A Comprehensive Review Of The SIG Sauer Academy

Readers of ThruMyLens know that I’ve done a lot of firearms training – with individual instructors like Dave Spaulding of Handgun Combatives, as well as training institutions dedicated to firearms training like Tactical Defense Institute.  As both a Responsible Armed Citizen, and an NRA Certified Firearms Instructor, I take training seriously. So when the YouTube channel Weapons Education announced in a video an opportunity to train for an entire week at the world renowned SIG Sauer Academy, I jumped at the opportunity.

For the Weapons Education Special Event, SIG Sauer Academy (SSA) created a customized training experience for five days which covered the following:

June 20:  Skill Builder Pistol
June 21: Introduction to defensive pistol
June 22: Defensive pistol
June 23: Close quarter pistol
June 24: Advanced tactical pistol

A total of 14 students attended this extraordinary training event.  Note that this customized training event had courses which only loosely correspond to classes that SSA normally offers, so I won’t specifically review any of the classes themselves.  This review will be more about the training experience as a whole, as well as providing information and helpful tips on what to expect when taking a class at SSA.

WHAT GUNS AND GEAR DID I BRING?

Before I get into my review of SSA, I thought I’d discuss which guns I brought to the training class and why.  In terms of what guns I brought, this was a question I wrestled with quite a bit.  When I’m able to drive to a class, I can bring a trunk full of guns.  However since I was flying, I would be limited by both space  and weight.  My fist gun choice was my M&P 9mm Compact modified by Bowie Tactical Concepts.  It’s been my main, “go to” pistol for the past several years.  I’ve used it for training, competition, and defensive carry.  However, I’ve been growing more interested in the SIG P320 Compact.  Unlike the red dot set up on my M&P, my P320’s have SIGLite iron sights.  I’ve had some nagging concerns that I’ve become overly dependent on my red dot sight, so I thought it might be good idea to spend a few days training on iron sights.  Finally, I brought my M&P Shield, also modified by Bowie Tactical Concepts.  I would use it as my defensive carry gun when not in class.  I never like carrying a gun that I’ve shot several hundred rounds through in a training class without first cleaning it.  Since I knew I’d be meeting up with the other students for dinner shortly after class each day, I thought it would be much easier to walk off the range and grab a fresh, clean option.  It’s important to note that never during the training experience did SSA even remotely push their guns or expect students to bring a SIG to the class.  As long as it shoots reliably, SSA is fine with your bringing any kind of gun appropriate for the class you’re taking.  Conversely, SSA does allow any student to borrow about any gun that SIG manufactures to use for the day (I believe this even extends to long guns) which several of the students took advantage of during the week.  They even had Legion versions of guns available, which impressed me.  I could see where this option would be handy if SIG has a gun you’re strongly considering purchasing – nice test drive opportunity.  But I prefer to train with my own guns for obvious reasons.

Many of the students brought Legion 226/229 variants, and more than a few brought 1911’s which always surprises me in a class like this one.  We fired over 2000 rounds that week – that’s a whole lot of safety and de-cocker manipulation.  Toward the end of the week, several of the students were asking to borrow P320’s (striker fired, no safety).  Just sayin’…

In addition to my usual complement of gun belts, holsters, I also brought my G.P.S. Handgunner Large Rolling Range Bag.  Having never been to the SIG Sauer Academy before, I didn’t know what kinds of distances we’d be schlepping gear and ammo around.  This bag looks and functions much like a standard piece of rolling luggage you regularly see being used at airports.  During my flights, I packed all the no-no items which you can’t bring on a plane into a suitcase which I checked per Federal and Airline regulations, and packed most of my cloths into my Rolling Range Bag which I used as a carry on item.  TSA Hint:  Do search your range bag THOROUGHLY before going to the Airport and going through security.  A certain someone (who will remain nameless, but let’s call him…”me”) may have overlooked an unloaded 17 round M&P magazine which had fallen to the bottom of a zipper pocket.  TSA agents tend to frown on this sort of thing…  After unsuccessfully attempting to convince TSA agents the magazine was in reality just a really large Pez dispenser, I was forced to discard the magazine before boarding (moment of silence for the lost magazine).  The Rolling Range Bag did come in handing during the week and I was glad I brought it.  Just be aware that it BARELY fits into overhead storage bins (some “persuasion” is required).  You’re better off letting the Airline folks stow the bag right before boarding, and collecting it again right when getting off the plane upon arrival.

