ITTS/Awerbuck shotgun class debrief

[gordo b.]

Last weekend on the LAPD Metro range with Lewis Awerbuck and Scott Reitz was most enlightening!
The shottie RULES for close encounters of the most serious kind.!

Buckshot is not an effective antipersonnel load beyond 25 yards MAX , out of a GOOD barrel and is very DANGEROUS to 200 yards or more!

A good barrel for buckshot can be ANY barrel off the shelf, from Cyl to mod in choke and is VERY Brand and load sensitive- more than any gun type I've seen! The best patterns by far were from a guy with an discount 870 express!

Rifled slugs RULE for everything I can think of other than worrying about thru and thru penetration in an apartment situation.

I CAN keep all my Rem Managed recoil Sluggers on a torso to 100 meters!
I Can keep all my slugs in your brain to 25 yards! MAYBE 50 yards- but I don't like maybes and I said ALL slugs.

Wonder of wonders a 12.5" Stock was PERFECT and DID NOT beat me up in 500 rounds- even from prone! Trick was to pocket it TIGHTLY!
870's rule the roost, even miss fed you can beat them into working!
Mossies 500 and 590 are viable.
Rem 1100's gave people problems
Benelli's Autos , from Marine Corp issue to M-1, M-4 Super 90's and what ever gave trouble -often VERY Scary!
My Benelli Nova, which they let me switch to the 2nd day has some problems so that I switched back to the good old 870 in a few hours. The problems were the front of trigger guard safety placement- not as safe and easy as behind the trigger! The lower loading port closed when action open was not cool- for me. The 14 pound trigger is rediculous, the looooong action stroke is ungainly as is the 14" stock length that will be very hard to shorten. It is wonderfully accurate with slugs- I got one hole groups at 75 yards (2-3")! It had very good buckshot patters too (I was using Rem Low recoil 00 buck)
Single point slings, especially with quick detachable buckles are really the HEAT, no sling binding forearm for me! Much easier and better balance all around! I think other users envied us with "team slings"
You GOT to have a dedicated light (IE surefire forend) on a pump gun and it is good to have on an auto. The pressure switch is not neccessary when firing(it blinks off under recoil sometimes) and putting it on on or off is better. The M-3 on the Nova factory mount or same on the Auto Benelli's was fine!If I build another 870 I will use the Sure fire pic rail foreend with a a Surefire Milennium combat light.
My shotgun pouch I had REECCE wear make was perfect BUT the load from the side saddle is the way to go- until thats empty! we had up to 50 shells on our person!
Brass to the top of the Side saddle and loading the open port from underneath with gun turned on it's axis to right is the way to go. But the bottom feed with enough room in mag is the way to "select slug".
Bead sights are ok IF they are on target ! Not much you can do to correct if they aren't. NOBODY hit the 110 yard target with a bead sight.
Scott Reitz is the ultimate DI ! His 180 popper course is a REAL workout -especially at night. Louis is , well, Yoda!
I qualified with a 96% on the LAPD course, BUT am more proud of my performance on the 180 Workout !
Bottom line the combination of Lewis Awerbuck and Scott Reitz (ITTS) is the ULTIMATE tactical shotgun course; the synergy between these two instructors is far and above ANY other instruction I've ever had and it pushed my body and mind (and equiptment) to it's limits.
My new name is "Run the bolt Gordon"

[Nnobby45]

Good debrief.

[Nnobby45]

it was good enough to come back and read twice. I recommend Awerbucks videos, Hits Count, and Combat Shotgun. Also, his books Tactical Reality and More Tactical Reality.

[STEVE M]

Great review, what drills did they have you do? I'm always looking for new shotty training drills.

[ibbryn]

Steve, I can answer your question about drills by posting my own review of the class. I took the course with Gordo, but it looks like he's busy elsewhere right now.

