January 2026 Recap

On January 31, 2026, at Darke County Fish and Game, Jack and Kyle taught two indoor half-day classes.  All the students in attendance trained with us before.

The first class, AR Technician, was taught to one student who brought and cleaned his Colt SP-1 that he purchased in the 70’s.  The gun was very dirty as the student did not know how to completely field strip his rifle to clean it prior to taking our class.  Four and a half hours, a Breakthrough cleaning kit, and a Real Avid Carbon Boss later, this rifle was spotless.  This course is an excellent deal considering all the cleaning supplies you get.  I plan on including more items in the future, so students will receive all the necessary tools and supplies to deep clean their rifle in the comfort of their own home.

Student cleaning his SP-1.

The second class, our first rendition of Pistol Dry Practice, was taught to two students.  Jack was the lead instructor for this one, and Kyle was the assistant instructor.  One brought her Smith and Wesson Shield X and the other brought his Smith and Wesson 39-2.  Both are chambered in 9mm.  As this was the beta test for the class, it was five hours in length.  All the content that Jack and I wanted to cover was discussed.  After discussing each topic, the students were given time to practice it under the watchful eyes of Jack and I.  The decision-making drills with our Triumph Target System ended the course as the class favorite.  Both students learned new things despite having prior training.  Both students went home with dummy rounds to practice these skills on their own.

This class will be broken down into 1-1/2 to 2 hour blocks so we can lower the cost and teach it more frequently in the future.  Although it is a work in progress, the students gave great feedback, inspiring the changes.  Stay tuned for these changes next year.

Jack discussing a book on Practical Pistol Skills.