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View Full Version : RFI: Tim Herron's 2 Day Practical Performance, Homestead FL



RJ
07-20-2021, 02:08 PM
Tim Herron is offering a 2-day Practical Performance (USPSA-centered) class March 2022, near Homestead FL.

The class is hosted by EDC Pistol Training:

https://www.edcpistoltraining.com/

I'm familiar with Tim's class based on reviews and AARs, but I am curious if anyone has any feedback on the class host. I don't have any specific concerns, just trying to do my due diligence before forking out for a deposit.

Thanks.

GJM
07-20-2021, 02:18 PM
Since Tim is a class act, I would rely on his selection of the host as a sufficient recommendation.

Moylan
07-20-2021, 02:47 PM
I don't know anything about EDC other than what I've read in some AAR's. I like that he wrote an actual negative review for a class. That's rare. Also, to add to GJM's comment, Herron taught an EDC-hosted class a few months ago, so he knows what he's getting into there, and he's going back. https://909cdb8a-ae70-4094-9bf8-62139a95dbb2.filesusr.com/ugd/fb1afe_e00d8dc30d114dc5a646d562d225ad0e.pdf

rob_s
07-20-2021, 03:41 PM
FWIW, this is my A/O-ish, or was, and I've never met or heard of any of those EDC guys. But, I would defer to Tim as well and worry not a lot about the "host". particularly if Tim has dealt with them before.

If the range is this one, I would also vouch for all involved there as well. The owner, in particular, is a Grade A good dude.
https://shoothtc.com/

RJ
07-20-2021, 04:12 PM
Since Tim is a class act, I would rely on his selection of the host as a sufficient recommendation.

Yeah, agreed; however, the organizer for the last class I signed up for with Tim that was to be held this past February cancelled the class with no reason provided. I just kinda wanted a second opinion this time.


I don't know anything about EDC other than what I've read in some AAR's. I like that he wrote an actual negative review for a class. That's rare. Also, to add to GJM's comment, Herron taught an EDC-hosted class a few months ago, so he knows what he's getting into there, and he's going back. https://909cdb8a-ae70-4094-9bf8-62139a95dbb2.filesusr.com/ugd/fb1afe_e00d8dc30d114dc5a646d562d225ad0e.pdf

That's a good AAR, thanks.




If the range is this one, I would also vouch for all involved there as well. The owner, in particular, is a Grade A good dude.
https://shoothtc.com/

It is.

RJ
07-20-2021, 06:15 PM
Signed up for the class and paid my deposit, so I am all set. Appreciate the inputs, all.

Tom Givens
08-09-2021, 01:27 PM
Karim, the host, is good people. He has attended my instructor development course as well as many others, and was an AI at a later class for me. Good Dude.

RJ
08-09-2021, 02:03 PM
Thank you Tom, I am indeed working with Karim for this class with Tim next year. Appreciate the info.

RJ
03-11-2022, 07:10 PM
And here I am.

Painful drive down from Sarasota, stuck for 45 minutes due to a major crash on Alligator Alley FHP was sweeping up. And delays on the Turnpike. But I got here.

And I managed to leave my Glock 34 at home. It is safe in my travel essentials bag, which I didn’t manage to remember to put in the truck either. Awkward.

I am carrying my G19, so looks like I’ll be taking the class with that. I did manage to bring all my USPSA stuff; belt, mags, ammo etc so so should be fine. I did some dry work here in the hotel room. Given the optics are the same I’m not too worried. Good thing I shoot Glocks.

85897

Looking forward to it.

RJ
03-12-2022, 07:48 PM
End of TD1. Raw notes below.

Shooting my box stock Glock 19 Gen 5 MOS with Holosun 507c. Ammo is Blazer Brass 124 gr.

Run 1: Headline: Where’s the dad gone dot?


https://youtu.be/sITsi385Pu4

This is the ‘before’ run on the stage setup for class. I really struggled to see the 2 MOA dot. Later, I switched to circle dot.

Two positives: I made up the no shoot. Shot on the move in second array. Negatives: Finding dot was like ‘Where’s Waldo’.

Tim: Get the gun up and shoot proactively. 4/10” is two rounds. Individualize targets = no, shoot target arrays = yes.

Need Backstrap covered with strong hand on the draw. Initial index support hand is critical. Need side to side pressure. But must have a positive location support hand every time.

Exercise squeezing support hand and see gun move. Don’t do that. Fix your grip.

Tim had me rotate the gun in my strong hand around, so more of the back strap was covered, squeezing front to back. Then my support hand indexed up and in, ending up with both finger tips about 1” (i.e. the same), with support hand squeezing side to side. This feels weird but seems to be working.

Break

Learn how what go fast looks like. Speed. Then accuracy. Speed. Then accuracy.

My job is to 1 Build my Grip. 2 Manage the sights.