Here it is.
----------------------------
I recently took Stage I Shotgun with Scott Reitz and Louis Awerbuck at Scott's range in Los Angeles.
I thought I'd post an assessment of the training, both to aid other students in selecting an instructor and as a method of organizing and reviewing my notes.
Please keep in mind that I am relaying my IMPRESSION of the class. I am not speaking for the other students or instructors, even when I am trying to quote them. My notes may be clouded or colored by fatigue, miscommunication and my own novice status as a shotgun shooter—I've fired less than 1200 shotgun rounds in my life (this course included). I have some experience, including several mid-level training courses, with a handgun. I also have a little informal experience with rifles.

Safety
Safety was constantly stressed and was the foremost concern on the instructor's minds. We were never asked to do something I felt was unsafe and all new drills were explained and demonstrated until everyone was confident in moving forward.
Every day began with a review of the 4 rules of gun safety. We were told anyone could call a “cease fire” at anytime if we felt there was an unsafe condition. Scott told us that he was the most dangerous person on the range because he handled weapons the most and was most likely to get complacent. He reminded us to be switched on every time we handled a weapon. His personal method of switching on is to use the chamber check, done every time he takes possession of a weapon, as a reminder.
The line was always cleared properly, with individual shooters placing their weapons on safe and properly slinging them, before anyone moved off it. Between exercises the weapons were stored pointed in a safe direction with their actions open.

[ibbryn]

Students and their Equipment
Of the sixteen students, there was one lefty, one female, one Marine and three LEOs. Five or six of us had taken a previous class with Scott or Louie.
Most of us shot a 870. I believe one of these was a left-handed model. The Marine brought his unit's Benelli and two other's had Benellis. One of the LEOs had a Mossberg 590 with factory ghost sights and standard capacity mag. Everyone except three had fixed lights on their weapons.
During the weekend, 3 light bulbs broke, 2 sets of brand new CR123’s (both NON Surefire brand) were mashed by recoil and 2 guns went down (not counting those that were easily repaired and put back in action). There were numerous little problems that were fixed by cleaning, tightening or riggers tape. One of the Benelli user’s thought he had a misfeed problem that was solved by slathering lube on the weapon.
We fired about 250 rounds of birdshot, 50 buck, 75 slugs and 10 handgun rounds.
I was using a 870 Magnum Express with rifle sights, standard stock, CQB Solutions SOP sling, and mounted Surefire fore end. Shells were fed from a standard belt pouch. All the techniques I practiced were from the POV of a right handed 870 shooter.

Recommended Equipment
Louis feels the NECESSARY mods for a shotgun are: 1) Properly sized stock; 2) Sling; 3) Fixed white light; 4) Extended magazine follower (if you have an extended magazine).

Stock – The stock should be 13-13.5 inch long. A "cadet" or "youth" stock is ok for most shooters. In a properly sized shotgun stock, the 2nd knuckle of your trigger finger should reach the trigger if the shotgun butt pad is resting in the crook of your elbow. The angle of the stock's butt will help determine how it mounts. It’s hard to go with too short of a stock, but one student felt his was about an inch too short. The student said this wasn’t a problem mounting or shooting the weapon, it just gave him less leverage when holding the weapon for loading.

Sling – The sling type not too important, but as with most things on your weapon, plain and simple is the best. Make sure all loose ends of your sling are tucked/taped as they can jam in the slide and prevent functioning (this did happen to one shooter during the class). While GG & G makes a good single point sling attachment, a single point lets the shotgun swing too much. It becomes too heavy and is uncomfortable after a while.

Lights – Pump guns MUST have a fixed white light. Any light (an Eveready duct taped to your stock) is better than nothing. Your light will activate/deactivate at inopportune times as your hands slip on or off the fore end. Several students said they preferred the toggle on/off switch on their fore ends as the deactivation of the ribbon switch bothered them. I didn’t find this a problem with the limited experience I had. Lights frequently point under the weapons actual point of aim. Under stress, the shooter will "aim" (and miss) the weapon with the light. Lighting up a poorly lit target with bright light makes the target look closer than it is. Keep spare batteries on the weapon – duct taped to the stock or in a stock pouch. Semi Autos are very sensitive to things hanging off them. Be sure to test thoroughly as sidesaddles, brackets, and even permanently mounted lights may cause binding and malfunctions.

