One of the things that a pistol instructor must face is the different preferences of one’s students in their personal pistol selection. None of us that practice defensive arts are without preferences, and I certainly have my own, but have resisted being labeled a “guy” with one brand or another.
Although I have resisted any labeling, I am not sure that I managed to succeed in total. I have heard that I am a “1911 guy”, and while such a sobriquet is not accurate, I do run several, and think that they have utility beyond the narrative these days as a legitimate arm.
Shooting a1911 as much as I do, makes me think that within the Uber 9 “guys” places me in a minority among the modern instructor’s narrative. Once an instructor has been labeled in such a way, would those students that prefer another platform, be naturally suspect of my abilities? “Can a 1911 ‘guy’ provide me quality training if I am running a striker fired Uber 9?”
The short answer should be yes. Should be.
This enlarges the responsibility of a pistol instructor and sets the bar a little higher than he signed up for, likely. Expertise in one platform, and only one platform, is fairly easy thing to do, and if every student is running that exact model with its exact features, you are golden.
If he is not running an exact copy of what you are versed in, inclusion of the universe of options becomes a necessary milestone if quality training is to be provided. Focusing on those outside of that single arm is plainly smart, as one never knows what the student will show up with. This is where the instructor gig begins to become a heavier lift. Who has the time or the resources to master the universe of options?
I doubt anyone does, or at least it is a rarity. Instructors that are good fundamentally will have a leg up here, but fundamentals need to be flexible based upon the nuances of the weapon that your student has in his hand. I heard recently a very credible instructor (Glock guy) speak about how a certain pistol did not mesh well with his grip, so he disliked it. Sir, I would kindly advise, that to teach a man with the pistol you dislike, you ought to maybe change your grip, and run that gun well enough that you can teach it. Or advise the students in advance, that you teach one style and not others.
Firstly, let us identify something that will provide a structured reference towards this inclusion, in the most basic terms. There are and have only been four designs of the modern defensive handgun. The DA swing out revolver, the 1911, the DA/SA auto, (Walther P38) and the striker DAO fired pistol, pioneered by the Glock. Everything else is a copy of one of those basic four, or a hybrid of two or more.
Consider the HK VP series, the CZ P10, Shadow, Springfield Echelon, S&W M&P, etc., are variations and homages to the Glock. The Beretta 92, S&W Third Gen, Sig 226/229, etc., all made over versions of the P38. A Browning High Power is a high capacity 9mm 1911. They are the spitting image of their parent guns, and there is no denying their genetics.
Some genetics can be a little more difficult to see. I consider such guns as the Walther P99, the CZ 75 series, Hammer fired DA only autos, and the M17/ 18 pistols from Sig to be examples of Hybrids; those weapons that incorporate features from two of the four originals, and as such are pioneers themselves.
The CZ-75 appears to me a hybrid of a 1911 and a DA/SA; the Walther 99 a hybrid between the Glocks and the DA/SAs. The DA only hammer fired autos (S&W 3rd Gen, Sig 250, SCCY) a hybrid of the Glock and the swing out revolver. I have argued and believe that adding the safety where it is on the M18 Sig, makes it less of a Glock descendant, and more of a hybrid between the Glock and the 1911.
The point of this for the pistol instructor, is given that we have those pistols that we personally prefer, is to be able to exercise any and all (including the revolver) if that is the student’s choice. More to the point, one must be able to function with that sidearm as an instructor more ably, if it is NOT the student’s choice, and been thrust upon them by some other outside agency.
I think by now that it is known that I have spent a great deal of time behind a Beretta M9/ 92 pistol, as it was the pistol that the Army insisted that I carry about for right about thirty years. A thirty-year marriage to this old girl, and it is a good enough piece, surely it has its advantages and limitations, as all do.
So, imagine the impact that an instructor has when he stands before a group of Joes that has no choice but to wear one, and proclaims in certain that the Beretta is a “piece of junk, and the biggest mistake Uncle Sam ever made.” This belief would not be a sentiment that would build confidence with a student shooter, who was without any choice to what he was carrying into harm’s way.
Instructors were once students, and I certainly was one for longer than I have been an instructor. Going to several of these courses on Uncle Sam’s dime, I have heard this more than once, actually three times- one from a 1911 “guy” once from a Glock guy, and once from a guy that did not carry a pistol when he taught, but he just was clear he hated the sidearm, gave it a cussing, generating a crisis of confidence in we students that were legitimately heading to one of the more adventurous regions of the planet.
Of course, we all have opinions, beliefs, and favorites, but is it the place of the instructor to flex his superiority from a bully pulpit, pick brand x over y, because he personally prefers it? Or maybe, he knows that he has problems with this particular weapon, would be embarrassed if he had to shoot it in front of his students, so is he looking for an alibi in advance? What does your student think of himself after he has placed his precious treasure to buy a pistol, just to have this instructor opine in public that it is a piece of junk?
I have seen on the range a couple of Hi-points. I have a belief about these guns that I will not share here, and I did not share with the student that was running one on the course I was instructing. How the gun performed, well- that should do my talking for me- and as matter of fact that gun performed how I expected it to. The point is, the Hi-Point man needs this instruction to be in good faith, so I taught Hi-Point, warts and all.
Let us consider out loud a training course for instructors that requires a course of fire and assessment for all four pistol designs as a minimum. Certainly, a fellow that has run a gun of all types on courses of fire, styled in the modern technique type up drills, would experience the nuances of each, and could speak to each more ably when a student presents with one.
I teach a course at Bud’s Gunshop and Range in Lexington, that we call Pistol 3.5, or intermediate defensive pistol. At the end of the up drill stages, three different assessments are conducted, one called the Orange Target Assessment; in which the shooter shoots five rounds each at a nine-inch circle from the 5,7,10,15,20, and 25 yard lines (30 pts). The next is the FBI qualification of 2019 (50 pts) and the last assessment is two reps of El Prez for 20 points. 100 points total, mastery is considered at the 90th percentile.
Imagine now that one had to shoot these assessments four times, one with each type of handgun, to be qualified to be an inclusive/ “woke” pistol instructor. It could be called the “Four Gun Challenge”.
Now stated, the prospect of a challenge takes form, and becomes somewhat interesting. Imagine running the quad assessment with a model 10 Smith, GI grade 1911, Beretta 92 and Glock 17. A participant would not only fulfill the requirement of being a responsible instructor, but also would be taking a nostalgic trip through the US military/ police’s most predominant service arms for the last century.
In summary, if you are an instructor, or have an instructor, who displays prejudice towards, or highlights only one certain platform at the exclusion of all others- you/she/he/they are in the parlance of the times, not “Woke”. Wake up. Let us not share our prejudices to a student and do our best by the man who has that gun in his hand for whatever reason it happens to be there. It may be the only one he has, or the only one he can afford. His protection demands your best effort.