Last weekend, I attended a MAG-20 Live Fire class conducted by local firearms instructor, Brian Wang.

So I don’t keep you in suspense, I qualified with a score of 277.

Instructor – Brian Wang was our primary instructor. I found him to be energetic, knowledgeable, and ready to take extra time to help a student who needed it (namely me.) It also helped that there were only three students, which allowed for more one-on-one time. Friday we had Christine, who I found to be pleasant and knowledgeable. The last half of Saturday we were joined by Basil Wang who helped prep us for our qualification. I felt very comfortable with their teaching styles and fully enjoyed the course.

Course – This was the first defensive pistol class I had taken. I learned a lot about drawing from concealment, the pluses and minuses of different stances, grip, and stress point firing. Interspersed between learning and practicing the techniques, Brian talked about real world examples. One that was brought up repeatedly was the 1986 FBI shootout in Miami. I’m really going to have to go back and read more on that particular episode. I will admit the crouching, high kneeling, and low kneeling were not the most comfortable positions, but I certainly feel more confident if I ever had to use them in real life.

Range – The course was held at the Tenoroc Shooting Range in Lakeland. This is an outdoor range with sporting clays, rifle, and pistol ranges. I, having never participated in shooting clays, didn’t understand why there was a line of strollers available for rent in the clubhouse.Yes, I did finally figure out what they were supposed to be used for. This was the first time Brian had conducted MAG-20 at this range, so there was some trial and error as we worked to find out the best methodology for shooting exercises. It also didn’t help that we had a lot of rain on both days. At the end, we had to do our qualifications in a light downpour, including having to do the high kneeling and low kneeling in puddles. I’m not complaining. It’s typical Florida weather, and there’s probably a better than average chance that if I had a defensive shooting in summer, it would be under similar weather conditions.

Overall – If you want to take a defensive pistol class, I would highly recommend MAG-20. If you live in the Tampa area, I would similarly recommend Brian Wang’s firm for any firearm instruction. He’s having a Defensive Carbine class in July, and assuming I don’t have any major issues crop up, I’ll probably take that one as well.

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