Glock Instructor's Workshop: Trip Report

[SemperFiGuy]

GLOCK INSTRUCTOR’S WORKSHOP – Pueblo, CO   18-20 June 2014

Well, driving back from Pueblo yesterday evening in THAT thunderstorm was some experience!    Thank Goodness for those brannew wiper blades.  The rain gauge on our deck here in Omaha overflowed at 7 inches.  Overall the trip was well worth the cost, effort, and time, even with the white-knuckle road experience at the end.

Here’s the trip report:
    It was a very intense 2-1/2 day experience.   Focus was on instruction with GLOCK handguns.  Nine attendees, mostly LEOs.   All were highly experienced, rated instructors of some kind.   Two GIW instructors.   Both of whom were superprofessional.

    We started the program with a strong classroom focus on Glock trigger reset.  Glock trigger reset?   Gotta be kidding!   Just pull the trigger, Bang!   Let it go, pull it again for another Bang!   Oh, no.  Not so.   Not at all.   This kind of sloppy thinking drove both instructors immediately ballistic.   (Ever see a flock of crows on a fox??)

    Turns out that Glock pistols have a very short reset and only require the teeniest release for the click.   Turns out that this fact was not prominently revealed back in Glock Armorer’s School, except maybe during my brief naps.   Turns out I’ve been doing Glock trigger reset totally wrong for about ten years.  What the heck:  The full-release technique is absolutely necessary for my Kahr PM9.  In fact, fat-fingered folks probably can't shoot the Kahr.   But GLOCK trigger reset is.....special!!!  (Try correcting long-term ingrained bad habits while undergoing new instruction under pressure on the range.)

    So, afternoon of the first day we went to the very primitive (but totally adequate) local LEO range.    Including 95 degree heat; no clouds nor shade.   Constant hydration was imperative.   Began with the basics:  range safety (of course) and dry firing.  Working on trigger reset.   Plus loading.   Clearing and stoppages.   Turns out these drills for LEOs are carried out with an intense time urgency, compared to ordinary range shooting drills.   (There’s an armed perp somewhere in the picture.   Makes a huge difference.)

    Then we shot and shot and shot.   Instructions were to bring 1000 factory rounds.   Which we quickly began to shoot up.  Well, turns out that Glock pistols actually have some sharp edges on them which don't start showing up until about 200 rounds.  Blistering comes first; then the bleeding.   Even with Glock part #483-3, the plastic reloader.

    Drill after drill after drill.   One handed techniques.   Shooting and moving.   Timed drills.  Competitive drills.   Injured officer drill.   Man-on-man (including one very fine-appearing lady deputy.   Which fact did not distract me for even a nanosecond).   No need to discuss all the drills.   Not time and space here anyhow.    Just think Glock pistol boot camp.   On steroids.   Oh yes:  More trigger reset drill.

We All Shot the Glock 18.
   I loaded a magazine to 32 rounds.   Shot ‘em all up in 3-4 round bursts so my USMC sergeant wouldn’t suddenly materialize on the spot and bang my head for burning up the barrel.  G18 is controllable.  But except for the sheer fun of hosing something down, I don't really see the point of that handgun, and neither do most of the LE agencies nor the US military.

Course Qualification:
Final course qualification was a 50-round mostly tight-timed series including 12 rounds of behind-barrier shooting from 25 yards.  Wished I had the Glock 18 for that one.   Not everyone passes these GIW courses.   Only five bad shots are allowed out of the fifty.  I am not one of those Show-Offs who postures by passing with a huge, excessive margin.   But pass it I did.   Whew!

Cost of course:
  Tuition                        $350  [Not bad compared to other intense courses]
  Budget motel                 $180
  1000 40S&W rounds        $400
  Gas                              $200
  Meals                            ----    (Gonna eat somewhere, anyhow)
  Total, more or less:      $1130

Came home with (a) deep bronze sun tan, (b) big box of brass,  (c) numerous new shooting friends, (d) lotsa new materials for handgun courses,  and (e) many good memories.  Can’t beat  those results with a big stick.   Even at the cost.   (BTW>  Mrs. sfg gets to spend equivalent, her priorities).