Extended Magazine Tubes – Their real purpose is not to load massive amounts of ammo, but to load to capacity minus 1 round. This allows you room to load an alternative type of ammo (less than lethal, slugs, or whatever) on demand, UNLESS you know you are going into a fight in which case you would load to capacity.
If you are using a two piece extended mag tube such as Remington's, the middle nut needs to be tightened first, then the tube is installed. Good brands for extended mags: Remington, Robar. Not recommended: Scattergun's.

Extended mags require the proper mag follower. An extended mag follower prevents binding of the spring at the barrel lock nuts. Scattergun, Wilson and Choate are all good brands.
Plastic followers are preferred as a stainless follower may score the inside of the magazine. Be sure you don't mix an extended mag follower into a standard size mag. This, especially when combined with S&B ammo, will prevent loading to full capacity.
Make sure your extended mag has a QUALITY extended mag spring – Robar, Wilson and Advent are all good brands. Louis has not seen any issues with "spring set" and does not believe its something to be concerned with.

Other Equip Recommendations:
Ammo – Different brands of ammo function completely differently in different barrels. You must pattern each brand of ammo to each barrel. Because Sellior & Belliot shells are slightly longer than other brands, you may have to download by one if you use S&B. 3” shells are not necessary, 2 ¾ will hurt plenty if you get shot with them.
If your shotgun is stored in a common squad or equipment room, and you don't draw the same weapon every day, pattern each weapon and note the characteristics of the pattern on the stock. For example: "using X ammo, 18" max group out to Y yards."

Reduced Recoil Loads – These haven't been out long enough with enough data collected for Louis to make a determination on performance. He has seen inconsistency between guns. They really aren't necessary, as managing the recoil of full power loads can be learned.

Sidesaddle / Butt pouch – These are a good idea as you will probably not have an opportunity to go back for resupply if you move away from your vehicle/home/base. You'll end up fighting with whatever you have with you. Scott keeps both a Sidesaddle and butt pouch on his weapon. When using the Sidesaddle, store the ammo brass up. This is the quickest and most secure method.
During the weekend, lots of people were loading from their belt pouches and ignoring their full Sidesaddles. Scott says, quickly load from the Sidesaddle, then top off the saddle from your extra stash as you have time.

Sights – Scattergun and Wilson glue their sights on. They are good sights, but will fall off. Have them silver soldered on.
Ghost Ring Sights work well. The Williams Ghost ring sights are fragile, made of aluminum with tiny screws and not much bearing surface. You need steel. Bead sights are ok if your eyes are good enough to pick them up. They are somewhat fragile if mounted directly to the barrel and impossible to adjust windage on. Glass optics haven't been used long enough to make determination regarding long time reliability. If you use them, make sure they are quick release in case of failure.
If you need tritium sights, you need a white light. Be aware that the tritium dots are lower than the top flat of the sights, so your point of aim will be different when using the sights at night.

Unnecessary Mods – Trigger jobs (not for shotguns), oversized safety buttons (unless you wear winter gloves), optics (in most cases), Van Comps (these are well manufactured, but, they won't allow you to use less lethal loads and aren't really necessary – with the proper stance, your weapon won't move to much anyway).
Speedfeed stocks don't work too well. Louis finds that there is always one shell that gets jammed in there.
Louis stressed he was not knocking manufactures such as Van or others, just stating what he had learned.

[ibbryn]

Techniques
Stance – You thumb should be on top of the stock, not wrapped around it. I had problems all weekend doing this as its not the way I've been shooting all my life. Acquire a good cheek weld to the stock. The butt is held very firmly against the shoulder. Rear leg should be straight, to give you a firm base. Lean in on your front leg with a good aggressive fighting stance. The recoil should flow down your body and should not feel like a whack, but rather a firm "push" of the shotgun butt against your shoulder.

Chamber check – Checking the chamber should be your mental signpost to "switch on." You've a dangerous weapon – treat it as such. Pull slide back slightly. Insert your finger into the chamber. Feel for a shell.

