• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
MENUMENU
  • Home
  • Training
        • In-Person Training
        • Tactical Training Classes
        • The Journey: Season 1
        • Tactical Hyve's The Journey
        • Training Guides
          • Basics
          • Personal Defense
          • CCW
          • Accuracy
          • Speed
          • Combatives
        • Training Videos
          • Billy's Tips
          • Byron's Tips
          • Coch's Tips
          • Dave's Tips
          • Fred's Tips
          • Greg's Tips
          • Jason's Tips
          • Joe's Tips
          • Matt's Tips
          • Myles's Tips
          • Scott's Tips
          • View All
  • Reviews
        • Class Reviews
        • Class Reviews
        • Gun Reviews
        • Gun Reviews
        • Gear Reviews
        • Tactical Gear Reviews
        • Vetted Directory
        • Vetted directory of shooting lessons in your area
  • About
        • Our Story
        • About Tactical Hyve
        • Our Experts
        • Tactical Hyve Subject Matter Experts
  • Shop
        • Online Training
        • Tactical Hyve Store
        • Tactical Hyve Apparel
  • Newsletter
  • Training Directory

Tactical Hyve

You are here: Home / Reviews / Classes / Combat Pistol 1 Review with Navy SEALs “Coch” and “Gordo”

Combat Pistol 1 Review with Navy SEALs “Coch” and “Gordo”

March 11, 2020 by Myles 6 Comments
Last Modified: March 11, 2020

Introduction

Hey, this is Myles with Tactical Hyve.

Retired Navy SEALs Gordon Evans and Mark Cochiolo are two of Tactical Hyve’s Subject Matter Experts. I’ve trained with them privately but have never taken a group class with them.

With the demand for in-person training, both Gordon and Mark created Combat Pistol 1, so I was excited to see how they handle a bigger group of students given the high quality, private training they’ve given me.

If you’re unfamiliar with both Gordon and Mark (who likes to be called, “Coch”), they are two well-respected Navy SEAL veterans who together, have taught well over 6000+ Navy SEAL candidates.

Gordon has 20 years of experience with Naval Special Warfare and Mark served over 24 years as an operator, with 8 of those years as an assaulter and breacher on the US Navy’s tier 1 anti-terrorist unit, Naval Special Warfare Development Group, commonly known as DEVGRU or SEAL Team Six.

Combat Pistol 1 is a 2-day class designed for beginner to intermediate shooters, with an emphasis on covering topics and techniques that are essential in a deadly force encounter.

Let’s take a closer look at the class.

The Review

Coch and Gordon run a professional, organized, yet laid back class, which is a good mix for the vast majority of shooters. They are also the safest instructors I’ve trained with, which likely comes from years of training military students from the ground up.

Equipment requirements were reasonable. At a minimum, students had to bring a pistol, magazines, a range belt, a holster, ammo, and eye and ear protection.

I quickly noticed how Coch and Gordon spend more time with each student than I’ve seen in other classes. If they noticed a problem or issue, they took their time with students to make sure they got it right. They seem deeply invested in seeing their students improve.

Because of this, I think this class is best suited for beginner to intermediate shooters who are unsure of their technique, have marksmanship problems, or shooters who need to fine-tune or polish their fundamentals.

Day 1:

The first day started with a quick introduction and safety brief, followed by a  discussion about mindset. Coch and Gordon wanted students to understand that they were attending a combat pistol class rather than a traditional, pistol marksmanship class.

For example, they talked about combat accuracy versus precision. They emphasized landing effective shots on target quickly versus trying to get the tightest shot group.

I liked how they started off with this mindset talk because I feel it’s important for one to understand what surviving a deadly force encounter requires, and what kind of mindset one should have.

Gordon then discussed their loading, reloading, and unloading process. When reloading from slide lock, they are huge proponents of using the slingshot method versus the over the top method or using a gun’s slide release. The over the top method can cause a stovepipe malfunction when a piece of brass gets caught in a gun’s ejection port, and using a gun’s slide release can lead to a premature release of the gun’s slide before a magazine is seated in the gun or one can miss the gun’s slide release under stress.

To me, the biggest argument to favor the slingshot method over any other method is that it can be used on any semi-automatic pistol, regardless of hand and pistol size. Some shooters, for example, will not be able to hit their slide release if they use a sub-compact size gun and have big hands.

The class then moved to the firing line for a  timed shoot-in drill, which was 5 shots, a reload, and another 5 shots at a 6-inch circle. This gave Coch and Gordon the chance to assess all of the students’ skills and provide a baseline for the class.