In terms of clothing, I brought the usual short-sleeve T-shirts and collared shirts I wear at other training classes, and Merrell “hiking” type shoes that are comfortable and allow for an active day.  I also wore “tactical” style shorts which have lots of nice deep pockets.  Most of the other folks seemed to bring tactical pants – the temperature was above 80 degrees every day – I was much more comfortable in shorts, but it wasn’t a big deal either way.  Whatever is comfortable and will hold up your gun and a couple of magazines mounted to a gun belt.  You also might want to consider bringing a small personal cooler that can hold a couple of drinks.  I brought 2 Gatorades along each day, and a protein bar which really helped.

WHAT DIDN’T I BRING THAT I WISHED I HAD?

Knee pads.  We did positional stuff on a couple of the days, and I ended up having to borrow knee pads from SSA, and I got very lucky because they didn’t have many knee pads to loan out.  I have knee pads…I just flat out forgot to bring them.  Which was particular not very bright of me given I opted to pack only shorts.  I also wish I would have listened to my wife (please don’t tell her I said that) and brought a rain jacket.  We did get about 3 hours of rain, and it got darn chilly while it was raining.

ACCOMMODATIONS

Students attending the SSA have several choices, but I ended up staying at the Portsmouth Exeter Fairfield Inn & Suits for $96.00 a night (ask for the SIG rate when making a reservation).  This was one of the better decisions I made during the week.  Ask for the SIG rate ($96.00 a night is what I was charged).  You’re about a minute off the highway, and 10 minutes from the Academy in normal week day morning traffic.  There are also several restaurants within a mile or so of the hotel.  The room had just what I needed – fridge, microwave, clean bed, and a hot shower.  If you have a freezer pack for a cooler, just bring it to the front desk and they’ll keep in a freezer in back until you need it.

In terms of lunch, there’s a few options here as well, but for those on a budget and looking to eat healthy I recommend the Subway (inside a gas station) just 2 miles down the road from SSA – they give SSA students a 10% discount!   They have a few benches with umbrellas outside which was great for eating and just chilling out a bit before returning for class – we were given an hour each day to eat lunch.

THE FACILITIES

The SIG Sauer Academy takes up 140 acres – it’s absolutely huge.  Dylan treated us to as many different ranges within SSA as possible – keeping in mind that there were many other classes going on that week.  At various times I ran into SWAT Team members from both Canada and a US government agency (sorry folks…I can’t get more specific than that).  There was also a  New Hampshire police agency training at SSA that week..among others.  It’s certainly a busy place, but there was plenty of room for all the training that was happening.  We never like we were infringing on anyone else training at the facility or conversely infringed upon.

According to Adam Painchaud, about two-thirds of the training performed at SSA is for military and police personnel – civilian training only makes up about one-third of their business.  SSA truly is “where the professionals train.”  From 1000 yard rifle ranges to their CAPS simulator, SSA has state of the art facilities available for training.  This massive shoot house is constructed from shipping containers and looks to be still under construction:

One of the smaller shoot houses at the facility:

This shoot has has an elevated scaffold which allows instructors to observe students who are running exercises:

We saw several different shoot houses during the week at SSA (there may well be others that we didn’t see), however we didn’t do any shoot house or house clearing type training during the week…which was probably a good thing since it was in the 80’s about every day we were there (those shipping containers have to get pretty hot).  However, when it rains or gets too cold to shoot outside, SSA does have a massive indoor range:

Here’s a few photos taken from one of the Area 51 Outdoor ranges which we used:

Of course, SIG Sauer also uses part of the SSA campus for product testing and evaluation.  We heard the sweet, sweet sound of automatic gun fire several times during the week.  I assumed this was sort of training (perhaps SWAT), but was told by Dylan that it was actually testing.

