Being accurate with a pistol can be a natural gift. However, safe gun handling, range safety, and the effective use of basic skills is a learned behavior. This is why training programs like the fundamentals course from Glock are important for new and experienced shooters alike.
Glock Teaches the Basics in its Training “Glock Fundamentals Course”
Gun owners learn to be safe, confident, and consistently accurate primarily through organized instruction. Specifically from good shooters who are not only knowledgeable about firearms but are effective teachers as well.
To receive the tools to continually improve and build the foundation for a lifetime of enjoyment, new gun owners must first be good students. This includes absorbing correct fundamentals that produce immediate, positive results.
Glock Professional, a separate training and competitive arm of Glock, Inc., now offers just such a class. Glock conducts it at their training facility located close to the Glock headquarters and manufacturing facility in Smyrna, Georgia.
The Glock Training “Glock Fundamentals Course” is designed to teach the fundamentals of pistol shooting to both novice and experienced shooters with instruction and drills mentored by Glock teaching cadre.
The Glock Training Course
The Fundamentals course centers around the Glock G44 .22 pistol that is provided to each student. Sized the same as Glock’s best-selling G19 9mm, the G44 has been specifically engineered to match the G19. This includes the same trigger pull, interchangeable backstraps, magazine release, SAFE ACTION requiring no external safety, and has the same sight picture as every Glock pistol.
The result is every habit and skill learned on the G44 is immediately transferrable to larger caliber Glocks. And even most other striker-fired pistols. During the course, the student shoots hundreds of .22 LR ammo. So, there are no “training scars” when transitioning to 9mm, .40 S&W, or even .45 ACP and 10mm Glock handguns.
At a recent course, long before unboxing the G44 pistols, the curriculum began with learning how the firearm functions. Likewise, it covers the three internal safeties found in every Glock and how to disassemble it.
Included was a very specific explanation of the safe handling of the pistols. So, every shooter understood the safety expectations and range requirements before they were given experience in holding, taking apart, and obtaining a good sight picture with their cold pistols.
The class then moved to the indoor range. There the students were taken in smaller groups to be shown and practice the steps of presentation, stance, and hold to ensure accurate shots on target.
Improvement Through Specific Drills
The remainder of the dynamic course consisted of specific drills mentored by the instructors. They used one-on-one guidance to help each student achieve betterment and improvement. It was great to see several students have that “AHA!” moment when they were able to execute an unfamiliar skill explained differently or demonstrated by the patient, understanding instructors so that they “got it.”
The two strings of students barely had time in between shooting to reload their 10-round, easy-to-load G44 magazines. They then returned to the firing line at various distances with hundreds of rounds expended.
The design of the Fundamentals course is a gateway to pistol shooting. However, the men and women students’ experience levels in this first class included those who literally had never handled a pistol before to some with decades of experience.
All, however, admitted that they learned much from the Glock instructors. The lead instructor was “Gen One” Chris Edwards. He is a virtual fixture at Glock for decades and a long-time shooter and instructor. In his career he has helped thousands of shooters, including the Team Glock competition shooters, achieve excellence with their pistols.
The Glock Course Received Positive Feedback
The class of eight included a neonatal registered nurse, an ordained pastor as well as other diverse occupations including IT software developers and human resource professionals. Only a few had experience in gun handling or any kind of firearms training.
Scott Murphy, an executive pastor of a church in Canton, Georgia, was asked how he liked the Fundamentals class.
He enthusiastically said, “It was fantastic! It was a very thorough course and since I have extremely limited experience with firearms the step-by-step process including dry-firing all the way through live-fire and ending with (disassembly and) cleaning really made me a lot more confident and was enriching!”
Murphy said that he did not grow up in a house with guns. But he did have some limited experience and explained about the knowledge that he had.
“Over time I have been piecing together what I know from bits and pieces,” he said. “But this was the first formalized training that I have taken from start to finish about how to properly handle and maintain a firearm. It really has given me a solid foundation to build from.”
Taking Firearm Safety to the Next Level
One of the youngest members of the class was Zack Ramirez. His enthusiasm and great attitude made the day even better. He admitted that although he did grow up around firearms, he had never taken any kind of firearms training classes before today.
“I loved the class,” he said. “It was so much fun because I don’t get an opportunity to shoot a lot. So, to be able to shoot as much as we did but get high-level professional training was great.”
He talked about how he got started in shooting.
“My Dad was trained in some firearm basics, and passed that on to me and my siblings, but not to this extent,” he said. “So, when this course was offered in such a professional setting and with its focus on safety, I jumped at the opportunity.”
As a direct result of the positive impact and sheer enjoyment he got from the Glock Fundamentals course, Zack plans to take more classes and training.
He concluded, “After this experience with the wealth of information that I got from the instructors, I really am excited to take more training and feel that I am ready to try out higher level and scenario-driven courses. This class really prepared me so I can take it to that next level.”
The ultimate metric of successful training is when the students gain so much ability, confidence, and skill that they not only leave better trained, energized, and enthusiastic but are motivated to crave even more challenging instruction.
The Glock Fundamentals Course achieved that while providing an effective portal to better, safer, and more enjoyable sport shooting. And even a gateway to competitive events.
For more, visit GlockTraining.com.
This article was originally published in the Combat Handguns November/December 2021 issue. Subscription is available in print and digital editions at OutdoorGroupStore.com. Or call 1-800-284-5668, or email subscriptions@athlonmediagroup.com.
