^{Continued From Part 1}

Gear For Defensive Performance Handgun 

The pistol and gear requirements for Defensive Performance Handgun aren’t too strict. Since the course focuses on performance shooting in the context of civilian self-defense, shooting from concealment is a requirement. Students are welcome to shoot from any of the primary concealed carry positions as long as they’re safe in their firearms handling.

This class and its exercises are built around medium to full-size modern service pistols, and students who shoot micro-compacts ought to make sure that their pistol has a capacity of over 10 rounds. Otherwise, keeping up with the course can be challenging and counterproductive.

As long as I’ve been training with McGuire, whether independently or with Green Ops, I’ve known him to shoot a full-size Smith & Wesson M&P 2.0 5-inch Performance Center model with a Trijicon SRO and an Apex Tactical FSS “Flattie” aftermarket trigger—probably the best related performance trigger upgrade currently on the market.  

Glock 34 x Arise Mfg. Aegis Red-Dot Shroud

The timing between The Way Forward’s Defensive Performance Handgun class and my last class, Gabe White’s Pistol Shooting Solutions, was roughly a month apart between February 2025 and early March 2025.

Even though the Walther PDP Pro-X PMM was still very “fresh” in my recent muscle memory after just having put it through the ringer in Gabe White’s class, and it would have been the sensible choice to bring to McGuire’s class, I opted to primarily shoot my Gen5 Glock 34 in Defensive Performance Handgun. 

Running the Glock 34

Admittedly, I don’t shoot my Glock 34s all too much. The impetus for taking it to this course was not only to remedy this, but also because I wanted to continue shooting the Arise Mfg. Aegis Optics Shroud on this pistol; this specific Glock 34 wears the Trijicon SRO-compatible Aegis shroud, which I originally mounted back in December of 2024. Read that write-up here.

I’m glad I switched pistols up between both of these intensive classes because I was able to see firsthand that while it is inconvenient to “switch platforms” it’s also not the end of the world. Nor, does it take too long to acclimate to another dot and model (at least for me, anyway).

In short, while the more neutral grip angle of the Walther PDP presents better with a dot, worrying about the Glock’s more acute angle for target presentation is much ado about nothing, especially when shooting with deliberateness. As expected, I had no issues with my Glock 34 from a reliability standpoint, and nothing on the Arise Mfg. Aegis shroud shifted either. 

Given that I was shooting from concealment and carrying this Glock 34 as my actual CCW before and after the class, I did notice that the extra room that the shroud takes up can affect the user experience when carrying concealed, but this is a minor gripe. These shrouds seem best at home on guns that live on open belt holsters, but it isn’t the end of the world either.

The SIG-Sauer P365 FUSE

Since I had an upcoming review due on the SIG-Sauer P365 FUSE at the time, I folded it into Defensive Performance Handgun and shot it for the first half of the second training day.

This afforded me the chance to shoot the gun and keep breaking it in (I found that my FUSE worked more smoothly after the first 200 rounds). Likewise, it also gave me the chance to work with the SIG-Sauer P365 FUSE and its Romeo-X red-dot from concealment in the context of a defensive pistolcraft course—this was certainly helpful in cultivating the insights that went into my review.

We even captured some footage of me shooting the “retreating” Bill Drill with the pistol that morning. I am duly pleased with this particular pistol.   

Matt McGuire’s Training Background

In addition to being a veteran of the US Marine Corps, McGuire is a fixture in the Central Texas training scene, especially given his past involvement as the Green Ops Texas Director of Training. Anyone who has followed my training-related articles (especially those that pertain to training with Green Ops) here on GATDaily.com will recognize his name. He’s been present as an instructor in some capacity at every Green Ops course I’ve attended.

Both he and I are well-acquainted at this point, and I’ve had numerous opportunities to observe him in his element as an instructor. I’ve cultivated lots of great information from his teaching on the Kalashnikov, AR carbines, handguns, and accurized gas guns. Suffice it to say that McGuire carries a great deal of knowledge and understanding vis-à-vis the small arms and defensive firearms that are the most relevant to defense-minded citizens in the United States.

Training-wise, Matt McGuire has spent a great deal of time training with notable firearms instructors and trainers around the country throughout his adult life. Besides McGuire’s involvement with Green Ops since 2020, he’s a Scott Jedlinski Modern Samurai Project-endorsed shooting instructor and a Tom Givens Rangemaster-certified instructor.

All in, he possesses well over 1300 hours of private training instruction. As part of his services under the new The Way Forward banner, McGuire offers personalized 1-on-1 coaching in the San Antonio area in addition to online coaching for shooting and or getting the most from the ACE VR virtual shooting training aid.

The Takeaway

The meat and potatoes of Defensive Performance Handgun, and in my opinion, its greatest value, lies in the opportunity for students to physically put in work by drilling and repping under McGuire’s watchful eye. Throughout both days, but especially on Training Day 2, the entire group had ample opportunities to participate in drills and exercises that involved drawing, moving, and shooting.

Besides shooting and moving, students also shot at varying distances and navigated around obstacles and barriers. I’ve said this previously in other articles about defensive pistol courses, but more of these courses need more shooting and moving. So, I’m glad to see McGuire developing his curriculum towards the “correct” and useful trend.

