mercop
01-15-2008, 06:38 PM
My relationship with Paul Castle and the Center Axis Relock System started 2002 when David Williams a Robbery Homicide Detective from Alabama was activated as part of the Tennessee Army Reserves and sent to Aberdeen Proving Ground to augment their security. Dave and I became fast friends and he told me about this British policeman who had come up with a new firearms system that I had to see. After some research and some e-mails it was not long before Paul himself was on the way to Maryland for a basic CAR Course. The course was hosted by the Aberdeen Proving Ground SWAT Team and was attended by officers from their team as well as the City of Aberdeen’s team and Baltimore County Police’s team.
What would follow the next three days was total indoctrination into the CAR System. CAR is based on body mechanics and science. There is no other activity we engage in where a weighted object is held at arms length for any period of time. The reason is that it is uncomfortable and the farther your elbows are from your sides the weaker you are. This brings us to the first position in CAR, the High position. Picture holding your favorite beverage in the middle of your chest, but with two hands. This is where your pistol is held. In CAR this is the weapon retention position as it keeps the weapon close to the chest and allows you to use elbow rolls and strikes to protect against disarming tactics from the back and front in addition to the flanks. The High position is used to engage treats from 0-5 feet but can be accurate beyond that distance.
High Postion
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j22/mercop/CAR004.jpg?t=1200417740
The next position in CAR is the Combat Extended, this is the most commonly used position in CAR and is achieved by simply rolling your gun hand elbow up to approximately ear level while keeping your elbows at your side. This does several things, the first of which is placing the front sight of your pistol 11-13 inches from your eyes; this is your natural focal distance. We are all familiar with “Front sight in a fight”, however this is hard to do utilizing the Weaver and Isosceles stance since they put the front sight at around twice your normal focal distance. The second is that you gun hand rotates in at about a 30-degree angle as if you were throwing a punch. This places your bones, muscle and tendons in alignment. Upon pulling the trigger the gun muzzle cannot flip up or down so it takes the path of least resistance, which is straight, back. This drastically reduces muzzle flip and felt recoil resulting in a decreased time between shots fired. Not only is it lightening fast it is accurate. The High Extended is used out to about 5 feet -10 yards (you know, where gunfights occur). Something else that is interesting with the Combat Extended is that you can see the entire threat in front of you, in contrast to how while using traditional stances you actually loose part of this view. One of the points that people like to make against CAR is that you are not square to you target, therefore not getting the maximum benefit from body armor. A few problems with that argument, one is that few armed professionals wear body armor every time they are armed. The second is that by in the High Extended position your entire support arm is collapsed against your side protection your torso and especially your armpits, which are very exposed in the traditional stances. This has led to many police fatalities even when officer were wearing armor.
High Extended
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j22/mercop/CAR005.jpg?t=1200417911
Shooter’s View
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j22/mercop/CAR007.jpg?t=1200417985
The last position I will talk about is the Combat High, which is basically the low ready of CAR. It is your position when you are “looking for work” as Paul calls it. It is accomplished by just relaxing and bringing the sights down a bit. The Combat High puts you half way between the High and High Extended.
Combat High
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j22/mercop/CAR005-1.jpg?t=1200418104
After weapon retention the most appealing aspect of CAR to me is the fact that it allows you to shoot quickly and accurately with both hands. During the class you do so many hand changes the only way you remember if you are right or left handed is by looking at your holster, because you can’t tell from the targets.
Due to the initial CAR course I attended being comprised of SWAT officers Paul was especially brutal with his drills and lessons, the details of which I will spare you.
Several of us were asked by Paul to attend a subsequent two-day instructor course that would certify us to teach the basic course. Being a training whore I seized the opportunity and achieved a passing score. While he was in town for that class I introduced Paul to my Master, Sensei David Bish of Red Dragon Ju Jitsu in Havre De Grace MD. Bish Sensei is also a retired Army NCO with an interesting background. He and Paul hit it off to the point where myself, Bish Sensei and his Head Instructor Suzanne Saporta were asked to attend the first CAR Master Instructors Course held at Ft. McCoy Wisconsin in the winter of 2004. Paul wanted their input from the scientific and martial theories found in Ju Jitsu. From that point on I introduced CAR to every forward thinking cop and soldier I met.
Fast forward to November of 2007. I knew that Paul had been working on bringing the CAR system to the armed citizenry in the form of IPD or Immediate Personal Defense Systems. After being introduced to www.threatfocusedforums.com I found that they had a CAR sub-forum. It was there that I saw that Robert Desrosiers of Argive Defense Systems www.argivedefense.com was doing an IPD course in Hellertown PA on 05/06 JAN 08. Being extremely interested to see how if civilians could learn CAR as fast as professional shooters, I quickly e-mailed Bob to introduce myself and see if he would like an extra instructor for the class. Bob and I then met at the Valley Forge Gun Show and began to make plans for the course. MCS instructor Art Dorst also signed up to attend the course hoping to learn more than he had during my crash course.
Arriving at the Hellertown Sportsman’s Club on the morning the 5th I found Bob, Art and CQCG member Jose Sousa waiting on me. Jose, a policeman that realizes you can never have enough training had heard about CAR from me and signed up for the class after meeting Bob at the gun show.
The class started off with the normal introductions, wow, talk about a mixed bag. We had a few police, three correction officers, three doctors, semi-retired folks and a few young hard chargers who had trained with Bob before.
Bob made it the first point of business to point out that he would like everyone to take anything they had read on the error net about Paul Castle and the CAR system with a grain of salt. The one thing that the majority of individuals who trash Paul or the system have in common is that they have never met the man or been trained in the system.
