Magpul Dynamics Art of the Dynamic Handgun

“Amateurs train until they get it right, professionals train until they get it wrong.”

I’ve been taking in a lot of firearm instructional material lately. I have to admit, some of my absolute favorites are the videos from Magpul Dynamics. They have the fun package, good material, good presentation, and fantastic production value. You might not think that little touches like extra slow motion, close-ups, interesting title cards, background music and/or cut-away video to a demo make that much difference, but it does. All those little touches create an interesting, entertaining, informative presentation that holds your attention.  

The video was filmed as part of a class given by Magpul Dynamics. I really like that aspect of the video, because it really adds to the experience. The instruction has the feel of being more “alive” because it is being presented to a live class of learners. It also adds another layer of information because the viewer gets to see the instructors answering class questions and adding corrections to the students as the run through drills. These extra bits of instruction typically cover the common mistakes and simple corrections that a viewer will encounter in their own training.

The content itself covers a full range of pistol topics, from basics like stance and grip to complex movement and cover drills. The content covers seven hours of material over four discs. All the instruction is presented by Travis Haley and Chris Costa. If you haven’t seen a Magpul Dynamics video before, Haley is a former Force Reconnaissance Marine and Costa is a former member of the Coast Guard and contractor. Both presenters have plenty of personality as well and is often comes through in the presentation.

The set opens with the basic fundamentals like grip, stance, drawing, sight picture, sight alignment and trigger control. Even this early material is very informative. There is a lot of detail about both what the instructors are doing and why they are doing it. The class filmed included experienced shooters from military and law enforcement backgrounds, and even they improved with slight adjustments to stance and grip – I suspect any viewer will find something to challenge their technique in these early demonstrations.

The malfunctions are covered early in the material, so that students can address malfunctions as they occur during the class. I always like to discuss the way malfunctions are presented because I see them as a point of divergence between two differing approaches to weapon manipulation. Magpul Dynamics uses what I call the problem solving method (the instructors actually use similar language, so maybe I picked up that term from watching some of their other material). So far, in my experience, the problem solving method is more efficient, but requires more training to stay proficient.

There’s really too much material for me to go in-depth. Everything is presented with quality instruction and consistent with the overall philosophy described. That philosophy is a continual progression through training, constantly challenging the shooter to perform to higher standards. That’s why I led this review with the peculiar quote. The instructors make is clear: if you’re running your drill perfect, you should be doing something to increase the difficultly so you can upgrade your skills.

Overall, I consider this a great product. It’s some of the best firearms video material I’ve found. I highly recommend it to anyone who owns a handgun.