Ultimate concealed Carry For Women by Sig Sauer Academy - Review
In this live‑style review, the instructor from Great Start Shooting School recounts her two‑day experience at SIG Sauer Academy’s “Ultimate Concealed Carry for Women” course. She outlines the course’s prerequisite track (101‑104), class size, and the roster of instructors, including director of training Stephen Gilchrist. The bulk of the review covers hands‑on evaluation of a wide range of carry options—outside and inside waistband, appendix, small‑of‑back, shoulder rigs, ankle, corset, belly‑band, pocket‑book/off‑body, and seasonal considerations—emphasizing safety, accessibility with both hands, and clothing compatibility. Training methodology is described in detail: dry‑fire drills before live fire, roughly 200 rounds, shooting at distances from 3 to 20 yards, seated and “window” drills, and the importance of trigger and muzzle discipline. Safety philosophy centers on evaluating options rather than prohibiting them, with discussions on time‑and‑distance tactics, on‑body magazines, one‑in‑the‑chamber vs. not, mag release and slide lock priorities. The presenter stresses the need to vet instructor credentials and pursue continuous education, promoting her own one‑on‑one instruction while encouraging viewers to seek additional training. Personal takeaways include trying SIG’s firearms, purchasing a Sig P365 XL with a red‑dot sight, and insights on holster fit, clothing patterns versus solid colors, and seasonal carry. The review concludes with practical advice on selecting future courses, class size considerations, and a call to action for viewers to train further, either with her or elsewhere.
Chapters
—over there. Hi! All right, so you know how imperfect action is one of those things that I try to do? Well, this is one of those imperfect action things. I have been thinking about doing a review on my SIG Academy experience last week, and it's already Sunday, and I don't want to wait another day and try to figure out how to get it just so. So please down So my dog. All right, so last week I went to SIG for their Ultimate Concealed Carry for Women, and, um, what I did was 2 days of training. It's been a while since I've gotten to do any training, so yay! I was supposed to originally do this back in December— hey DJ! Um, and I blew my knee out, so we had to move it till June. So very cool. Just so y'all know that I'm not talking to myself, DJ's actually here. Um, so 2 days of training at SIG Academy. If you don't know and you need to know more about SIG Academy, I'm going to go ahead and drop the link in the conversation that is occurring somewhere around here. Um, Ultimate Concealed Carry. I'm going to just show you all that lovely— what the Well, how to expect how this all works, right? So you want training, you don't know how to get training. One of the things you need to do is go look for training and see if it makes sense for you to try that training. So the short version of this is, uh, 2-day course, solid foundation, interest in defensive handgun skills and techniques. Now, It's pretty broad, right? So we did a whole boatload of stuff and it was great. Body types, holsters, um, all that good stuff. So what do we do? Day 1, worked on outside the waistband holsters just so, um, that they could, you know, evaluate the students. Because as an instructor, I can tell you We can have a plan for class and it may not go according to plan because we never know what the skill set is for our students. Now for this class, however, they have prerequisites. You have to go through 101, 102, 103, and 104 prior to attending this class, and but that is why, because for the instructor they need to know you have a certain level of skill set and Most of the girls had been through all of that. I've been through some of their other courses as well, so you always want to continue training. So day 1, we started with outside the waistband holsters, making sure we've got good trigger discipline, that we're clearing our holsters the way we're supposed to. So, you know, Pinwoods, you know, it's just an airfare— actually, airfare is actually ridiculous right now. But I do online stuff as well. So I, I have taught people on the West Coast. I have, uh, Oregon is the last place that I taught someone online for pistol safety and all of that. So worked on clearing our holsters outside the waistband. Then we moved to inside the waistband holsters. We talked about the importance of where on your body are you going to carry your holster. There's lots of different places. Some people carry on their back, some people carry on their hips, some people call, uh, carry on the front, which is called appendix carry. And as we went through each iteration of all of these places, the questions are simple: is it safe? Does it work? How does it work? One of the things I had never considered prior to this class was, if I have it here on my hip What happens if this hand is no good? How do I get it with my other hand? Can I access it well and easily with both hands? This is where back of your body is also kind of like, not really. But here's the thing I loved about how they taught this. They didn't say, um, no, don't carry. They said evaluate the situation for you. And it's one of those things I talked to the director, director of training is Stephen Gilchrist, and I can say that because his name is right here, and he stopped in our class on day 2, and I specifically asked him about back of the carry because my instructor had sort of— we didn't really talk about it and we didn't work with it at all. And so I'm like, hey, you know, do they you know, say no, don't do