Left work at Eden Prairie at about 1:20pm on Friday the 3rd. Ate a Freschetta pepperoni pizza with Nate & Munir before leaving work.
Got to the Missouri border by about 6:30pm. First stop to refuel. I-35 was 85mph the whole way, except for some stop & go traffic in Des Moines.
Dark by 7:30pm, so I saw nothing of Kansas. Gas station attendant in Missouri had warned me that Hwy 54 across Kansas from Wichita, was 2-lane and in poor condition, so I took her advice and went I-35 -> I-40 instead. Took I-35 all the way to Oklahoma City, arriving 12:30-1am. Got on I-40 (after about 800 miles on I-35); and followed that out of town. Pulled into a truck stop and napped in the back seat for a couple of hours. Drove on into Texas, and pulled into a very nice rest stop there. Didn't want to miss Texas completely in the dark, and was still a bit tired. Slept very well there, and drove on at about 8:30am.
The Texas Panhandle is very flat land (the highway overpasses are the only hills, and they're pretty obvious hills at that). Not much to see, but I'm glad I did anyway. Travel was a bit slower. Texas has a daytime speed limit of 70mph, but a nighttime one of 65mph. New Mexico has a limit of 75mph, but people seemed to obey it fairly closely. New Mexico took a very long time to cross. There was a traffic jam due to a truck wreck in Albuquerque, but it didn't slow me down much. Arizona is also a 75mph state, but people often go a bit faster. By the time I got to Flagstaff, I was doing 86mph, and others were going 90mph.
Got to Gunsite before the sun set. I first thought this was because I was substantially farther south than Minnesota; but later discovered it was because I was 1000+ miles west, and 2 time zones later. The office is only open Monday through Friday, 8am to 5pm; so I just pulled into the campground. I met Craig there, another new-to-Gunsite shooter, who had also just arrived and set up himself. Apparently there's no place (or need) to check in. If you're in the campground, you've probably got buisness being there. Craig was the only other person there at the time; but apparently there's usually at least a few people there, and they tend to get to know you pretty quickly.
Should have brought binoculars. Not much light pollution. The moon was slightly gibbous, and there were a few cirrus clouds. Moon was fairly bright; but the stars are spectacular. Was too tired to look at them that evening; and it's pretty chilly in the middle of the night.
Lots of animal noises around. Bugs banging into the lantern, bird in the tree, ravens scolding the dogs or coyotes. Lights of Paulden are visible down the hill from the campsite, and you can hear the dogs in town. Saw tracks of a coyote in the dry and crusted mud down on the dry-fire range.
Campground rules say no open fire, due to the risk of wildfire. I later learned that this proabably just means bonfires, and grills are likely OK; but propane is definitely preferable to charcoal in this regard. It was very dry there (unlike the rain I had gotten from Texas all across New Mexico. I had brought a small charcoal grill, but this turned out to be unnecessary, as there are plenty of grills already provided on the campground. Plenty of electrical hookups out there. No need for an RV slot, unless you need constant power. Electric hot plates or even a microwave oven would be possible to use, if you're into 'camping' that way.
Ground is hard. Campsites are areas of fine gravel laid out by wood boards set edgewise into and flush with the ground. Bring strong ground sheets (I had two blue plastic tarps, just in case; used both of them), and strong stakes and a hammer. Wire stakes don't cut it; and pliers make a poor hammer. (this is the disadvantage of having a toolbox just for hammers... they aren't with the rest of the tools when you don't grab all the toolboxes.)
Woke up before sunrise. (Easier to do when you're 2 hours ahead of local time, and you went to bed at dusk the night before). Got cold the night before. Started off with just a thermal pad and wool blanket, but eventually had to go get the sleeping bag from the car. Thermal pad + down sleeping bag + wool blanket + cot to keep me off the cold ground == warm enough (tho my face was still cold). Decided to wear a wool nightcap the next night, just like people used to wear when going to bed (before central heating was widely installed).
Laundry/sink/ice machine room is heated, as are the showers and bathrooms. Very nice facility. Eating pavilion is walled on 3 sides, and has a big whiteboard. Running water (spigot in the middle of the campground) is only a few dozen feet away; tho the faucet throws a very forceful stream of water if opened all the way. Every campsite has it's own picnic table, and there are plenty more in the pavilion. No trees to speak of; tho given 10-15 years the small ones scattered around the campground might give some shade (apparently the campground is only a year or two old in this condition, 'Buzz' Mills, the new owner, put in several million dollars of improvements).
Heard the coyotes howling at each other the night before; loud and long.
Decided to go to the Grand Canyon. It's about 100 miles from Paulden, which is nothing compared to the distance I had just driven.
Ate breakfast at Old Smokey's in Williams, AZ. It's on the route of old Route 66; so I saw some of the Route 66 kitsch that has sprung up along the main street in Willams, and infested places like Old Smokey's. Old Smokey's has "all you can eat" pancackes 10" in diameter. Along with 2 sausages that looked to have real animal-intestine casings (some of the best sausages I've ever had), I couldn't even finish 1 of the pancakes (in spite of, or possibly because, I had hardly eaten anything in the past couple of days). Liked their food so much I bought one of their t-shirts. If you want to find Old Smokey's, take one of the exits for Willams, go down the main street (which I believe is old Route 66, before there was a need for a major highway to accomodate all the traffic), and it's a little 1-story shack-like 'greasy spoon' building on a northeast corner of one of the minor intersections. Parking sucks, you'll probably have to park on a side street. The waitresses are attractive and likeable, enjoy the view.
Grand Canyon was a long drive, for not much reward. Decided I didn't want to spend the $20 to go into the park, so I took a dirt road (marked only by a small sign on Hwy 64 in Tusayan of a picture of a pair of binoculars and an arrow) to a place called Grandview (15 miles up a really rough dirt road), which is just a fire-watch-tower and a ranger's hut. You can climb the tower, and while you can't go into the room on top, from the last platform on the stairs you can see the Grand Canyon off in the distance. Looks like just another hole in the ground. Very nice hole in the ground as holes in the ground go; but not worth $20 and all the hype. (Especially if you're like me and just wanted to go there, see it, take a picture to prove you saw it, and leave). Looks a lot like the Badlands of the Dakotas, scaled up; or even like some of the cliffs of the Rhein Valley in Germany, but larger, and with red rocks instead of gray. If I was a geologist I would probably go nuts over it; but I refuse to be a tourist who thinks something is cool, just because a lot of other people said it was cool.
