Upcoming Classes
July 10th:
Arizona CCW
July 17th:
Defensive Pistol ClassLearn More & Register Here
Private Lessons
Can't attend one of our classes or just don't want to wait? FMI is now offering Private Lessons. These are specifically tailored to your current skills and goals.
Learn More & Register Here
Private Classes
FMI will train you at your home or business! You can schedule any of our classes at your convenience as long as you have at least four students.
Contact FMI to Learn MoreFMI Contact Infowww.firearmsmastery.commatt@firearmsmastery.com
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 Consolidated Arizona Training
FMI has joined forces with Independence Firearms Training and Kilo-Sierra LLC to form Consolidated Arizona Training (CAT). CAT was formed in response to training requests for local, affordable training from citizens in remote areas of the state. By working together, CAT is able to travel throughout the state and provide quality firearms and emergency preparedness training that was previously unavailable outside of the major cities.
CAT held its first course in Wilcox, AZ (July 30 to Aug 1, 2010) and the response was overwhelming. Our 25 students received a full day of defensive pistol training followed by a day of emergency preparedness training, including mental conditioning for emergenies, family and community emergency planning, and field trauma medicine. We have already been invited back to Wilcox to give this course again on September 17-19th!
CAT plans to add additional courses in the near future to include Defensive Carbine, Force-on-Force Tactics, and an extended Emergency Medical class.
Our website isn't up yet, but will soon be available at www.TrainingAZ.com.
Independence Firearms Training is a Prescott, AZ, company specializing in pistol and rifle training (www.independencetraining.com).
Kilo-Sierra is a Tucson-based company specializing in personal protection, firearms, and medical training (www.kilo-sierra.com)
Training Tips
Dry Practice at Home
Practice and repetition are the keys to precision marksmanship and self-defense. The object is to properly repeat a given procedure so many times that it becomes instinctive. Notice that I said "properly"! It is very important to stress proper technique during practice because when it comes time to perform (on the range or during a defensive situation) your body will do exactly what you have practiced. Short cuts and sloppiness during practice lead to poor performance.
The best place to practice is obviously on the firing range, but not many of us have the time or money to shoot every day. The solution is to practice at home at least twice a week. We call this "dry practice". The simple act of lining up the sights and practicing a smooth, controlled trigger compression 20 or 30 times, 2 or 3 times a week, will dramatically improve your accuracy! What else can you practice at home? Everything but the shooting! How about drawing and reholstering, administrative and tactical reloads, clearing malfunctions, transitioning between multiple targets, or shooting from a kneeling position or from behind cover? All of these skills can be learned and practiced at home.
Here are a couple of tips to make your dry practice safer and more productive.
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Use snap caps or dummy bullets. Some weapons may be damaged by repeated "dry firing" on an empty chamber. Also, these let you practice reloads and malfunctions with your semi-automatic.
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Practice in an ammo free zone. Unload your weapon, double check it and remove all ammunition from your practice area. It is too easy to get distracted and mistakenly load a live round.
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Start slow and speed up as you master the technique. Remember, slow is smooth and smooth is fast.
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Tell your spouse, partner, or roommate what you are doing! Imagine their surprise if they come in to find you running around, shooting imaginary bad guys with your pistol.
Mental Conditioning
Have you ever known someone that falls apart in even the smallest emergency? How about a person that keeps it together and performs at a high level even as the world turns to chaos around him? The difference between the two is mental conditioning. As we learn a new skill we often focus so hard on the physical or technical aspects of the skill that we completely forget about the mental aspects.
When it comes to self defense, the sad truth is that many of us have a victim mentality. We believe it won't happen to us, there is nothing we can do, we are too weak to defend ourselves, or, worse yet, the police will be there to defend us. These are what we call limiting beliefs. Not only are they just not true, but they make us the perfect victims.
When people wake up and decide to take action, their first response if often to carry a weapon, but guns, tasers, and pepper spray are just tools. The only true weapon any of us possess is our mind. If you have not prepared your mind to deal with a self defense situation then how can you expect to perform properly? Are you mentally prepared to take a life in order to protect yourself or your family? The criminal is and that gives him a distinct advantage!
I encourage you to take some time today to start honing your mind. Evaluate your limiting beliefs and sharpen your mental tools. Visualization, self talk, training, and simulation are powerful tools that can help prepare you for life's inevitable emergencies.
Want to learn more? I include a two hour block on mental conditioning in my defensive pistol and personal protection classes, and it can also be included in my private lessons.
Safety Tip of the Day
 Always clean your weapon and dry practice in an Ammo-Free Zone.
It is too easy to get distracted by a phone call, a football game on TV, or a bathroom break, only to forget that you already reloaded your weapon.
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