Magazine check – Insert your finger into the magazine. Feel for the follower or shell. Do this frequently when shooting and after every chamber check.

Loading – Maintain your firing hand's grip on the weapon. Slide the stock well under your armpit and use your upper arm to firmly clamp the stock to the side of your body.
Place the ammo in your weak side palm, brass to pinky. Reach up and find the trigger guard, slide the hand forward from the guard until you find the magazine port. Push the ammo all the way in.
If you don't push the ammo all the way in till it catches, it will pop out and be loose in the receiver but above the shell lifter. You'll think you are f**ked, but here's the fix: Keep a finger on the slide release and the barrel pointed in a safe direction. Slam the butt against a hard surface, racking the slide as you do.
Keep a round chambered. Put a round in the chamber as soon as you put one in the weapon. Many people will load the mag full and leave the chamber empty till they are done completely loading. When shooting, rack the slide immediately after firing. Several students were trap or skeet shooters and had to be retrained to run the bolt after each shot, as their sport teaches them this is not acceptable practice. There might be other issues with students who do a lot of sport shooting and have ingrained habits that are unsound or even unsafe in tactical/social/practical applications.
When you are switching ammo (from shot to slug to less-than to whatever) don't unchamber a round till you have the new one in the magazine (or in your hand if you are preparing to side load).

Side loading – When the magazine is dry, and you're sure it's dry, you can fire your round, rack the slide back, and drop a round into the open chamber port. Then close the slide and fire. This method also is used when you want to change your ammo type in the chamber.
Side loading saves you half a stroke's time (about 2/5ths of a second), but occasionally the shell lifter may be up when you try to load, blocking access thru the side port. To fix, reach through the port and press it down.
I wasn't sure if Louis was referring to novices only, or everyone, but he did say why choose a method of loading (using the side port) that will save you 2/5ths of a second but may mess you up 5% of the time when you can choose a method (consistently loading through the bottom port directly into the mag) that is only 2/5ths of a second slower but much more reliable.
Louis said to use one loading method until you are competent. Under stress you will mess it up if you have too many different methods of loading. After fumbling around for half a day attempting to side load, I switched to loading all rounds into the mag and racking the slide to chamber.

Load from the Sidesaddle/Butt pouch – On the line, many guys were loading from their belt pouches. Scott says load from the sidesaddle/butt pouch. Use the belt pouch to top up the sidesaddle/butt pouch.

Downloading – Put weapon on safe (thumb moves UNDER the trigger guard to access the safety – remember, I’m a right-handed 870 shooter). Rest the stock's butt on your strong side leg. Move your support hand pinky to the front of the receiver. Use your support hand to pull the slide back till your pinky touches the receiver.
Cant the weapon to drop the previously chambered round outside the port into the firing hand. Continue to pull the slide back and the next round from the magazine will eject. With the slide fully retracted, press the shell holder on the inside right of the receiver and the next round will pop out. Continue till the mag is unloaded. Feel the chamber and the magazine follower to ensure you are completely unloaded.

Follow thru – This is the least developed skill in shotgun shooting, and is very important. People want instant gratification so they raise their heads to see the target while the projectile is still in the barrel. Stay on target, prepare for the next shot (work the slide, adjust grip/stance, reacquire the target in the sights,) then check the target to see if another shot is needed.

Transitions to handgun – Most are done because of restricted space, not cuz of malfunction or running dry.

Body size – Men & women all measure about 9" nipple to nipple. All men are about 18" shoulder to waist, women 4-5" less. Thus, the target size of all men is about the same. Tall folk are usually tall in the legs, not the trunk. Amazingly, your foot is the same size as your forearm.
Use your front sight blade as indexing system. How much of the target's width is it covering? This is your clue regarding the distance to an unknown target.