Went back down to Tusayan, over to the Papillion Helicopter Tours office, and was going to ask what their prices were (since Steve Adler, a former co-worker of mine had once told me that helicopters were $200/hr to operate). Some old guy offered me $10 to ferry him and his 2 friends over to the Grand Canyon Airport (yep, the place is such a tourist trap it has its own airport), about a mile away. I gave them a ride. They said Papillon charges $95 for a 1/2-hour ride, or $160 for a 1-hour tour. If they get 4-5 people per flight, that's enough to cover expenses and still make some good money.
Went to Prescott then. Didn't see a grocery store there; tho Prescott is a very packed town. Probably just needed to get off the highway a bit; but it was so crowded and busy I really didn't want to. Ate some ice cream at a Baskin Robins (New York Grahm and Orange Sherbet). Since I could get a cell-phone signal (I have T-Mobile) there, I dialed in and checked e-mail over webmail. Sent a couple of messages off, letting people know I had arrived.
Stopped at the Safeway grocery store in Chino Valley. We don't have Safeway stores in Minnesota, but it looks pretty much like every other grocery store. Bought bread, apples, a green pepper, and Gatorade. Drove back to Gunsite, having traveled about 300 miles.
Saw that we had several new neighbors. Went around and introduced myself. Met Andy Anderson from Albuquerque, NM. He's some variety of Customs/Border Patrol officer. Helped him set up his new tent, and we talked about guns for a bit.
First day of class. Up at 6am or so (8am my time). Finally found classrooms, and registration and final pay-up was in the same building. Wore a long-sleeved shirt. Later, on the range, buttoned all the way up, didn't have a problem with heat. (If there's no other way to vent the moisture, the cotton wicks away sweat and keeps you cool, esp. in the dry southwest).
It's OK to carry your gun in whatever condition you like (loaded, unloaded, not at all). There's no gun handling allowed off the range tho. AZ is an open-carry state; so they told us we could go into the Safeway store in Chino Valley carrying openly, and no one would care. Even banks don't mind if you carry your gun in. (Tho I never tried this while I was down there).
Instructors were Ed Head, Charlie McNeese, and Willy Sampson.
First instruction was in the classroom, and was primarily about safety, both for firearms and desert conditions. Drink lots of water, including Gatorade (for the electrolytes), and eat some protein (red meat is good).
They warned us to close the bathroom doors behind ourselves, lest javelinas (pronouced haav-a-leena) wander in looking for water. Charlie McNeese replied in the affirmative when I asked him if this was personal experience talking. Saw javelina tracks on the dry-fire range that night.
Took a break and went down to the Pro Shop. Looked around. Needed a better holster for my revolver than the $15 Uncle Mike's outside-snap strap holster I used. Holsters were all for semi-autos tho. Andy Anderson kept pushing me to rush-order a kydex holster from Dillon (yes, the reloading company, their offices are in Scottsdale); but I wasn't sure I liked the kydex holsters. They look like they're too prone to accumulating dirt and dust; even tho I have a stainless gun, and so don't have to worry about it rubbing the finish off my gun.
Next classroom instruction was about sight picture and trigger control. Then we went to the North Range (way down the road in the range area... lots of ranges out there). Loaded moon clips. First drills were just a couple of dry-fires. We paired up, and one man shot while the other worked the slide. Object was to teach trigger control... not letting the trigger out too quickly. Since I was the only revolver shooter, one of the instructors suggested balancing a dime on my front sight, and then working the trigger. I did reasonably well at that. I wore a big straw hat to keep the sun off my head; which looked a bit silly, but people said it was a good idea. Problem was that it didn't stay on, over top of earmuffs, when the wind blew.
Next we did live-fire. Starting from a 'guard' position (both hands on gun, index finger along the frame, sights down off target), brought the gun up on target and fired a couple of shots.
Did several drills like this; doing tactical reloads (exchanging an empty or partly empty magazine or moon clip for a full one, without dropping the depleted one), double-taps to the body, single shots to the head of the target. Targets were indistinct mottled brown and white shapes, sort of like IPSC targets (small square on top of a large rectangle). The 'target zone' for the head is a baseball-home-plate shaped area that roughly covers the eyes and nose... pistol bullets are notoriously bad at bouncing off the harder bones of the cranium.
During this live-fire time, our class was broken down into 2 relays of shooters. One set would shoot, while the other would break, reload magazines, drink, etc.
Rest of class was mostly just a repetition of this.
Gave Andrew Roberto a ride down to the range, to carry all his ammo & such. Spent the free time of the day around him, since he had a watch.
Lunch was a very good ham sandwich, eaten up by the main Gunsite offices, in the covered eating area there.
Most of the class I was in, was LEOs and military types. The school split the 250 class I was in, into two groups, and put the law/military types in one class, and every one else in another. This worked out pretty well, as the groups tended to have common backgrounds and skill levels. Ed later said that the group I was in, performed extraordinarily well. We eventually had 6 people qualify as 'expert'. I felt a little out of place at first; among the S.W.A.T. guys with their low-ride holsters and ultra-black t-shirts; but they were a pretty friendly lot once I got to know them. I probably looked like a complete hick to them, with a straw hat and talk of shooting out on the farm. :)
After the class, Ed showed some of the class how to disassemble and clean their M1911s. We talked a lot about cleaning and lubrication. He's a fan of gun grease/lube, in sparing quantities. (Whereas I was taught to clean and oil, and nothing more, because grease attracts dirt).
Talked to the other instructors for a bit longer, went back to the pro shop, bought a ball cap, books, and some cleaning supplies ('MPro-7' and 'Birchwood-Casey Gun Scrubber'; both of which later turned out to be worthless compared to Hoppe's). Went back to camp, cleaned gun, and then did dry-fire practice of drawing and firing until it got dark.
Living without lots of electric light (or even a bright campfire) is a different experience. Makes scheduling your day to make as much use of daylight as possible, much more important.
Clouds out that night; was supposed to rain, but didn't.
Got a copy of the Dillon Precision catalog at the gunshop.
Lots of dud rounds that day; thought it was hard primers, but eventually turned out to be that the mainspring tensioning screw had backed out.
Gunsite claims to be one of the safest places in the world. Everyone leaves their cars unlocked, windows open, keys on the dashboard; and no one worries about things being stolen. Only fight recorded on the property was when two japanese reporters came to do a story, and the cameraman told the reporter he was sleeping with the reporter's wife. Ed said it looked like a kung-fu movie.
Had an apple for breakfast, same as the day before. I don't normally eat fruit, but it's very handy for camping, where you have more time to eat, and food that doesn't have to be refrigerated is a good thing.
