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Training Review-Please Post HERE!
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I took Jim Crews (Marksman's Enterprises) 3 day Intermediate Handgun – Level 2 course last Summer http://www.marksmans.com . It was held at the Tyngsboro (MA) Sportsmen's Club. 28 hours on the range including night shooting.
Amazing skills we learned. I can't say enough good things about Jim Crews abilities as an instructor.
I now consider all the training I received from 17 years with the PD as a joke in comparison!
Amazing skills we learned. I can't say enough good things about Jim Crews abilities as an instructor.
I now consider all the training I received from 17 years with the PD as a joke in comparison!
Tony,
I was typing a long reply and walked out of the office for ~10 minutes . . . came back and that browser window was closed and the whole damn thing went into the bit-bucket!
I'll have to recreate it when I have some more time. [evil]
I was typing a long reply and walked out of the office for ~10 minutes . . . came back and that browser window was closed and the whole damn thing went into the bit-bucket!
I'll have to recreate it when I have some more time. [evil]
JimConway
Instructor
Jim Crews comments
The following is a mesage that i received after the Crews course last year. The writer is a VT police officer and a good friend.
>Subject: After Action Report: Jim Crews Course
>
>For your info:
>
>
>
>After Action Report:
>
>Jim Crews Handgun, 6-25-26-27, 2004 In.gasp.Massachusetts
>
>I recently attended the Jim Crews course in, of all places, Mass.
>(locally known as Massive-two-shits, People Repulik of Mass, etc etc).
>Held at Tyngesboro Rod and Gun, as hosted by our own Jim Conway. (stand
>up and take a bow Jim, good job, thanks!)
>
>
>Day One started with some light shooting (ok, Jim Crews had a flat tire
>or two, we just went shooting, chatted, lied to each other, the usual,
>some of the new guys got some of the basics instilled into them and we
>got to see who was shooting , what they were shooting and how good/bad
>they were) Mucho Thanks to Ken Siverts for being temporary
>RO/Instructor while Jim was busy playing with his lug-nuts.
>
>Jim showed up and we got the normal intro-lecture and got shooting, we
>did some one hole groups. OK, we did some one-holers on the first
>round, then messed them up from the second round onwards. That'll change..
>
>Without giving a shot by shot report, we had some great shooting, got
>the basics down pat (again for some of us) and had some of our personal
>problems diagnosed. (shooting problems...)
>
>Day Two was superb, start with one hole groups. I was shooting left.
>Turns out that there is a loose nut behind my gun and we could net a
>wrench to tighten it up. Shooting on the move was a challenge.
>
>Digression:
>Two shooters were present with VERY good shooting pedigrees, both were
>next to each other. It was AMAZING to watch them shoot. Both appeared
>to be wired together, same draw, presentation, shots were executed at
>the same time (if not amazingly close). I called them the "Mutant Evil
>Twins", they shot damn well. They positively oozed professionalism with
>their guns. Good training works, it shows, this proved it. (You know
>who you are!)
>
>Day two ended with night shooting. Good times were had by all, most had
>not done much night fire, let alone firing on the move with lights.
>
>Day Three, Jim had to torment us, he succeeded. 'Nuff said.
>
>All in all it was a SUPERB class, I needed to get some basics down pat
>(still getting up to speed for those who know). It was good to be able
>to see Jim diagnose others and then SEE the result of the changes. As
>they say, "those who teach, learn" some of us who do OK on the range
>got to assist some of the new guys, I learned A LOT.
>
>My utmost thanks to Jim Conway for hosting this and harassing me to
>come and to Jim Crews for doing what he does best.
The following is a mesage that i received after the Crews course last year. The writer is a VT police officer and a good friend.
>Subject: After Action Report: Jim Crews Course
>
>For your info:
>
>
>
>After Action Report:
>
>Jim Crews Handgun, 6-25-26-27, 2004 In.gasp.Massachusetts
>
>I recently attended the Jim Crews course in, of all places, Mass.
>(locally known as Massive-two-shits, People Repulik of Mass, etc etc).
>Held at Tyngesboro Rod and Gun, as hosted by our own Jim Conway. (stand
>up and take a bow Jim, good job, thanks!)
>
>
>Day One started with some light shooting (ok, Jim Crews had a flat tire
>or two, we just went shooting, chatted, lied to each other, the usual,
>some of the new guys got some of the basics instilled into them and we
>got to see who was shooting , what they were shooting and how good/bad
>they were) Mucho Thanks to Ken Siverts for being temporary
>RO/Instructor while Jim was busy playing with his lug-nuts.
