Leyden, MA Pistol Instructor Certification AAR 2020-08-30

[aim]

Massachusetts managed to snag Agent 355 (a Certified Pistol Instructor), a range, and some great weather, all on short notice. Four Instructors were able to make it to Leyden to take advantage of this Pistol Instructor Boot Camp/Train-The-Trainer opportunity.

This was the first such event organized by Agent 355 to have an official manual and the first one to have real official targets. Perhaps it was the lack of arts-and-crafts target piecing before the occasion. Perhaps it was the beautiful cool, breezy, and sunny weather. Or perhaps it was simply the "third time's a charm" nature of a well-polished and well-prepared class. The result was an excellent day, with a motivated and energized group, and fantastic memories.

It was a fast-paced day, packed with instruction followed by a live fire PQT grind. hbennett, jmurrayvt, aim, and lupis42 got the full course of instruction, an informative background of the Pistol Clinic development history, a productive discussion of various points of instruction, a thorough overview of various platforms and action types, and an opportunity to coach other participants and to to exercise our diagnostic muscles. Yes, everything from breathing to NPOA to proper stance and grip still matters!

Despite some technical issues (light primer strikes, optics falling off, light brass burns), all Instructors managed to clear the Pistoleer™ bar. The host range was somewhat busy as members were gearing up for the hunting season, and we had quite a few inquiries about the program. Scheduling Pistol Clinics in the Northeast is the next logical step and the Instructors are certainly feeling better prepared to be helpful and effective within the new Appleseed Pistol Clinic Program.

[hbennett]

Thanks Agent355 for making this possible!

All I can say is Wow! Just Wow! What a course!  While I have enjoyed all the
Appleseed events I have attended, this experience was really a standout.
This course was an unbelievable amount of fun!  The weather was perfect.
The COF is definitely challenging.  The more than a little gentle ribbing throughout the day motivated
this class of instructors to excel more than just succeed.  A pistol shooter persists!
There were some humorous moments, as Murphy was definitely in attendance!
No matter how persistent the shooter is,  a Ruger MKII magazine won't work in your MKIII!
And Loc-tite is a good thing, especially if you want your fancy sights to stay affixed to your pistol!
What's a little hot brass among friends!  We certainly shared some good laughs. 
And in all seriousness, we got some really top-notch instruction
and fine-tuning in our own technique.  Great work to all that put this course together.

[JMurrayVT]

It was a great time with some great people. Learned a metric ton and I'm looking forward to more.

[lupis42]

It was a glorious day, and a great (and challenging) qual.  Special thanks to Aim for letting me borrow a .22 and a box of .22 so that I could actually qual, since the big steel race gun was getting heavy and tiring.