tom said their best score was 30 seconds, set by a master IDPA shooter like himself.
Overall it was a good class well worth the money. It was deeper than Gunsite's CCW class, but shorter than Gunsite 250. Price, at $225, was also between the two Gunsite classes.
Good stuff:
I like the fact that I now have a police qualification test score on file.
I was introduced to unsighted and stress point index shooting.
I learned about trigger reset and how to take advantage of it when shooting.
I improved my accuracy with better trigger technique.
I enjoyed being introduced to IDPA style shooting games.
The instructors are professionals who walk the walk.
I learned more about my primary carry weapon and how to use it more effectively
I learned that I prefer not to have a gun with a magazine disconnect.
Bad stuff:
The facilities are spartan with porta-toilets, and remote so bring your own lunch.
Tom and Larry grilled Bernd on day 1 him with his gun...
not for any egregious safety issues but due to the gun's magazine disconnect and his hand arthritis,
making it difficult for him to clear the gun according to the range procedures.
Safety is A GOOD THING but the grilling seemed a tad excessive.
Overall: THUMBS UP! Bernd and I will both be back... hopefully soon. Now I just need to stay away from those IDPA meets - too addicting!