[ibbryn]

Exercises – Here's what we did for three days.
Day 1
We met at 8:30 and started off at the range with a lot of talk on the subjects listed above. After lunch we picked up the weapons.
We walked though a proper stance, dry firing and loading/unloading exercises. Actual shooting started with a Rolling Thunder drill. Four shooters shot four hanging 8x10" plates. The first shooter fired 1x and reloaded. Next shooter fired 1x and reloaded. Continue on to last shooter.
Start cycle again with the first shooter firing 2x and reloading. Everyone else fires 2x until the first shooter starts again by firing 3x. This continues until everyone is firing and reloading a string of five.
Next we started a simple Man-on-Man drill. On command, each shooter fires and reloads. It's amazing how much stress this can add to a simple procedure. You definitely feel rushed when you hear the other shooter's weapon fire and you are still fooling around with your safety or trying to fish a round out of your pouch.
We took a break and then ended the day with the Rolling Thunder again. This time we moved much slower with an emphasis on clean, smooth movements.

Day 2
The second day started at 10:30 am, a little late because we planned to stay after dark. The after dark part could have been scary, but fortunately we all had shotguns and flashlights.
My three goals for the day: 1) Keep thumb along stock instead of over it; 2) Integrate consistent dis/re engagement of safety into my presentation; 3) Reload smoothly through magazine only, by feel only, correctly holding the weapon under my arm.

Scott was off doing cop stuff so Louis started off with Rolling Thunder. Again, he had us moving slowly and concentrating on technique.
All the slow movement went out the window when Scott arrived and broke us into two groups. He took the first group off to do a 180 drill. This consists of four targets about 25 yards away and at 90, 45, 45 and 90 degrees on a half arc from the shooter. Each target is 8x10", mounted on a stand, and falls when hit. The target resets when pulled by a rope.
Scott directs one or all of the targets to reset. You shoot till they are all down. They are never all down. This can go on for 25-35 rounds.
Important lessons to learn on this drill are: 1) Keep the feet moving. Turn to face the target, don't just twist the upper body. 2) You must use a proper stance to load. Very few shooters did this at first. It seems faster to reload with the weapon still mounted to shoulder, but you will tire very quickly. Most shooters eventually moved to a proper reloading stance if only because they were exhausted. 3) Double taps were necessary on some targets, just as in real life.

While Scott ran this drill, Louis had the other group zero with slugs at 25 yards.
Most people were able to get a valid zero using only three rounds. My Ranger Reduced Recoil slugs printed a tight cloverleaf about 1 inch high and right. Louis said that was close enough for my purposes, so I was good-to-go. We then patterned our buckshot loads to see how they would break and spread.
Louis discussed the POI for various distances. He had a pretty good idea of where each load would land with each weapon, except for the reduced recoil loads which he hadn't seen enough data on. He had a few shooters swap loads to see how a different brand would give them very different results and some shooters definitely achieved better results with different loads.

After dinner we shared some nice stories about people getting shot, or stabbed, or shot then stabbed, until it was good and dark. We then started with an eight shooter Rolling Thunder to warm up. This was my first experience using a light with any weapons system.
I had a little difficulty at first integrating the light switch into the system of acquiring the target, shooting and racking the slide. It just took a while to get smooth and I would have benefited from dry firing with my light for a couple days prior to the drill.

I also had a major mess up when I shot a slug at the plate instead of birdshot.
Louis heard the nice satisfying "clunk" when I hit the plate squarely. He immediately knew what had happened and shut the line down while he inspected the plate for damage. Scott took me off the line to clear my weapon.
We'd been told 25x, "birdshot only on the plates." I heard this, knew this, and supported this, yet ended up with slugs in my pouch from the earlier zeroing. Then, when going to this drill, I had dumped a box of birdshot into my pouch thinking I was just topping off my shot.
I was pretty embarrassed to show Scott I had a BUNCH of slugs but he was 100% cool. I made sure I wouldn't make the same mistake again by setting a new policy for myself of "no-slugs-in-my-belt-pouch." I installed a butt sleeve, loaded it with slugs and from then on kept slugs only there or in my pocket.
Louis had earlier touched upon the need to select the proper load for the proper target, but I didn’t quite realize what this meant until I thought about my goof-up later. Slugs are effective on targets out to 100 yards or so. If you engage a target at this distance, but fire shot instead of a slug, you can easily scatter lead all over the street causing untold damage to the pre-schoolers and baby kittens playing further downrange. Putting the wrong round on the target is akin to shooting with the wrong weapon system. Dangerous as well as embarrassing.

