Just got back from a week at Thunder Ranch in Oregon. It is still the best! Great training with no fads. Just common sense, logical, protect yourself training. Best training out there to keep you from getting killed. Clint Smith has a very direct way of laying out expectations and getting you to perform. I can not recommend the school highly enough. The Steyrs did well. They were the only 9mm on the range and they held their own just fine. In the terminator, dropped almost all the targets with one shot. 250 rounds per day of high intensity practice is fun and a good test for the pistol. If you can only go to one school in your life, this is the one.
Very cool. I watched the Shooting Gallery episode on The Outdoor Channel that followed a daughter of one of the crew through a Thunder Ranch class. Clint Smith must have his revered reputation for a reason. How do the dropping targets in the Terminator work? Is it really sensitve to bullet momentum, i.e. 9mm vs. .45? Also - one shot to take them down? Do they not teach you that you should typically engage each threat with 2 shots? Jeff
Jeff, The targets in the Terminator are held up with magnets. They are very sensitive to momentum and .45 tends to do better with a less than direct hit on the magnet. To knock them down with a 9mm you need to have a good hit on the retaining device. At Thunder, you are taught to shoot until the threat stops. If that takes one shot, good, if not, keep shooting until the threat is gone.
I can second that logic that one shot or more depending on the type of situation. If you are engaging multiple targets then speed may require that you do without the three shot (two center mass, one head) strategy. Depends, on the caliber of the weapon you use, the distance of your other targets, line of sight, and many other variables. I read an interesting article about a Detroit Metro Officer who confronted three armed suspects and was shot after killing two. Evidence later showed that the Officer had been puting three rounds a piece into the first two supsects when the other suspect got the drop on him. I personally train for the three rounds concept, but stuff will happen and you have to learn to adapt, overcome, and roll with it. Reaction time, coordination, and accuracy are what you should strive for above all things. Just my two cents.