Ultimately, the prospective student who signs up for this course needs to be ready to lock in and commit to both days of training intensely and diligently. Like many things in life, one gets out what they put in, and the same is true for taking Defensive Performance Handgun.  

Defensive Performance Handgun Extra Picture Gallery

At the beginning of March 2025, I was fortunate to be included in a small group of students who gathered at the Wallis-Orchard Gun Range [outside of Houston, Texas] to witness and be a part of Matt McGuire’s first official solo handgun training class under his own flag – The Way Forward Training. Templar Defense, a local company with which I’ve trained at the same venue, took on the responsibility of hosting McGuire on this occasion.

For his solo instructor debut, McGuire taught Defensive Performance Handgun, a two-day intensive pistol class that blends performance shooting with aspects pertaining to practical concealed carry. On his website, (and he repeated this in person at the start of class on Day 1), McGuire expressed that the inspiration for curating the curriculum for Defensive Performance Handgun came from a desire of wanting teach a useful and nuanced class that combined the knowledge that freely flows in the sphere of performance pistol shooting and grounding it to everyday concealed carry.

Unless it’s explicitly in the course’s title, I loathe to use the term “advanced” to describe a shooting class for my own philosophical reasons. But objectively speaking, Defensive Performance Handgun is not for beginners. It’s a full-speed class that moves at a quick pace.

While the prospective student does not need to have a 1.80-second bill drill from concealment, they must be proficient in operating their handgun while also being comfortable with drawing, shooting, and working out of their holsters. This is not the class for the student who isn’t fully confident in their concealment setup or is barely getting accustomed to shooting and reloading their firearm.

Defensive Performance Handgun: Training Day 1 

At most ranges, nearly every tactical bay has a picnic bench of some type on the opposite end of the main berm. These benches always end up being the communal place to put gear, ammo, snacks, etc., and they’re also the de facto lecterns where instructors lecture and speak.

I’ve come to appreciate the tactical bay picnic bench, and true to fashion, McGuire set off his inaugural class speaking next to the bench. He introduced himself and told us his mission statement and goals under his new venture, The Way Forward.

These are best summarized in that the goal of The Way Forward is to educate and empower citizens to contend with the worst day of their lives, which hopefully never happens.

McGuire then segued into a discussion with some personal anecdotes about the ugliness of violence and how the criminal element has no concern for inflicting its brutality on others. We also discussed gun safety, and McGuire mentioned something interesting, which I hadn’t quite heard summed up that way: that gun safety could ultimately be distilled into muzzle safety and trigger discipline.

I really like that because it skips over the needless semantics discussions over the “four rules”, especially in the context of defensive firearms use.

Once on the firing line, McGuire also revealed his new The Way Forward Training targets, which we proceeded to shoot at for the remainder of the course, save for some steel at the end of Training Day 2.

Training Day 1: Zero Confirmation And Drills 

Training Day 1 began with a zero confirmation as everyone was shooting a pistol with a slide-mounted red-dot. Especially nowadays, starting class off that way is a good sign.

We zeroed and/or confirmed from the 10-yard line, and McGuire also had students shoot a few of their chosen carry rounds at 25 yards to illustrate the nuances between the original 10-yard zero and the different point of impact (if applicable) at 25 yards. 

The rest of the first training day continued with several drills and many more reps; we shot under timer pressure and got our guns nice and hot. Among the critical topics covered on the firing line on the first day of training was the “trigger control at speed” and how the manipulation of the handgun’s trigger changes not so much in distance, but rather the size of the targeting area.

It was around this time of day that McGuire gave a discussion about matching hand size to the right grip and frame size of a carry gun. It was my first time hearing an instructor mention something like this, and given my own interest in handgun grip contours and ergonomics, it really caught my attention. 

Defensive Performance Handgun: Training Day 2 

Training Day 2 of Defensive Performance Handgun was about locking in and turning the intensity up to 11—at least I felt that way. We students combined the drills and repetitions from the first day of training (shot timer pressure, drawing, trigger control) and added visual control and movement.

When I mentioned turning things “up to 11”, I mean to say that although I live for this type of intense firearms training, I recall Training Day 2 to have some of the most mentally challenging and taxing sessions I’ve ever had. 

Most of Training Day 2’s drills involved shooting and movement. The “retreating” Bill Drill, Tim Herron’s Barrel Drill, and McGuire’s own barrel drill were some of the exercises we worked through on the second day. For the uninitiated (and even those with some experience), nothing scrambles the brain’s ability to process information like trying to draw, shoot, and move while also negotiating barriers and obstacles. (Another reason why this class is better for those with basic proficiency.)

And not to mention, the timer is running, so while trying to mentally juggle all the tasks correctly, you’re also hauling ass downrange. One of the second day’s drills involved shooting Bill Drills in intervals starting at the 25-yard line and working our way to the 5-yard line as quickly as possible.  

“Your brain cannot do things it has never experienced before.”

It’s a line I caught McGuire saying while he was talking about the movement drills that morning. It stood out because I’ve been of the opinion that there ought to be more movement, no matter how ego-wrecking it is, in more defensive handgun courses.

Friendly Competition

The class ended with a friendly man-vs-man steel plate shoot-off, which is always a fun activity that fosters a little bit of competition but also some camaraderie between students.    

To Be Continued In Part 2