During the assessment, they noticed some students did not have a good grasp of the fundamentals, so they placed a heavy emphasis on working the fundamentals the first day.

Proper stance, grip, sight alignment, sight picture, trigger control, and follow-through were taught and students had ample time to practice on the firing line through a series of drills to work specific skill sets.

We started with 2 shots with a scan from the high ready. Coch and Gordon are proponents of scanning and assessing, so students were expected to scan and assess after each string of fire.

While carrying out every drill, Gordon and Mark watched each student and either corrected their technique or showed students ways to improve. As mentioned earlier, out of all the classes I’ve attended, Gordon and Mark spend the most time with each student, which is great for students.

The class moved on to a single shot drill to work trigger reset so that students train themselves to reset their triggers quickly, allowing them to take quick follow up shots if necessary. Both Coch and Gordon are proponents of resetting and prepping triggers after every shot, versus the flip and press method.

We then carried out target transition drills, landing two shots on two separate targets. This allowed students to hone in on their fundamentals while gradually ramping up the difficulty of the drills. Coch and Gordon emphasized leading with one’s eyes followed by their pistols when transitioning to a different target.

After, we moved on to dealing with common pistol malfunctions using the tap-rack technique. We used dummy rounds to induce a malfunction. When a student experienced a click with no bang, they were to carry out an immediate action drill to fix the malfunction.

The class moved on to working recoil management carrying out five-shot strings from various distances. By firing five shots in a row, students could test their grips to see if they maintained a consistent grip to help manage recoil or if their grips moved apart while firing.

Firing from different distances allowed students to shoot at different cadences–the further from the target, students should shoot slower to ensure accurate shots. The closer students got to their targets, they were expected to shoot faster.

When it comes to recoil management, I really resonated with one point they taught. When gripping, people often are told to have a firm grip, but students are hardly ever told where one should focus their grip pressure.

Without guidance, many students will naturally grip hard with their fingers. However, I was first taught by former Navy SEAL and pro shooter Fred Ruiz, to apply a clamshell grip where there’s more pressure between the heels of my palms instead of my fingers. This changed the game for me when it comes to recoil management.

I liked how Coch and Gordon taught this detail to the class as it has worked very well for my shooting.

We then moved on to moving and shooting, working forward movement and moving on a 45-degree angle towards our targets. Like other instructors I’ve trained with, Coch and Gordon explained how moving and shooting isn’t rocket science. One should have a slight bend in their knees to act as shock absorbers to minimize the movement of one’s sights.

Imagine carrying a full glass of water across a room. A person would walk slowly and have a slight bend in their knees to help avoid spilling the water. They also explained how one should let their sights lead their triggers. In other words, the right time to pull the trigger is when one’s sights are on target–instead of waiting for a specific type of footing on the ground.

We then ended the day with Coch teaching their method of the standard draw. They teach a unique method, which I’ve only seen among Navy SEALs. After their pistol leaves the holster, they teach students to immediately drive the gun up towards their head so that one can see their front sight from their periphery and can push out while still seeing their front sight.

Another unique aspect is the placement of their support hand while drawing. Many instructors will teach students to place the palm of their support hand on their chest or stomach. They teach students to touch their chin with their support hand index finger while their support hand thumb touches their chest.

There are several reasons why they teach this method. One of the reasons, for example, is to have your support hand ready to push an assailant away if necessary. It’s a position of power, so to speak.

In contrast, if one places the palm of their support hand on their stomach or chest, it becomes very easy for an assailant to rush a shooter and pin that support arm against the shooter’s body.

Day 2

Day 2 started with a talk about situational awareness. They discussed Cooper’s colors: white, yellow, orange, and red. White signifies when one is switched off and not alert, yellow is when one is alert but also calm and relaxed, orange signifies a heightened level of awareness when someone senses something isn’t right, and red is when the fight is on. They also discussed black, which isn’t originally part of Cooper’s colors, but was added in later years. Black represents when one is completely caught by surprise.

Coch and Gordon discussed how it doesn’t take much for one to live in condition Yellow, and how being even a bit more aware can save lives.

After, the class revisited the draw, with Coch and Gordon adding more details. Students were given time to practice during live-fire drills, and they were now expected to start every drill from the holster.

Gordon then covered one-handed shooting. He explained that in his experience, some shooters will perform better shooting with one-hand because they tend to hyper-focus on their technique and what they are doing.

Shooting one-handed gave students the opportunity to pay attention to every little movement so they could self-diagnose any issues.

