Today I had the pleasure of taking day one of a two day pistol class with John “Shrek” McPhee, Sheriff of Baghdad and also Gunfighter University (GFU). As a responsible citizen who firmly believes in the Second Amendment, I feel that it is imperative to seek training with firearms whenever possible. There are many viable reasons why anyone who is a proponent of the Second Amendment should take it upon themselves to become better trained with their firearms; but I won’t go into that at this time.
I was encouraged to take the class by a good friend of mine, Larry, who had previously taken a one day pistol class with Shrek and also went to the GFU member event in 2018. When Larry called me in July to say that he had signed up for the class and that I should take it with him, I jumped at the opportunity. This particular class is being held at the Florence Kentucky Police Department’s Range in Williamstown.
The day started out at 8:45 when Larry and I arrived at the range and greeted the others there. After watching a brief safety video and a short talk about range safety; we began with Shrek filming each of us drawing our firearm from the holster, presenting, and firing three shots into a three-inch circle at a distance of 3 yards. After each of us had finished this string of fire we returned indoors where Shrek had a TV screen setup to review the footage and to look at areas where we needed improvement.
The use of slow motion videography and an app called “Coach’s Eye” is what sets Shrek’s teaching method apart from other firearms/shooting instructors. This powerful software has been used in other sports for the purpose of analysis but Shrek is the first one to bring it into the firearms training arena. We watched all of the videos and Shrek analyzed our presentation and firing and offered suggestions as to how we could improve not only our speed but also our accuracy.
Once this portion of the class was completed, Shrek then went over the well-known pistol pie chart and the deeply embedded myths that have persisted in shooting. One such myth was jerking the trigger, after discussing this myth and the realities of pistol and body mechanics, Shrek took us out on the range again where he had Larry get into a firing position and Shrek used a socket wrench to fire the pistol. All of the shots fired went into the circle at 3 yards, this illustrated his point that you can’t jerk a trigger fast or hard enough to affect where the the bullet would impact. Simply put the rounds go where the gun is pointed when the trigger is pulled. Although this concept seems ridiculously simple in statement, its true understanding is profound.
After a short break we proceeded with the next section of the class which consisted of indexing our firearms to verify that the pistol was in line with our forearm, upper arm, and shoulder. Once the pistols were properly indexed, Shrek drew a witness mark on our hands where we should center the firearm. We practiced pushing out the firearm so that the front sight was aligned as the pistol was pushed out towards the target. From there we practiced the three step draw. Step one is to place your hand on the pistol, checking the index, looking back at the target, drawing the pistol one inch out of the holster, and bringing the support hand up to our chests with the thumb pointing towards the target. Step two is drawing the pistol, bringing it up so that the front sight is in line with the eyes and the target, and making any adjustments needed to our grip. Set three is pushing the firearm out towards the target and firing once the arms are locked.
Because Shrek had identified areas where we all needed improvement using the slow motion video he used this time to correct any issues we were having. Having grown up around firearms and participating in shooting sports since an early age there were some bad habits that I had developed that I am having difficulty breaking. We spent the rest of the afternoon firing various drills centered around the three step draw and again working on breaking bad habits.
We concluded the day of training with Shrek filming us again drawing, presenting, and firing a string of three shots followed by analysis of the videos and discussion of areas of improvement.
Day two of the class was a short day, we reviewed what we went over on day one and then each of us shot the final drill while Shrek recorded us, after the drills were ran, we returned to the classroom and reviewed the video to see if any improvement was noticeable.
All in all, it was a fantastic experience and I would highly recommend taking a class with Shrek.
For more information about John “Shrek” McPhee and the training classes that he offers, you can visit his website at https://sobtactical.com/.
J.G.