Went directly to the North Range, where we started with dry practice. Did that for a while, then went to reviewing the previous day's lessons: single shots to the head, and also double-taps to the body, from several ranges.
After a break, we did a 3-shot trigger-control exercise, same as yesterday. The idea was to put 3 shots through the same hole at 3 yards. (Without a time limit; take all the time you want). A couple of people did it; the holes in my target were only close enough that the rips touched.
Later, we did a small competition. Shooting at steel plates at 10 yards, from the holster, first hit wins. This was the 'Duck of Death' competition, named after a scene in the movie "Unforgiven". I lasted until the last 4 people; I hit the target with the first shot every time, just being a hair slower than the guy who beat me. Lots of people lost out because they missed the first shot.
Went back to the classroom, and talked for a while about bullet performance and 'stopping power'. According to one of the instructors, any .357 Mag hollow-point bullet will clog up and fail to expand after passing through a barrier. (He saw this in tests that the Arizona Highway Patrol did.) That said, he also mentioned an incident where a barechested man was shot twice in the sternum with 230gr. Hydra-Shoks, and neither of the bullets expanded.
That morning, W.L. 'Bill' Maughn had come down to watch. He's a veteran of WW2, Korea (including Cho'sin), and Vietnam, as well as being a local police officer. Had a chance to sit down and talk with him at lunch. He's very soft-spoken, helpful, and unassuming; but you sense that he's been around the block enough for any 10 ordinary people. He joked "I'm old enough to be your grandfather; hell, I probably am."
Andrew was saying at lunch that the Marines are abandoning the M4 carbine, due to a percieved lack of velocity from the short barrel. They're going to the M16A4, which has the 20" barrel of the M16A3, but a collapsable stock as well.
That morning, Jerry Kendrick had suggested that my ammunition problems were due to the mainspring tensioning screw loosening. Sure enough, when I took off the stocks (Hogue Monogrip), I found I could tighten the mainspring screw down about 1/2 turn. After that, only a couple of misfires throughout the rest of the course. The reason the good hits on the primers had shown deep dents, was that upon firing, pressure set the primer back against the firing pin, deepening the dent. So the dud rounds showed shallow hits, but the good ones showed deep ones. (Which initially made me think it was ammo rather than the gun).
That afternoon, one of the things we did was a 'shoot until he goes away' drill. Since you want to shoot the bad guy until he's not standing anymore (i.e. no longer a threat), the turning targets were to be shot at as long as they faced the shooter. This was an extension of a previous drill, where we shot twice to the body and then once to the head if it was still there (i.e. if the bad guy was still standing, and since these were paper targets, it always was). Only difference here was that we just kept shooting, instead of developing a habit of stopping after a couple of shots.
I was glad to have brought along my trapshooting ammunition pouch; since I could carry a large quantity of reloads. _You will need at least six reloads for this drill_. I had 5 empty moon clips at my feet, and others had 5 empty magazines on the ground. Much fun.
After that, we started on 'school drills'. Shooting at 3,5,7, and 10 yards, shots to both the head and body of the bad guy, starting with the gun in the holster. I forgot to reload, and so missed a couple I shouldn't have. (By this point the instructors were no longer reminding people to reload; you were expected to manage this yourself).
Last thing was shooting at steel plates at about 15 yards. This was just like the plinking I do at home, so it shouldn't have been any problem; but I'd been shooting so many rounds double-action that when I cocked the hammer by hand for this, the trigger was lighter than I expected, and shots went wide. (I now realize that I was depending on the pressure of my index finger to pull the sights into line; for better or for worse). I hit most of the time, but not as often as I thought I should have.
I'd developed a blister on the palm of my right hand by this point. After about 450 rounds, the small amounts of dirt on my palm, combined with any dirt on the rubber stocks of my pistol, eventually tore away a layer of skin where the butt of the gun recoiled against my hand. A band-aid fixed that temporarily; but I went to the store afterwards, and bought a pair of Uncle Mike's shooting gloves. Those plus band-aids got me through the rest of the week; tho I had one heck of a callous by the next week.
We also did some malfunction drills. Not much for me to do there, except pull the trigger again. (Gotta like revolvers some days). Only thing one of the instructors did for me, was to take my gun after I'd shot a couple of rounds, spin the cylinder, and close it. So I didn't know quite where the fired chambers were. In any case, I'd gotten a good bit of practice with this sort of thing earlier, with my misfires. When Ed was describing the drills, he just said "Our revolver guy here has it made, he just pulls the trigger again."
Started off in the classroom. Ed let us fondle his Steyr Scout, and a Gunsite Co-Pilot clone. He said that if all you ever shoot is off the bench, you won't see the benefits of the Scout; you need to get out and use it before it really shines. The Co-Pilot clone (a 16"-barreled .45-70 woods gun or bear gun) was very nice; I want one. :) He also brought in a slimmed-down Colt Commander to show to some of the small-handed shooters, such as Carolyn (who really wanted one after handling it).
You should live in condition yellow.
"If you have read these, and your pistol is not within arm's reach, you missed the point." --Jeff Cooper
Remember to look in 'rays', not in 'bands' when scanning your surroundings. Look far away, then look near; look up, then look down; rather than just looking side-to-side. By looking at points you're more likely to see something than if you just keep moving your point of focus.
Ed also pointed out that you can smell fear, if someone is very afraid. Animals can detect it at a much lower level than humans can; but even our poor sense of smell can detect it in some cases. He said that when they hauled in an illegal alien who was really afraid, you could smell it in the car for days later.
Went back to the range. Did school drills a couple of times. (Note that these were still abbreviated school drills, because we hadn't covered the kneeling position yet).
One student is an officer who works plainclothes sometimes, and so wanted to try drawing from concealment. We had a short discussion of proper techniques for pulling garments out of the way to draw from concealment. Charlie McNeese demonstrated how to draw from an ankle holster (remember to wear the holster on your weak side, and loose pants which you can pull up out of the way while kneeling, before drawing the gun), including how to do it when you're prone. (You reach underneath your body, bring your leg up, draw, then you can roll on your back to shoot up at an enemy if need be.)
Did kneeling drills, then took a break. While we were shooting at steel plates at 15 yards from kneeling, Ed did a trick shot with my revolver. He held it upside-down and squeezed the trigger with his pinky finger. Hit the target on the second shot. (He said the trigger was lighter than he expected). We had a short discussion about Bill Maughn; and Ed told us a little about the wars he's fought in, and all the medals he's won. (And now he just helps out around Gunsite, doing things like driving truck and odd jobs).