THE TRAINING

 

Day 1 started in the classroom where we got to meet Adam Painchaud (photo above right) who runs SIG Sauer Academy, and our instructor for the week, Dylan Kenneson (photo above left).  When introducing him, Adam described Dylan as “the best shooter at SIG Sauer Academy.”  After spending a week with him, I can attest to this description not being hyperbole – Dylan is perhaps the best shooter I’ve ever personally met.  Moreover, he’s an excellent instructor – I’ve met many good shooters who simply didn’t have what it took to impart knowledge to others.  Dylan was able to connect with every single student – and I’ll be honest that I’m the guy you usually have to explain things twice to in a class.  Rarely was it necessary for Dylan to even do that, but he was very patient when the need arose.  Much of the first part of the day was spent performing drills and exercises which helped Dylan evaluate us individually and as a group.  Afterward, he very much tailored the training curriculum to our group – he could clearly see what we needed and did not need in order to improve, and adjusted accordingly.  We were very fortunate to start with a very “squared away” group of guys who had prior shooting experience and some training.  So this allowed us as a group to move into more advanced territory quickly.

SSA’s safety protocols are among the best I’ve seen in a class.  Dylan asked us if anyone in our class had any medical training, and we happened to have two – an anesthesiologist and a dentist.  They became our designated primary and secondary caregivers if an accident occurred.  We also identified two individuals (primary and backup) who would call 911 in the event of an accident.  Two other individuals volunteered to be responsible for positioning themselves at two points on the property to help direct an ambulance to where we were located.  Every morning Dylan would remind those individuals as well as the entire class who the volunteers were, and what their roles were in the event of an accident.  Dylan would also take time every morning to remind us of SIG’s safety rules – things like muzzle awareness, trigger finger remaining on the frame until a clear sight picture is obtained on the intended target, and situational awareness.  Situational awareness was particularly important once we did some moving and shooting drills – if you weren’t aware of where you were relative to others on the line with you when you were advancing on a target, bad things could happen.  I’m happy to report that we had absolutely no accidents the entire 5 days, which is of course awesome.  Of course many mistakes were made…and at SSA you pay for those mistakes.  The worst mistake you can make (outside a breach of safety of course) is to walk up to the line with a “dead man’s gun” – no round in the chamber, empty magazine, etc.  Status checks are free at SSA, but if you’re caught on line with a dead man’s gun, you have to “ring the gong” and chant “I am a dead man!  I am a dead man!” for ten repetitions.  As it happens, I was the first gong ringer…but it seems nearly everyone in the class had their turn at bat…or gong as it were.  Some even went several times.   Here’s a photo of Tom from Weapons Education  getting ready to ring the gong:

Our classes were at the intermediate and advanced level, and Dylan very much treated us like “big boys” for which I was thankful.  I also appreciated Dylan’s very non-dogmatic approach to gun handing/training.  He usually taught us multiple ways to perform any given gun handling task, then asked us to try them all and choose which worked best for us individually.  Others I’ve trained under often teach one and only one way to best do a task.  Take magazine changes for example.  Dylan prefers not to strip an empty magazine, and instead to let it drop freely before replacing it with a full magazine.  Other instructors I’ve trained with have taught that you absolutely must strip your empty magazine because relying on gravity to drop the empty magazine can get you killed.  I asked Dylan about this and he said “He prefers to train for the 99% occurrence, and deal with the 1% problem occurrence if and when it happens.”  This does make sense – particularly for a competitive shooter like Dylan (USPSA) as there is no arguing that not stripping the magazine is faster than stripping it.  My take?  This is very much firearm and shooter dependent.  For the majority of shooters, I do think training to strip the mag is the safest way to go.  Many conceal carry folks use compacts and sub-compacts which have smaller, lighter magazines which in my opinion are much more prone to NOT drop simply by gravity alone.  My M&P 9mm Compact for example is this way.  Dylan seems to mostly shoot a full-size SIG P226.  SIG magazines (for the most part) also have a slick coating which makes them drop easier.  For Dylan and his equipment, his approach to stripping a magazine makes a lot of sense.  For others it may not.  But Dylan and SSA allow shooters to make these kinds of choices for themselves.  As an instructor myself, it’s not an approach I’d necessarily advocate for an “entry level” shooter, but for this group of more advanced shooters, it was a refreshing approach.  It certainly made me think about why I do what I do, and have a good reason for the choices I make.  Someone else may or may not agree with my choices, but ultimately I’m the guy that’s responsible for the choices I make.