that. And at SIG, they do not say no, don't do that. They say you need to ask the questions to evaluate what you're doing. And I just have to talk about this. So DJ, I never thought distance learning for firearms was a thing I could do either, and then I found ways to make it work. So, um, yeah, because I thought for sure, but COVID changes everything. So I love the fact that instructors don't say no, don't do this. They say evaluate what you're doing. Um, so front, back, is it safe, number one. Two, can you access it with both hands no matter where it is, right? So that's around the world of your body, trying to decide where it's going to go. We talked about shoulder rigs. So on day two, we talked about some other stuff. Uh, we worked a bunch of drills on day one, went through like 200 rounds of ammo. It was funny because they were actually like apologizing for not high round count, and me, I am the queen of low round count because I want to learn the steps of doing stuff. So to promote safety, we always did dry fire first. We would do whatever we were doing with dry fire, no ammo in the gun, work on the movement of— all right, clear the shirt, get the gun, pull it out, draw, and whatever we were doing. And we do a bunch of reps of that before we go to live. Um, oh, sorry. So Fiona, I can give you the mini version of it. I can't— I mean, but yes, it's awesome. Um, and total immersion is totally the way to go. And of course, because I'm a Great Start, I want— my whole goal as a Great Start Shooting School is to get you comfortable and confident with your firearm. I want you to have that solid holster skills before you go somewhere else to learn, so you're not worrying about your holster skills holster skills while they're teaching you stuff. Um, been carrying the small back palm out for 90 years. Well, I don't understand. Wait, I've been carrying small of the back palm out for 29 years. But if it works for you, uh, that's what matters. It's— so I mean, there's lots and lots of things why small the back is also not necessarily awesome. Um, but again, they're saying evaluate for yourself. The thing with small the back too is if you're in altercation chances are someone's going to knock you down on your back. Can you get there? If you're on your front, can you get there? All of these things. So there's always more to think about, and you have to think about what works with your clothing. Dudes have a much different issue than women. Women can all raise their hand and say girls' pants suck, and we have— oh, let's see, we've got high-rise, mid-rise, low-rise. We have so many issues that it's just, we have to come up with all sorts of stuff. So day 1, around the world, around your waist, right? Where can we, where can't we work on dry fire? Did all of that. Day 2, we worked on and talked about more alternative stuff. So we talked about ankle holsters for someone like me who has large calves from hiking and skiing and riding horses. Ankle carry is not for me because my calves are too big to make that comfortable. I was the only one who couldn't fit it around my leg, but I am like, you know, how you go and I needed an extension. But anyway, so ankle carry, we went down, we worked on that. I did not also because I couldn't kneel because my knee, so there was, there were multiple reasons why I couldn't try the ankle carry. We talked about off-body carry. Uh, off-body carry is, um, whatever you call it, like a pocketbook. So a couple things we talked about with pocketbooks is it must have its own pocket. Within the pocket, there must be a holster for it. One of the things that our teacher kept talking about was the fact that cloth can— you can pull a trigger through cloth. So I'll show you with my taken apart gun, right? So I don't know how to do this. All right. So I wasn't planning on doing demo, but if I have a piece of cloth over the gun, I can stick something through there and I can still move it. This is what a lot of the cloth holsters are that are out there. And so this is not a holster, a pocket that is made of cloth, not a holster. It's a danger zone. So Um, so yes, ankle holsters. We really did ankle holsters. But see, again, this depends on you. If you're like me and you have giant calves, not so much. But let's say you're a girl who happens to love bell bottoms— ankle holsters make all the sense in the world. So this is the whole thing, just like figuring out what gun you're going to shoot, then you're going to figure out where you're going to put it. But you want to figure also out you're going to dress around your gun, right? We were talking about here in New England, we have winter carry, which is much easier than summer carry because you're talking about being in your shorts. And the truth of the matter is most people are in shorts in the summertime. We talked about belly bands. Oh, we also did corset holsters. Um, same deal, the corset goes around here, it has a pocket, but she's like, you want to have a Kydex holster to go in the pocket with Velcro. So each time you draw, the gun is in the same position, so you know what you're doing and how to do it. Uh, corset holsters, pocketbooks, belly bands— is that everything? Yeah, I think that's everything. Then we did shooting, seated shooting, which was, um interesting. We first did straight-on shooting, then we did as if we're going out the window shooting, and then we did as if we're going out the other window shooting. So depending on where you were sitting, just to get an idea of walking through your day, what's actually going to work for you. And you know, what do your clothes look like? This is bad because that's solid, whereas