Between March 25 and 29, I attended an intermediate level defensive handgun course at Thunder Ranch in South-West Texas. This is a report of that course, together with other related information that may be of interest to anyone contemplating training at Thunder Ranch (TR).
Unlike Gunsite, TR does not force students to start with the most basic courses in every case. While certain, sensible pre-reqs remain, it is possible to attend 'Defensive Handgun Two' (DH2), as I did, without taking DH1. Some evidence of shooting experience is required, in my case, a brief resume of my shooting history and a copy of my 1985 IPSC card was sufficient.
The morning was taken up with TR President Clint Smith's introduction, covering in overview, TR's approach to armed defence and the objectives of the DH2 course. Everyone I spoke to agreed that Clint is an excellent public speaker, with a punchy and humorous delivery. I found myself laughing out loud every few minutes. The morning passed in a flash.
Key points included:
On technique, TR follows Cooper's 'New Technique' pretty closely, although they allow considerable flexibility in stance as long as an isometric (push-pull) two-handed grip is used. Retention position and one-handed shooting is also covered.
Mental conditioning is emphasised throughout the course. The colour code, mind set, moral and legal responsibility, and avoidance are covered. Clint re-introduces the fifth colour - black - into Col. Cooper's colour code. Apparently the original idea of a colour code was created by the US Marines and was a five colour sequence where the final colour, black, indicated 'in battle'. This US Marine code was used as the basis for Col. Cooper's colour codes. The Colonel dropped the black code in his 'New Technique' interpretation. Clint believes the black 'in battle' code is needed. Managing the fight is more important in these modern days when one may be more likely to face multiple opponents. The black code emphasises that situational awareness does not end when the battle starts.
Monday afternoon was spent on the Red range. This is the most versatile of the two dedicated handgun ranges. Each shooter has at least two targets: a turner and a bobber. On Monday we covered the basics: safety; the draw; marksmanship and reloading. As Operations Officer and chief instructor Terry Kenney said:
"You better be getting good hits now, because this is the only occasion during the week when the targets will NOT be moving."
I was not particularly satisfied with my shooting on Monday. It was OK, all 'A' zones, but it was also apparent that some of the other students spent a lot of time practicing draws and centre mass hits. I was probably in the top half of the class.
BTW, I was the ONLY student drawing from concealment. Most guys were wearing 'street' leather, but without any covering garment. One or two were using the full IPSC gear with magazines hanging off their belt buckles. Now, it seems to me quite acceptable for the uniformed LEO to practice technique in this way, but there were a lot of other students I KNOW don't carry openly in the real world. Why practice what you can't preach? Clint could have emphasised this a little more, IMHO. One reason he didn't may be his view:
"The fastest draw is already having the gun in your hand."
Situational awareness is obviously crucial here.
TR teaches the tactical load ("Reload when you can, not when you have to.") and the empty load. Clint believes that the slide lock = "bad luck / case of beer / dead" school of reloading is unrealistic.
"I guarantee that if you have only two rounds left in your gun and you are being charged from [seven yards] by a giant with a machete, you WILL shoot the gun empty."
The TR 'empty load' is effectively a speed load with the weak hand thumb on the slide release.
Also introduced were the 'Plan A, Plan B, Plan C' responses. This is intended to mitigate the limited power of handguns by targeting the body's natural vulnerabilities: centre upper chest; head; and pelvis.
"Don't evaluate, don't expect [your shooting] to work. Keep shooting planned responses until the problem goes away."
All courses of fire involved 'verbal compliance'.
"You are going to talk to people more often than you'll shoot them, so practice: 'Stop, Police! (Puh-lease) Get away from me!'"
Tuesday was pretty cold, about 36 to 40 deg.F. Most of us were caught out by the unseasonable weather and froze. As promised the targets now moved and so did we. Probably the single most innovative thing I learnt at TR was that it is possible to shoot and move at the same time. As the Tueller drill shows us, a man with a knife can cover seven yards and stab you in about 1.5 seconds. By retreating while shooting, this time can be extended. In a gun fight one can retreat to cover (or concealment) while shooting. Although a man running forward is faster than someone shuffling backward, even a few feet are precious:
"Distance is time, time is marksmanship, marksmanship can be hits."