Went to the classroom again, and discussed room-clearing techniques. How to round corners (don't hesitate), how to 'pie' around corners (step back as far as you can, take small steps to the side to try to see your opponent before he sees you). If possible, don't hesitate to shoot through corners and barricades to get a bad guy on the other side.
Went to an indoor simulator. The "Fun House". It's a cinder-block building, with some plywood partitions, some cinder-block walls, doors, some old furniture, and a roof suspended over the whole thing (for good light and ventilation, the roof isn't actually on the building itself, it's on pillars with several feet of breeze space over the walls). There's a catwalk over the rooms, so you can look down and see how people move through it. After some discussion, we went back to the North Range, did some more school drills (this time with kneeling, for the full 50 points), and some other drills, and called it a day.
Went back to camp, did dry-fire practice, ate, cleaned gun, talked to Craig (my erstwhile neighbor), looked at the workings of his Glock 26, and wrote in my journal.
Started off at the North Range, did dry practice for a while. Did some live practice, including school drills, then did one where we shot two rounds, knelt, and then shot two more. Half the students had gone off to the simulators at this point. We also did a speed drill, trying to see how fast we could shoot 6 shots. I don't think I did too badly -- they seemed to empty quickly -- but the instructors kept bugging me to go faster. Ed took my revolver and showed how fast he could empty it. It was a bit faster than me... just boomboomboomboomboomboom.
We also did a little shooting at 25 yards, and Ed said we could use "any position". Being that I'm the sort to take any advantage of a directive like that, I just sat down on the ground and braced my forearms over my knees, Elmer Keith-hunting-style. Hit the target nearly every time. Spent about 6 clips that way, and so I was out of loaded clips when I went to the simulator.
Mr. Maughn took us to the indoor simulator, where I was the first to go in. Charlie McNeese coached me through that, but probably would have gotten killed. I saw one bad guy target down on the ground behind a refrigerator, took one shot at him, ran dry (poor ammo management), and backed up. Reloaded (pretty wound up and scared by this point), the instructor called him dead, and when I went back through the door into that room, I saw one behind where I had popped in before. Shot him dead, but turned out to have missed the guy on the ground.
Next was the outdoor simulator, where Mr. Sampson took me through it. I got all the targets, but could have used the sides of the dry wash better. It felt a lot like hunting, and since the targets didn't move, it felt like I had surprise on them, and so I just coolly shot them all, most hits on the first shot.
After lunch we went back to the range, and did some drills against multiple targets. For one drill, we shot at two targets, doing single and double-taps and head shots against them. Ed said to do them in whatver order and combination we liked. I had a full pouch of ammunition, and eventually settled into doing one head shot apiece aginst these two targets, going back and forth. There was a steel target on the berm directly behind one head, such that if I hit it squarely, the steel would ring. I was hitting the targets regularly, while the pile of empty moon clips was piling up at my feet. I occasionally looked over at the other shooters, saw that they weren't shooting (or only doing so intermittently), and asked if it was over -- the instructor said no, and so I kept on shooting. Afterwards, when counting up the empties I had picked up, there were 11 moon clips expended before I ran out of ammunition. Craig (a S.W.A.T. officer from San Mateo County) found another one, so in all I had expended 72 rounds of ammunition there, shooting two targets about as fast as I could. Upon examination, only a few hits had landed outside the target zones. Much fun was had by all at this. :)
Next we went to the steel range, where we put one foot into a tire (to hold us in place), held our hands up, drew, and shot down 5 pepper poppers as quickly as possible. In three runs, I did it on 6.05s, 6.00s, and 6.00s. One of the slower shooters, but I was smooth and consistent, and hit every target on the first shot; so I was rather pleased with myself because of this.
One of the female shooters, Carolyn, was getting a bit tired of it all by this day; so I joked to her that we just needed to rig up a catapult to launch diamond rings at her whenever she hit the target. She laughed and seemed to like the idea.
Went back to the North Range and shot against 3 targets at a time, "El Presidente" style. The object is to start with your back to 3 targets, turn and double-tap each one, then reload and double-tap them again. Par time for the course is 10 seconds. Hits in the target zones are scored at 5 points, hits outside the target zones are 2 points; for every second under 10, you gain 5 points; for every second over 10, you lose 5 points. A score of 45 or above is considered very good. The best shooters in the world, with race guns, can do it in about 4.5 seconds. (which I later calculated would be a score of about 85). I turned out to be truly abominably bad at it (generally shooting too low on the target because I had the wrong mental picture of where the target zone was on the body of the target); tho a few people got over 40 for their score.
The next relay of shooters to go to the steel range were all police and S.W.A.T. officers; and they came back all having cleared the 5 poppers in under 4 seconds. Two of them broke the record for the fastest time Charlie McNeese had seen (3.36s). One was 3.16s and the other was 3.17s.
We cleared for the break and went back to a wonderful burger & hot dog barbecue. Went back to the range at 6pm to do flashlight/low light techniques. We first learned to point the sights at a bright sky, to make sure they were lined up, then brought them back down to the target. Ed said this was an old poacher's trick. After this, you needed to correct your sight picture in the muzzle flash of your first shot. Turns out that muzzle flashes _don't_ ruin your night vision. They're too orange, and too brief.
Next we did flashlight techniques, both Harries (remember to press the backs of your hands together so hard it hurts, and get the light up high enough on the side of the hold you have on your gun, and when you holster, pull the flashlight against your body so you don't sweep your flashlight hand with the muzzle of your gun), and Rogers/laser/Surefire (where you hold it between index and middle finger of your off-hand, and press the tailcap switch with the palm of that same hand, while grasping the gun hand as best you can, in order to get a two-handed grip and keep the gun aligned with the light).
Went back to camp and saw a couple of RVs parked, flying a Gadsden flag and a '76 (13 stars in a circle American) flag.Went over and talked to them; met Ron Walter (from San Diego), Bob Shimizu, Dave (who works for J&G Sales in Prescott), and Jane-Anne (?) (who works for Gunsite and organized the Alumni Shoot). Helped them move some P.A. equipment up to the eating pavilion by the offices, and they gave me a burger and a beer. Ron has a S&W 625 as well, and one of the screwdriver/tube-type demooner tools. Loaned it to me, and it is indeed a little better than my hook tool (tho not as portable). He let me try a holster of his; and it didn't fit my belt well, and was too 'sticky'. Upon returning these items to him, talked to Ken, another of the instructors at Gunsite, who was there with them. He's from Indiana. He liked my revolver, and gave me some advice on how to smooth the trigger pull, and also on how the GAS match works.
