Ken Hackathorn Advanced Pistol, 10-27/28-12

**M14sRock** · 29-10-2012, 06:00

Two buddies and I attended Ken Hackathorn's Advanced Pistol Class this weekend.

It was out-fucking-standing!

One thing we all agreed to honor at the beginning of the class was to not share the curriculum or videos.

I had NO time for taking videos, so that is moot. And the only pictures I took were this one of Ken and me, wishing you were there with us.

And this one, after my buddy took a round to the face. But fear not, it was only a flesh wound.

He took a 9mm bullet from our other friend, after it bounced off a pockmarked plate as we ran around during a drill. It put a nice welt and 3/8" slice into his cheek, and that bled like crazy. All over his face, neck, shirt, pants and a nice puddle on the ground. But he finished the drill like any certified badass would.

The class entailed LOTS of interesting drills that are all based on the real world. The emphasis was on movement and firing, which Ken is known for. Lots of movement, and lots of firing. Lots.

There were 20 students, all guys. 3 of them used 1911s. 3 more had M&Ps. One XDm. One H&K P30. And a dozen Glocks. Ken used a Glock.

Yesterday, all of the 1911s had malfunctions. Today, one of the 1911 guys came with a Sig P220 SAO. He still had a few malfunctions. All the 1911s on the line had malfunctions today. And today I saw 2 of the M&Ps have malfunctions. The XDm, P30 and ALL the Glocks ran 100%. The XDm guy is getting rid of it to switch to a Glock, though. And the P30 guy says he needs a LOT more work to master the LEM trigger on his P30.

The 1911s were all top end guns. STI, Les Baer and Nighthawk. One guy ran a Les Baer 5" TR yesterday, and a Commander length today. Both had many malfunctions.

All of these students were very experienced shooters who understood their pistols, intimately.

I used to be a training junkie and this class has re-kindled that. Most of these guys attend classes regularly, and know each other. We have joined their ranks and I can't wait for the next one.

I took a .30 Cal ammo can full of 124gr WWB and figure I fired about 800rds. I used a Blade Tech kydex holster and my two old Mad Dog kydex mag pouches and have no complaints. On day 1 I also used a Blade Tech mag pouch for one mag and a Surefire light, but decided not to use that today. My holster is set with a rear cant. Ken gave me a couple of the Larry Vickers magazine floorplates that are wider than factory. They make it really easy to rip a mag out of the mag pouch, or the gun. I will be buying more tonight.

I took along 3 G17s, but used the Gen 2 that I got recently from a member on another forum. I put new Heinie's on it the night before class and had some concern about not having test fired it for POI, but it turned out to be shooting fine.

One buddy used a G22, and our other buddy a G34.

Ken Hackathorn is a class act and funny as shit. I look forward to much more of his training. If you have a chance to attend a Hackathorn class, do it!