Drills included defence and retention techniques, and one hand shooting. My shooting was more competitive today, and improved as the course progressed. I think this was because I had not done a lot of IPSC (despite my 1985 card) and had no 'bad' habits to undo, while others were now being forced out of their comfort zones. I was also very motivated to learn and took all comments and criticism seriously.
Wednesday involved more movement, backwards, sideways, to cover. Moving in pairs with cover drills for movement and reloading. More situational awareness. As the weather was still around freezing, the schedule was changed and we moved on to the simulators - the 'Terminator' and the 'Tower' which are 'indoors'. After a lecture on breaking planes, slicing the pie, short and long walls, funnels etc. we had some walk-throughs, guided by the instructors. In the afternoon we started some elementary live exercises. There was no doubt that these were the most popular part of the course, if only for the fact that the simulators gave the opportunity for engaging targets at any angle in the horizontal plane. In the Tower, there was also the opportunity to shoot into the vertical plane, up stairwells. The Terminator could run two students at the same time and is capable of hundreds of different courses of fire. Most people don't get the chance to shoot in this kind of environment very often.
The targets deserve special mention here. TR has given considerable thought to providing the benefits of reactive targets, without too much 'butt time' while the targets were reset. Each target is hung from a bullet-catching box supported by an easel. The box is an A1-sized shallow er, box, with a steel plate at the back, lined with some kind of textile to prevent ricochets. Targets are suspended by a cord which goes up and over the top of the box and easel, then down the back where it is stuck to the steel plate by a magnet. When the plate is struck by a bullet, a magnet placed NEAR the strike will be dislodged, freeing the cord and allowing the target to fall. By placing the magnet in the head, chest or pelvis areas, the instructors can ensure that multiple plan shooting is required to neutralise the target. When one finished the exercise, one would walk back through the simulator with the instructor who would patch and re-hang the target while evaluating your performance. By the time you were back at the beginning, you had been de-briefed, and the simulator was re-set. Good planning, well executed.
One nit: the magnetic targets worked well, but were a little sensitive to .45ACP momentum. One hit in the right place and the target dropped like a rock. [One case where they genuinely do 'always dive to forty-five.' :-) ] Those shooting .40S&W and 9 x 19 had a harder and probably more realistic time, as the targets usually required multiple hits in rapid succession to dislodge the magnet. A little 'tuning' (one magnet for .45, another for lighter rounds) would probably fix this.
Later, more advanced exercises used 3D targets supported by balloons, and dressed in old clothes. These took only slightly longer to re-set (assuming a good supply of balloons) and were more realistic.
Two other things about the simulators: the skills taught probably aren't very useful in most civilian self-defence encounters; and once you've done them you've been spoilt for all the movies and TV series that show Hollywood 'gun-handling'. But frankly, who cares? It was more fun than dirty sex and a lot harder to find.
Thursday morning was free as we had low-light shooting in the evening. The afternoon was spent in separate groups in the simulators and on the Orange range. The Orange range is a specialised pistol range where targets charged you with a knife - yes, genuine Tueller drill targets! Other targets zipped around laterally, left and right, hiding behind cover and hostages, all under the instructor's remote control. I found the charging targets excellent, providing a very realistic 'feel' to the drills. In the simulators, the instructor would talk for the targets, responding to your words. This added a great deal of 'realism' to the exercise. In my end of course feedback, I commented that a similar response with the chargers would add to the realism and create stress. When the chargers are coming at you with just a quiet 'whiiiz' from the motors, that's an interesting tactical problem. If they are coming at you screaming 'I'M GOING TO CARVE YOU LIKE A TURKEY, YOU M*****-F*****!!' then that's not just interesting, it's unnerving.
After an early dinner at the ranch picnic area, we returned to the Red range for low light drills, shooting continuously as the light deteriorated with the setting sun. This gave some experience at shooting in many different kinds of light. Those with Tritium sights did well, those who didn't started shooting pretty badly, even hitting the frames below the targets! A good lesson in the value of luminous sights. After full night had fallen, we were taught the pros and cons of different flash-light techniques. Haries and the new 'cigar' grip were most popular. Just about everyone used a SureFire of some kind, from Laser Products. Terry Kenney came out strongly against lanyards on flash-lights.