Graduation Day. My relay of shooters started off with two runs at the school drill, taking the best of the two runs. I scored a 47 (out of 50!) on the first run, and 45 the second. Better than most I think; tho a few people got perfect scores.
Next was El Presidente drills; like most people, I did poorly -- but I was worse than most. I only got a 14 and an 18. Eeew. Guess it showed that I'd been target shooting for a while with that revolver. Even under time pressure I was cool and hit my target pretty regularly, ... so long as there wasn't too much moving, or multiple targets.
After that, we went over to the steel target range, and practiced a bit for the shootoffs. The drill was to knock down two steel disks (about 10" diameter), then reload and shoot a split popper to stop the time. The split popper was set such that the plates overlapped when down, the one on the bottom being the winner. We had some trouble with the popper not being very even in resistance, and prone to the second side falling when the first did; so we substituted it for a pair of regular poppers. I was naturally slower to reload than the semi-auto shooters, but not outrageously slow, and I hit a bit more often than some of them, so I edged a few of them out.
Next we went through the simulators, now that the first relay of shooters (most of them S.W.A.T. and LEO types, who did the simulators a bit faster; so that's why they went first) was back. I did very well on the indoor one, but not what they wanted to see on the outdoor one. I tried to circumvent the game by going over the top of the ridges, rather than around them, but this exposed my head too soon, and put me too close to the target at engagement time. One of the steel poppers was very tough; others had warned me about it, but I shot it "between the eyes" (as much as a steel plate shaped like a large bowling pin has eyes) 3 or 4 times before it fell down.
Shootoffs were next; we went through a randomly-generated list, each shooter shooting against two opponents when called up; and then we went through the list 4 times before we had a winner. (It was one of the San Mateo S.W.A.T. guys). I still managed to edge a few people out a few times. This was the only course of fire where I felt hampered by the revolver; because it was so heavily dependent on reload speed.
We went back to the classroom, where we were presented with a Gunsite 2004 Calendar; and an award certificate. I made 'Marksman', which is one grade above 'completed', but I was happy with it.
Afterwards I bought a belt and some books at the Pro Shop, and then wandered over to the Cooper House (where we had been invited to meet Col. Cooper). I was the first to arrive, and Janelle Cooper (his wife) greeted me warmly, and introduced me to Colonel Cooper (I addressed him as 'Mr. Cooper', but later found he prefers 'Colonel Cooper'). His first question was "What are you up to?", when I asked in reply "What do you mean, sir?" He said "Why are you here... where are you going?", which seemed to be a remarkably sharp and insightful way of getting to the point. I gave a few answers like getting to know the combative side of target shooting, as well as the target side; and also how to learn how the instructors teach here. We discussed where I was from, and what I did for a living; then Janelle called him to the deck to see the weather. There was a storm building; and it looked to me like it had already passed us (the wind was blowing in the direction of the storm). I saw that there was a huge raven done in the pattern of tiles on the deck. He had a replica of the Iceman's copper hatchet, and showed me a picture he had, of what the Iceman probably looked like. (I'd already seen the picture; it's from the museum in Switzerland). The rest of the class showed up at that point, and made their introductions. He had a gold-plated Garand rifle on a rack in his living room, and I asked him if he could think of any improvements for it. His suggestion was that the buttplate stamping be one piece of steel that wrapped all the way from the top of the stock around to the sling swivel beneath, making the whole stronger; but other than that, not much. He said that some considered the detachable box magazine an improvement, but that for sustained fire, the block clip was better, because it only took one action to reload; also, the lack of a magazine protruding from the bottom made the gun handier.
Colonel Cooper took us down to his armory. I had gotten my book signed already, and I saw raindrops falling, and so I ran to my car to close the windows. When I got back, I went down to the armory (a room with a big brown steel door, which had a doormat that looked like it was from Afghanistan, with a stylized picture of a Kalashnikov woven into it). Colonel Cooper talked with us for a while about the merits of various rifles, including the Co-Pilot (showed us his; a very nice stainless-steel takedown model), the Scout, and the Krag-Jorgensen (he has a very nice one with a camo-painted stock, and the action redone and the trigger-pull improved by an armory in Norway). I asked about the .460 G&A cartridge, and he said it's based on the .404 Jeffrey case. (Someone said that the Dakota cartridges were also based on this). He said it is about the same power as a .458 Lott; but in a shorter case.
I mentioned that he'd said in one of his anecdotes that he had trouble taking anyone with a beard seriously, unless they were seated on a horse. I said that I had a beard, but didn't ask him to take me seriously. (Which brought a general round of laughter). He said "But you don't have a horse!" and smiled a bit.
Among things in his armory were: .376 Steyr and and .350 Remington Magnum cartridges; a 40mm grenade; lots of assorted bullets and cartridges, from a THV armor-piercing .45ACP cartridge to Minie balls; a large-frame revolver (probably the .44 Magnum he's mentioned in his anecdotes); a number of M1911 pistols; the nose of a sawfish; a Japanese sword that he traded a carton of cigarettes for on Guadalcanal (!); a picture of a WW2 German officer (and several American soldiers); and an old flintlock pistol that looked like it dated from the Revolution, had been buried, and dug up again.
He gives the impression of someone who profoundly doesn't care what anyone thinks of him. So profoundly so that he doesn't bother to state it, but is supremely confident that he is right, whatever anyone else thinks. His wife Janelle is an amazingly sharp woman, and very polite, capable of remembering your name after only one meeting, and holding a very genteel yet perceptive discussion.
I walked very slowly back to the car, trying to absorb it all.
I went back to the campground, where Ron was cooking steaks, and invited me to partake of them. Bob Shimizu (I later learned the name means "Clear Water" in Japanese, meaning honesty) was making a salad bowl out of a Winchester cartridge box and tinfoil, while I was cleaning my revolver. It was some of the best steak I've ever had in my life. Col. Cooper eventually showed up and sat down to steak and potatoes, along with a glass of wine.
Sat up with Bob and Ron and their families and drank beer with them for a while, then went to bed to rest up for the GAS match the next day.
Started the day by finding that they closed the site off to most vehicles, and so had to go back to my tent to quickly pick out the things I really needed, and throw them in my pack. Got on one of the shuttle wagons (trailer with hay bales for seats, pulled by a pickup), and went to the orientation meeting at 7:30am.
