Steve is a trainer with the Michigan Defensive Firearms Institute. I got a chance to talk with him at the Raven Concealment tables at the 1500. He holds training classes just inside Michigan, which look like a great opportunity, especially for those northern Indiana folks. I wanted to make sure he joined and let us know about upcoming training opportunities in our "Tactics and Training" forum.
Ah, you are "that" Steve! I had a hunch when I saw "Steve" and "Michigan" for some reason, even though there are probably a couple more Steves up there. I don't know if we've met at Boone Co. or not.
Yes, I know Steve. I went to his Handgun I in MI last year.
Sorry if this sounds like a pitch, but I guess that's what it is:
It was good training. It was different from what I was used to because it was only a one-day class, but that was just what I needed at the time.
Due to my wife's work schedule last year, I was not able to get away for even a three-day weekend class anywhere. But a one-day class I could do. Steve invited me up, and saved me from going through 2007 without training.
I left on a Friday evening when my wife got home from work. I wasn't really setting the road on fire and it took about 3.5 hrs to get to Battle Creek, where I spent the night and is close to the class site. If I lived in Indy, it would probably cut around 30- 45 minutes off, making it 3 hrs or less. Not a bad drive for a class.
I got up the next AM, drove to the class, and left for home when it ended. I was away from home just 26 hrs.
I left on a Friday before dark, got back on Saturday before dark. That gave me a class that helped me fix some things, and I still had Sunday free. I thought that was great.
There is hardly a weekend where I couldn't manage to get away for 26 hrs to get to a class, even if it took some pre-planning.
I could have used a Carbine tune-up this year, but didn't want to devote three days of my "training allowance" to it. Going up there for a day would have been perfect. But I got to four classes around here this year, and didn't want to push my luck by claiming I still had to head to MI for just one more.
I admit that beforehand, I wondered about a one-day class. I had to question the value of spending more time on the road than in the class, but that proved to a waste of my worrying time.
He crams a lot into one day by keeping the talk and downtime short, and doing more drills.
So we didn't shoot just to fill the backstop, yet I still shot around 500 rounds that day. That may sound like a lot for one day, but I never felt at all like we were just blasting.
Steve was a Wayne Co MI deputy (Detroit). Rather than devote a lot of time on "You will draw the gun this way", he works more on "Here's how you will fight" and will tell you that while you may be taught and practice this, what really happens is this. So in that sense, I think I would say it's more of a gunfighting class than a shooting class. There is a difference.
His school is a handy thing for us to have in the area. And he travels.