"If the light jams on, you won't be able to get rid of it."
The low light shooting culminated in a clearance of the Tower using pistol and flashlight. Some students commented that the course should contain more low light shooting, given the prevalence of night gun fights. I tend to agree, although I can sympathise with TR's logistical and safety concerns.
Friday was a short shooting day, with advanced exercises in all three simulators and the Orange and Red ranges. Shooting ended with a brass call at 1500. This was followed by a sum up from Clint and the presentation of course completion certificates and class photos.
More TR quotes:
'Numb Nuts' - a person showing less than complete concentration.
'Draw that Bad Boy and light him up!'
'Bucket 'o' Bullets gun' - Glock or other double-stack pistol.
'I may get killed with my own gun, but he's gonna have to beat me to death with it, 'cause it'll be empty.'
'Beat him up!'
'Just because you have a rifle instead of a pistol in your hands when the fight goes down, it doesn't necessarily mean the fight will take place over a greater distance. The gun is only a tool. Close up rifle work is important.'
To be fair, no one seemed to be a brooding sociopath either, as I had half expected, pessimist that I am. Pretty much everyone was intelligent, friendly and normal. In the clearance drills there was some good-natured competition to set up the worst possible jams:
"Har-de-har, I gave him a 'failure to feed' and an empty magazine at the same time!"
On every course and in every classroom there is always one dork. Just my luck, he ended up being my partner. The class dork, Oy! At TR this is the guy who offers to sell you his SIG every time your non-SIG mis-feeds. This is the cheerful hostage shooter, the guy who complains he is too fat to do some of the exercises, like it's TR's fault somehow. The guy who pisses and moans at brass call. The guy whose Tritiums are brighter than your Tritiums. The one who always manages to cover you with his gun muzzle whenever he re-loads, re-holsters or breaks wind.
Fortunately for me, partner exercises were usually fairly safe. Where they weren't, I noticed an instructor would always be standing right behind him, watching his muzzle. The situation left me with severe doubts about doing the TR Team Tactics course unless I had a partner I knew and trusted to sign up with.
As you may have noticed from reading the gun comics' articles on shooting schools, there seems always to be an unusually high incidence of jams and malfunctions with most weapons, (Glocks included, wise guy) at these schools. This proved true at TR.
At my local range my Wilson custom Springfield 1911 never chokes. At TR it would choke two or three times a day (@ 3-400 rounds a day), usually a failure to go fully into battery. These are obviously my problems, not the gun's. I think the stress of the shooting drills is largely responsible.
Other people had other problems, but there is a useful lesson here. Just 'cause your gun is reliable on the range doesn't mean it'll be reliable on the street when you need it most, under high stress encounters.
The TR shop sells good quality gear (Mitch Rosen, Kramer, SureFire, Spyderco etc.) but doesn't have a large stock - all the Kramer gun belts were 34"long, for example.
All the instructors: Terry Kenney the Operations Officer; Rick Furr and Lori Hauserman the guest instructors, were nice people, good at their jobs, who had a real sense of humour.
This area is known as the 'Hill Country' and is rather beautiful in a dry way, with rolling hills dotted with Mesquite trees. The area is made up of large, 50k plus acre ranches, many of which specialise in 'exotic' animal husbandry. The ranches make for a thin spread of civilisation. Nearest shopping is 45 minutes away in Kerrville.
For accommodation one can choose a cabin on TR itself. These are twin-bedded and comfortable, with all modern conveniences, including air conditioning. They have front porches with rocking chairs and a great view. What they don't have is any kind of grocery delivery service, which makes self-catering problematic given the course schedule. I think TR would make these cabins a lot more convenient if deliveries could be arranged, and they'd make a buck or two.
The next closest accommodation is at the YO Ranch, which is about 25 to 30 minutes by car. The YO has been a working ranch for more than 100 years and is fascinating to visit. Accommodation is fine for anyone who can survive without TV. A major benefit of the YO is that it provides three square meals a day (eat in or take away), saving a certain amount of hassle. I stayed at the YO for the duration of the course.
After the YO there are a number of good motels in Kerrville. Many of my class-mates took this option, but I would find driving over eighty miles a day a bit of a b*gg*r. As far as I know, no motel provides the packed lunch/dinner necessary for a TR course.
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