After this warm up we lined up to hit a plate with slugs that was lit up with a spotlight. No problems there. We again split into two groups and Scott ran the 180 while Louis did four man Rolling Thunder relays. We took a brief break to meet an off-duty K9 cop. Scott says these guys have the most experience using lights, being engaged in up to three searches a night. He had asked the K9 to stop by and chat with us about technique.
I was a bit worn out by this point, so I wasn't ready with relevant questions, but the K9 basically said that he uses lights off when tracking to preserve his night vision. When he thinks he has a target he hammers it with the brightest light he has. Sounds sensible.

We completed our drills and broke around 9:30–10pmish.

[ibbryn]

Day 3
Day three started off with Scott walking us through the murder of a police office that happened some years back. He had testified on the case, and took us step-by-step through a series of events in which EVERYTHING went wrong for the cop, resulting in his death.

The thesis of the talk was that sometimes a trivial event, or a series of trivial events, happens that can result literally in life or death.
Remember: things can go sideways, **** happens, you can't win every fight, anyone can be taken, there can always be a "golden bb", don't think you are a bad-ass cuz you took a three day shotgun course and avoid confrontations if possible.

This little break from shooting is one of the benefits of having a real trainer rather than a wanna-be. Scott’s able to draw on his past history in the LAPD and to relate his experiences in a framework that makes them relevant to our current activities.
We talked about the history/current make up of the LAPD Metro unit and Scott and Louis were asked how to find good instructors. They recommended asking potentials for a signed resume and permission to check the references on that resume. In the event you are in a shooting, your training in courses such as these, and your instructor's qualifications, mindset and style of teaching will come up. If you have a "kill 'em all, let God sort them out" type instructor, this info WILL make its way to the prosecutor and civil lawyer of the ahole you shot.

When asked for the names of instructors they thought were not qualified to teach, both Scott and Louis declined to comment but they did say that any new technique named for the instructor is probably more flash than substance. Louis recommended getting instruction from as wide a variety of instructors as possible.

We started the range work off at about 65 yards with one slug on a plate from offhand, drop to kneeling for another slug, a third from prone and then reload from prone and fire again.

Louis showed us how to selectively choose the ammo we wanted for each shot. This built upon the basic skills we'd already worked on of downloading or loading from the side port, but added the requirement that we consider the effective range of the ammo we were using and our target.

After dryfire practice on switching ammo types we ran two man drills consisting of hitting two plates at 25 yards with birdshot and then quickly loading one slug and popping a plate at 50 yards.

Scott then took us to a line where we fired four slugs kneeling at a 110 yard plate. Most shooters were able to hit ok at that distance with a little practice. I went the other way and put my first two shots in the gut than forgot to hold over as much and dropped my next two just below the plate. Both groups were tight, however, so I'm not worried about the long range consistency of my reduced recoil ammo.

Scott than ran us through the LAPD Metro Shotgun Qualification course twice. I was a little too rushed to take notes on the exact distances / shot requirements of the course, but it seems like most people in the class would have had little problem qualifying. No reduced recoil ammo is permitted for the actual LAPD qualification.

Louis then walked us through a new ready position - Indoor Tactical Ready. Basically, this position points your muzzle low and next to, but not covering, your foot. It's used when you are moving though confined spaces where you don't want your muzzle revealing your position or being subject to a takeaway attempt.

We practiced moving into and firing from this position. All movement was very slow and deliberate, with safety again being the number one consideration. Louis told us most of our movement with the weapon should be backwards – moving out of danger to put distance between us and the threat. This would give us more time to take the shot and decrease your opponent's chances of getting a lucky hit on you.