I’m not going to even try and detail every technique and drill we went over during the 40 hours we spent with Dylan.  Some of the material was familiar ground for me, while other things we did were completely new experiences.  But even the material we covered that was familiar to me was pushed to the extreme – forcing me to perform at a higher level than I’ve done.  For instance, I’ve trained for long distance accuracy…or so I thought.  Dylan brought us out to the 50 yard line and had us each fire 1 shot on target.  I was one of only four students to make the shot.  He then backed us up to 100 yards and we repeated the process – only 1 student made that shot and sadly it wasn’t me.  I’ve never before tried to make a 100 yard pistol shot.  Dylan then proceeded to perform a “Jerry Miculek Special” – he inverted his pistol and fired it upside down using his pinky, making the steel target ring on his first attempt.  He performed the exercise to demonstrate that single-shot accuracy from any distance is simply about sight alignment and trigger control.  The entire class was in awe…I know I sure was impressed.

Shooting on steel is both fun and instructive, and SSA has an impressive amount of steel targets.  In this steel target bay there were 5 rows of six steel plate racks, six targets each.  We spent an entire afternoon working both speed and accuracy drills on these plate racks which was so much fun.

As I alluded early, we did a fair amount of positional shooting, which I’ve done from the past – typically from a prone position shooting over my feet, or lying face up at targets behind me.  Dylan had us doing a lot of kneeling on one and two knees, and well as shooting prone:

Here’s Dylan demonstrating a position which could be used to shoot underneath cars:

Speaking of cars, we trained quite a bit on shooting within a vehicle.  First, using folding chairs on the range we practiced having to shoot strait in front of us, out the driver’s side window, passenger side window, and even through the back window, all seated from the driver’s position.  The emphasis here was on safety and how to correctly and safely manipulate the gun without muzzling and endangering passengers in the vehicle, or yourself.

We then practiced what we learned in an actual car – here’s a photo of Dylan with a student during this exercise.  Note the use of the leg and foot to brace the car door open.  This not only creates a more stable platform, but it also prevents the car door from swinging back on you.

We got the opportunity to practice our accuracy from both the drivers and passengers position in the car:

Up to this point, we were in familiar territory for me – I’ve done vehicle training previously.  However, in typical SSA “take it up a notch” fashion, Dylan started up the car and had each student sit in the passenger seat.  He instructed the student to try and hit the white steel torso targets on the range by shooting outside the passenger window…if they could.  He then proceeded to drive forward and backward up and down the range.  He didn’t make it easy for us, he drove fast, lurched the vehicle, and rocked the car forward and backward all in an attempt to simulate the shooting conditions during a high speed pursuit or get away situation in a car.  Needless to say, none of the students heard many shots hitting steel during this exercise – the object lesson was don’t even try to shoot from a moving car.  The secondary objective however was to have a ridiculous amount of fun – every student emerged from the car with a huge smile on their face.

HOW DID I PERFORM?

Overall I was pleased with my performance during class.  Accuracy was emphasized throughout, but so was speed.  Dylan is a top competitive USPSA shooter, so he pushed us throughout the week to go faster.  I shoot competitively myself, in both pistol and 3 Gun, so I appreciated that the training we received came from a competitive as well as tactical/defensive point of view.  One of the drills we shot as a competition was done on three steel plates.  The drill had you moving from left to right, firing one round on plate one, two rounds on plate two, and three rounds on plate three, immediately reversing direction and firing four shots on plate two, and five on plate one.  I set the class record on that run with a time of 5.10 seconds, beating the next fastest score of 5.35 seconds, set by a young man from Louisiana who would earn the nickname “Louisiana Lightning.”  The two of us enjoyed competing against one another throughout the week, and I often came in 2nd behind Louisiana Lighting.  But I also came out ahead a few times – it was good competition for both of us.  On the morning of the 2nd day, the recoil spring on my preferred firearm (modified M&P 9mm Compact with Leupold Deltapoint red dot optic) gave out and began exhibiting feed failures.  So I had to switch to my SIG P320 Compact, which forced me to get ample iron sight practice.  But the experience really cemented for me that I shoot both faster and more accurately with a red dot optic.  Before I left I had the opportunity to “pre-order” a SIG P320RX Compact (slide milled from SIG to accept the new Romeo 1 red dot optic).  I don’t imagine it will be out for several more months, and they didn’t have final pricing yet.

