This past Saturday was a big step in my continued gun training. I was prequalified a few weeks ago by taking Form and Accuracy and was now prepared to attend SKILL BUILDER 1!
In addition to taking a new, and challenging class, I was fresh out of the gate with my shiny-new Glock 17 Gen 5! My first hand gun ever! Still kind of hard to believe I am a gun owner!! ????
Anyway, as you might imagine, I was super pumped to get on the range and grow my skills with this sweet thing, and then straight away I got a few annoying jams. Hey, wait a sec!! ?? my gun is broke! ????…….nope…..you are allowing too much kickback; your wrists are limp….also try holding your gun tighter. Once I tightened up and corrected my hold, the jamming subsided. ????
One of the first things we practiced was a defensive move, dropping our magazine, and reloading a new one from our waist band. We did this many times……we did it to become familiar with where the base of the magazine hits the middle of our palm when we grab it, while our index finger leads it directly into the receiver. Not easy to master…..I have not mastered it yet….but I am a heck of a lot better than before, which was having never actually attempted it….I have come a long way!
The MOST IMPORTANT training for me was a pretty good-sized portion on …….JAMS! No! Please no! The cold hard truth is that We MUST all learn to be comfortable, and capable of dislodging a jam…..as they WILL occur for all of us at some point, maybe even at a crucial moment of self-defense. We cannot sit there and panic and worry that our gun is going to explode in our hands because it jammed up (my thoughts exactly????).
While Richard was instructing us, our other fine instructor, Joanna, was actually creating a “manmade jam” in each of our guns, these would occur at random, we were educated how to systematically go about dislodging and clearing our guns and returning to finish our round of shooting.
THIS SEEMED LUDICROUS and absolutely absurd….and also asinine. Are you saying you are going to insert something into our gun that wont work? yes….????…..this can’t be good.????
This made me uneasy, which is what all jams do to me. But who here likes gun jams???? show of hands???? You see what I mean. No one. BUT, here is the good news….turns out they don’t need to be debilitating or stop us completely…..We are all capable of taking care of a jam when they occur with our firearm. I will never look forward to them…..but I do know what to do now when one occurs. I no longer need to say, hey, um instructor, my gun is stuck….????……now I’ll just handle it.
In the end, the very best way for me to avoid them in the first place is to go back to the beginning: Keep my wrists firm, my arms extended, and my grip very snug……maybe “squeeze the snot out of that thing”!
I encourage you to keep practicing and improving your skills alongside me.
See you on the range,
Melissa ❤️
Femme Fatale ARMS & Training is a woman-owned business that provides education and support to an over victimized and underserved segment of our population. We have programs to build confidence and skill without the intimidating aspects that tend to exist elsewhere in this industry. Our goal is customer satisfaction and loyalty. We’d appreciate an opportunity to show you how we are different, yet still, help you to accomplish your education and safety goals.
Femme Fatale Arms & Training is located at 4270 Minton Rd #107 in
West Melbourne, Florida 32904 ????We are open Mon-Thur 10 AM to 5 PM, Fri 10 AM to 6 PM, Sat 10 AM to 4 PM
Call us with questions at (321) 327-3790 or visit FemmeFataleArms.com for more info today.
