Thunder Ranch—A different perspective

Hi. I’m Tim’s partner from Thunder Ranch and we attended DHI together. The shooting gods were smiling down on me so I got the privilege to spend an extra week and attend DHII. It was a chance of a lifetime and I learned a lot. Mostly I learned I need a lot of work and that Navy guys are a bit weird. I am providing this "different perspective" since I stood on Tim’s left for the week. First of all, he did a hell of a lot better than he is letting on. His humor, shooting and ability to withstand dehydration says a lot about his personality. That and his ability to shoot a SIG tells us that he came to school with a serious attitude. He wanted to practice a lot of malfunction drills. J And he did but nobody can clear double feeds like the "tactician" as Tim was known by.

I brought two Glocks so I had to do a lot of artificial malfunctions but the guns did have some glitches and I did learn a few things. Aftermarket parts are totally unnecessary for Glocks. I had 4 parts bite the dust during my two weeks at TR and 3 of the 4 were aftermarket parts. The only stock breakage I had was the trigger block pin broke in half on my G35 .40 S&W but did not affect function. When I detailed cleaned the gun one evening I noticed the pin broke in half when I punched it out so I simply replaced the part. The after market aluminum trigger on the G35 broke too (the lever safety pin fell out) but did not affect the function. I replaced the trigger with the OEM part and it was good to go. During week two I used a Glock 36 .45ACP which is my carry gun and the aftermarket extended slide lock lever fell out but it shot fine. The worse failure was the Glockmeister captive recoil rod that I installed. The retaining screw loosened and I had a major lock up with the gun partially out of battery. It took a few whacks with a rubber mallet to remove the slide. I didn’t have a stock recoil rod so I replaced it with a non-captive Wolff recoil rod and it was good to go. I fired 3610 rounds in 10 days, 1500 hundred were Federal 180 grain .40 and the rest were Federal 230 grain and CCI Blazer 230 grain .45 ACP. I did have a few misfires with the .40, which was due to some carbon build up on the inner breech face which lightened the strikes. Some bore cleaner on a Q-tip took care of that problem.

One of the best things that TR does is show you what you need to work on and the training and repetition removes the fear of the dreaded jam. You do so many self-loading malfunction drills that it will demystify the jams and you just accept it as reality in a gunfight. Some guns jammed more than others and even the multi-thousand dollar camp Perry space gun with the whizmos jammed. TR teaches you to work through the jams. Run out of ammo? No problem, it is a reality of a gun fight so you learn to shoot to cover, take cover, find better cover and reload either with an empty gun or tactically. You reload by individuals and by teams. Think your marksmanship is good? How about you shoot while backing up or moving laterally? Changes the whole ball game. You think you have that down, let’s have you move back, then laterally to cover and have the target bop back and forth. Get that done and move to a "negative" target which is a target with a big hole in it and the goal is to shoot through the hole and not hit the target. How about an additional target? In DHII we had turning targets added to the bopping targets whiles we were moving to cover while shooting. No egos at Thunder Ranch. TR changes your whole concept of shooting and when you leave you will never shoot the same way again. Standing still at the range shooting a non-moving target will be as exciting as visiting the dentist. You learn voice commands, how to draw, and you learn marksmanship by repetition. You learn how to move and how to "see" with your feet. You slice through hallways to minimize yourself as a target and you learn to shoot with a flashlight. Expensive? You bet. Worth it? Absolutely. I’m already signed up for DHIII next year in Oregon. Regarding the move to Oregon; I think this is a good thing. Though I love TR Texas the classes will be tailored made to the individual and for DHIII I want Clint to have me work on what he feels I need. Not what the class needs as a whole. Though I enjoyed both classes, particularly with individuals like the swabbie I think by the time you have some training under your belt the tutorials will give you exactly what you need. If you’re going to an entry level class the smaller class size will ensure that you get the attention you need with adequate face time with the big guy. I will also take the urban rifle course which is 3-days and has a class limit of 4 students.

The hospitality is fantastic and the quality of students for both classes were excellent. It is funny how the left-wingers think gun owners are fanatics. The people in my classes were some of the nicest people you will ever meet. I met ex Special Forces, police officers, lawyers, doctors, computer geeks and even a guy who sells BMW motorcycles. They come from all over the country and are just like you and me. People interested in operating a weapon safely to protect themselves and their families. The staff and adjunct instructors are true professionals. There is no fluff at Thunder Ranch and Clint’s philosophy spills out to his instructors. Even when Clint is not there you never feel you’re missing out on something. Of course, TR Oregon will ensure that Clint will have more hands on with instruction since the administrative burdens will be less. Heidi Smith is just about the sweetest person you will ever meet and between just us, TR runs smoothly because of Heidi. I don’t think Clint would disagree with that statement. This trip took cash, planning and some good luck and I am thankful I had the opportunity to go and a wife that supports so unconditionally. I am glad that I got to go to Texas and even gladder that the guy from the junior sea service was my partner. Now, if he would only get a Glock……