Pistol 145 (Intro to Defensive Pistol) with John Viray

[gregkl]

I prefer the cold over the heat. Come July, I may be the designated mag loader in the shade. See you then sir.

I'll loan you my Uplula loader!

 

[308jake]

There are still spots for the 7/20
defensive 145 course. Sign up ends 5pm on 7/12.

 

[gregkl]

I can't believe we are upon this class! I've shot maybe 2-3 times this year. I am not prepared for a class like this unfortunately.

I guess I'll try again next year.

 

[308jake]

I can't believe we are upon this class! I've shot maybe 2-3 times this year. I am not prepared for a class like this unfortunately.

I guess I'll try again next year.

There is another one in September.

 

[gregkl]

There is another one in September.

Supposedly my wife is going to make me take some time for recreation activities (ie shooting) at least 1X per week. If that pans out, I'll set my sights on that one. Thanks Jake.

 

[TheJoker]

I bought three tickets to the one in September. Kathy, myself and a young cousin of mine are looking forward to it. Kathy will be rockin' her new Performance Center M&P Pro 9L.

 

[308jake]

Supposedly my wife is going to make me take some time for recreation activities (ie shooting) at least 1X per week. If that pans out, I'll set my sights on that one. Thanks Jake.

That sounds great. Hope you can make it.

 

[308jake]

I bought three tickets to the one in September. Kathy, myself and a young cousin of mine are looking forward to it. Kathy will be rockin' her new Performance Center M&P Pro 9L.

I should have your CMP 1911 by then

 

[TheJoker]

I should have your CMP 1911 by then

It should be sometime next week; but, I doubt I pound a lot of rounds through my USGI 1911.

 

[gregkl]

Thought I'd post an AAR.

Not sure how to not have this so long winded that people won't read it. And I can get long winded, lol. So I'll try to do this Doddg style using bullet points:

* John Viray has a great sense of humor

* Typical RR event where safety is covered in spades

* John's ability to "see everything" is evident and rare. He noticed things like grip squeeze, wearing fashionable but improper belts for holster wear to bringing sandwiches in a carton not even made yet!

* His discussions of defending one's life were thought inspiring. This was in no way some tactiturd trying to make spec op operators out of us.

* He understands that we all don't have the resources to gear up with all the latest greatest all at one. Sure he told me to buy two guns, and I will. As soon as my wife calls him.

* He is not a "do it my way or hit the highway" instructor. He will ask you to try, but if you need to do something a particular way, say shoot in a Weaver stance, he is okay.

* He was the first person that has truly been able to help me with my vision issues. I came away with more confidence that I will be able to learn how to shoot and I now have one less excuse to not get better.

* The class built upon fundamental processed that culminated in running a drill to put it all together. I walked away from that day with an action plan that is repeatable and measurable.

This guy has a wealth of knowledge and I can see going back to him multiple times to continue with my education. He is willing to talk about whatever you ask him about during breaks which is nice. I got some dry fire questions sorted out as well as my vision questions, BUG questions, grip issues, and how to slip two new guns into my rotation! What more can you ask for! I'll be back!

 

[diveski11]

Nice AAR!

Can you explain a bit about your vision aha moment? I have astigmatism and progressive lenses that are not awesome for focusing on front sight quickly.

 

[gregkl]

Nice AAR!

Can you explain a bit about your vision aha moment? I have astigmatism and progressive lenses that are not awesome for focusing on front sight quickly.

Sure. I am cross dominant. Very cross dominant. Very right handed, too old to change at this point. I have pretty good distance vision (Lasik at 40, will be 60 this year) but I require readers to see anything up close; computer screens, tape measure, front sight, etc.

I have been trying progressive contact lens, monovision, blurring out the left lens to force my right eye to become dominant, added reader magnification to the right eye as well as a host of other ideas. I have been working on this for over 2 years now. When I should have been practicing.

I told this to John to see if maybe I should throw in the towel and just go red dot. He said that needing a 2.0 X reader is not a big deal. And he said being cross dominant is no big deal with pistol either. "just adjust a little". When I mentioned that it is obvious when I do that that I am cross dominant, his response was "so what?"

So I am going to go back to using my left eye, cheating my stance a little, put some top focal magnification in that lens, leave the right lens clear so that I have the use of that eye and get on with practicing.

Not only did it help me from a practical way, it helped me to gain some confidence that I still have enough to carry on and try to learn how to do this sport/activity.

My experience with progressive contacts was that they didn't work. Neither did trying to go monovision. My vision was all sorts of screwed up when I did that. I'm not sure if progressive glasses are better but I think I would try top focal magnification bi-focals if I was to wear glasses. As I understand the progression of progressive lens provide a fairly narrow band of correction. I would think it would be difficult in a dynamic situation where one was trying to move at speed. I would be willing to lose some correction at the middle distances to have the front sight sharp and regular binocular vision when looking straight through the lens.

 

[obijohn]

Nice AAR!

Can you explain a bit about your vision aha moment? I have astigmatism and progressive lenses that are not awesome for focusing on front sight quickly.

Call me some time and I'll discuss this with you.