Gun Guys: Legend Bill Wilson Interviews Legend Ken Hackathorn

In 2017, I have spent most of my time working on the gun training chapter of my book on Gun Culture 2.0 (some of my blog posts on the topic are collected on a single page). The longer I work on it the more I realize that the topic of training alone merits a book. I could write a short book just on Jeff Cooper and Gunsite.

Condensing everything I am learning down to a single chapter is going to be tough. And the more I learn, the more I realize I don’t know. A couple of nights ago I was speaking to Gunsite Rangemaster Steve Hendricks about “unconscious incompetence” — when you don’t know what you don’t know. I’ve moved beyond that in my learning about civilian gun training, but I don’t think I have reached “conscious competence” yet. I am only to the point of knowing what I don’t know.

To wit: While writing about Gunsite and the Modern Technique of the Pistol today, “yojimbo” sent me a link to a YouTube video called “Gun Guys” that is making the rounds. In it, legendary shooter and gunmaker Bill Wilson of Wilson Combat interviews legendary shooter and gun trainer Ken Hackathorn. And I realize I know even less than I thought.

I have never met Hackathorn before, but I did have a chance to meet Wilson and buy a signed copy of his book, Gun Guy, at the 2016 NRA annual meeting in Louisville.

Bill Wilson signs a copy of his book at 2016 NRA Annual Meeting. Photo by Sandra Stroud Yamane

The YouTube interview should be embedded below. You can also hear another rendition of this in Mike Seeklander’s interview with Hackathorn on his American Warrior Society podcast.