this is good because it's got a print on it, so it's less likely for your gun to print, right? So we're talking about how solid colors, uh, will show your gun way easier than if there is something to break up how the eye sees something. So patterns, um, solid versus patterns, uh, fit. Guys, again, you guys are so lucky because your pants come in specific measurements. So if you're a 32-30 and you're gonna go and get a holster, all you have to do is find a 33-32 or something like that. Whatever I said, you just have to add 1 inch to your waist. Women, we have the worst job ever. Our clothing is hard to find stuff that fits in the first place, and then if we go up a size, it doesn't mean just the waist is going to change on us. So So safety is bring a gun to the gunfight. Yeah, but we also talked about the whole idea that the whole purpose of any self-defense is time and distance. Anything that we can do to create more time and distance so we get away from the bad guy is really ultimately our choice. We're not running towards the fire. We're not cops. We're not here to save the world. We want to get home to our families, and that's number one. I forgot the very beginning. The first thing that we did with our carry guns was start at 3-yard line and then 5 and then 7 and then 10 and 15 and 20. Did we get to 25? I just don't even know. But at least got to 20. And the whole idea is like, as we got to the back part, it's like, really, at 20 yards, are you going to take a shot? No, you've got enough space. You can run away. So we talked about on-body mags. Do we have a backup mag? Don't we? That sort of thing. We had the conversation about one in the chamber or not in the chamber, and that was just turned into a, well, what are you going to train for? Like, one of the things I talk about— I just got done doing a pistol permit class, and we talked about mag release, safety, and slide lock. And I said, really, we only care about two of them. We care about the mag release and we need the slide lock. The safety is just one more piece you have to train. And basically when we were talking about one in the chamber, not in the chamber, again, I thought the instructors were great where it's just like, well, it's just one more thing you have to train. Are you going to train that way? Um, all of our instructors were former military or police and pretty much their opinions were if you're going to carry, know that you have the confidence in your training that there's one in the gun as well as whatever you have in the— who's a what's-it— that thing in the chamber. There we go. This is why I'm not the most technical person in the world. And yes, and PN Woods understands— sorry, PNW Woods, I was reminded of that before. Yeah, size 12 means nothing. It's just a theoretical thing that may or may not work on your body if you happen to be a size 12. And, um, I'm sure you're not Batman, but maybe you are and you're trying to tell us you're not Batman. So hey, GT30. Uh, only the second thumbs up? Oh dude, PNW, were you one or two? Fiona, did you see the little feet that says thank thumbs up? Anyway, I'm trying to get better about that sort of stuff. All right, I forgot how to get that. Okey-dokey. So anyway, it was cool. Try it out, get some training. Any training is good. Like I said, my whole goal at A Great Start Shooting School is to make you comfortable and confident with your firearm so you have holster skills, so you know you have good safety before you go to something like this, so you can pay attention 100% to what they are teaching you and not worrying about your finger discipline, not worrying about your muzzle discipline. And so you have the skillset to do this before you go, um, because a group environment is great. Uh, there were 5 of us in the class. We were so spoiled because there's up to 10 in that class. And, um, the first day we had 3 instructors. The second day we had 2 instructors plus Steve, the director of training popped in. And so over the weekend, we had a total of 6 instructors talk to us and spend time with us. So, all right, I think that's it. So train, go to additional training. Oh yes, that is my other thing. If you never come to training by me, please go to Great Start Shooting School, see if this is something that you would like to do with me. But if you're going somewhere else and you're looking for other instructors, please ask them What have they done for training? And if they say, oh, well, I'm military, or I'm ex-police, or something like that, please understand that means nothing. Ask them what they did, because I could be ex-military, but I could have been in the typing pool, right? I could be data crunching. Military and police have lots of different jobs. If they were something that was tactile, awesome. If they've taken training that helps. If they've taken training on how to train, that's even better. So whether you train with me or someone else, make sure you ask them that question. How do they continue their education? Because for me, I go to additional training because I know I can always be better, um, and I want to be able to bring stuff back to you guys. Oh, and Fiona, huh, I finally have a new gun, so you can come try mine when it gets in, uh, because I did kind of get suckered into buying the gun they let us play play with. Oh, and that was the other thing about this course— they actually let us try their guns. So I will be having a new addition to the family shortly, a P365 XL. And we got to try a bunch of their holsters and different guns. Oh, and it's got a red dot. I'm, I'm finally going to the red dot. But this is why you want to go to additional