Tactical Handgun Course

Randy and I spent the day at a tactical handgun course in Kersey. It was taught by world famous marksman Todd Jarrett. I was covering it for the paper and Randy got to actually participate. He's very good with the handgun.

By GRETCHEN ROKOSKY ERA Correspondent

KERSEY – World champion marksman Todd Jarrett was at SinterFire, Inc. on Friday to teach a tactical handgun class to local law enforcement agents in conjunction with the fourth annual Law Enforcement Appreciation Program.

Jarrett gave the law enforcement community hints and tips on loading, shooting and handling their weapons during the eight-hour course to officers from Elk County, Ridgway Borough, DuBois, state police and others. Jarrett provides firearm training all over the world and also competes in marksmen events.

“I have seen, as far as fragmented (ammunition) goes, it’s the future,” Jarrett said. “It’s going to have to be put in every holster. I see it within ten years.” For the Elk County Sheriff’s department, the frangible bullets are their duty rounds. Working mainly indoors, they need the extra safety these rounds afford.

“Absolutely and it is an honor to be taught by Todd Jarrett,” Shawn Geci of the Ridgway Borough police said. He took his vacation for the two-day event.

“It’s just advanced training that police department in this area should encompass in their training programs,” Steve Maholtz of the DuBois Police Department said. “I personally will take the information back to the DuBois police being on the of the fire arms instructors and incorporate it into our program.”

The appreciation day was started four years ago as a way to thank law enforcement and allow them a chance to get together and try out the lead-free bullets that SinterFire, Inc. produces. Since it’s a new product, a lot of time people may hear how it works, but this gives them a chance to experience itself, SinterFire president Joe Benini explained.

The first year, duty weapons were a requirement and they noticed no difference between SinterFire bullets and regular ammunition. “We call that transparent,” Benini said. “You can put our ammo into your weapons and don’t see a difference. Early on, when we first started, we heard our ammo isn’t real. These guys learned through this LEAP that it is real and it can be dropped into the standard weapon and feel confident. We consider it under the marketing heading and made them feel. It’s a fun environment.”

“We brought Todd (Jarrett) on; he’s our voice to the rest of the world, a representative we use. He needed a spokesman and the timing was mutual,” Benini said. “He came to us wanting to shoot new products. He does believe the future is this product, especially in his training world. We brought him here to let people be exposed to his thinking. To bring him back this year for the training class. To bump it up a notch and offer some real training. It was very well received. Federal law enforcement is becoming more like military. He is training military, federal, law enforcement and private people. Here we have an opportunity to have the same training as the Department of Homeland Security. Being exposed to that is a good thing. A lot of our work is DHS is governing how training is done so everyone is being trained the same.”

Currently, SinterFire sells their bullets to military and law enforcement in the United States as well as South Africa, Germany, Australia, Israel, Turkey and Italy.

The LEAP day continues on Saturday at the outdoor range.