Metrics vs Mediocrity

January 20, 2017

John Buol Guest Article , , , 2 Comments

Tom Givens and Rangemaster is a renowned instructor and training facility. Givens has had over 60 students involved in documented fights and his experience is one of the best track records of personal defense students in the United States.

Every student trained by Tom Givens at Rangemaster that was forced into a fight that had a gun available won their fight.

Givens is also a successful competitive shooter and trains his students in a competition-compatible approach. Givens’ advice for being successful in a self defense encounter includes preparing in a manner nearly identical to that taken to do well in a shooting match.

Here are words of wisdom from one the most successful and proven defensive shooting instructors in the United States.
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Rangemaster Dry Practice Routine

June 5, 2015

John Buol Guest Article, SensibleShooter, Shooting , , , , 4 Comments

 

Tom Givens of Rangemaster Firearms Training Services has a history of instructing and training effective shooting and self defense. His students have been involved in several dozens of shootings over the years and have been highly successful.

One of his best bits of advice is maintaining regular practice. Here is his approach to keeping this up.

Rangemaster Dry Practice
by Tom Givens

When the flag flies, the amount of practice you’ve done may not be nearly as important as how recent your last practice was. The easiest way to ensure you’ve had RECENT practice is to engage in dry fire exercises at home on a frequent basis. Here is a suggested dry fire practice regimen that takes only a few minutes to complete. We suggest this routine two or three times per week.

Drill #1
Draw to the ready. Draw like you mean business! Remember that the gun should be low enough for you to see the hands and waistline of an assailant, your trigger finger straight. Do this 10 times.

Drill #2
Draw to the ready, once. From the ready, bring the gun up to the eye/target line, get a quick sight picture, and get the slack out of the trigger, but do not press. Do this 10 times.

Drill #3
Draw to the ready, once. From the ready, present to the target and press off a good hit, quickly. Do this 10 times.

Drill #4
From the holster, present to the target, get a quick sight picture, and get the slack out of the trigger, but do not press. Do this 10 times.

Drill #5
From the holster, present to the target and press off a good hit. Do this 10 times.

Drill #6
From the ready, gun in dominant hand only. Present to the target and press off a good hit. Do this 10 times.

Drill #7
Same as Drill #6 above, but with the non-dominant hand only. Do this 10 times.

Drill #8
Start at ready, slide locked open on empty magazine. Have a magazine in your pouch, with at least one dummy round in it. Do an emergency reload. Do this 5 times.

Clear the gun, put your dry practice target away. Out loud, say to yourself, “This session is over.” Leave the dry fire area. Clear the gun again. Some minutes later, in a different room, load the gun and say to yourself out loud, “this gun is now loaded.”

Then holster the gun on your person or put it in its proper storage location. Be serious about safety. When a session is over, IT IS OVER. Put the gear away and be done, period.

Tom Givens Rangemaster Handgun Core Skills Test

June 20, 2013

John Buol SensibleShooter, Shooting , , 7 Comments

Tom Givens completed a 25-year career in law enforcement and has instructed for Rangemaster since 1996. He has kept data on all his students, of which 60 of them have been involved in shootings over a five year period. The result: An over 90% hit ratio, which outperforms any law enforcement agency on record. Here is the course of fire he recommends.

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