Never A Victim
Marksman
Rob Pincus-Combat Focus Shooting and Advanced Pistol Handling 04/30/2016-05/01/2016 Walbridge, Ohio
This course review is for Combat Focus Shooting and Advanced Pistol Handling taught in Walbridge, Ohio by Rob Pincus from 04/30/2016-05/01/2016. I am combining the course review with both of these courses since they were taught in consecutive days.
Rob Pincus has been around forever. That’s not a joke about his age, because he’s not really that old. He’s been around the firearms training world for a long time. I first heard Rob’s name 5-6 years ago when the NRA sent me a DVD of his. After training with other companies, his name kept coming up as a staple in the firearms training industry. Combat Focus shooting is Rob’s flagship class with well over a decade of refining it down to what it is today.
Combat Focus Shooting started out with a lecture regarding safety and the objectives of the course. Rob stressed the goal of the next two days is to prepare you for a gunfight, not how to merely shoot holes in a paper target. In Combat Focus Shooting, Rob teaches unsighted fire with a handgun, which is the practice of not using your sights at close distances. This is a very divisive topic in the firearms training world and I’ve only met one other established firearms instructor that teaches unsighted fire. Rob explained that he believes handgun sights are for precision shots or when the distance is increased to the point where accuracy is required to get hits. I immediately notice a problem with this, as I found myself only getting what I considered to be acceptable hits, when I was using my front sight. This is the second class I have taken where unsighted fire has been taught, and I am still a firm believer that you should be looking at your sights anytime possible. Other topics covered in Combat Focus Shooting included draw stroke, proper stance, reloading, and many discussions on body mechanics and neuroscience.
I arrived for a second day to take the Advanced Pistol Handling course. I was hopeful this course would dive into some advanced drills, as I felt the Combat Focus Shooting course didn’t deviate much from the norm of a one day introductory class. For an “advanced” class, this was mostly shooting from unorthodox positions (sitting, kneeling, prone, etc.) as well as a small block of precision shooting and how to reload with your primary hand only. While I understand both Combat Focus Shooting and Advanced Pistol Handling are normally each two day classes, I left feeling like many important topics were left out of two days of handgun training with someone like Rob Pincus, who is an internationally known firearms instructor.
There were some things that I liked from these two days. I liked Rob’s explanation of a non-diagnostic system to clear a malfunction as well as shooting from seated positions, even including from the driver’s seat of the PDN truck. However, the list of things I didn’t like from the courses is much longer. First and foremost, I felt the topic of a proper mindset and doing everything in your power to win a violent encounter, wasn’t discussed. Rob’s opinion of pointing your muzzle up towards the sky not being acceptable, reloading with the gun by your stomach and not up near your face, no mention of head shots even in the advanced class, not teaching shooting on the move, the large “upper center mass” area that was acceptable for hits, and of course shooting without looking at your front sight were all things that I completely disagree with. Along with these things, Rob operated both days in what I would consider a very “administrative” environment. Before lunch and at the end of class on both days, Rob had all of us “unload and show clear.” I can respectfully disagree on some of the above training points, but on this point I cannot. Disarming your students, especially before they drive home for the night is not only reckless but very disappointing from a firearms instructor like Rob Pincus.
I can accept the fact that I won’t agree with everything being taught at every firearms course I attend. In fact that’s a big reason why I have made a recent attempt to diversify my firearms training with as many new instructors as I can in order to find what works for me and what doesn’t. That being said, I have to be honest when I write these course reviews. Just because I spend around $1000 for a weekend of training (including cost of the class, ammunition, gas/food, etc.) doesn’t mean I should sugarcoat how I feel about the course. I have a lot of respect for Rob Pincus as he has contributed many great things to the firearms industry. While this course was challenging for me, the things I took away from it are minimal. If someone is considering training with Rob Pincus, I would encourage it--maybe your experience will be different from mine. My experience with Combat Focus Shooting and Advanced Pistol Handling just didn’t connect with me in the same way that other courses have.
