Kagwerks Pistol + Rifle I: A Review
I was bored of plinking and bench shooting targets with no discernable purpose. That notion of fun subsided quickly after adopting my firearms hobby. I would watch some GarandThumb videos from time to time and his urging to get out and train finally resonated with me one day. I took his advice and found a course near me from one of the places he recommended and as you know, that changed everything.
The class I signed up for was a Pistol and Rifle I course with Kägwerks...or so I thought. More on that later. I'll review the course and go over my kit, however, this was nearly two years ago, so take it with that particular grain of salt.
My Setup
The guns I used
My AR as I used it. I had a chest rig for that weekend but opted to only run a belt. I used an M17 for its manual safety as this was my first time running around with a gun essentially. It was a necessary training wheels situation for my comfort levels, but I was ready to kick off those wheels by the middle of Day 2.
First off, the gear I used. I was basically starting from zero and I began researching and building the kit out to the best of my very limited and green knowledge. For a holster, I went with T-Rex Arms to start off with my kit. Their site was extremely effective in helping me figure things out with no baseline knowledge. I got the Ragnarok with the Safariland UBL mounting and holsters for a Sig P320 and a CZ P-10C (both lefty). For a belt, I went with a Blue Alpha Gear Cobra EDC belt off of Amazon. I then got some 5.11 Defender Pants to “host” my belt and holster. This belt setup was basic, but the easiest for me to wrap my head around at the time. Lastly, I went with High Speed Gear Taco Pouches for AR and pistol mags. At that point my kit was complete.
Now for my rifle, I used an AR-15 I put together. I got an Aero M4E1 lower and a BCM 16" upper with an MLOK rail. The rifle was pretty simple and stock internally. For an optic, I used a Sig Romeo 5. I had a serviceable, albeit not optimal setup for my first course.
The Rifle and Pistol course was in Greenville, NC at a flat range that the local PD trained at. The range was pretty nice but limited in what we could run as it was only about 50 meters deep, though it was wide. The course was full of local law enforcement who had trained with Kägwerks before. Somewhere along the way, the curriculum was changed to that of a Pistol and Rifle 2 course for that reason I’m guessing. So it was a baptism by fire for me.
The Course
The course wasn't taught by Garett Schwindel as he was dealing with medical complications at the time. His cadre took the helm admirably and were great instructors. As this is a review I'm writing years out, I can't recall their names, there were four on hand at any point for a course of about 20 people. The student to instructor ratio was excellent and one of my favorite things from the course. This allowed for that extra instruction, more of your reps being seen by someone who could help critique and it allowed for the class to be split up allowing more reps in drills. Further stemming off of that came the benefit of increased reps. It's the most reps I've ever taken for a course. No drill had less than five reps. I've done courses where you get one go of it and that's it.
This high rep count was super key in allowing me to get up to speed and make up for my lack of experience. I was able to catch on quickly due to all the positive things I just shared. The course itself consisted of a lot of basic drills you see everywhere else. I would say with confidence, though, that a course such as this one is a great stepping point, especially a proper Rifle and Pistol I.
We started the first day with a brisk jog which was done for two reasons. The first was a shakedown of your gear, see if anything was loose or not setup right. The second was to benchmark our shooting in a fatigued state. I suppose to expose your inefficiencies or where your fundamentals fall apart. From there it was crawl, walk, run as with most courses but with the added flair of reps on reps and tons of cardio. Still to this day, it's the most I've run in a firearms course. There was a lot of emphasis on shooting on the move or moving and shooting. Drills covered lateral movement and accuracy as well. Practical drills with pieing doors, using cover, moving in to cover, and shooting positions were all done over the two days. It's dependent on the host venue, but this one had plenty of steel that was used when we jumped into the more dynamic drills.
It’s hard to say because I was experiencing information overload, so maybe I just couldn’t process it, but the instruction on handgun shooting wasn’t the clearest. Probably one of the weaker instructions in how to shoot a handgun I can recall. To be fair, that’s because it was a Pistol II course, but for me going in having signed up for Pistol I and walking away not feeling much better at handgun accuracy that was a disappointment. But the positives outweigh that and like I said, I soaked up SO much other stuff it hardly mattered. A few months later I went to a focused handgun accuracy course and I was on the right track from there.
At the end of the weekend, I was beat. I learned a lot about shooting, drills, and a fresh perspective on how to spend productive time at the range. I grew as a shooter in almost every facet (besides pistol accuracy). I gained insight on gear and what sort of kit I'd want to build out. Jumping headfirst into a Level II course that gave me tons of opportunities for reps and near 1:1 coaching time was serendipitous as it turns out. Kägwerks also rewarded superlatives and gave out some Radian charging handles and safeties. I was dubbed “most improved” and gladly accepted a Radian safety. Another sweet touch, and at least at the time, was that every student received a 50% off voucher on ANY Leupold product. I snagged an LCO (though in hindsight I wish I got a high-powered optic when I had that chance).
In Closing
Would I recommend a Kägwerks course? With the course, I took, yes. But it was absent of its regular instructor, Garett. Not that I don’t think his inclusion as an instructor would do anything but improve the experience, I just can’t speak directly to what a “typical” class would have been. However, as his cadre handled the course, I imagine he would do the same and I still feel able to strongly recommend it. I check every few months if there’s a time that fits with my schedule if that tells you anything about it.
That concludes my first course review. I’ll be doing catch-up on all the courses I’ve done and with that, they all should be taken with a grain of salt until I catch up. However, I think I will be able to cover a pretty clear review and recall my likes/dislikes and observations well enough. The next review will be on Tatiana Whitlock’s Pistol Accuracy Course.
Author: John Gelardi