training. If you come here, we have lots of guns for you to to try. And I say we because, I don't know, I believe in the royal we. If you need to find me, DJ's throwing this up. A Great Start Shooting School, uh, 3 out of 5 watching, hit thumbs up button. Oh well, you know, 3 out of 5 is better than nothing. Oh yes, that's right, I forgot DJ does not do a thumbs up until it's done so it's verifiable that it's actually a good show. He doesn't have any faith in me. Um, And yeah, Fiona, I know actually another one of my girlfriends that I talked to on my ride home, my 3-hour ride home to get back here, we're going to be going up for— what is the course? There's this really cool course. So at the end of our class, Allison, our teacher, went over all the different courses that we might want to go take. And out of all of them, because there was a lot, because they offer a ton of stuff. They have a pistol course that is instinctive shooting. Um, I think that's what it is. So basically you learn the body mechanics of how to shoot without sights on your gun. That is the idea. And I'm like, I think that would be very cool because A, it would be cool for me to learn, but B, it's also going to be super fun to teach you guys what I learned there. So Um, let's see. Yes, it is pretty sweet. I like it. I really like the holster. When I get that in, I'll do another pop-up live, or maybe I'll do something that actually, um, is, is edited and all that fun stuff. And yep, Mossad is awesome. Are you planning on doing like the MAG-40? I've got lots of friends who've gone through that. They, they love it. And yeah, Basically DJ saying what I said. So anyway, all right, so that's it. So that's my kind of basic review of my training. Also why it's important to continue your training no matter where you are. One of the things that drives me nuts is people who go through the basic pistol course here, and when I say I'm an instructor, like, oh, I already took my basic pistol course, and I'm just like, oh, if you think taking your basic pistol course makes you a shooter and makes you good enough think about it. You really need to know more. There is so much to learn about pistolcraft. There is so much to be aware of, how to be safe, all of that. My students that we talked— had today, you know, it's like, if you want a firearm for self-protection, you need to be educated and understand how important training with that firearm is. My personal opinion is if you think you're going to buy a gun, have it in your house, and that makes you safer, the answer is no. You need to train with it to be safer. All right. So Moo, got any cookies for me? I think you need to bake me cookies and send them. Anyway, hi Moo. How are you? Oh, and for those of you who don't know Moo, Saturday night, Suicide Friends of Saturday, I was just giving him a whole raft of stuff, because I don't know why, because I think To Live Moo is just a cool name, and Barbecue wasn't here to pick on. So, all right, well, that is it. This is already longer than I expected. I hope this inspired you to do one of two things: come to me, get more training so that you're comfortable when you go to a big class of 10 or 15 people, depending on— oh, and the size of class always depends on the subject of the class. And I think when you sign up, it tells you how many— oh yeah, so hold on, if I click on that, does that work? Yeah, so it tells you right here, right? So the next one is October and there's 8 slots available, and then the next one's November and there's 9 slots available. So there's probably 10 slots in that one. But if you just happen to go to their pistol courses, or you pick any of these Of course they do do military and all of that. And if you're, you know, rifle, shotgun, all sorts of stuff, you want to learn how to work on it. So they have tons of stuff when you just click on their pistol stuff. Again, I think they— she, Allison, said they have over like 400 different courses. So, oh, this was the other thing she actually talked about is the pistol course progression. Wow, I can speak. They really suggest that you follow their 101, 102, 103, 104, and then decide which way you're going to go. Because this way— and I'm actually considering doing the instructor thing, but they really like the way this works. And so what did I just do? I guess I just did concealed carry. We just happen to do an all-girls class. So the skill builder one, which I'm talking about doing, I think might be this dynamics one where you learn how to shoot without, um, whatever that's called, without sights, but I'm not sure. So anyway, that's what we're doing. So you don't have to do that order, but the instructor said it actually works really well if you kind of do that stuff. All right, for real, I know I always say goodbye and then stay here. Oh, you're welcome, Uncle John. See, this is the beauty. Once I go off, then you can go watch the replay and you can hear all the first stuff that we talked about. Um, and I think I owe you a response to some comment on Saturday night. So, all right, y'all, thanks for popping in my live. As always, I'm really getting better about the asking to share and put this other places because I really hope it's helpful, uh, helps you understand why it's important to train, whether you train with me or somebody else, get those skill sets. Um, I love my one-on-one training, and like I said, I love building your confidence so then you can go off to classes where there's lots of people and you've got your safety solid before you go and do all of that, so you can get the most out of the courses that you go to. All right, y'all, goodbye. Have a lovely