Ultimately my performance at the SSA was far less important than the takeaways and drills which I can practice at home to become a better shooter.  I’ll be practicing my “TCS’s” (Task Condition Standard) as well as the 300 Aggregate at my home range, as well as a few other drills which will no doubt help me become a better shooter.  Every single student in the class left SSA on Friday a better shooter than they were on Monday.  But to stay that way will take practice and the discipline to use the tools we were given.

WHAT ABOUT THE SIG SAUER ACADEMY PRO SHOP?

I will admit that as excited as I was for the week of training I experienced, I was almost equally excited about visiting the Pro Shop at the SSA.  Students get a 20% discount on guns and accessories at the SSA Pro Shop!  Are you an NRA Certified Instructor?  The Pro Shop will honor that discount as well!  Did I mention there’s no sales tax in New Hampshire?  I got off my flight at the Manchester, New Hampshire Airport, picked up my rental car, and headed straight for the SSA Pro Shop. I had a list of things I wanted to be able to try at the Pro Shop…but unfortunately about everything I wanted to see was out of stock.  “Could I try a SAO Legion 226 or 229?”  “Sorry…out of stock.”  “How about a small grip module for a P320 Compact?”  “Sorry..out of stock.”  “Have a Romeo 1 Optic I can see?”  “Sorry…they’re not out yet.”  On the plus side, I did get to play with some Legion models that other students brought to the class, and decided that I really like the SIG X-Ray front sight, which the I bought at the Pro Shop, and they installed on my gun – no charge for installation, and they did while I was at lunch!

I also was able to go back a couple of times to make adjustments to the sights (mixing an X-Ray front sight with the stock SIGlite rear sights like I did is tricky) and the adjustments were made literally while I waited (5-10 minutes).  I’ve never received such good service from a gun store.  As mentioned above, I was also able to essentially  pre-order the new SIG P320RX Compact that was announced in January at SHOT Show.  They don’t even have pricing for it yet…but I’ll have one as soon as they do.

The other thing I was able to take care of at the SSA Pro Shop was getting my P320 upgraded to the “1.5” version of the gun as it’s become known.  SIG re-designed both the take-down lever and slide release, and changing them out (particularly the slide release) is necessary if you want to be able to replace the grip module going forward.  Both where replaced while I waited at no charge.

I also did get the opportunity to play with a Romeo 1 slide mounted optic, courtesy of our instructor Dylan.  As it turns out, SIG had given him one to run through the ringer and test out – he let me look at it:

This made me quite happy – as a long time red dot advocate, I’ve been interested in the SIG Romeo 1 for several months.

My week at SIG Sauer Academy was one of the best, most rewarding firearms training experiences I’ve ever had.  To spend a week at SSA was amazing on its own, but to attend a private, customized class with SSA’s best shooter?  It just doesn’t get much better than that.  My thanks go out to everyone at SSA, especially Dylan, for making this such a fantastic time that was had by all.  Thanks also go out to Tom at Weapons Education for setting up this special training event.  Finally, thanks to all the students who attended – it was a great group of guys.  I personally don’t think there was a guy there would would hesitate to put himself in harms way if need be to save another human being if needed.  The camaraderie and friendships formed in class and at the group dinners afterward were amazing.  If you have the opportunity to train at SIG Sauer Academy, I’d highly recommend it.

Tom from Weapons Education (pictured with me above) took quite a bit of video footage during the week…some perhaps even showing yours truly in action.  Once he has any videos up on his channel, I’ll add them to this article so do check back!