Category Archives: Firearm Instructor

Louis Awerbuck

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January 27, 1948 – June 24, 2014 (66)

  • Born in South Africa
  • 1st Special Services Battalion – South African Defence Force
  • Disciple of Col. Jeff Cooper
  • Chief Rangemaster under at Gunsite
    – Louis came to Gunsite to take a class, and Jeff Cooper was very impressed with him. Cooper eventually sponsored him for citizenship and hired him. Louis was the COO (ops officer) at Gunsite
  • Adjunct instructor for the U.S. Marine Corps
  • Adjunct instructor for Department of Energy
  • One of 12 “Shooting Masters who hold a Doctorate in Firearms“
  • May 2010 “The Final Weapon.” – Black Belt magazine 
  • Column in SWAT magazine “Training and Tactics”  on page 98
  • 1987 started Yavapai Firearms Academy Ltd. in Prescott Valley, AZ
  • 1999 wrote “Tactical Reality”
  • 2013 wrote “Plowshares into Swords.”
  • 2018 – “More Tactical Reality”
  • 2018 – Hit or Myth: An Analysis of Target Systems for Practical Training in Defensive Shooting

Ken Hackathorn

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8/31/1946

  • 1966-1971  US Army 19th SFG – Staff Sergeant Weapons Specialist
  • US Army Special Forces Small Arms Instructor
  • Deputy Sheriff – Washington County SO, Ohio
  • 1975 Met Jeff Cooper
  • Gunsite Instructor
  • One of the FIrst Traveling Firearms Instuctors
  • NRA Police Firearms Instructor.
  • FBI Certified Firearms Instructor
  • 1975 wrote a column for Soldier of Fortune magazine
  • Writer for: Guns & Ammo, Combat Handguns, Soldier Of Fortune, American Handgunner
  • 1976 – Founding member of IPSC
  • 1996 – Founding member of IDPA.
  • 2016 – AZTEC Training Services

Pat Rogers

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1946-2016

  • New York City Police Department
    – 54 commendations
  • Chief Warrant Officer in the Marine Corps
    – Vietnam veteran in
  • firearms instructor at Gunsite Academy
  • 1989 E.A.G. Tactical
    – 25 years as a prominent firearms instructor
  • author: Make Ready With Pat Rogers

Tom Givens

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  • 25-year career in law enforcement 
  • 1996 Rangemaster
  • Rangemaster Firearms Training Services
  • Author of over 100 magazine articles in S.W.A.T. Magazine, Combat Handguns Magazine, Concealed Carry Magazine, Soldier of Fortune, Peterson Handguns Magazine, and others
  • 1998 Tennessee IDPA State Champion
  • 1999 Mississippi IDPA State Champion
  • Former Member IDPA Board of Directors
  • Armed Citizens’ Legal Defense Network, Inc.

Michael Harries

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1938

  • May 30, 1938 – November 25, 2000
  • 1957 to 1961 USMC
  • 1960s seek out and join the Southwest Combat Pistol League SWPL
    – based on articles in Guns & Ammo magazine
  • 1969 joined the Southwest Pistol League (SWPL)
    – coached five different shooters to SWPL class championships
    – taught private students
  • 1970 met Jeff Cooper
    – participated in Cooper’s “Mountain Man” program
  • staff with  Mel Tappan  “Seminars-On-Survival”
  • 1976 founding member of IPSC (the International Practical Shooting Confederation)
    – holster committee w/ Bruce Nelson
  • 1981 founded Southern California Tactical Combat Program
  • 1982 adjunct staff at American Pistol Institute (Gunsite)
  • 1970s invented Harries Flashlight Technique

John Boyd

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1927-1997

  • U.S. Air Force Colonel
  • Boyd was the best fighter pilot in America and possibly the world
  • wrote the first manual on jet aerial combat
  • spearheaded the design of both of the Air Force’s premier fighters, the F-15 and the F-16
  • OODA loop (Observation, Orientation, Decision and Action)

Jeff Cooper

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May 10, 1920 – September 25, 2006

  • Created the Safety Rules
  • Created the Shooting School
  • 1941 Marines
  • 1957 Shooting Compititons in California
  • Southwest Combat Pistol League (Southwest Pistol League)
    Bigbear, California
  • 1966 coined the term Hoplophobia
  • 1975 Became International Practical Shooting Confederation (IPSC)
  • first IPSC President
  • 1977 American Handgunner Magazine
  • 1989 Principles of Personal Defense (Revised Edition, red cover)
  • 2006 Principles of Personal Defense (blue cover)
    – Foreword by Louis Awerbuck

Hoplophobia, the morbid fear of guns, is a real, extremely dangerous, widespread and clinically recognizable complex specific phobia – Jeff Cooper 1966

Rex Applegate

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June 21, 1914 – July 14, 1998

  • Learned marksmanship from his uncle Gus Peret
  • 1940 graduated from the University of Oregon with a Business Degree
  • 1940 join US Army
  • developed armed and unarmed close quarter combat courses for the US Army
  • 1941 recruited by Wild Bill Donovan for the OSS
  • close-combat coordinator for all clandestine missions  in WWII
  • personal bodyguard to President Franklin D Roosevelt
  • 1943 he wrote Kill or Get Killed
  • 1980s designed the Applegate-Fairbairn fighting knife
  • 1994 inducted into the Blade Magazine Cutlery Hall of Fame

“Jelly” Bryce

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1906 – May 1974

Jacob Adolphus “Jelly” Bryce
often described as “the perfect shot”
 F.B.I.’s first Sharpshooter

  • 1906 Born in Mt. View, Oklahoma
  • 1934 – joined FBI, Special Agent
  • 1954 – retired

Elmer Keith

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March 8, 1899 – February 14, 1984 (85)

During World War II, was an inspector at the Ogden, Utah Arsenal

Rifles that he inspected are cartouche stamped with the initials “OGEK” in a rectangular box

Creator of the:
1935 – .357 Magnum cartridge
1956 – .44 Magnum cartridge
1963 – .41 Magnum cartridge
1956 – Ruger Model 29 .44 Magnum single action Blackhawk revolver