After a break we moved over to a shooting system Louis had set up. Four 3-D dummy targets were set up on a steel frame. They were arranged so two "don't shoot" dummies were closest to the shooters, a "shoot" dummy was behind them and a "don't shoot" was behind the other three. They were spaced close enough to each other that if they were humans they would have been touching each other's sides and backs.
Two shooters engaged the target at once. Both started about 10-15 feet from the target. The first shooter could move laterally to the targets about 3-5 feet. The other shooter could advance or retreat about 10 yards roughly parallel to the target. Restricted movement was necessary to provide safe shooting lanes.
The rear two targets could be moved back and forth by Louis. This forced the shooters to maneuver and look for the proper shot while taking into account the fore and rear ground of the target. There was also a steel target frame between the targets and shooters that further restricted field of fire.
This was a slug drill. We all ran through this ok. Louis said this is the first class he's had where the good targets all lived and only the bad ones died. I'd imagine this is just a bit more difficult with live people playing the part of the "shoot" and "don't shoots."

Next we worked on transitions to handgun. There was a lot of discussion of theory of when and why to transition and then we warmed up by drawing from the holster. This was primarily a shotgun class, with one student having little experience with a handgun, so we started with the very basics of holstering and reholstering. We went down the line with each shooter demonstrating proper presentation of the handgun.

My turn gave Louis an opportunity to comment on my “pimp glove.” Now I personally try to cover my entire body in leather when I go to the shooting range, and not just because it makes me feel sexy. I hate coming home with little pieces of rock embedded in my knees, palms and elbows so I try to cover up whatever skin I can. I have a fingerless, padded leather glove with a cuff that provides wrist support – I think it’s designed for skateboarders. I wear it Michael Jackson style cuz I need the sensitivity in the other hand so I can feel my brass. Scott offered the suggestion that the Hatch-type synthetics offer ok protection and don’t get jammed up in your other gear like the leathers do.

Scott and Louis made sure everyone was safe and tuned up individual form.
When one student demonstrated he was seen to bring his pistol back to a form of low ready that held the weapon with both hands, center of his torso and almost touching his chest. It's kind of a cool Hollywood cop stance and Scott took the opportunity to demonstrate why it was not recommended.
First, if you fire, the slide has nowhere to go but into your torso. Secondly, it does little to provide for proper retention of the weapon. Scott had one of the students who was pretty well checked out in martial arts step off the line. The martial artist's weapon was replaced with a TOY .45 that had an articulating trigger. Karate guy held the gun in the cool Hollywood cop stance pointed directly at Scott who was standing at arms distance, hands at side. Karate guy was then disarmed by Scott twice in a row -- each time before he could drop his toy hammer on Scott.
They switched positions and Scott held his toy .45 in a grip that demonstrated proper retention stance. His body was angled away from the bad (Karate) guy, the toy held in close to his own body but at his side rather than centered on his own toro. He demonstrated how this allowed him to use his weak hand to fend, block, strike and grapple while simultaneously blasting away strong hand.

Once we all were demonstrating good form, we practiced placing the shotgun on safe, sweeping it to the side and drawing our side arms. After a few live fires we worked a hand held flashlight into the mix.

Scott then got us all on a line 65 yards from a silhouette and said to take any shooting position we wanted. We would have one second after he gave the "fire" command to hit the target.
The instructors had been working non-stop through the weekend, fixing broken weapons, giving individualized advice at breaks and spending their sleep time remembering funny stories to tell us about people who'd been shot. It apparently was starting to wear Scott out.
He sat down in a comfy chair and must have dozed off or something because his command to fire didn't come until four minutes later. There was a massive BOOM as most of us hit the steel and then Scott repeated the command to make ready.
I heard a quick shuffling all around me as the poor souls who had been in an off hand position collapsed into prone or sitting. 55 seconds later we heard "fire."
I can't exactly say I "mistrusted" Scott but for some reason I had thought it a good idea to go prone when we got the first command to make ready. Even so, I think I reached a state of enlightenment waiting three minutes for the final "fire."
Lesson learned from drill: Take the most stable shooting platform you can.
We broke around 4:30 or 5 on our last day of instruction.

