West Coast Armory

20 years is a long time, especially when you spend those 20 years working in Special Operations for the United States Army.  Larry Vickers is the real deal.  Not only has he been a special operations soldier for two decades, he has played a strong part in the civilian shooting sports industry, as one of the co-founders of IDPA and one of the most highly regarded Colt 1911 pistol smiths alive.  Aside from being a founding member of Delta Force, Vickers also helped H&K design the HK416 carbine, HK45 pistol, and also has a line of Glock accessories which enhance ergonomics and usability.

I recently travelled to Kansas City with friends to train with the legendary Larry Vickers in a "Custom" carbine course.  Having shot tactical rifles for sport in the Seattle and Portland area, as well as having attending classes by Magpul and Firearms Academy of Seattle, I was looking forward to seeing what proven techniques Vickers would impart.

The most important thing I took away from this class was the absolute importance of accuracy.  While most instructors these days stress "combat accuracy" and a balance of speed and accuracy, Vickers truly believes in absolute accuracy while training.  His reason for this belief is because accuracy will always degrade in combat conditions.  Aside from people shooting back at you, who knows what enviromental and physical challenges one might have to deal with!  It's in his experience that if one is not able to make tiny, tiny groups when training on a sunny, square range well fed and well rested, one will not be able to make effective hits when the proverbial "S" hits the "F".

That very same weekend, another West Coast Armory employee, Jaxon, went to traing with Spetsnaz veteran Sonny Pozikas, and while Vickers taught the importance of marksmanship fundamentals and accuracy first, Sonny went with a completely different methodology... which will of course, be discussed in due time.

All in all, Larry Vickers is a great trainer to work with, and his stories about the firearms industry in the last 30 years were illuminating and interesting.  If you want to get an inside look at the industry while also developing strong marksmanship fundamentals, Vickers is the guy you want to train with!