Most of the emphasis was on safety; they made us fill out a little paperwork (mine was already done, since I'd just taken a class); and they gave us a scorecard (mostly for our own benefit, since real scores were kept separately). We then found our way to each course, and took them in whatever order we felt like or could get.
I started off in "The Pit", which was a shoot house in the middle of a gravel-excavation pit dug into a hillside. It was run by Louis Awerbuck and Sharon Wachter. I had heard a little about Louis (Loo-ee), and he is indeed as intelligent and paranoid as they say. The course was to go down a hallway, clear a room which had both shoot and no-shoot targets; then round a corner to shoot a hostage-taker (without hitting the hostage of course). When you shoot the hostage-taker, a door opens and there's targets of Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein to shoot. I think I got most of the targets pretty squarely between the eyes or in the chest. Louis complimented me on my reloads; but advised me to spin the cylinder once around, in order to make sure it wouldn't bind or stick on a high primer or the like.
While waiting in line there, I talked to Hans Vang, who was telling stories about bear attacks in Alaska. This was in relation to the recent news of a man having been eaten in Alaska by a bear. Considering that this guy had appeared on national television several times saying how cuddly and friendly bears were, and not dangerous at all; his demise in the intestines of a bear was particularly appropriate. (One of the police officers from Alaska suggested that he was smoking too much of the local weed -- reputed to be the best marajuana in the world).
Hans makes some of the best police and defense shotguns in the world (www.vangcomp.com); and his barrels are put on the shotguns they sell at Gunsite. He told of several incidents with wildlife up in Alaska (where he has relatives, and sponsors a high school hockey team); including one of a woman and her little dog being chased by a moose (the moose being shot by a ranger, and the ranger rewarded for doing a good job); and another of a ranger finding an oblivious family camped out, and when warned that there was a bear 30 feet from the children (sizing them up for lunch), the mother saying "oh don't worry, they won't hurt the bear". The ranger shot the bear in that case, and the mother complained (or sued?) because of the trauma to the children that the bear was shot. Hans talked about having been followed by a bear himself, while out walking with his two nieces, and fortunately picked up by a ranger before the bear got too close.
Next I went over to the "Son of Pit" range, where there were a series of steel targets to be shot down from behind different types of cover. Much fun was had, as we watched Bob Shimizu run and roll and shoot from prone while engaging these targets. I took that course in 41-some seconds; a decent score I think, tho I heard some people got it in 32 seconds or so.
After this, I met up with Hans again, and a buddy of his named Chuck. Hans offered me a ride in his truck; and I gladly accepted. (Saved me the trouble of hauling all my crap around on my back). We went over to the "Playhouse", where the line was already exceedingly long. We waited there for a while, and as it was a comparatively slow course, the rangemaster eventually started writing numbers on people's scorecards, so they could go to another course and come back later. I was number 24, right after Hans and Chuck.
We went off to the "Shot Quad" range, where they had a bus (painted up in fake Arabic script and a picture of a camel), and a "mailbox". You had to take a letter to the mailbox, whereupon you would see a man with a gun around the side of the bus. You had to shoot him, and then pick out the right targets from a 'crowd' of them beside the bus. These targets were on the shady side of the bus, with a bright sky and range behind them; making it difficult to determine the 'shoots' from the 'no-shoot' targets. After shooting the bad guys in that 'crowd', you had to clear the bus where your 'son' (a Rugrats stuffed doll) was. After shooting a bad guy crouched under the seats on the bus (fortunately the seats were just folding chairs so it was easy to see him), you had to go to the back of the bus and shoot a steel plate on a berm (about 20 yards away) to stop the time.
I accidentally shot at one of the 'no-shoot' targets in the crowd of 4-5 targets on the shady side of the bus, because I vaguely saw his hand outstretched, and I'd always seen this target armed before. This time he just had an empty hand (you can paste different hand pictures on the targets for different guns, weapons, or empty). Fortunately, I completely missed him. (Lots of other people did not). I was to continue having trouble with that style of target throughout the day, missing it on a couple more occasions.
Sarah (one of the office staff, and a very attractive lady in her 20s by the look of her), and some of her friends had designed the course. She was there running it, wearing her Glock 17 in a see-through clear plastic holster. (Much like the Kydex ones, secured by tension screws rather than a strap).
After this, we went off to eat. Lunch was delicious as usual (some sort of sandwich, salad, and a cookie).
After lunch, we went back to the Playhouse. This simulator had been 'blacked out' with cloth and black plastic covering the windows and vents. There was still plenty of light coming in, so it was only dim rather than fully dark. A flashlight was still required tho. Hans didn't have one on hand, so I loaned him mine. He was in the simulator when I was called up to be ready, so a Mr. Tapking (whom I'd met the night before) loaned me his light. Hans came out and gave me my light back (a SureFire Nitrolon G2), so I gave him Mr. Tapking's SureFire light to give back. (Just about everyone there uses SureFire lights). I did reasonably well in this stage, generally hitting the targets squarely between the eyes or in the center of the chest; but I hit one hostage in the arm (a disqualification) and I didn't find the woman hiding in the refrigerator.
We also took a detour to try the carbine course. I had no experience with the AR-15/M16; so I was a bit reluctant to try it at first, but Hans convinced me to give it a try. They gave us a quick introduction to the rifle, and then Hans tried the course. The backstory was that you were going to the grocery store, when you were accosted by two thugs (3-D foam mannequins). You started with your strong hand on the door handle of a van. When you shot the first two targets dead, their buddies (steel poppers) showed up about 100 yards away, and you had to shoot them down with your Aimpoint-sighted AR-15. I watched Hans empty a whole magazine from his 9mm Glock into the first of the two near targets, then shoot the other one down using fewer shots. I later learned that the targets have a denser foam core, and a lighter body, so in order to knock them down you need to hit them high and centrally; even with a .45.
When it was my turn, I shot the nearer foam target down, but it took me 6 shots to do it. I suspect I might have been mashing the trigger and hitting too low. Only when I aimed higher up (for the throat) did I put it down. The second target I put down with one shot to the throat. After that, I opened the door, took out the rifle, opened the lens covers, and turned on the sight. Looked through the sight, saw no dot, so turned it up more and more until it was all the way on, and I could see the dot on that bright day. Put the dot on the target; found that the safety was still on (shooting a revolver -- which of course has no safety -- all week had been bad practice for this). Put the safety off, squeezed the trigger and missed. Sighted more carefully, squeezed more carefully. Still missed. Missed several more times, even squeezing the trigger as nicely as I could, with the red dot on the target. Eventually someone called "left!", and so I aimed a bit to to the right of the target, and started getting hits. I'm _sure_ I wasn't jerking the gun off target, so for whetever reason, the gun shot a bit left for me. I shot down 3 of the targets before running out of ammunition (we had started with 10 rounds). I secured the rifle, and they said I could keep trying with my pistol. So I drew my revolver, cocked it, and squeezed off a few rounds, leaning over the hood of the van, with my elbows braced, just as I'd done with the rifle. After about 3 shots, I got the range, and hit a popper on my 5th shot. Reloaded, and hit the last popper 2 shots later.
