My father always told me no matter how good you think you are, there is always someone better, with that being said you still should strive for perfection. That used to confuse my young mind and I would ask my father why try to improve if there is always someone who is better? He would tell me the better you get the better your odds.

Now this is general advice my father gave me about life. It was up to me in which I chose to focus my efforts. The same applies to whomever decides to improve oneself. There are things in life that is important such as health, happiness, freedom, and security. I would imagine most people would agree with me on that so one aspect of my life I choose to improve was my ability to defend myself.

The aspect of this article is defending yourself with a firearm. The first step in that direction is learn firearm safety and purchase one. That is just the beginning. Jeff Cooper said “Owning a handgun doesn’t make you armed any more than owning a guitar makes you a musician”.

Another saying my Senior Drill Instructor at Parris Island gently shared in a normal speaking voice was “practice does not make perfect but perfect practice makes perfect”. What I am getting to is to be safe and proficient with a firearm you need professional instruction and in between
instruction you implement that prefect practice.

I personally have continued my instructions after my time in the Marine Corps with private instruction. The latest class I attended I especially liked, it was a two hour class called Self Defense Practice class taught by Shoot To Live geared toward techniques for defensive pistol shooting.

This class was comprised of a short period of instruction on a technique, dry fire practice, and then live fire practice with time in between for questions. Once the instructors felt we had grasped the concept we moved on to another technique, often building off the previous instruction. All
instruction was supervised by two instructors and safety was paramount.

The class was inexpensive and kept small so the instruction time was used efficiently. The only real down time during the class was to reload your magazines. The last half hour the instructors set up scenarios similar to what you would find in an IDPA pistol match, using techniques we had practiced in class we run the drill, we were timed and critiqued. That concluded the class but the instructors were kind enough to hang out, visit with the students and answer more questions. There was a lot of information provided in the two hours, more than enough to take away for practice sessions.

This was a great class, I learned some things and had a great time. Don’t get me wrong though don’t believe you can take a two hour class and are good to go. Marksmanship and all that goes along with it is a fine motor skill so it must be reenforced in instruction and honed during practice sessions. Shoot To Live offers many options on classes for any skill level and it is my intention to take a few more classes with them. All in all I highly recommend giving Shoot To Live a try and see if you don’t feel the same way.

By Hunter Elliott

I spent much of my youth involved with firearms and felt the call early on to the United States Marine Corps, following in my father's and his brother's footsteps. Just after high school I enlisted and felt most at home on the rifle range, where I qualified expert with several firearms and spent some time as a rifle coach to my fellow Marines. After being honorably discharged I continued teaching firearm safety, rifle and pistol marksmanship, and began teaching metallic cartridge reloading. In the late 1990s I became a life member to the National Rifle Association and worked with the Friends of the NRA. Around that time my father and I became involved with IDPA and competed together up until he passed away. I began reviewing firearms for publications in the mid 2000s and have been fortunate to make many friends in the industry. Continuing to improve my firearms skills and knowledge is a never ending journey in which we should all be committed. I am also credited as weapons master on a few independent films.

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