For the rest of the day, we focused on shooting from barricades and moving and shooting, using barricades.

When shooting from barricades, they taught the importance of positioning yourself away from a barricade instead of being right up on it, and taught students how to approach barricades when standing and when kneeling. They also explained the difference between cover and concealment.

Students had the opportunity to combine movement with shooting from barricades to induce some stress and to provide students with a good amount of repetitions.

We worked moving forward and laterally from one barricade to another.

We then moved on to some man-on-man drills, allowing students to get a lot of repetitions to work what they learned over the past two days and to have a little fun. This allowed students to perform at faster speeds under stress, giving Coch and Gordon another opportunity to find areas of improvement for each student.

Finally, the class ended with a repeat of the baseline drill we did at the start of the class. Students shot 5 rounds at a 6-inch circle, reloaded, then finished with another 5 shots. Times and misses were recorded. The shoot out allowed students to see if they improved over the course of the two days.

Outro

Given that Coch and Gordon are subject matter experts at the hyve, rather than hear my final verdict, let’s listen to what several of the attendees had to say.

Filed Under: Classes, Reviews Tagged With: combat pistol

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Russell says

    March 11, 2020 at

    Tactical Hyve subject matter and videos keep getting better and better! Excellent Job, Two thumbs up. Such a great pool to experts to draw from. Awesome…??

    Reply
    • Myles says

      March 11, 2020 at

      Thanks, Russell! Glad you like the content!

      Reply
  2. Jason R says

    March 12, 2020 at

    Gordo is the real deal. Worked with him for several years in the mid East. He was instrumental part of our tactical response team and knows exactly what he’s talking about. If Chief decided to make a trip to the NW, I’d be all over getting some instruction. If you can go to the course, do it!

    Reply
    • Myles says

      March 12, 2020 at

      Thanks for the comment! Gordo is definitely a pro!

      Reply
  3. Larry Ellington says

    September 29, 2020 at

    Had the good fortune of making it off the waiting list and into the class for the first Chicagoland course. Excellent training. Attendees included a full spectrum of true beginners, casual shooters, range aficionados, former military, law enforcement, and S.W.A.T. members. The most important thing I can say is that there is something for every level of shooter in this course. Even if you are already relatively squared away, I promise they will find a way to make you better because they don’t miss anything. If you are just starting out, I promise you will not be left behind. Everyone gets individualized attention. Myles is lighting fast on a pistol and will definitely make you faster as well. Coch and Gordo are, well, Navy Seals, so that should tell you about all you need to know about the tactics and techniques they are showing you. Really down to earth guys who will make you better. Take the course if you get a chance.

    Reply
    • Myles says

      October 1, 2020 at

      Thanks, Larry! Glad you liked the class. Hope you picked up some good stuff!

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

FOLLOW US

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Popular Posts

Tactical Hyve: "The Journey" - Episode 1 with Retired Navy SEAL Coch

“The Journey” Episode #1: Intro to Combat Pistol with Retired Navy SEAL Mark Cochiolo

Yousef Badou

“The Journey” Ep 10: Situational Awareness 101 with Yousef Badou

"The Journey" Episode 2: Intro to Carbine with Retired Navy SEAL Mark Cochiolo

“The Journey” Episode #2: Intro to Carbine with Retired Navy SEAL Mark Cochiolo

😂 😂
During our trip to the Philippines, we trained wit During our trip to the Philippines, we trained with rising star shooter Bro Tecson, who is one of the best shooters in the Philippines.

During our training session, we were wondering why the country produces a lot of great shooters. Bro shared a number of different benefits to training at shooting ranges in the Philippines versus many other countries.

Not only do Filipinos train and practice a lot, but they can also train very efficiently because of their shooting ranges and the government's support.

Special thanks to Bro for creating this video with us! Make sure to give him a follow. He's most active on IG: @brotecson
AMBUSHED This was not a car-jacking attempt. The v AMBUSHED
This was not a car-jacking attempt. The victim was ambushed and the suspects look like they wanted his life.

Here, there is no deescalation or reasoning. One is instantly placed in a situation where he has to fight to survive.

Fortunately, he does, but after losing a lot of blood and now with 182 stitches. Not seen in this video, the victim’s mother runs outside from the house and the suspects run away.

Situations like this are difficult to handle especially when one is ambushed—in this case, by multiple threats with weapons.

Some things we can learn/consider from this video:

(1) Force multipliers. Having tools and knowing how to use them could definitely have helped here. 