>
>Jim showed up and we got the normal intro-lecture and got shooting, we
>did some one hole groups. OK, we did some one-holers on the first
>round, then messed them up from the second round onwards. That'll change..
>
>Without giving a shot by shot report, we had some great shooting, got
>the basics down pat (again for some of us) and had some of our personal
>problems diagnosed. (shooting problems...)
>
>Day Two was superb, start with one hole groups. I was shooting left.
>Turns out that there is a loose nut behind my gun and we could net a
>wrench to tighten it up. Shooting on the move was a challenge.
>
>Digression:
>Two shooters were present with VERY good shooting pedigrees, both were
>next to each other. It was AMAZING to watch them shoot. Both appeared
>to be wired together, same draw, presentation, shots were executed at
>the same time (if not amazingly close). I called them the "Mutant Evil
>Twins", they shot damn well. They positively oozed professionalism with
>their guns. Good training works, it shows, this proved it. (You know
>who you are!)
>
>Day two ended with night shooting. Good times were had by all, most had
>not done much night fire, let alone firing on the move with lights.
>
>Day Three, Jim had to torment us, he succeeded. 'Nuff said.
>
>All in all it was a SUPERB class, I needed to get some basics down pat
>(still getting up to speed for those who know). It was good to be able
>to see Jim diagnose others and then SEE the result of the changes. As
>they say, "those who teach, learn" some of us who do OK on the range
>got to assist some of the new guys, I learned A LOT.
>
>My utmost thanks to Jim Conway for hosting this and harassing me to
>come and to Jim Crews for doing what he does best.
Review of Jim Crews Training 2004
Where to begin (take 2, the first one vanished into the ether)?
Police “Training” in MA (1978-1996, 2000):
Our PD provided its own training and qualification for its officers (as most did in those years), using MCJTC (our POST, now called MCJT or MPTC) Certified instructors and a state-Recommended (there are NO state “standards” for firearms qualification) course of fire (50 rounds at stationary B-27 targets from varying distances).
The distances on the MCJT course are:
10 Shots Standing 3 yards
10 Shots Standing 5 Yards
10 shots Standing 7 yards
10 Shots Standing 10 yards
10 Shots, 5 standing, 5 kneeling 15 yards
Until the mid-late 1990s, a score of 70% was required to pass. Later it was raised to a minimum score of 80%. All shooting was done either single or double-handed from fixed positions and we qualified 2x/year until my last few years with a new anti-gun chief we dropped to 1x/year. In the early years we also did semi-annual night shoots (flashlight, cruiser headlights, and no light), until numerous resident complaints about the gunfire at 8PM resulted in stopping all night shooting. All the regular, FT POs went thru exactly the same qualification/training as we did as Special Police. There was NO training, it was strictly laying out the course of fire and shooting. I “retired” from being a Special Police Officer in 1996.
In 1999 I was appointed as a Constable. We have full LE powers (although many POs will deny this) according to the MGLs, however in most cases all we do is serve court papers and make civil arrests based on said court papers (mostly “deadbeat dads”), simply because if we started giving out speeding tickets, etc. we would not get paid for doing that work! There are no training or qualification requirements (or curricula) for Constables, so in 2000 I made arrangements to qualify with MCJTC, taking a class that was full of FT POs. The “class” consisted of watching a video (actual footage taken by a news reporter on the scene) of a takedown of a murderer at a PA truck parts swap meet. I was aghast at the total disregard for the spectators (there were 100s) safety as the police on the scene shot at the perp from three directions (no hits) as he was throwing truck parts at them. After the video (which the instructor claimed the police did everything correctly . . . I was the only dissident present <g>), we headed for the range. MCJTC has gone “PC” and exchanged gray milk-bottle targets for the B-27s that we all knew and loved. Otherwise the qualification course was the same as I noted above from “the early years”.
We never had any safety training, sight picture, trigger control, etc. in all my years with the PD.
Now for the Jim Crews course:
I’m copying the description below the URL that described it. It was an intensive 3 day, 28 hours on the range course, focused on accuracy and the use of strictly defensive tactics.
http://www.neshooters.com/2004-schedule.html
“Jim Crews will present an Intermediate Defensive Pistol Course on June 25, 26, and 27, 2004 at the Tyngsboro Sportsmen's Club in Tyngsboro, MA. The course will focus on heavily on marksmanship, and include weapons manipulations (reloads, malfunction clearances, etc), casualty gun handling, moving targets, and three-dimensional targets. Also included in this course is a module on low-light shooting during the evening of the second day.”
