Front Sight 4-Day Defensive Handgun: Day Zero

Back in March (has it been that long?), I led an expedition to Philadelphia to teach many of my compatriots basic pistolcraft. While my students really enjoyed themselves, I was a bit frustrated at the limitations of the range and the generally terrible logistics of teaching in an indoor range. This year, I’ve decided to do the only rational thing: Outsource.

Since I moved to New York City, I’ve wanted to organize a field trip to Las Vegas, Nevada to bring my friends to Front Sight, the largest and most prolific shooting school in the country. While there are perhaps better, more specialized gun schools in the country, Front Sight is the proverbial 900 pound gorilla in the instruction space, having taught more students than all the other schools in the country combined (that’s a guess, but one that I’m pretty sure is correct).

As fun as a trip to Front Sight would be, the logistics of such an endeavor have been daunting. Getting ten people together for a dinner isn’t easy. Getting twenty people from across the US to Nevada for a 4-day Defensive Handgun course is harder. As such, this perpetually been a ‘good idea’ that has been cancelled or pushed out for almost two years. This time around, however, I took a different approach. Rather than trying to herd dozens of cats, I worked with a small group (actually a couple I’ve known for some time) to pick a date, set that in stone months ago, then allow others to come or flake as they chose. The date we picked was 11/9/12 (tomorrow).

With the date set, we could focus on the logistics like flights, hotels, rental cars, equipment, and so on. Special shout out for Google Docs, made things much easier.
Our crew is an interesting mix of mostly NYC and Bay Area folks. Experience levels vary from total novice to very experienced. Three students (myself included) have been to Front Sight before and “know what we’re getting ourselves into.” We’ve been coaching people on gear selection.
Given the school’s photography policy, I’m not sure how much we’ll be able to share about the course and the content, but I’m pretty sure it will be very similar to what you can see on the Front Sight website.

This blog is intentionally apolitical, but I’ll say one thing, following Hurricane Sandy, I haven’t spoken to a single person who has looked askance at the idea of spending four days in the desert training.

In terms of my gear, I’ll blend in pretty effectively on the range:
Rudy Project Rydon Shooting Glasses (w/ the RX insert)
MSA Sordin Supreme Pro-X Ear Muffs
CR Speed Belt w/ Comptac Kydex holster and BladeTech double mag pouches.
My ten year old ratty and patched up Royal Robbins 5.11 pants and vest

Basically all my classmates will be shooting one of the following pistols: Glock 17/19/22/23, Springfield XD9/40, M&P9. I won’t be deviating from the crowd in that respect.

TheNouveauJäger