Shoot Them to the Ground Gunfighting

Since 07-04-08

 

 

 

 

 

 

Advanced Close-Range Gunfighting: ==
Shoot Them to the Ground Gunfighting
GABRIEL SUAREZ

 

USCCA GEAR REVIEW

Okay... my camera busted last week, so I don't have a very good picture for you of this week's gear review because the camera I'm using is ancient. This thing is seriously one of the first "cheap" digital cameras to have been produced... I think it was $40, and that was several years ago... if you can imagine such a thing. But, through it's messed up display, and after about ten tries, I got a picture that doesn't look TOO bad... so here it is:

As you can see, the subject of this week's gear-review is a DVD. It's called "Advanced Close-Range Gunfighting: Shoot Them to the Ground Gunfighting". It just happens to have been made by Gabe Suarez- one of the (in my humble opinion) most prevalent tactical instructors ever born!

If you know anything about Gabe Suarez, you know two things: One, that he's a SUPER nice and friendly guy- you'd never guess it by the fierce warrior-look on his face on the cover of this DVD! Secondly, you know that he has a way of communicating on a down to earth, easy to understand level. This makes for a VERY good result when you're talking about training material- especially DVDs.

Now, onto the DVD itself.

It's an hour and eight minutes long, which surprised me at first, because I didn't really see what you could cover for that amount of time. I also wondered if my attention-deficit-disorder-prone mind could REALLY stay interested in this for over an hour... Well, I was proven wrong. Not only that, but I found myself rewinding to certain parts to watch for a second time. I'll tell you which parts in a moment. Then later, I rewound to some other parts to show my wife when she got home.

Okay, so what material does this DVD cover? Well, it covers a LOT of things, and you can find the complete description on Mr. Suarez's website right HERE. More importantly, here is what I learned from this DVD:

1) I learned the fastest and safest way to switch my pistol from my right hand to my left hand. I'm not saying I've perfected it... FAR from it, but Gabe shows you how to practice it, then does it in Slow-Motion, then again in Super-Slow-Motion to make practicing easier. Gabe teaches that you don't have 'weak' or 'strong' sides. You just have your left and right sides, and you can be trained to use both equally well. I actually really like that philosophy, and I'm working on it, ammo permitting of course!

2) Moving off the 'X' (the 'x' is where you are standing when the action begins). We've all heard of this, 'moving off the 'x'- at least, most of us have. But I've always kind of taken it to mean "Do whatever you physically can to make yourself a moving target when you go into condition red". But, in this DVD, Gabe actually goes over how to properly do it in a very 'micro' sort of way- down to exact foot placement. He also teaches this brilliant 'fake out' move to use when you move off the 'X'. He says that it's a LITTLE slower, but depending on the situation, it could prove very effective.

'Micro-teaching' is probably a pretty good way to describe Gabe's style of instructing. For example, if he were teaching you how to do a back-flip, he wouldn't just say, "Okay, watch carefully" and do a back flip. He would explain the thoughts you should be having, your foot placement, weight transfer, and which muscles you should be developing in order to do a back flip better.

There are many other techniques that I found incredibly useful, such as how to make yourself a moving target while in a confined space, how to shoot at a person who is standing within contact distance behind you, and how to practice point-shooting.

As with any piece of training material, I've also heard of some of the stuff that he talked about and explained before, but it's always fun to watch a guy as skilled as Gabe practicing even trivial drills- he's very fluent with a pistol, that is for sure!

Well that about wraps this review up. For the price I'd say you can't go wrong with this DVD. You certainly can't practice enough, but you CAN practice the wrong stuff, and material like this helps greatly in countering that by making your practice time more efficient and more effective.

If you want to learn more about this DVD or even get your own copy, go HERE. I recommend it.

---

---

---