This course review is for Combat Focus Shooting and Advanced Pistol Handling taught in Walbridge, Ohio by Rob Pincus from 04/30/2016-05/01/2016. I am combining the course review with both of these courses since they were taught in consecutive days.
Rob Pincus has been around forever. That’s not a joke about his age, because he’s not really that old. He’s been around the firearms training world for a long time. I first heard Rob’s name 5-6 years ago when the NRA sent me a DVD of his. After training with other companies, his name kept coming up as a staple in the firearms training industry. Combat Focus shooting is Rob’s flagship class with well over a decade of refining it down to what it is today.
Combat Focus Shooting started out with a lecture regarding safety and the objectives of the course. Rob stressed the goal of the next two days is to prepare you for a gunfight, not how to merely shoot holes in a paper target. In Combat Focus Shooting, Rob teaches unsighted fire with a handgun, which is the practice of not using your sights at close distances. This is a very divisive topic in the firearms training world and I’ve only met one other established firearms instructor that teaches unsighted fire. Rob explained that he believes handgun sights are for precision shots or when the distance is increased to the point where accuracy is required to get hits. I immediately notice a problem with this, as I found myself only getting what I considered to be acceptable hits, when I was using my front sight. This is the second class I have taken where unsighted fire has been taught, and I am still a firm believer that you should be looking at your sights anytime possible. Other topics covered in Combat Focus Shooting included draw stroke, proper stance, reloading, and many discussions on body mechanics and neuroscience.
I arrived for a second day to take the Advanced Pistol Handling course. I was hopeful this course would dive into some advanced drills, as I felt the Combat Focus Shooting course didn’t deviate much from the norm of a one day introductory class. For an “advanced” class, this was mostly shooting from unorthodox positions (sitting, kneeling, prone, etc.) as well as a small block of precision shooting and how to reload with your primary hand only. While I understand both Combat Focus Shooting and Advanced Pistol Handling are normally each two day classes, I left feeling like many important topics were left out of two days of handgun training with someone like Rob Pincus, who is an internationally known firearms instructor.
There were some things that I liked from these two days. I liked Rob’s explanation of a non-diagnostic system to clear a malfunction as well as shooting from seated positions, even including from the driver’s seat of the PDN truck. However, the list of things I didn’t like from the courses is much longer. First and foremost, I felt the topic of a proper mindset and doing everything in your power to win a violent encounter, wasn’t discussed. Rob’s opinion of pointing your muzzle up towards the sky not being acceptable, reloading with the gun by your stomach and not up near your face, no mention of head shots even in the advanced class, not teaching shooting on the move, the large “upper center mass” area that was acceptable for hits, and of course shooting without looking at your front sight were all things that I completely disagree with. Along with these things, Rob operated both days in what I would consider a very “administrative” environment. Before lunch and at the end of class on both days, Rob had all of us “unload and show clear.” I can respectfully disagree on some of the above training points, but on this point I cannot. Disarming your students, especially before they drive home for the night is not only reckless but very disappointing from a firearms instructor like Rob Pincus.
I can accept the fact that I won’t agree with everything being taught at every firearms course I attend. In fact that’s a big reason why I have made a recent attempt to diversify my firearms training with as many new instructors as I can in order to find what works for me and what doesn’t. That being said, I have to be honest when I write these course reviews. Just because I spend around $1000 for a weekend of training (including cost of the class, ammunition, gas/food, etc.) doesn’t mean I should sugarcoat how I feel about the course. I have a lot of respect for Rob Pincus as he has contributed many great things to the firearms industry. While this course was challenging for me, the things I took away from it are minimal. If someone is considering training with Rob Pincus, I would encourage it--maybe your experience will be different from mine. My experience with Combat Focus Shooting and Advanced Pistol Handling just didn’t connect with me in the same way that other courses have.