The first lesson I learned about Gunsite is that it does not teach shooting or marksmanship. Gunsite is a fighting training academy. Everything the instructors teach is as if you are defending your life against an assailant.

After every shooting series, shooters are required to follow the target down in case additional shots are required and scan the area for other attackers before holstering the gun. In fact, the instructors loudly stated that we should only holster when we are absolutely sure the fight is over. If there is any doubt, you should stay at the low ready position and continue scanning for trouble.

The second lesson I learned is that I need to slow down and work on my trigger control at close range. I was fast and accurate on center-of-mass during both single and double strings, but when we moved on to two center-of-mass shots with one high finishing shot, I had problems putting my rounds into the small triangle zone indicating a good hit.

Because of this, Instructor Ed Stock conducted a drill with me where he had me squeeze off an aimed shot with his finger between mine and the trigger. Stock quickly determined that I was rushing the trigger rather than letting the shot catch me by surprise. While I would like to believe that some of this could have been that I was using an unfamiliar handgun, I know this is not the case.