Summary:

Quote from John Cotton Dana

“He who dares to teach must never cease to learn.”

Especially Glock trigger reset.

Cordially,

sfg

[gsd]

Solid AAR. Thanks.

[Gunscribe]

Excellent workshop for anyone that meets the qualifications. Been there done that and glad you had a chance as well.

(humor on) Without pics it didn't happen. (humor off)

Who were the instructors?

[SemperFiGuy]

Howdy, Gunscribe:

Glock Instructors were:

Dennis Tueffel, Senior Instructor
Extensive background as LEO, formerly with Action Target, etc., etc., then Glock.  He is the consummate firearms instructor, for my money.  Knew when to be patient, when to be kind, when to do just one more demonstration, and....when to clamp down hard.   Excellent judgment, this fellow.   Knows more than the entire Internet about handguns and their use.   Especially Glocks.

Doug Lesh, Newby Glock Instructor
Presently on terminal retirement leave from the US Army, taking on his new job, brannew to Glock.   High energy level and quite intense, as is often the case w/Guys Newly on the Scene.   Somewhat of a Sergeant Barker in his training style and very prescriptive in his instructions:   Do It Absolutely THIS WAY.

Despite the mismatch between Sgt. Lesh's training style and my instructional needs, I managed to gain quite a bit of handgunnery from his close attentions.   Which is why I was there.

Program was hosted by Pueblo County Sheriff's Office (Lt. Wiley, Host).  PCSO's newly opened Emergency Services Center is quite a fine facility.

My thinking in attending this class is that instructors/trainers need to frequently go back to the well and get a new bucket of water in order to keep things fresh and green.

That's about it.

sfg
BTW:   Since it was Glock, no pics.  No recordings.   All are welcome to scan my class notes.

[Gunscribe]

Teuffel or Tueller???

[SemperFiGuy]

Teuffel.....   Speak of the Devil!   And I shoulda checked my notes before responding to your inquiry.

Tueller, it is.   (And NOT wot I earlier told you.)   Tueller, indeed.

Dennis Tueller.

Appears that you may know of him from your own meanderings around the world of handgunnery.

His Glock instructional territory is pretty much out around your part of the country.

sfg

[Gunscribe]

I do know him. Had dinner with him and Don Henderson (Are Glock LE rep) a few months ago. He was very complimentary on an article I wrote about him a few years ago. The article is also one of the handouts I use in the legal portion of many of my handgun classes.

[SemperFiGuy]

Then you have some insight into the quality of the instruction which was given at the GIW.

And it appears that you are sitting on top of the Sidney Paul Gordon Shooting Range there in La Luz.   Of course, the whole outdoors in NM is available for shooting.   All you have to do is drive up around a coupla curves on just about any canyon road and set up your targets.

Then bang away.

sfg

[Gunscribe]

Pretty much shoot anywhere. Yup!

Having hosted Glock classes in the past and will in the future I am very familiar with Glocks professional training. Yes there are requirements for attending but for anyone that is able to should take as many as possible.

Most don't know that all one has to do to attend a basic armorers course is be a member of the Glock Shooting Sports Foundation. If you shoot in any of the Glock sanctioned matches you are already a member. Some classes hosted by Police organizations may be restricted to peace officers. (Host perogative) Most are not and open to anyone that meets the requirements.

Sidney Paul Gordon is a fantastic range run by Otero County and supervised by a very good friend of mine Jay Frost. It has an excellent classroom that I have many hours teaching in.

Even though we mostly live in another part of the state we still have a place there and I am there at least once a month. I like it even better than the range run by the city of Albuquerque.

[Gary]

Thanks for your appreciated report.   Combing the Internet, your write up is one of the very few.  It is as if participants were sworn to some great secret oath, like becoming a 32nd degree Mason.

The reset, I am good with.  Time in Glock forums, had me up on that.   True about not hitting that much in Armor school.

What Glock did you use?

What holster did you use?

Belt?

Hearing protection brand?  Were you satisfied after 1,000 rounds?  Were your ears still intact?

Much time spent running around, crawling around, prone shooting?

How tight does the group need to be at 75 feet?   Did any of the students, remind the instructors, Glock does not make a rifle?    I think of 75 feet, as entering rifle realm. 