The class continued with detailed explanations the three positions as well as the science and theory behind each one. Shortly thereafter the class adjourned to indoor pistol range where all shooters were instructed to toe the line, lock their slides the rear and show a safe weapon. Upon doing so, a piece of yellow nylon rope was inserted into the ejection port and the slide released indicating a clear weapon.
What would follow the next three days was total indoctrination into the CAR System. CAR is based on body mechanics and science. There is no other activity we engage in where a weighted object is held at arms length for any period of time. The reason is that it is uncomfortable and the farther your elbows are from your sides the weaker you are. This brings us to the first position in CAR, the High position. Picture holding your favorite beverage in the middle of your chest, but with two hands. This is where your pistol is held. In CAR this is the weapon retention position as it keeps the weapon close to the chest and allows you to use elbow rolls and strikes to protect against disarming tactics from the back and front in addition to the flanks. The High position is used to engage treats from 0-5 feet but can be accurate beyond that distance.
High Postion
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j22/mercop/CAR004.jpg?t=1200417740
The next position in CAR is the Combat Extended, this is the most commonly used position in CAR and is achieved by simply rolling your gun hand elbow up to approximately ear level while keeping your elbows at your side. This does several things, the first of which is placing the front sight of your pistol 11-13 inches from your eyes; this is your natural focal distance. We are all familiar with “Front sight in a fight”, however this is hard to do utilizing the Weaver and Isosceles stance since they put the front sight at around twice your normal focal distance. The second is that you gun hand rotates in at about a 30-degree angle as if you were throwing a punch. This places your bones, muscle and tendons in alignment. Upon pulling the trigger the gun muzzle cannot flip up or down so it takes the path of least resistance, which is straight, back. This drastically reduces muzzle flip and felt recoil resulting in a decreased time between shots fired. Not only is it lightening fast it is accurate. The High Extended is used out to about 5 feet -10 yards (you know, where gunfights occur). Something else that is interesting with the Combat Extended is that you can see the entire threat in front of you, in contrast to how while using traditional stances you actually loose part of this view. One of the points that people like to make against CAR is that you are not square to you target, therefore not getting the maximum benefit from body armor. A few problems with that argument, one is that few armed professionals wear body armor every time they are armed. The second is that by in the High Extended position your entire support arm is collapsed against your side protection your torso and especially your armpits, which are very exposed in the traditional stances. This has led to many police fatalities even when officer were wearing armor.
High Extended
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j22/mercop/CAR005.jpg?t=1200417911
Shooter’s View
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j22/mercop/CAR007.jpg?t=1200417985
The last position I will talk about is the Combat High, which is basically the low ready of CAR. It is your position when you are “looking for work” as Paul calls it. It is accomplished by just relaxing and bringing the sights down a bit. The Combat High puts you half way between the High and High Extended.
Combat High
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j22/mercop/CAR005-1.jpg?t=1200418104
After weapon retention the most appealing aspect of CAR to me is the fact that it allows you to shoot quickly and accurately with both hands. During the class you do so many hand changes the only way you remember if you are right or left handed is by looking at your holster, because you can’t tell from the targets.
Due to the initial CAR course I attended being comprised of SWAT officers Paul was especially brutal with his drills and lessons, the details of which I will spare you.
Several of us were asked by Paul to attend a subsequent two-day instructor course that would certify us to teach the basic course. Being a training whore I seized the opportunity and achieved a passing score. While he was in town for that class I introduced Paul to my Master, Sensei David Bish of Red Dragon Ju Jitsu in Havre De Grace MD. Bish Sensei is also a retired Army NCO with an interesting background. He and Paul hit it off to the point where myself, Bish Sensei and his Head Instructor Suzanne Saporta were asked to attend the first CAR Master Instructors Course held at Ft. McCoy Wisconsin in the winter of 2004. Paul wanted their input from the scientific and martial theories found in Ju Jitsu. From that point on I introduced CAR to every forward thinking cop and soldier I met.
Fast forward to November of 2007. I knew that Paul had been working on bringing the CAR system to the armed citizenry in the form of IPD or Immediate Personal Defense Systems. After being introduced to www.threatfocusedforums.com I found that they had a CAR sub-forum. It was there that I saw that Robert Desrosiers of Argive Defense Systems www.argivedefense.com was doing an IPD course in Hellertown PA on 05/06 JAN 08. Being extremely interested to see how if civilians could learn CAR as fast as professional shooters, I quickly e-mailed Bob to introduce myself and see if he would like an extra instructor for the class. Bob and I then met at the Valley Forge Gun Show and began to make plans for the course. MCS instructor Art Dorst also signed up to attend the course hoping to learn more than he had during my crash course.
Arriving at the Hellertown Sportsman’s Club on the morning the 5th I found Bob, Art and CQCG member Jose Sousa waiting on me. Jose, a policeman that realizes you can never have enough training had heard about CAR from me and signed up for the class after meeting Bob at the gun show.
The class started off with the normal introductions, wow, talk about a mixed bag. We had a few police, three correction officers, three doctors, semi-retired folks and a few young hard chargers who had trained with Bob before.
Bob made it the first point of business to point out that he would like everyone to take anything they had read on the error net about Paul Castle and the CAR system with a grain of salt. The one thing that the majority of individuals who trash Paul or the system have in common is that they have never met the man or been trained in the system.
The class continued with detailed explanations the three positions as well as the science and theory behind each one. Shortly thereafter the class adjourned to indoor pistol range where all shooters were instructed to toe the line, lock their slides the rear and show a safe weapon. Upon doing so, a piece of yellow nylon rope was inserted into the ejection port and the slide released indicating a clear weapon.