“This course will also be suitable for beginning students with no previous training. By using two or more relays to separate those students with differing levels of experience, both beginning and intermediate students will receive the proper level of instruction.”
And here are some pictures from one part of our class and I’ll try to describe what we did based on the pictures and a lot of what is not in the pictures.
http://www.neshooters.com/gallery.html
- Numerous pictures show the situational scenario of a bad guy with an adult hostage and one baby hostage. It was rigged on pulleys so that both the hostages and bad guy moved. The objective was one hit on the bad guy without hitting the hostages.
- In the group picture, I’m the person on the far right and the person who organized the training (Jim Conway, the old guy <gd&rvvf>) is standing beside me. Jim Crews is the guy in the ball cap who has one foot on the resettable steel targets in the left, 2nd row of pictures.
- We practiced weapon malfunctions, tactical reloading, sight picture techniques, trigger reset, casualty gun handling, moving targets, shooting while moving, low-light shooting (those targets are camo and they blend in real well as the light gets low), double-taps, Mozambique, proper grip control, shooting thru one ragged hole, lying on your back and shooting between your legs, lying on your back and shooting over your head (gun is upside down . . . this kills your neck if you aren’t 20 years old anymore), etc.
- There was another situational event which we were all sworn to secrecy (by Jim Crews) so that we don’t spoil it for anyone lucky enough to take his classes in the future. In this case we were summoned to the range one at a time, given the info needed to resolve the situation, and we needed to take appropriate action.
- We did a lot of “one hole drills”! Believe it or not, this is quite possible on a consistent basis if we pay attention to the training and concentrate on doing it right.
- Shooting on the move is very practical for defensive shooting and we did it both in daylight and at night. [Wonder why we never did that for PD qualification?]
And here is the schedule of training coming up in 2005.
http://www.neshooters.com/2005-schedule.html
I learned more from Jim Crews in those three days than I had learned in 28 years of shooting and all the tips from target shooters combined! I can’t say enough good things about Jim as an instructor. More info on what he has to offer can be found at www.marksmans.com
That’ll have to do for now so that I finally get to post something that I promised months ago.
Where to begin (take 2, the first one vanished into the ether)?
Police “Training” in MA (1978-1996, 2000):
Our PD provided its own training and qualification for its officers (as most did in those years), using MCJTC (our POST, now called MCJT or MPTC) Certified instructors and a state-Recommended (there are NO state “standards” for firearms qualification) course of fire (50 rounds at stationary B-27 targets from varying distances).
The distances on the MCJT course are:
10 Shots Standing 3 yards
10 Shots Standing 5 Yards
10 shots Standing 7 yards
10 Shots Standing 10 yards
10 Shots, 5 standing, 5 kneeling 15 yards
Until the mid-late 1990s, a score of 70% was required to pass. Later it was raised to a minimum score of 80%. All shooting was done either single or double-handed from fixed positions and we qualified 2x/year until my last few years with a new anti-gun chief we dropped to 1x/year. In the early years we also did semi-annual night shoots (flashlight, cruiser headlights, and no light), until numerous resident complaints about the gunfire at 8PM resulted in stopping all night shooting. All the regular, FT POs went thru exactly the same qualification/training as we did as Special Police. There was NO training, it was strictly laying out the course of fire and shooting. I “retired” from being a Special Police Officer in 1996.
In 1999 I was appointed as a Constable. We have full LE powers (although many POs will deny this) according to the MGLs, however in most cases all we do is serve court papers and make civil arrests based on said court papers (mostly “deadbeat dads”), simply because if we started giving out speeding tickets, etc. we would not get paid for doing that work! There are no training or qualification requirements (or curricula) for Constables, so in 2000 I made arrangements to qualify with MCJTC, taking a class that was full of FT POs. The “class” consisted of watching a video (actual footage taken by a news reporter on the scene) of a takedown of a murderer at a PA truck parts swap meet. I was aghast at the total disregard for the spectators (there were 100s) safety as the police on the scene shot at the perp from three directions (no hits) as he was throwing truck parts at them. After the video (which the instructor claimed the police did everything correctly . . . I was the only dissident present <g>), we headed for the range. MCJTC has gone “PC” and exchanged gray milk-bottle targets for the B-27s that we all knew and loved. Otherwise the qualification course was the same as I noted above from “the early years”.
We never had any safety training, sight picture, trigger control, etc. in all my years with the PD.
