Day 1 before I worked on my grip
(Photo credit: Thunder Ranch)
I’m back from Thunder Ranch and exhausted! I don’t know if I’ll write up the trip, but it was amazing. The basic classes were a lot of fun, and this class was fun, too, but in a very different way.
HIT was 1800 rounds in 3 days. It was 90-95 degrees with no shade. The head instructor called the class a little early, as everyone was exhausted. I looked down the line, and we all had bandaged fingers from Glock Knuckle and sweat pouring.
With only 8 students compared to the normal 14, we had a lot of personal instruction. We worked on our individual skills but also had a lot of group drills. My main skills were returning to “the wall” by not pinning the trigger and trusting myself to be on target and fire quicker.
This was my fourth class at Thunder Ranch. I had trained with about half of the students; our group had a combined 77 classes! Many of my classmates are law enforcement, firearms instructors or in related fields.
Some skills were firing from every imaginable position (lots of ground, single-handed and malfunctioning work), firing while moving, working with a partner, applying tourniquets during firing drills, and shooting while fatigued (lots of push-ups and kettlebell swings in between). We had four trips through the Terminator or shoot house, once with a partner, which is another scary level.
The class started as a review of previous training and then progressed quickly. Each day, I was exhausted, sore and bruised. I lived on ibuprofen. As always, I learned so much and loved it the entire time.
Thunder Ranch hired a professional photographer to create new marketing material. The photographer travels worldwide to photograph hunting, fishing and firearms for Cabelas and others. I look forward to seeing his work. His camera and drone put mine to shame!
Hubby said I loved firearms training so much that I might consider becoming an instructor. Hmmmm, something to think about.
I’m back home in the delicious air conditioning working on photos for the book. So far the editor told me “Wow. Tami. This looks great. You have put a lot of work into this.”
Graduation
Jack had to tease me one last time!
Leave a Reply