Primary & Secondary is well known for their podcasts and Facebook groups. For years these have been places where serious shooters gather to discuss all manner of things surrounding guns, gear, tactics, and more. With a large focus on training, it’s no surprise that P&S made the jump into this realm as well. The Training Summit is a multi-day event where several instructors gather to host micro versions of their courseware, allowing students to get a taste of what everyone has to offer. From night vision carbine, to snub nose revolvers, and trauma care, these are just a few examples of classes available to attendees.
During sign-up students can pick from a variety of classes, which include a mix of live-fire and lecture-only material. All classes are four hours long, with hour and a half breaks between. Training runs from 8AM to 3AM Saturday and Sunday, then 8AM to 5:30PM. Ammo packages can be bundled with tuition, with unbeatable prices on 9mm for this year’s Summit. Food trucks and water are on site, with healthy breaks between blocks of instruction for resting and socialization. Overall, this is a full package deal. For those in a financial bind, provisions were even made for those just wanting watch, without having to spend extra money transporting guns and gear.
Pre-Summit
The P&S Training Summit begins Saturday morning. I arrive two days early, road tripping from Missouri to Logan, Utah. I use this time to check out the facility, which is typically a public range, and confirm zero with my chosen firearms. I’ve gained a few thousand feet of elevation, and there were some slight adjustments to be made.
On Friday night, Matt Landfair, host of the event and P&S, emails everyone about a pop-up lecture being provided by Darryl Bolke. The topic at hand is the ambush of Bonnie & Clyde. I decided that’d be a solid way to end my Friday night and begin the weekend, and head that way.
Darryl Bolke: Ambush Guns of Bonnie & Clyde
Pulling up to City Hall, where the lecture is to take place, I’m expecting to be one of four or five students in attendance. To all of our surprise, about 20 are waiting for the man himself, including a few friends I’ve met from other training courses. This is my first meeting with Darryl, and it’s an excellent first impression.
In the two hour presentation Darryl busts myths on both events and equipment associated with the ambush of Bonnie & Clyde. Using first hand accounts to support his arguments, I haven’t found a tighter explanation of the event before or since then. To his credit, Darryl has been invited to provide this same lecture at a university near where the event itself took place. My attention was held the entire time, and I’d be happy to sit through this again.
Day 1 of the Primary & Secondary Training Summit
In typical fashion, I arrive about two hours early to the range on day one. I finish loading magazines and configuring gear, chat with other students, and eat my breakfast as the sun rises over nearby mountains. My day starts strong, on the range with Chuck Haggard and Darryl Bolke. About fifteen minutes prior to classes starting, everyone heads to their respective range or classroom.
Darryl Bolke and Chuck Haggard: Small Pistols and Backups
Once again, I’m a little surprised by the large number of people attending this class. Being a lower speed course, I expected most students to be on the range with the likes of Blowers, Pressburg, and Scott Jedlinski.
Darryl and Chuck tag-team this course. They cover holster selection for belts, ankles, pockets, fanny packs, and more, giving better insight into the more exotic locations than I’ve ever received before. Stories are given on how they’ve reached their conclusions over a combined 50+ years of law enforcement and conceal carry experience. Various types of pocket pistols are discussed, from small automatics to snubbies. Employment considerations compared to service size pistols are provided, with both pros and cons for each given.
Range Time
Range time is fairly brief, making up the last hour of a four hour course. Additionally, we only fire 50 of the prescribed 200 rounds. This is intentional, as Chuck and Darryl are helping us conserve ammunition thanks to the ongoing shortage and premium prices of certain calibers. None of this limits our learning however.
We break into two relays, one with revolvers, run by Darryl, and one with autoloaders, run by Chuck. I am in the revolver relay. We start with Chuck showing some improved methods for clearing stoppages with small automatics, which work much better than the traditional tap and rack. From here, Darryl has us fire a few rounds for familiarization and confirming zero. Next we work on trigger control drills using a mixture of live and spent ammunition in our cylinders. We swap on and off the firing line a few times with Chuck’s group, Darryl lecturing when we’re off the line.
Overall, this was my favorite class of the weekend. It greatly reshaped some of my thoughts on small automatics, and I learned tons about non-traditional methods of concealment. If you conceal carry, you should take this class.
Jim Dexter: Practical Medical Skills
My next class of the day is strictly lecture-only, with some hands-on application of various medical techniques. Jim focuses heavily on stopping hemorrhagic bleeding, while also touching on breathing, shock, and other causes of death. Students get the opportunity to apply tourniquets, pack and wrap wounds, and more. Each of these techniques are performed on ourselves and on partners.
This was a great tune-up of my medical knowledge, and I picked up some new information as well. Jim is a great instructor and a fun guy to be around. Everyone should be taking medical training, and this is an excellent option. If you’re coming to the summit, spend at least one block working these skills.
Darryl Bolke: Low Speed Low Light
I kick off the first evening of the P&S Training Summit with Darryl Bolke’s low light course. This takes place entirely in the classroom. Having worked nearly the entirety of his career on the night shift, Darryl is well versed in low light tactics and techniques. The focus of the night is on handheld light for law enforcement and civilian use. Chris Sizelove is in class with us, which helps to frame differences in tactics between military and domestic operations.
