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Review: TDI Handgun 4-5

Posted: Tue Oct 18, 2016 7:27 pm
by Stryker74
This past weekend, I participated in the Handgun 4-5 at Tactical Defense Institute. Having taken Handgun 1-3 a couple of times now, I wanted to get a little more in depth in the content and lessons covered.

Overall view - this was an excellent class for every day tactics. There were many things covered in this class - it was like drinking from the firehose. But, I expect nothing less from this organization.

I would highly recommend this class to anyone that has taken the 1-3 class previously. This class immediately jumps off where 1-3 ended, and rapidly takes you into deeper materials/ideas/tactics. This class is ZERO classroom time beyond introductions and review of the schedule for the class. Within 30 minutes of starting on the first day - the first shots were going on steel.

The night sections of the class (Thursday and Friday) were fantastic as they gave you practical experience on use of your flashlight and gun together. The flashlight techniques alone gave me a ton more insight than I had ever thought about on the subject, but when combined with clearing a house with a light - the training well surpassed what I was expecting.

This is a somewhat physical class. If you are not in the best shape (like me), then you will feel it at the end. I was down on my knees for parts, I was in an isosceles shooting stance for much of the class, and there were a lot of hours (38 hours) in the 4 days I was at TDI. I was shot with airsoft (which broke skin - I was wearing a thin shirt that day), gravel gouged at my knees, and my arms/shoulders hurt after pounding 1200+ rounds downrange for the weekend. Every day that I left to head to the hotel, I was tired. Especially on the days that went until 10pm.

The information presented and practiced was very valuable. The drills, while seeming to be busy work to some, really work on enhancing your skills in the outside world. I learned more about how to clear my own home that I had not considered in the past - and had the opportunity to run a fast scenario by an instructor using their force-on-force house to mimic my own home's stairwell.

For those of us in Ohio - I don't think there is a better set of classes in our area with this caliber of instructors. This is why I continue to take at least one class a year with them.

For more detail on the class, you can read my in-depth write up (with diagrams!) here.

Re: Review: TDI Handgun 4-5

Posted: Tue Oct 18, 2016 7:56 pm
by TSiWRX
Very nice AAR! :D Thank you!

Re: Review: TDI Handgun 4-5

Posted: Thu Oct 20, 2016 12:25 pm
by JEaton
Hehe, after I attended Level 4/5 for the first time, I told my wife "I think this is the level were it stops being fun and starts being work" :D

Re: Review: TDI Handgun 4-5

Posted: Sun Nov 27, 2016 7:11 pm
by GWC
Handgun 4-5 is my favorite class at TDI.

I took it in 2003 and again a few years later.
And yeah, it's a lot of work, but a lot of fun as well.

I can't afford to take lots of tactical classes every year like I used to back then, and my lack of practice and aging eyes have taken way too much of a toll on my skills.

I'll be down for tactical rifle 2-3 in 2017, and maybe something else if I find the time-off from work and money to pay tuition.

Love that handgun 4-5! makes my heart pump like crazy!

PS, if you liked the low-light and flashlight tactics, take handgun 6. Mostly about working a hand-held light, plus some very unusual improvised shooting positions.