[ibbryn]

Wisdom
Louis and Scott have years and years of accumulated knowledge and practical experience. They passed on bits and pieces of what they know in both formal classroom lectures and offhand comments at breaks and on the line. Here's some of what I was able to pick up:

Don't change a shooting system that works, especially just to comply with an instructor's trend of the week. If you are getting hits, ok, just keep doing that.

Quick is good, fast is not. Quick is economy and efficiency of motion. Fast is rushed.

Benefits of shotgun: 1) Power 2) Versatility of ammo

Shotgun shooting is easy. Shotgun and rifle skills do not deteriorate as quickly as handgun skills. Shotgun manipulation is hard – smooth loading, handling, and presentation are what will allow you to make hits quickly.

Gunfighting: Primarily a problem solving skill at speed in a compressed time frame. With the added stress of someone trying to shoot you.

Luck: Necessary to win a gunfight; it can bring down the baddest bad-ass; anyone can lose the fight, including Louis & Scott.

The two most common shotgun malfunctions are: 1) Leaving the safety on - I did this several times. We also had a string of about 10 shooters out of 16 who did this in a two man drill. Every couple shooters Louis would stop the drill, turn to those waiting and say "take off the safety before you pull the trigger." Then the next guy would try to shoot with the safety on. 2) 870 Fore end nut too loose causing binding of slide - Louis tightened several of these, including mine, during the class. He says it's the one nut that you can't clamp down too hard.

We were told several times that the difference between Scott/Louis and we novice shooters was that Scott/Louis had already made every mistake that we could make. We needed to learn from their mistakes, and from the mistakes of people who were now dead, so we didn't have to go through them ourselves.

Pros & Cons
The course was taught by two real world folk who know their stuff. They are both subject matter experts who are also qualified educators able to provide instruction in a rational, structured manner that keeps their students reaching for further knowledge.
If I'd come to the class with more experience, as other students did, the instructors could have adapted their personalized instruction to further increase my skills.

As self assured as they are, neither instructor seemed to have any notable baggage or ego problems that force them to teach in a dogmatic, "my-way-or-the-highway" fashion. In fact, there were a few minor points upon which they disagreed. One of them would say “he likes this way but I’ve found the other way works best. See which works for you.”
As instructors, they will show you a method they think is the most suitable for the student and they will remind the student to use that method, but if the student decides to load the weapon while it's mounted on the shoulder, they will let the student load that way until the student’s arms fall off and he decides for himself that the instructor’s method works best.

I wanted this to be a fair critique so I've really racked my brain for something negative to say about the class.
I could have spent more time practicing transitions, but this wasn't really a handgun class. I still don't feel that I have a firm grasp on my flashlight use. But I have the basic theory down, and the experience of shooting at night, so I can now research and develop my flashlight skills on my own.
It would have been nice if the class was free, ammo was supplied, and someone made me lunch. And I got a massage each night. But I don't really see these as issues Scott or Louis should be required to address.

I'll be cutting down my existing stock and purchasing an extended magazine follower ASAP. I'm looking for a butt pouch that will hold extra ammo, batteries and a compression bandage in case something gets a hole in it that shouldn't.
I'll incorporate flashlight use into both my shotgun and handgun dry fire practice, and will experiment with movement with the lights. I should have a solid foundation in these skills before my next class and will then be about to work on fine-tuning my strategy and technique.
I was really handicapped by not having electronic hearing protection. Wearing plugs and muffs, as I did, is ok for casual shooting but in a class where you are trying to receive detailed instruction and range commands you will spend too much time and energy fiddling with your ears. I’ll even say that this is a safety hazard, as turning right when everyone else is going left is a bad thing. If you’re committed to spending some time on the range, electronic ears are a worthwhile investment.

I'd say the course delivered what it advertised. I was given a firm foundation in basic shotgun skills. If I practice these skills I'll become a better shooter and be able to build upon them in an intermediate course. A class from either of these instructors is worthwhile, but as another student commented, “the synergy between these two instructors is better than 1 +1 = 2!”

Recommended course worth the time and money? Heck yeah.

Other reviews of this same course were posted by other students here:
http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=133571
http://www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=6&f=1&t=182947