I had the opportunity to take Greg Ellifritz’s Concealed Carry Revolver class at the wonderful Boondocks range outside of Jackson, MS. It was geared around the snub nose 5 shot revolver, which I carry everyday as a backup to my G34 or as my primary when I have to go deep cover in non-permissive environments. I had revolver training but never anything on the nuance of the snub, needless to say, I was keen to attend. As luck would have it, I caught the airport funk the week before and was a bit off my game, but it went well.

Greg started with introductions and discussing the gear being used, taking the opportunity to discuss the nuance of the gear people brought. Strengths and weaknesses of the guns and ammo were discussed, he saved the loading devices for later in the day but we discussed them, as well.

We had the historical backdrop of the lessons learned in the 1970 Newhall Massacre, where Officer James Pence, wounded and with an empty gun, loaded his Colt Python to capacity while he was being flanked and was murdered from behind at point blank range. A good deal of discussion and technique incorporated the lessons from that tragedy.

Greg firing a 3 inch S&W model 19. The K frame snub has distinct advantages to the J frame if you have room for it

Greg started easy and ramped up the intensity as we showed proficiency. Nuance in grip and trigger technique were covered. Loading a revolver can be a mess, efficient technique for 3 styles of loading, single loading, speed strips and speed loaders were covered along with the related gear. Examples of numerous products were passed around and the clear favorites discussed along with the reasons they were favored. Along with that, how you empty the fired cases matters with respect to preventing the gun from malfunctioning.

Shooting exercises included slow fire head shots, a dryfire/livefire exercise called Skip Loading, we also did a timed load and fire exercise that tied back to the Newhall discussion; how fast can you load 2 or 4 and get back to shooting vs load to capacity and continue shooting. Greg had a great shooting drill that showed quite well that you can really shoot quickly without much accuracy penalty. We had a simple Baseline Assessment for the Snub, giving a heuristic for personal performance going forward. We shot the Ohio Police Pistol Qualification and multiple versions of “Rolling Thunder”, he split class into relays, timing each separately. First shooter loads 1 then fires, then down the line, then 2, continuing until all 5 are fired. It is quite exciting once it gets rolling.

I was quite impressed with being able to hit all shots inside the scoring rings on a B8 center with my snub. I haven’t worked at that distance but the dryfire I’ve been doing has paid off. One surprising curiosity is that the point of impact of a single action shot can be different than the point of impact of a double action shot. My Double Action group was all in the scoring rings of the B8, mostly low. My Single Action group was all to the right (correct elevation but windage about 5 inches to the right). Discussion revealed that this is a known amongst true revolver experts.

I am very pleased to know I have the best information available on the gun I carry everyday, and my shooting skills are honed with it. It doesn’t get better than that. I’ll be taking more classes with Greg in the future.

Greg had an easy-going teaching style, I really enjoyed the class. He is coming back for knife and close combat training, I am not going to miss that.

The gear I used was;

Smith & Wesson 649 .357 Mag with Altamont Combat Grips and a Hi Viz front sight

PHLSTER City Special AIWB holster

Tuff Strip 8 rds strips (2 for $12)

5 Star Speedloader ($20)- https://5starfirearms.com/j2-357-38-speed-loader/

125gr Xtreme Bullets semi wadcutter, reloads

Greg Ellifritz’s Concealed Carry Revolver AAR

MAG Defensive Pistol AAR