Darryl got the name right with this class. It’s far from flashy, and he doesn’t pimp the latest/greatest equipment as mandatory. That being said, it’s one of the most realistic low light classes I’ve taken, and that’s with it being purely lecture.
Day 2 of the Primary & Secondary Training Summit
Darryl Bolke: Training Habits of Highly Successful Gunfighters
During his extensive law enforcement career, Darryl Bolke had the opportunity to investigate 75 office involved shootings. This combined with mentorship by some of the biggest legends in the industry has given him insight into the subject matter at hand. These lessons are supported by successful uses of force. It’s difficult to put into words without going into specifics, but the course is solid.
Chuck Haggard: Managing Unknown Contacts
Those who’ve taken Chuck Haggard’s OC/Less Lethal class will be familiar with this material. Chuck speaks to a handful of less lethal options, with a focus on pepper spray. In addition to tools, we cover the concepts behind Managing Unknown Contacts, or MUC. Essentially seeing problems and managing those threats before the fight. With this in mind, everyone has the opportunity to practice these skills. Chuck uses students to demonstrate various MUC techniques, which is followed by exercises with partners. A few students get the opportunity to practice with inert pepper spray against looming threats.
This is probably the most valuable class, along with medical training, that anyone could take during the P&S Summit.
Matt Little: Carbine Skill Development (Low Light)
This is the one carbine class I took part in during the P&S Summit. That being said, there were enough to fill an entire schedule if desired.
Class begins with lecture on the range. Matt Little goes over intelligent use of light in a handful of scenarios to include indoor and outdoor areas. From here we move down to the range as the sun begins to set. To start, Matt has us perform Up Drills, swapping between momentary and constant light at his command. We cover positional shooting, as well as moving and shooting. With everything, Matt has us start slowly then gradually ramps up the intensity. Once night has fallen we conduct some individual movement drills, bounding from cover to cover, combining the day’s skills in a single course of fire. Each student gets individual feedback during their runs, and throughout class.
Matt is an awesome instructor and a good dude. I’d be happy to train with him again.
Matt Little: Low Light Pistol
I actually wasn’t signed up to take this class. After having a good time in Matt’s carbine class, and joking about continuing on with a J-Frame revolver, I decided to stick around for my first and only late night course. My initial plan was to shoot for an hour or less, then head home, but I stuck it out for the whole night. This was shot using my S&W 640 Pro and a Modlite OKW handheld.
This class very closely mirrors Matt’s low light carbine class. A few of us stuck around from the previous class, so for us, the first portion of class is mostly a refresher. There is some slight different in Matt’s low light methodology when compared to folks like Chuck Haggard and Darryl Bolke. This is attributed to differences in background, namely experience built overseas with the military versus domestic law enforcement and conceal carry.
If you’ve never shot a class designed for modern autoloaders while using a J-Frame, I recommend it. This was tons of fun, and I exceeded my expectations of my own performance. I’m no Jerry Miculek, but I definitely dusted a few classmates. Matt, along with some friends I made over the weekend had fun poking at my choice of gun, and the attitude was very light all night.
During the class debrief, I got to try some night vision worn by one of the P&S crew members. This was my first experience with night vision, and the PVS-15 was a good place to start. Words can’t explain how awesome this was. Afterwards I managed to convince my wife that night vision was a good idea. Thanks to the guy who let me try them out.
Day 3 of the Primary & Secondary Training Summit
After staying up well past my bedtime, I ended up skipping my morning block of training. Rolling in during the late morning, I posted up on a couch, waiting for morning classes to end. While here I chatted with Matt Landfair and a gentleman who wandered into building who was just looking for some range time. After lunch I made my way to the range for my last class of the weekend.
Chuck Pressburg: No Fail Pistol, Primer
I’ve been waiting to take a No Fail course for several years now, and this was the first thing I locked into my schedule. Chuck spends the first hour lecturing on the stakes we’re up against as law enforcement and armed civilians. With words on technique, ballistics, equipment selection, and more, we cover a lot of ground in a short amount of time. Next Chuck lays out his rules of the range, both for shooting and administrative tasks. From here he provides a few demos using his guns and those belonging to students. With this in mind, we head to the range.
If I only had one word to describe our range time, it would be deliberate. Every shot counts, and accuracy standards are higher than most others. To add pressure, I’m right next to Brian Hill of the Complete Combatant, and two shooters down from Varg Freeborn. Despite the pressure, I shot about average for me. Some great B8’s, and some thrown shots.
Chuck does a great job breaking down the technical aspects of handgun shooting, both mechanically and martially.
Final Thoughts on the Primary & Secondary Training Summit
This was an awesome event. I met some awesome folks, saw incredible scenery, and got amazing training. Events like these are a great way to dip your toes into a variety of training all at once. You’ll learn important skills and make solid connections with good people. While Utah may be a little out of the way for most people, I recommend making the flight or road trip.
I plan on returning to the Primary & Secondary Training Summit. I look forward to see you there.
Resources for More Education
Want to train with the folks mentioned above? Or maybe you want to sign up for the next P&S Training Summit? Check out everyone below. You can find everyone on Facebook and Instagram as well. Several even have Patreon accounts if you want to throw a few dollars their way.
Darryl Bolke, Hardwired Tactical
Chuck Haggard, Agile Training & Consulting
Jim Dexter, Tactically Sound Training Center
Chuck Pressburg, Presscheck Consulting
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