The Calverton LI, NY After Action Report:
Date: Oct. 1, '05 Location: Calverton Pistol and Rifle Range, LI, NY Time: 10.00 hrs Weather: clear, sunny, 75F, breezy Weapons: Glock 23(.40 cal), Rem. 870 pump action 14" barrel Instructor: Matthew Temkin
Matt offered a pointshooting seminar in Calverton on Saturday for free. Looks like me and two of my guys from work were ther only ones able to make it out. I drove two hours from NJ to see what he was about. I think it's my duty to fill you guys in on what went down and to give Matt much due credit on his level of skill in pointshooting and his overall presentation.I'll start by reminding everyone the seminar was free, I didn't pay Matt a dime, he didn't have an agenda. Matt brought two friends of his; one a retired agent from a three letter agency, the other a firearms instructor from a multi-juridictional Police Department.Matt started the day with a 30 min. lecture on the history of pointshooting and its founders. He talked about the gunfighters of the West, WW II, the OSS, Shanghai and the FBI. He talked about the FBI style, Elbow up/elbow down, weapon retention and arms extended pointshooting. The man is very knowledgeable.We go to the firing line where we had set up three targets at about 4-5 yds. Matt lets us know he's going to fire a couple of rounds then proceeds to machine gun his Glock 9mm from the hip into a target. He fires about four to the Q then three to the head, then five more to the Q. He runs dry, changes mags, then starts at the other target (about 6 yds away). Belly, head, belly, head, switch targets, belly, runs dry. "what do ya think? Pointshooting works?" he asks. I said to myself, "If that's a parlor trick, I want some of that."He started us off easy then quickly got us moving at a faster pace. He said we were good students and picked up fast. I had never spent more than 10 mins. pointshooting, it was fun to get your mind away from proper shooting fundamentals and let your body do what comes naturally. After no more than 30 mins. we were all shooting with consistent acuracy. I had no more than a four inch spread on my rapid fire bursts, my freind had consistent two inch speads with many going in the same hole. I was jealous. We were shooting from the 5 yd line.Matt spoke about combatives and echoed the words others have said of fighting and fighting with a handgun is and should be intergrated.Interesting point; although I know Matt is an avid fan of pointshooting and teaches it zealously, I did hear him say on at least three occassion, "Look this is for in close fighting, where most gunfights are going to happen. If you're 15 or 20 yds away you need to be getting behind some cover and using your sights." Matt never says pointshooting is the only method one should use and belittle any style, school or train of thought. He is opinionated but will end all arguments by saying, look this works for me you can do whatever you want.We moved over shotgun where we continued to use the techniques discussed for the pistol.We shot alot that day. The things that most stuck out was: #1. The speed that one could/should be firing your gun. Matt would not be satisfied until it sounded like we were firing automatic weapons. #2. The aggression Matt wants his shooters to have when they fire on a target. We all got alot out of the day with Matt and are going to be looking to do some more training with him, pointshooting, combatives or both. I would recommend Matthew Temkin's training, I found him to know his stuff and be an engaging instructor. I'm going to take back the lessons learned from Matt and add the skills to my normal sighted fire training.Matt: Great time.TF out