AAR: M3 Strategies Fundamental and Intermediate Handgun

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - AAR: M3 Strategies Fundamental and Intermediate Handgun – November 9-10, 2013

Posted: 11/24/2013 5:34:24 PM EDT

I’m a decent shooter, CHL-holder and occasional 3-gunner but after years of intuitive learning and observing other shooters it felt like I had hit a plateau. I wanted to get better, but I didn't know what to change, much less how to change it. That prompted me to begin to look for someone who could break down the fundamentals and fill in any gaps I had in my training and understanding of how to become a better shooter.

A shooting buddy reminded me that Stephen Pineau of M3 Strategies routinely has classes in Texas. I was already aware of Stephen's work and had seen a few of his youtube videos. A quick search of his posted schedule revealed that he did, indeed, have one-day Fundamental and Intermediate Handgun classes coming up in the next few weeks - I signed up for both days. I felt like the cost was very reasonable and the option to add 500 rounds of ammunition for $150 more per class seemed like a great deal.

This AAR is an overview of both days, highlighting the elements that stood out to me over the course of the weekend.

Gear used:
Glock 17, Inforce APL, Trijicon HD sights, frame cut to G19 mag length, bobtailed and stippled by Cold Bore Customs.
Nocturnal Sidewinder kydex light-bearing holster from Off The Grid Concepts, along with a mag carrier.
DSG Arms Alpha Belt

The classes were held near Cresson, Texas, only 30 minutes out of the Ft. Worth area. The range is a private one, for now, but a pleasant facility with a covered area and a wide bay - plenty of room. There was an assortment of steel targets as well as more than enough target frames, and a row of Porta-Johns just down the road. The first day started with an uneventful trip out to the range, with the GPS having no issues bringing me to the front gate - not always to be taken for granted in rural Texas. About 8 men and two women had shown up - an excellent student-to-instructor ratio. There were also two assistant instructors present at the start, and never less than one assistant throughout the weekend - all of whom were professional and experienced.

At 8AM, Stephen started his pre-class brief, complete with asking each student to introduce themselves and articulate why they were there for the class. Most were civilians with CHLs and an advanced sense of accountability to be proficient with their carry weapon, and at least one was a LEO. Stephen began his presentation by making it clear up front that he wasn't former military or law enforcement, but as he put it, "a student of the gun." His class wasn't going to be how to fight or how to shoot in a tactical environment, but how to be a better shooter - a skill that was equally applicable in competition or defense. How to become efficient, safe, and accurate...and over time, to get faster. He also spent some time talking about other options like classes on verbal de-escalation or even simple hand-to-hand self-defense, and the responsibility that we should all feel to have more than just the gun in our list of responses. As he put it, it would be better to leave the house each day with an "armed mind and an empty holster" than the other way around. Stephen made it clear that, while he was here to give us the "keys to the kingdom" as efficient and accurate shooters, the idea of sending us away without a sense of responsibility to obtain and then exhaust as many other options as possible BEFORE going to a gun weighed heavily on him. I appreciate that perspective, and it has served to change a few of my training priorities.

He followed up with a comprehensive and confidence-inspiring safety brief, some range instructions and we gathered our gear to begin class.

Naturally, he started with a slow drill that enabled him to get a sense of the capabilities or experience level of each student. From there, he began to address each shooter's needs in terms of grip, stance, and trigger-finger placement. Once he had fine-tuned a few things in one-on-one interaction with several students, he began to get into some instruction and drills. Some of the insights were original to him, and some were refinements that he had picked up from other trainers and shooters - and he was careful to credit those to whom he attributed the drill or technique. If he had altered it or refined it, he would point out what was different and why. The result was often a change, however slight, that resulted in better accuracy, safer movement, more predictable results or success in a broader spectrum of situations....or all of the above. I'm not going to go into detail, drill by drill, but simply give an overview of some of the things that the class covered...and some of the things that stood out to me over the course of the weekend. For the most part, the classes were designed to enable the student to be efficient, safe and accurate in a defensive situation.

For instance, the technique he taught for shooting with one hand made an immediate and dramatic improvement in my accuracy and confidence. It involved flagging the shooting-hand thumb up to help stabilize the handgun and compensate for the missing support of the other hand, then bringing the elbow and body in behind the vertical handgun to straighten the recoil impulse back into a vertical line. That enabled a predictable and repeatable track for the sights, which made re-acquiring your sight picture and sustained accurate fire much faster. It also meant that any imperfect shots would be in a vertical string. This kept more of the rounds on the target, which would be incrementally more effective on an adversary AND less likely to result in stray shots - and Stephen reminded us continually that you had to own your misses..

