In May of 1997 I attended a pistol class held at the Pine Barrens shooting facility on Long Island.   The class instructor was Ken Hackathorn, one of the founders of IDPA.  But this wasn't an IDPA class.   Far from it, we were there to learn defensive pistolcraft.  Because all of the attendees were already experienced shooters with prior tactical training, the class organizer (Dean Speir) arranged with Mr. Hackathorn for an advanced syllabus.

The two-day class was $250.  There were fourteen students, most of whom were from the Long Island/NYC area.

Very early on in the class it became clear that Ken Hackathorn was not there to teach us his favorite techniques.  Instead, he showed us every way it could be done, and had each student try each way a few times.  After that, we were free to use whichever method worked best for us.  Stances, grips, flashlight technique, etc., were all left up to the individual shooter.  The class was aimed at improving already experienced shooters, and Mr. Hackathorn didn't waste time trying to retrain ingrained habits just so people would all be using his favorite stance, etc.  If it worked, you could do it.

One drill we did repeatedly over the course of the two days was the "square drill."   This consisted of engaging three paper targets while moving forwards, backwards, laterally, and diagonally inside a 10'x10' square drawn on the ground.  Ken Hackathorn is a big proponent of shooting while moving, and this drill helped everyone build up that critical skill very quickly.

To set up a Snake Drll, you need three targets and three volunteers.  The paper targets are set up down range about two yards apart.  The three volunteers stand in a straight line with the middle target and  perpendicular to the targets.  (see diagram at right; blue circles represent volunteers)

On the "GO" signal, the shooter moves forward and to the right, engaging the rightmost target.  He then walks ("snakes") his way between the first volunteer and the second to fire twice at the leftmost target.  Next he snakes between the second and third volunteer to engage the center target.  (see diagram at right; black line is path shooter takes; red arrows represent shots taken)

What this means is that you are shooting with people downrange from you, and walking around between people with a gun in your hand.  It was the volunteers' responsibility to watch the shooter and make sure he neither swept the volunteers nor moved with his finger on the trigger.

For the class, all of the students volunteered to take turns standing on the range. Each of us started in the position closest to the targets, and moved up one spot after each shooter.  One of the unexpected advantages of this drill is that you get to feel, hear, and see what it's like to have someone shooting in your general direction.   There's a big difference between being behind a gun when it goes off and being in front of the gun when it goes off.

While this drill would probably be outlawed as unsafe at most ranges, it was actually perfectly safe when performed under the watchful eye of an experienced instructor like Mr. Hackathorn.  However, I certainly would not recommend it as a practice for a few friends to try one day out back.  As the saying goes: don't try this at home!

We spent one late night out on the range working on both low-light shooting and flashlight technique.   As mentioned above, Hackathorn demonstrated a wide variety of techniques (Harries, Rogers, Ayoob, Chapman, FBI) and told us about the advantages and disadvantages of each one.  We all spent a little time playing with each one before settling down on our individual favorites.

We also took some time to examine our ammunition's muzzle flash.   Each student fired a round or two of the ammo he had with him (not only practice ammo but any defensive ammo available).  Without question the Remington Golden Saber seemed to be the load with the least flash.  But at one point, one of the shooters fired a round or two of his .40S&W Federal Hydra-Shok (155gr) and the whole class just went "Oooooooooo ... wow!"  There was a dim purple flash about the size of a fist, and that was all.

Hackathorn advocates "point shooting" in which the shooter brings the gun up to a normal position and indexes the gun with the target visually (like the Cirillo method).  To prove to us that it could be done, he put black tape over our sights, making their use impossible. 

We shot at modestly short distances, but every studnet was able to get acceptable hits in very quick time without use of his sights.  While I wouldn't recommend this type of shooting as a primary training method, it did prove that you can get enough practice bringing the gun up on target that you don't absolutely need the sights to hit a man-sized target at close range.

Luckily there was a slew of Glock armorers (including two Advanced armorers) from local police departments present.  They were able to keep the gun more or less functional for the two days.  Shortly after I returned home, I sent the gun back to Glock and they replaced it with a new Glock 23.  One of the Advanced armorers told me that my particular gun, serial # BBX xxx, was within a range of guns which had a known problem of some sort.

For more details on IDPA, see their website at www.idpa.com.

Ken Hackathorn's class was certainly different from any class I'd taken before, or any I've taken since.  He has a unique way of dealing with students, treating them like mature adults who can be trusted with guns rather than as accidents waiting to happen who must be watched every moment lest they randomly kill a fellow classmate.  He also had a teaching style which truly taught rather than badgered or boasted.  Ken Hackathorn was interested in teaching us to be better, more tactical shooters.  He wasn't going to get hung up on whether we did it with our left foot forward or not.

Ken doesn't have a web site, and at present I don't even have contact information for his training schedule, etc.  But if you hear of a Hackathorn class in your area, I can recomend him highly.

Stay safe!