Now for the Jim Crews course:
I’m copying the description below the URL that described it. It was an intensive 3 day, 28 hours on the range course, focused on accuracy and the use of strictly defensive tactics.
http://www.neshooters.com/2004-schedule.html
“Jim Crews will present an Intermediate Defensive Pistol Course on June 25, 26, and 27, 2004 at the Tyngsboro Sportsmen's Club in Tyngsboro, MA. The course will focus on heavily on marksmanship, and include weapons manipulations (reloads, malfunction clearances, etc), casualty gun handling, moving targets, and three-dimensional targets. Also included in this course is a module on low-light shooting during the evening of the second day.”
“This course will also be suitable for beginning students with no previous training. By using two or more relays to separate those students with differing levels of experience, both beginning and intermediate students will receive the proper level of instruction.”
And here are some pictures from one part of our class and I’ll try to describe what we did based on the pictures and a lot of what is not in the pictures.
http://www.neshooters.com/gallery.html
- Numerous pictures show the situational scenario of a bad guy with an adult hostage and one baby hostage. It was rigged on pulleys so that both the hostages and bad guy moved. The objective was one hit on the bad guy without hitting the hostages.
- In the group picture, I’m the person on the far right and the person who organized the training (Jim Conway, the old guy <gd&rvvf>) is standing beside me. Jim Crews is the guy in the ball cap who has one foot on the resettable steel targets in the left, 2nd row of pictures.
- We practiced weapon malfunctions, tactical reloading, sight picture techniques, trigger reset, casualty gun handling, moving targets, shooting while moving, low-light shooting (those targets are camo and they blend in real well as the light gets low), double-taps, Mozambique, proper grip control, shooting thru one ragged hole, lying on your back and shooting between your legs, lying on your back and shooting over your head (gun is upside down . . . this kills your neck if you aren’t 20 years old anymore), etc.
- There was another situational event which we were all sworn to secrecy (by Jim Crews) so that we don’t spoil it for anyone lucky enough to take his classes in the future. In this case we were summoned to the range one at a time, given the info needed to resolve the situation, and we needed to take appropriate action.
- We did a lot of “one hole drills”! Believe it or not, this is quite possible on a consistent basis if we pay attention to the training and concentrate on doing it right.
- Shooting on the move is very practical for defensive shooting and we did it both in daylight and at night. [Wonder why we never did that for PD qualification?]
And here is the schedule of training coming up in 2005.
http://www.neshooters.com/2005-schedule.html
I learned more from Jim Crews in those three days than I had learned in 28 years of shooting and all the tips from target shooters combined! I can’t say enough good things about Jim as an instructor. More info on what he has to offer can be found at www.marksmans.com
That’ll have to do for now so that I finally get to post something that I promised months ago.
JimConway
Instructor
Len
Thank you for of the kind words except for the "old guy" comment. To set the record straight, I am the distinguished gentleman with prematurely grey hair standing next to a very heavy set and balding fellow with no redeemible qualities. As Len said Jim Crew's training system works and produces measurable improvement in the shooters. With Len as an example, he demonstrated a large improvement is his shooting and accuracy. By the end of the class, he was finally able to tell which end of his pistol that the bullet came out of, almost every time.
Because of Len's improvement, actually his old guy comment, I have concelled both of his training slots for this year and are using these slots for free scholarships for needy shooters. Len, please do not beg and plead to me about getting your money back.
Thank you for of the kind words except for the "old guy" comment. To set the record straight, I am the distinguished gentleman with prematurely grey hair standing next to a very heavy set and balding fellow with no redeemible qualities. As Len said Jim Crew's training system works and produces measurable improvement in the shooters. With Len as an example, he demonstrated a large improvement is his shooting and accuracy. By the end of the class, he was finally able to tell which end of his pistol that the bullet came out of, almost every time.
Because of Len's improvement, actually his old guy comment, I have concelled both of his training slots for this year and are using these slots for free scholarships for needy shooters. Len, please do not beg and plead to me about getting your money back.
Who woke up the old guy?? A month after my post, the old guy comes out of his cave, dragging his knuckles across the keyboard! 
This will be a test of my integrity not to use my Mod powers and turn the old man's insults around! [twisted]
All joking aside, Jim Conway is a great guy and trainer, in spite of his advanced age <the devil made me do it>! It's Jim's efforts that are bringing these nationally/internationally respected trainers to the New England area.
This will be a test of my integrity not to use my Mod powers and turn the old man's insults around! [twisted]
All joking aside, Jim Conway is a great guy and trainer, in spite of his advanced age <the devil made me do it>! It's Jim's efforts that are bringing these nationally/internationally respected trainers to the New England area.
