AAR Pistol Clinic Albuquerque, New Mexico Nov 15-Nov 16, 2025

[mrakestraw]

Overview, History, and Weather
We had a great pistol clinic at the Shooting Range Park in Albuquerque, New Mexico! We had a group of 11 students come out for some beautiful weather, history, and instruction! Orange hats to Silver hats helped out, and all instructors were needed on the line. Without their help we could not have had the great success that we had. Every student learned and had a great time!

Both days were very busy, and every second was filled with history, instruction, or hydration! Instruction was covered with great success. Scott's crew was excellent and Nick's line bossing really helped out with keep the event on time and running smoothly.

History was presented with the classic three strikes and Sam & Sam. Multiple Dangerous Old Man stories were taught during breaks.

The weather was bright and canopies provided from instructors and students really helped. Students, thank you for bringing canopies! I heard it got windy at the ABQ range, and it definitely was the second day! Jon and Thomas set up an excellent target line that withstood the wind.

With great instruction and practice, we saw scores increase across the board. On the first day every student hit both the first and the second largest tombstones! On the second day more than half of students hit the second largest tombstone. The heavy wind played a factor, it was extremely windy near the end of the day, but this is excellent shooting! Some students came prepared to play and every time a student cleared the Hits Count target they earned either an Appleseed pin or pen and we gave them a loud huzzah!


Lightbulb Moments
There were various "lightbulb" moments for both shooters and instructors on the line. These were times when the students or instructors made their own discoveries of how applying good fundamentals with appropriate techniques will get great results. Here is a list of some of these lightbulb moments:

- We reinforced the students with the safety rule to keep their finger off the trigger until their sights are on the target. This meant having a place on the frame or the slide that is above the trigger that they must physically touch until it is time for them to fire. This physical index is a critical safety lesson. Students left with the ability to communicate this to friends and family to make everyone safer.

- One student kept putting his pistol down to look at the bullet holes on his target. However, he was using an optical sight, which meant he should be target focused. Getting him to focus on looking at the target allowed him to speed up by removing the extra movement of looking through the pistol.

- We encouraged dry fire (or dry practice as it was sometimes called on the line) which means pressing the trigger and seeing what your sights do. If your sights did not move from where they were aimed at, then it was a good shot. Often students re-rack the slide to press the trigger, but this method of dry fire is only a very, very small part of dry fire. Students were encouraged to press the trigger again instead of re-racking the slide. This method of pressing with a dead trigger allows students to dry fire more realistically and still get meaningful data from multiple trigger presses.

- One student earned Pistoleer™ after persevering through multiple difficulties including malfunctions, fliers, and more. She earned Pistoleer™ after adjusting her grip to ride the thumb safety to ensure that she would not activate the safety during firing. By staying process focused, and not thinking about random fliers, she was able to earn Pistoleer™.


Pistoleer™ Patches
Students came prepared to shoot and scores rose across both days. More students than not earned Pistoleer™ patches. One student performed extremely well and earned a distinguished Pistoleer™ patch with irons! As always we are extremely thankful for all students who put in the effort before and during class. Don't let your instruction slip, go dry fire and increase your scores! Dry fire safely with a friend or bring them to a clinic and test their skills.


Conclusion
I want to thank all of our shooters and instructors for a safe and fun shoot. For all shooters seeking a patch or shooting excellence, consistent dry fire will get you there. Come back to another clinic and bring a friend!

[Roswell]

This sounds like an awesome event! 

Congrats to all the Pistoleer™s! 

[Mrs. Smith]

Everyone had a great time and learned a lot, y'all. Well done!

[Bundt Pan]

Well done, sounds like a great time