AAR – Langdon Tactical – Ernest Langdon
2 Day Pistol Skills Course
I have listened to Ernest Langdon and watched numerous videos he has shared on his YouTube channel and have had friends train with him in the past. I reached out to him to schedule a training and he was all about coming to Iowa. I am glad he did.
Equipment:
Gcode Assaulters Systems Belt – Two Belt Set-up
Gcode AR and Pistol Mag pouches
Safariland 6390RDS Holster
Staccato XC with Aimpoint Acro P2 and Factory Magazines
This class was made up of many different folks from various lines of work. We had some LE folks, doctors, engineers, prior military, some competition shooters, property managers and medical personnel. Class make-up of two females and 15 male shooters from California, Michigan, Indiana, Colorado, Iowa and I am probably forgetting one. Firearms ranged from Staccatos, LTT Berettas, Walther, M&P and Glocks. All guns ran perfectly with no issues.
Location:
Big Springs Shooting Complex – 50 Yard Range
Weather:
TD1 – start at 34 degrees with a in the lower 40’s. We had rain for 3 or so hours with sustained winds of 25 and gusts between 30-35. The real feel all day was about 36 degrees.
TD2 – High of 42 degrees with a real feel of 30. Sustained winds of 28 miles per hour with gusts of 35-45.
This was probably the worst weather I have trained in, in many years. Ernest did not skip a beat during the training days due to weather conditions and the students were positive and eager to learn.
TD1
The class started out with Ernest doing an introduction and brief bio on his experience and how the course came about along with each person attendings bio. Ernest then gave the course objectives with an emphasis of learning skills so each student can perform in a gunfight. The class started with a classroom portion which included an in-depth explanation of mindset which included the conscious and subconscious aspects.
Following the mindset lecture, Ernest got into the weeds on the fundamentals and his take on them. Ernest explained and demonstrated each of his fundamentals and provided the why’s behind them and stated for the first time in the class, all these things can be practiced via dry fire. (this was a recurring statement)
Following the fundamental lecture, a range safety brief and his take on the 4 firearm safety rules and then we headed out on the range.
The first drill conducted was a slow fire group at 7 yards on a 2-inch circle on his LTT-1 Target from the National Target Company. This is a great practice target that provides a lot of opportunities on a single piece of paper. Following the slow fire groups, Ernest reiterated the grip fundamentals with some further teaching along with demos. To show this, we then shot 5 round cadence groups at various intervals into the 2-inch circles to hone the grip.
The next focus of his POI was the trigger press. This is something that many people need to hear and understand. Unfortunately, many still in the LE arena live by the doctrine, “Pin the trigger to the rear and slowly let out to reset” as I know I was taught that years ago, and still hear it taught today, but needs to be changed. Without giving out the goods, we did a couple more drills on trigger press and timers to dispel myths in the aspect of trigger press.
We continued the first part of TD1 with more cadence drills to talk about the recoil response. It’s all in the timing of the “flinch” as it is a part of recoil control. Ernest gave a detailed explanation of the recoil response. We finished up the daylight portion with the draw stroke, both appendix and strongside, reloads, and one-handed shooting. This was all put together with a series of drills (in the rain) to win a Langdon Tactical hat. We had a dinner break then came back for the low light portion.
Low light started with a classroom portion of why lights and the use of the handgun. We talked about principles and concepts of low light, followed by dry drills of the various handheld light techniques. Ernest had a great set-up for low light. The use of streamlight lanterns to give different lighting perspectives is definitely worth the admission. Not only did we work in transitional lighting, but near darkness and these lanterns gave each student a perspective on what light can do not only to you but your target along with the environment.
TD2
Started TD2 off with the goals of the day along with the range safety brief. Ernest gave another talk about mindset and how we often talk about he negatives of our shooting without focusing on the positives. An example he gave, you shoot a 99 on a B8 and focus on the 1 that was outside of the 10-ring. Not the fact that we put 9 rounds into the 10. Made a lot of sense to help aid in our shooting journey.
With the weather as bad as it was, the wind in particular, we shot steel targets all day for TD2. We had to do what we had to, and Ernest leaned towards the safety side with the high winds. It would have been impossible to keep paper targets in place let alone the potential of the sticks breaking. Unfortunately, students were not able to complete the FAST Drill for a potential coin. There were some contenders for sure in the class.
Following the range safety brief, we headed out to the 25-yard line to start shooting for the day. We started with a slow fire, 5 round group to the center of the steel. This was followed by the same cadence drills from day 1 at 25 yards.
We continued the shooting progression moving to the 15-yard line and increased our cadence of fire to focus on the grip to aid in recoil control along with proper trigger press. We had to take small breaks to get out of the wind to warm up and during these breaks, Ernest took the time to provide practical explanation of why we were doing the drills/skill sets. Not only from his Military time, but how it relates to defensive situations and competition shooting.
After the warm-up period, we hit the range again and worked on multiple targets and what is needed to make quicker, more efficient transitions. People in defensive situations usually never stand still and Ernest reinforced this point during this point of instruction. Not is it always multiple shooters, but the shooter that moves.
We gathered around, out of the wind, and talked about the proper use of cover/concealment. Ernest provided an in-depth lecture, followed by a demonstration of each concept he spoke about. Ernest put the lecture in real world context for each student to visualize the proper application and how it could be used to defend oneself.
Ernest’s method of instruction is not only well thought out, but practical based on personal, real-life experiences by him through his various life experiences. He always gave the why behind the concepts and principles he was teaching and only asked for us to have an open mind and try the methods. His instruction was on point, deliberate, and based on practical application. He was very personable, answered questions, took time for each student, and truly wanted each person to become better. The weather did not cooperate, and he was able to shift his POI so that every shooter took away learning points to become better. If you have not trained with Ernest Langdon, you should. His classes are limited and if one is close to you, jump on it.
