The Quest for Master Class: Spotlight Firearms Academy of Seattle

Competition shooting such as IDPA is great practice for the skills that could save your life in a defensive situation. However, just shooting competition may not give you all the training and skills needed, which is why taking classes from reputable trainers is an important aspect of carrying a firearm for self defense. Additionally, it’s difficult to shoot IDPA without the proper facilities to train and hold matches at, which is why this week on the Quest for Master Class we’re focusing on one of the premier training facilities in the Pacific Northwest, Firearms Academy of Seattle.

Founded in 1987 FAS provides top notch defensive training for civilian and law enforcement personnel. As one of the sponsors of the Quest for Master Class, FAS donated the use of a dedicated range for the series that allows us to shoot some of the footage that you see on each week’s episode. But FAS isn’t just a good place to practice IDPA, but as mentioned they are a leading provider of defensive training in Washington State.

I first became acquainted with Firearms Academy of Seattle through one of their instructors, Kathy Jackson. Kathy runs the website The Cornered Cat, which is a phenomenal resource for new shooters and focuses on some of the unique issues that female shooters face when entering the sport and making the decision to carry a concealed firearm. FAS quickly jumped on board the Quest for Master Class after that. With facilities for pistol, a dedicated steel range, shoot house, 360 reactive target range, and a rifle range out to 200+ yards FAS has the facilities to cover every aspect of a civilian self defense encounter.

Classes range from basic Handgun Safety and Handgun Selection seminars; which teach gunhandling and self-defense firearm selection fundamentals all the way up to Advanced Tactical Handgun which includes critical force on force training using Airsoft pistols. This course catalog also includes equivalent precision rifle, carbine, and shotgun courses so you can develop your skills across a platform of weapons. Most interestingly to me is the FAS Handgun Master Test, a 54 shot course of fire that tests a shooter’s skills with not only accuracy but low light, moving targets, and weak hand only shooting.

In this week’s video, we have some fun on FAS’ steel range, as well as show you some of the improvements that have been made to our dedicated IDPA bay and have a brief chat with the founder of FAS, Marty Hayes.

If you’re in the Seattle area, whether as a resident or just visiting and are looking to improve your defensive skills with your CCW gun, your home defense carbine or shotgun, or simply want to learn from a great staff at an excellent facility, check out Firearms Academy of Seattle.

********

Caleb Giddings is the founder of Gun Nuts Media (www.gunnuts.net). He has been involved in competitive shooting since he was a cadet at the US Coast Guard Academy in 2000 and has attending training courses at Gunsite and the former Blackwater USA. Since shooting his first IDPA match in 2008, Caleb has started the climb through the rankings, earning the title of Master Class shooter in the Enhanced Service Revolver division in 2010.