Ed Head (my instructor from the 250 pistol class) was running this event. A company (Aimpoint?) sponsored it, so there was no fee for the side match, and the prize was an Aimpoint sight. Ed later told me that a few other people had ended up shooting at 100 yards with their pistols, some even getting first-round hits; so my shooting was anything but spectacular. Nevertheless, I was inordinately pleased with myself for having done it at all. I later found that a small story had started to circulate about my feat (and poor skill with the carbine). The fact that I was only one of two revolver shooters (at least that I saw) at the match, seemed to lend it a bit of uniqueness.
This scenario was supposedly based on real incidents in Central America between American 'advisors' and local rebels, who both went to the same grocery store.
Last of all, we went to the "Funhouse" stages. There were two courses of fire there; you did #2, then got in line for #1 (which was a few steps farther down the road). #2 was fairly short; one target was under a table (the blond guy standing edge-on, whom I'd missed before when he was a no-shoot), I shot at him but later found my shots had gone a bit low, the bullets striking the shelf below the table and blasting splinters into the target. I cleaned the other targets and generally got hits I was satisfied with, tho I found I still had the wrong mental picture of where the "center of mass" is, consistently hitting low on the target. The proper target zone is just below the shoulders, rather than down towards the belly.
Funhouse stage #1 was interesting, since after clearing a few of the targets, they told me to hold the gun in my left hand and put my right hand in a PVC tube with a bar across it to grasp. They declared my hand 'injured' so I had to shoot and reload with only my left hand. Fortunately, I had practiced this (with snap caps, mind you) on a couple of occasions at home, so I enjoyed my chance to try this out with live ammo and human-shaped targets. I didn't shoot very well left-handed, but I had fun anyway.
Last of all was the Cooper Cup competition. This was like the 'school drills' I'd learned earlier in the week, but faster and at longer ranges. I believe the course of fire was something like: (All these were done drawing from the holster).
I managed to get a shot off at some of the 1-second head shots; don't know if I managed to make any hits (we didn't score targets until the end of the course of fire); but it's pretty impressive to me anyway, considering that a week earlier I knew little about how to draw and fire quickly. Good technique and good instructors go a long way.
Only shots within the target zones counted, and no shots touching the scoring lines counted, 5 points per good hit, plus 40 more bonus points (I don't remember for what); so the maximum score was 240 points. I scored 45 points, and was reasonably pleased with myself. I know I did better than some people, and considering that the winner of the day only scored 135 points, I don't think I did too badly for a new shooter.
After this, we went to supper. Supper was held at the eating pavilion up by the offices (more of a 3-walled shed, just like the one down in the campground). Additional tabled and benches had been set up to accomodate the 96 participants (normally they only get 60 or so). Supper was a pork & chicken barbeque, and absolutely delicious. Very pretty girls from the catering company handed out heaps of butter-soft pork chops, potato salad, and more.
Col. Cooper himself showed up on his big green 3-wheeler (carrying his cane in the rifle scabbard); and I talked to him for a few moments, and had my picture taken with him.
A bluegrass band named 'Clear Blue' played -- all the members were shooters that day. Bob Shimizu played a 5-string bass; and it looked a bit strange to have a Japanese guy playing "Blue Moon of Kentucky", but they sounded alright.
Awards were given out, and it seemed that about as many women got prizes as men. 3rd highest shooter that year was a woman (and in previous years they've won the competition -- this is one of the few sports where there is no distinction between genders in natural ability, or courses of fire). Just for being a competitor I got a 'goodie bag' which included some cleaning cloth and cleaning paste from Brownell's; an M1911 bushing wrench; a Bladetech M1911 kydex holster; a Dillon Precision catalog with a 5% off bargain code; and a couple of (paper) magazines. Hans Vang gave away one of his shotguns (an 870 with ghost ring sights and some more of his work on it, list price over $1000); and everyone drooled over that. (Hans told me he always sells a few guns at every GAS, mostly just by talking to people).
I got a ride back to camp with Ron Walter; then had a couple of beers with him, Bob, Gary Jones (a Texan with a 10-gallon hat and a sense of style), and a couple of other people. Said goodnight to them, and went off to write a bit in my journal. I sat under the pavilion in the campground (where there was light), and while I was there, a couple of people came by and I talked to them. One of them was Sharon Wachter, an officer with the LAPD, who had been running the Pit along with Louis Awerbuck. I talked to her quite a bit about room-clearing methods; she and another guy gave me some good advice on how to check my home in case of an intruder, and even where to place mirrors or pictures so I could see around corners if need be. (Considering that a year or two previous, some of the homes in my development had been broken into in the middle of the night, while the owners were home, this wasn't an idle concern).
I started the week carrying my gun in Condition Four (completely unloaded); but after a week of training and familiarization, I was walking around fully loaded, and comfortable with it. We always practiced reloading before reholstering (to make sure that you're always ready); and at the GAS, there wasn't usually a chance to clear afterwards. Pretty much everyone else walked around fully loaded and ready to go; which was convenient for all involved, and perfectly safe so long as certain rules were observed (the primary one being, your gun _*MUST*_ stay in the holster at all times, unless at the firing line or clearing barrel (to unload your gun before cleaning). Going to Gunsite is a worthwhile experience for this reason alone.
Got up about 6:30-7am (no clock, so no idea what time), and started packing. I spent maybe an hour and a half doing that -- getting a result I was happier with than what I had driven down with. Said my last goodbyes to everyone, and drove off the ranch for the first time in several days. It felt a little strange to not be putting on my revolver in the morning, and knowing that I was going to have to start locking the car doors again.
