Fourteen students attended Defensive Handgun Level Two, taught by Steve Fisher of Michigan Defensive Firearms Institute (MDFI), at the Pima Pistol Club north of Tucson in May 2008. It was the first of four classes over two days and two nights. Students from Fisher’s January visit had asked him to come back for the level two courses.
Course overview
- School: Michigan Defensive Firearms Institute, with assistant instructor Casey
- Host: Tucson Guns and Western Artifacts
- Length: 8 hours, followed by the evening Low Light Pistol class
- Prerequisite: A concealed pistol license or other pistol certification
- Required gear: A handgun (no .22 except for medical reasons), 600 rounds, three magazines or speedloaders, a strong-side holster, eye and ear protection, and food and water for the day
Topics
- Strong-hand and support-hand fighting drills, and drills to increase speed.
- Moving off the X and getting to cover quickly, with movement in all directions.
- Ground fighting skills, and moving and shooting on multiple targets.
How the day ran
- Start: 9 a.m. with a safety briefing, introductions, waivers and range fees, in direct sun and temperatures in the 80s.
- Strings: Fisher ran two strings of seven shooters, so students had time to load, drink and rest. Using every other target stand left room for movement and two-target drills.
- Coaching: level one basics like drawing and reloading were not retaught. Instead, the instructors coached each student on trigger, draw and follow-through, demonstrating to the whole line when it helped.
- Lunch: the class ate together, so questions and discussion carried on.
- Dot drill: a slow, close-range accuracy drill midway through the day forced everyone back to the fundamentals, and many students shot better afterward. One student later scored 100 percent on it at night.
- Long range: at the students’ request, the class tested its skills on steel plates out to 50 yards. Groups opened up, but everyone hit the plates eventually.
- Round count: 700 to 1,000 rounds per student.
Observations
- Fisher’s philosophy: advanced gunfighting is simple gunfighting done faster, so the focus stayed on proper technique.
- Loading from a loose pile or a bag beats loading from boxes on a training range, and a magazine loader saves sore thumbs. Mark your gear with a paint marker.
- The Pima Pistol Club’s shaded areas, convenient parking and steel plate rows make it one of the best training ranges around Tucson.
Takeaways
- Bring more ammunition than the list requires, plus sunscreen.
- Shoot a slow accuracy drill when you are tired; it resets your fundamentals. Try Dot Torture.
- See the overall MDFI May 2008 after action report.
Originally published on After Action.net on May 12, 2008. Rebuilt from the archived report; the original photos were not preserved. See every class in the Training Log, or share your own training experience.
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