Another refinement that he showed us had to do with the draw stroke. Stephen made a distinction here between simply trying to move faster, vs. adjusting the mechanics of your draw in order to see the sights sooner. What he described was a refinement, a more logical way to go from a holstered gun to an accurate shot by raising the arc of the draw-stroke and pressing out in a more horizontal movement. That allowed you to....yep, see your sights SOONER. Previously I had been getting the gun up to eye-level as fast as possible, then stopped as fast as possible, waiting for the gun to settle down, acquiring my sights and then a sight picture, followed by a trigger press. This new modified movement allowed me to see my sights and begin to manage them much sooner. So, as my arms extended out, my sights could begin to align as my focus transitioned back from the target to my front sight. This enabled me to reach full extension ready to fire a round instead of starting the process of finding the sights on a gun that was still stabilizing from a vertical movement. He reinforced the improved draw stroke with a drill that broke the entire movement down into small segments and used repetition to build muscle memory.

He covered malfunction clearance, with yet another small refinement or simplification of the accepted methods. I'm adopting his system for my own use. As I mentioned before, some of the changes he makes are small, but the result in this case was success with a broader spectrum of malfunctions while using simpler movements.

While both classes were generally from a defensive perspective, the second day (Intermediate Handgun) was even more specific to concealed carry. He recommended wearing your normal concealed carry gun and holster, along with a typical cover garment. Stephen addressed appendix and strong-side carry methods, both of which were represented in the class. It became clear that Stephen had thought through the mechanics of WHERE the handgun is carried, along with HOW it is accessed. He went over the benefits and drawbacks of each carry location, including the ability to discreetly begin to prep for a draw if you found yourself anticipating the need to defend yourself. He briefly demonstrated protecting the handgun from an aggressor trying to grab it, and covered the best way to reliably get a variety of cover garments out of the way using simple and repeatable movement. He pointed out a good way to get a high, solid firing grip on your handgun even when the holster style makes it difficult or impossible to properly place the shooting-hand thumb initially. He even covered the best way to re-holster your handgun while wearing a cover garment.

As the second day progressed, he began to incorporate more movement, smaller targets, multiple targets, more distance, shot timers and increased heart-rate to build pressure on us. The entire time, the focus was always accuracy and safety. He repeatedly reminded us to own our misses and not to let the fundamentals of stance, sight picture and trigger control begin to slip because of pressure.

I can't adequately describe all the material that Stephen covered during both days, but a number of common themes emerged along with the his own unique drills and techniques. He wasn't there to teach tactics or combat shooting, he is an accomplished shooter teaching what it takes to be efficient and accurate. What he teaches is as applicable to a multi-gun competition as it is to an active-shooter scenario or self defense. Stance, grip, trigger control, sight alignment and accountability for every shot fired. Heavy emphasis on accuracy, never "out-running your headlights" or shooting out of control to meet any pre-conceptions about cadence or speed or...dare I say it...self-image. He's obviously taken the time to dump any assumptions and think through the pure mechanics of accuracy and efficiency...which usually translates into speed. Not only that, but he's passionate about spreading that knowledge, and articulate enough to translate it into simple terms for regular Joes like me. I would recommend the classes to anyone who can make it through one or two days of intense instruction and shooting and is ready to REALLY learn how to shoot. Basic familiarity with your handgun would be a huge plus, as the pace of the class is fairly rapid. However, if you know how to load and unload and manipulate your handgun, then Fundamental Handgun would be a fantastic class to take early in your shooting experience, followed fairly quickly by Intermediate Handgun. As a family man with a full-time job, my opportunities - not to mention my funding - to take a weekend off and attend a class are relatively limited. These two days with M3 Strategies gave me the tools to show immediate improvement in a few areas and the realistic expectation that I could continue to refine my abilities as I practiced these efficient, versatile and logical techniques. I no longer feel like I'm wasting ammunition when I step outside to practice.

Posted: 4/3/2014 3:19:45 PM EDT

[#1]

Thanks for the review. I'm taking his fundamental class in a couple weeks and was hoping to find something on it. Good write up!

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - AAR: M3 Strategies Fundamental and Intermediate Handgun – November 9-10, 2013

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