(2) Stay in the vehicle. Lock the doors. Start the car and move. Everything we say here is easier said than done. If this is not a trained reaction, it may not happen in real-life. One can think about it and say they would do so all they want, but if they don’t practice it under stress, who knows what will happen. Here, the victim opens the door for some reason, yet we can see his headlights were already on, possibly signifying his was already in the process of starting his vehicle. We do not know if this is a nervous reaction, if the victim was thinking of going hands-on, etc. Perhaps he didn’t see the other two suspects and thought he could defend himself against one attacker.

(3) Something to think about—at times, if attackers are coming at you from one side of a vehicle, immediately exit on the opposite side and move. Similar to taking fire on one side of a vehicle. Often, it isn’t the best course of action to open the door on the side taking fire and exiting that way. Here, we can’t definitively say this would have worked, but it is another possible option.

(4) Once out of the vehicle and in the open, chaos ensues. Recall some of our previous posts. If you are being attacked by multiple attackers, do everything you can to stay off the ground and keep moving/fighting. Make no mistake, this was an extremely bad situation. Anyone who has no tools caught in the open by multiple attackers with weapons is going to be fighting for their life.

Thanks @farmertanterror for this.
Want to know what Coch keeps in his range bags? . Want to know what Coch keeps in his range bags?
.
#tacticalhyve #rangebag #tacticalgear #sealteam6 #devgru #sealteam #navyseal #navyseals #specops #military #gunsandgear
Some of us can learn a thing or two about situatio Some of us can learn a thing or two about situational awareness from this dog 🐶 
.
#tacticalhyve #sa #situationalawareness #awareness #dogs #karma #takethat #nottoday
#tacticalhye #airstrike #firstcellphone #callofdut #tacticalhye #airstrike #firstcellphone #callofduty #motorola
MOVING INTO POSITION Whether you are a tactical or MOVING INTO POSITION
Whether you are a tactical or sport shooter, entering a firing position efficiently will allow you to shoot sooner/faster, and more accurately.

World and National Champion Shooter, JJ Racaza, shares three ways to orient your hips for efficient movement in our latest YT video. Head to our channel to watch!

Special thanks to JJ for creating this video with us! Make sure to give him a follow. He's most active on IG: @jjracaza

#tactical #tacticalhyve #uspsa #ipsc #competition #movement #competitionshooting #sportshooting #entries #enteringaposition #pewpew
BRIGHTER & BIGGER FRONT SIGHTS / RED DOTS If you'r BRIGHTER & BIGGER FRONT SIGHTS / RED DOTS
If you're in a fast, up-close situation where you have to use your firearm, it's unlikely that you will see a crystal clear front sight or your red dot as one does during traditional firearms training.

In fact, there is a good chance you don't see anything and rely on instinctive shooting/point shooting/natural point of aim.

Knowing this, to increase your chances of getting any/some kind of visual cue that you are on target before you take a shot is preferable. 

Using brighter and bigger front sights and red dots can potentially help provide you with more visual information before taking a shot in a life and death situation.

Check out our latest video on YT to hear more about the topic.

#ironsights #ironsight #reddot #reddots #targetacquisition #aiming #aim #naturalpointofaim #pointshooting #instinctiveshooting #ontarget
Coch’s first rounds down range with the @sigsaue Coch’s first rounds down range with the @sigsauerinc MCX Virtus. Stay turned for his first impressions!
Connect with us on Instagram!

Footer

Tactical Training

Training Videos

Training Guides

The Journey: Season 1

Tactical Training Classes

Tactical Reviews

Class Reviews

Gun Reviews

Gear Reviews

Vetted Training Directory

Resources

Our Experts

Tactical Hyve Store

Online Tactical Training

Newsletter

About Tactical Hyve

Contact Us

Disclaimers & Disclosures

Terms of Use

Privacy Policy


235 W. Market Street
San Diego, CA 92101
Email: [email protected]

Copyright © 2022 · Tactical Hyve

This copyrighted material may not be republished without express permission. The information presented here is for general educational and informational purposes only. What you do with the information is your responsibility.
MATERIAL CONNECTION DISCLOSURE: While we will only showcase products and services we believe in and use, you should assume that this website has an affiliate relationship and/or another material connection to the persons or businesses mentioned in or linked to from this page and may receive commissions from purchases you make on subsequent web sites. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. You should not rely solely on information contained in this website to evaluate the product or service being endorsed. Always exercise due diligence before purchasing any product or service. This website contains advertisements.