What would you change, were you to do it again?

Thanks for you taking this class. 

[Gary]

Was that hotter than normal temps for that area of Colorado, this time of year?

I did Personal Protection Outside The Home in 110 degrees.       I would like to take that class again, with a light dusting of frost on the ground. 

[SemperFiGuy]

Gary:

I know you are attending a later GIW in September or so.

Let's meet for coffee sometime soon and I'll tell you everything I (think I) know about the GIW.

Really wish I had debriefed a recent workshop attendee before attending this one.  Woulda saved a great big heap of concerns which cropped up during my session.

Drop a PM if you wish to follow up on this suggestion.

sfg

[Gunscribe]

Two things on a Glock rifle that I have been told over the last couple of years;

1) If Glock came out with a rifle, just to satisfy the demand, it would be a year or more before you could buy a new Glock pistol.

2) There may be some prototypes (wink wink) but if Glock does a rifle they do not want it to look anything like the AR platform.

 I am planning on attending the annual meeting in August if you want more info on Glock training.

[bullit]

Dennis Tueller is kind of famous for The "Tueller Drill" which I assume is what Gunscribe includes in his training classes.........  also, from our What Its Worth Department his Police Officer son recently survived a shoot out .....

[SemperFiGuy]

...his Police Officer son recently survived a shoot out .....

Yes.   This event was very much on his mind during the workshop and was frequently mentioned during the three days.

And a Big Duh.   The Tueller Drill never popped into my head, so I never made the connection while there.   And he--modest man--did actually discuss the 21 feet knife scenario, but never once mentioned that he was the original investigator of that situation.

Dennis Tueller is a Presence.   We go off to Bang-Bang Skool hoping to have someone of his skills in front of the room.

sfg

[Gunscribe]

He is modest about it because almost from day one it turned into something it isn't and was never meant to be.

Excerpted from; "How close is too close?" by T.L. Tyrrell Sr. (2011)

In the 1980's, Dennis Tueller, of the Salt Lake City, Utah, Police Department penned an article that has become erroneously known as the "Tueller Drill", "Tueller Rule" or "Twenty One Foot Rule" (all terms denounced as inaccurate by Tueller himself).

Since then many well-meaning instructors and "gun rag writers" have used his article to train that an adversary armed with a knife, tie iron, baseball bat or other type of impact weapon twenty one (21) away or closer can be at the very least drawn on and that beyond twenty one (21) feet the armed adversary assumes a cloak of immunity.

What they missed or choose to ignore

   The original Tueller experiment took place on a police department range and all of the participants were at least partially trained Peace Officers or recruits openly wearing a "duty belt and holster" (as opposed to a concealed firearm).

Bear in mind this exercise used trained individuals that KNEW they were going to draw and they still lost.  How much longer would it have taken them or anyone else for that matter if they were unprepared or had bags of groceries or a child in their arms?  How much longer would it take an untrained person to accomplish?

In summary, on the day Tueller devised this exercise those participating were;

1. (At least) semi-trained officers with a sidearm in a duty holster and,
2. They all would have died or suffered grave bodily harm.

   If it had been a real life situation they would have all been seriously injured or killed.  They were not Soccer Mom's with a concealed firearm, shopping cart full of groceries and a passel of children. Unfortunately by today's standards both will be held to the same level of scrutiny.

   Tueller's point was ONLY that an attacker can travel twenty one (21) feet in the one and one half (1 1/2) seconds it takes a practiced or trained individual in uniform, who knows he/she will be drawing from a holster on a duty belt. 

Dennis has asked and received permission to use the complete article, with atribution, in a project he is working with Massad Ayoob to dispell the "drill", "exercise", "rule" etc... bullcrap.

[bullit]

Tueller's original article was published in the March 1983 S.W.A.T. Magazine..   This is also worth a read... given Tueller is one of the board members....

 

http://www.armedcitizensnetwork.org/the-tueller-drill-revisited

[Gunscribe]

Bullit, Absolutely! The problem from Dennis's point of view is that no matter how many times he says it there are some instructors and "Gun Rag Writers" that refuse or are just incapable of getting it and insist on maintaining the status quo.

They just aren't willing to admit that they have been wrong!