The Evil Princess and I just got home from a couple of ten-plus-hour weekend days training with Gabe White in a class hosted by Gordon Despot in Lakeland, Florida. It hit 97 degrees both days, but we all still had fun and learned a lot.
Gabe’s signature class is called Pistol Shooting Solutions. His approach is succinctly summarized in his motto: “technical excellence supports tactical preparedness.” You can read about his background and see him in action in numerous videos at his website, http://www.gabewhitetraining.com/, but basically he has taken a lifelong interest and deep study of self-defense ranging from martial arts to guns to defensive force law, and combined them with his own extremely high skill in both shooting and teaching.
There are many talented communicators who don’t really know their topic in depth, and many skilled practitioners who don’t know how to teach. Gabe is that rare combination of deep knowledge, demonstrable skill at a very high level, and the ability to communicate efficiently and articulately. Unlike so many who proclaim, “This is The Doctrine,” he gives a lucid explanation of every subtlety of every technique he shares.
It’s not a class for beginners. You want a very solid skill level before you get there. Master and Grandmaster shooters come to Gabe to hone the skills they’ve already developed, but he sees the biggest improvement in Class C through Class A shooters who seek higher levels of speed with accuracy. Almost all the shooting (bring a thousand rounds) is two-handed, and every bit of it is eye level aimed fire. The name of one of his most famous drills reflects his focus on the basics: “Sights, Meet Trigger.”
Each day had multiple “shooter against shooter” drills, what he calls asymmetrical situations in which Shooter A is on one side of the replicated “fight” with one set of tasks, and Shooter B is on the other side, tasked with neutralizing targets representing Shooter A. Incentivization is good.
I won’t tease you with blow by blow details, but I’ll say this: the EP and I have each won our share of state and regional shooting championship titles, and we both got a lot of value out of those two exhausting days with Gabe and the four cases of ammo devoured. I think you will, too. Highly recommended. Gabe recommends you use your defensive pistol and gives incentives to draw from concealment.
Here’s Gabe making a point about shooting on the run, with his Gen5 Glock 17:
And here he is congratulating the top shot in class, Chris Kossman, right.
Class photo: Gabe limits attendance to 14 shooters per class.
I’m curious about the value of an exercise where the shooter runs perpendicular to a target “attacker?” and shoots one round. It might be more demonstrative of firearms competence if we were treated to the view of an A-zone hit.
It also might seem more significant if the shooter ran between ‘walls” on either side, and only had a limited range of access … say, the width of a doorway .. in which to fire a defensive shot.
I realize the point is to demonstrate a short (but intriguing) video, but there is little to be learned from it. Not criticizing the class, but I see no demonstrable skill sets here.
Anybody can shoot quickly on the move; but without demonstrating the ability to HIT THE TARGET .. one handed … during rapid lateral movement, this video is meaningless.
USPSA member 18486
Jerry, you correctly diagnosed the “out of context” element. My fault. First, firing while running lateral could come into play while trying to get to cover and then coming under fire. This is an advanced course, remember, and Gabe was quite explicit that the shot should not be taken without a clear line of fire that would not endanger innocents, and should be taken only if the shooter was realistically certain he or she could make the hit. As to the one-handed: I have long taught the same as Gabe on this, that firing while moving toward one’s weak-hand side is best accomplished one-handed because a two-hand stance turns the body enough to turn the feet, which are very likely to cross and cause a catastrophic fall with a gun in your hand. Gabe teaches two-hand shooting if possible while moving toward the dominant hand side. Thanks for the opportunity to clear that up.
Yo Mas: Tough job, 97 degrees in the sun; a thousand rounds of ammo…Sure as hell beats being Greeter at Walmart! Thanks again for great info. Lead On…Stay Safe,Alert & Alive Bro! Tom Kelly
IT seams like most all these classes “NEVER” have classes with “DISABLE” I am 100% disable cant walk ! WHY not cover that ONE of the indoor range I go to has a spot for “DISABLE” And I love it !
Hi Sarah. We’ve touched on the challenges of disabled shooters here at the blog in the past, and we welcome physically challenged shooters at my classes.
Sarah: I did MAG40 and while I did not advertise any specific disability (although I have some), I found them very accommodating and recognizing the needs of different individuals. The folks in Live Oak and Mas “get it” and will work with you. I know from firsthand experience.
I’ve trained with Gabe White; he’s top-notch. I know Gordon Despot personally; he’s a good guy who knows his stuff and does not f*ck around. I highly recommend training with both.
Jim, thank you for those very kind words. It was great having you with us in class last February and quite an honor to be a student alongside both Gail and Uncle Mas in this my second time hosting Gabe here in Florida. He will be back again on the weekend of April 13-14, 2019.
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