Started out on the highway home, and felt very good and relaxed. Drove down I-40, and had breakfast at a Subway in a gas station on the way to Meteor Crater. (Note to travelers: Go to Meteor Crater first, then stop off at the gas station. Your admission stub is good for a discount at the gas station.) Meteor Crater is surprisingly large; about 3/4 of a mile across. There's a walking path around it' but I didn't have the energy to do more than just walk around a bit on the observation platforms. It's at a fairly high altitude (7000-7500ft, maybe higher?), and if you're from < 1000ft elevation, the air is noticeably thinner and you run out of breath much sooner. The walls of the crater are several hundred feet high. They say it was probably 750 feet deep when it was first formed, 50,000 years ago; but erosion has filled it in to 500 feet deep or so now. The crater is actually privately owned; it is on the Bar-T-Bar Ranch (which covers 300,000 acres but only grazes 7,000 cattle or so, because the land is so poor); and is run by Meteor Crater Enterprises, not the Park Service, as some might suppose. There is a museum there, which talks a bit about the history of the crater, and meteors in general.
Stopped off at "Knife City", a knife store not far from the New Mexico border. Everything from crappy show knives by United Cutlery, to good ones by Cold Steel (including a 6" tanto folder with the Gunsite logo for $119, $30 less than they wanted for it at the Gunsite Pro Shop; and $20 more than the unmarked version). They also had ones by Kershaw, Benchmade, and Spyderco. I didn't really need another knife, so I didn't buy anything.
Went on across the exceedingly large and boring state of New Mexico. Enough said.
Drove on into Texas, and stopped at a "picnic area" to sleep for a few hours. Got up the next morning at 6:30 or so, and drove on. Met a guy named Greg at a Love's gas station ($1.49 I believe, and Texas has cheap gas. It was $1.31-$1.33 when I drove out the weekend before); and talked to him for a while. He was a bee-keeper, and pumpkin-growers paid him to put his bees by their fields to pollinate the crop. He had a load of pumpkins in the trailer he was pulling behind his white pickup truck, which pumpkins he was taking to market. He even had some little pumpkins 6"-8" in diameter, which he said were good eating. He told me that there were 3 major organizations of honey-growers in America; and he knew most of the growers from Minnesota. Said goodbyes to him, and went on my way. Was eventually in Oklahoma City. Turned off I-40 for the first time in 900 miles or so, and went north on I-35.
Kansas was long and boring. Surprisingly, it wasn't as flat at the Texas Panhandle (where you can see 15 miles or more because the ground is so flat). Kansas has hills as high as 30 or 40 feet; unlike the Texas Panhandle, where the only hills are the highway overpasses. The Kansas Turnpike only cost me $4.75, which was surprising, since it cost me over $10 the last time I traveled it, going the other direction at night.
Stopped off at Emporia, Kansas to get gas; and bought it at a Conoco attached to the local Dolly Madison bakery outlet. Didn't buy anything but gas there, since I don't trust food that doesn't rot. (A loaf of Wonder Bread left outdoors all winter will still be bright white in the spring, and animals won't eat it). Drove around Emporia a bit, to get some scenery other than the highway. Drove past Emporia State University.
Next stop was Kansas City; which has a horribly tangled highway system, with no bypasses around it. I didn't actually stop there, but it sure felt like I did. Saw a sign for a Cabela's store, so took a couple of detours to go look for it. Didn't go very far off the highway, so I didn't go far enough to find it (wasn't going to waste much time on it), but did see "Dick Clark's American Bandstand Grill". Maybe I'll stop there if I drive through again. (It's right off Hwy 435).
Started to rain as I was leaving Missouri. Rained most of the way across Iowa. Eventually got home to Buffalo, MN at 10:30 at night, a full 36 hours after leaving Arizona.
I would advise people to go to the range on two consecutive days, and shoot 300 rounds each day (with the ammo you will be shooting while at Gunsite). This will tell you where your equipment will fail. Does your gun start to eat your hand? Do you get blisters? Do you know where the point of impact will be in relation to the sights?
Yes, this means buy 2000 rounds of the ammunition you plan to shoot. I use Sellier & Bellot myself, and it is some of the cleanest-burning ammo you will find.
To emphasize a couple of points which Gunsite teaches, and sometimes run contrary to 'popular belief':
I think I only shot ~1050 rounds of ammo over the 6 days. Not sure why my expenditure was so much lower than what we were expected to shoot (~1300 rounds, not including the GAS); other than that maybe I didn't miss much in the simulators, shot slower than others, and since I had a revolver didn't go though ammo quite as fast as the semi-auto guys in the 'free fire' drills.
M1911s seemed to need more cleaning than Glocks did. There was only a single Sig shooter, and another S&W shooter. I am assured by the shooter of the S&W 3913 that neither he nor his brother with the Sig P228 had any malfunctions over the course of the 1200 rounds they expended.
The guys from San Mateo County S.W.A.T. had Wilson KZ45 M1911 pistols, and no end of trouble with them. The workmanship on these guns was truly awful (despite costing $1200 each), and when the regular ammunition (Winchester Ranger +P) got lost in shipment and they resorted to using PMC, the guns jammed and failed every few rounds. This was the fault of the workmanship, rather than the M1911 design tho; and supposedly Wilson has improved the design since those guns were made.
"Clear for the break" means to set up your gun however you wish to carry it around during breaks. At first I went unloaded; but by the Alumni Shoot I went around fully loaded all the time.
Flagstaff is ~7300ft elevation. the pressure changes as you cross arizona are very noticeable.
I drove nearly 4000 miles going to AZ and back. Change your oil before you leave, then when you get back.
You hear about staying cool in the desert by wearing long-sleeved cotton shirts buttoned closely at the wrists and neck; the cotton wicks the sweat away and evaporates it, cooling the wearer. It never seemed sensible to me in Minnesota; but sure enough, in dry conditions, it works! The upshot of this is that it's sensible to wear long-sleeved shirts all day out there.
The course description says you'll need 'frangible' ammunition; but really you don't. Most people just shot FMJ for everything.
Training changes, combat techniques change as well. Ed often talked about the history of why they do things a particular way, and this is very informative and helps you understand the why of things. It also points out that reading this synopsis, or books or videos is not enough; you need to go there to experience it firsthand, and see what might have been improved in ranges or techniques. Do not denigrate the value of a good range or a good teacher to show you little things that can be improved in technique; and the reason that Gunsite does such a good job on its students is the correct application of technique.
I think the primary message of Gunsite is that you should not go through life oblivious to what is around you. You are armed when you are aware of your surroundings, whatever other weapons you might have. As Jeff Cooper points out "Having a pistol does not make you armed."
The night after getting back, I woke up in the middle of the night, wondering where I was, why I was lying in a bed in this shoot house/simulator, and why I heard Ed giving range instructions off in the distance, but couldn't understand him. I eventually woke up enough to realize that I was sleeping in a house again (instead of a tent), and it was my own house, and I was back home a long way from Arizona.