1345

SH WH. Don’t muscle the gun. Track and predictability. “Squeeze the beaver”. Step, roll shoulder in, gun rides at one vertical arc. Thumb base squeeze. Wait for sights. Don’t over muscle gun.

1445

Sight alignment exercise left right up down

Ditch the zip tie. Just press hard to show grip issues that come up.

Last drill: Shot calling. 2x6, 3x2, 2x3. See picture. Very interesting.

Overnight notes: Set 507c to circle only. Cleaned Glock. Loaded All mags. TD1 has range can plus 17, so total day 1 is 250 minus 17 minus what’s in the can.

Had 5 liters of water today. It was hot, 88F. No malfunctions.

Oh, and the Glock 19 is a pretty versatile gun. :cool:

85957

RJ
03-13-2022, 08:38 PM
Raw notes from TD2 below. Going to take a few days and post some wrap up notes.

It was very very good. Tim’s approach is thoughtfully driven but he notices quite a bit about small nuances of student behavior and make subtle but critical corrections that yield immediate results.

My HF on the ‘stage’ went from like 1.4 something to 3.2 to 3.4 at the end of TD2. This is a very significant accomplishment for me.

I really felt like I got 3 or 4 really fundamental corrections in particular on grip that helped me out a lot.

Raw Notes

TD2

0800 Transition drills.

Did better, last string was best. Bang bang bang bang bang bang. Spend that 0.2 s and get your grip fixed. Then do the work.

1000

Cadence at distance. ‘Accelerator Drill’. 1 - r to l, 2 - l to r, 3 - far to near, 4 - near to far.

Surprised at all Alphas at 25! Had Two Deltas at 7, bad grip not seeing what I needed to see cActual group was virtually centered. Grip still feels weird but is working for sure.

This drill really messes with your mind. And gave me some good practice at 15, need to do more of this.

Scott Jedlinsky next year?

Ran Stage Run 2. I’m slower but faster. It’s really weird.

1330

Barrel Man on man competition.

Tim showed me my at sides draw was as fast 1.44 as surrender. Fix this. Be more aggressive. Wow.

Question - Roll support from chest to gun. Index on the trigger guard. Roll fingers 25.% to 50% to 75% to 100% so your grip is identical every single time. Backstrap filled support hand wrapped together.

1500

Barrel Drill. Cadence shooting. 3 targets between Barrels. 9 shots between 2 barrels with 3 targets.

Almost!!! By 0.12

1615 last stage run of three

HF went from 1.4 to 3.2 To 3.4 on the three stage runs.

1700

Wrap

Stage Run 2


https://youtu.be/aex4CsEBCfw

Stage Run 3


https://youtu.be/Bi5_MrSBnGo

Also, and I’m not whining, but it was 54° this morning - in Homestead FL :cool:

RJ
03-14-2022, 04:47 AM
Going to enter in a couple key take aways while it's fresh.

It's not the gun.

Nothing like taking a class with a box-stock Glock 19 to emphasize this. Previous to this, I had maybe 200 rounds through the G19, as I went through a variety of skinny carry options.

Did I need the G34? Pfft. It's all in my head. I performed more efficiently in class, Saturday to Sunday, not because I had a better blaster, but because I focused on doing what Tim taught in the class. So in reality, having to go through that mindset core dump of leaving my game gun at home really caused me to "start from scratch", and was probably a really good thing for me.

It felt a little odd with 22 round mags in the G19, but I didn't notice much in live fire. I will say I missed the Talon tape on my G34 but it doesn't make up for a limp support hand grip. You still have to grip the gun, period.


Grip matters

Tim's module on building your grip was accompanied by some personal 1 on 1 coaching to my strong hand (rotated gun more in line with forearm), support hand (indexing on trigger guard, wrapping fingers up), and grip pressure (front to back on strong hand, but not so much to freeze trigger finger) and side to side with support hand (strong AF). I hesitate to say "game changer", but it was a "game changer", for me. When I actually remembered to grip this way, the Alphas just seemed to appear in the target.

This was most noticeable on the Accelerator runs. I had all Alphas at 25. Which since this involves drawing from the holster at the beep and putting multiple rounds in with different transitions, was pretty astonishing. I will be setting up my G34 same as my G19 (no backstrap) and get my Dry Practice changed over. This new grip feels weird but I can't argue with the results - it works.

In fact I'm going to refactor my Dry Practice routine with what I learned in class. I like the Steve Anderson approach, but with the tools I have now I'm going to get a lot more out of it.

Dots

On TD1 I shot the initial stage with the 2MOA dot, and struggled all day. Saturday night I switched to the 32MOA circle only. Sunday I saw "through" the reticle as a result, and my index was much, much better (probably a result of grip / pressure changes). I liked the circle only, a lot actually.

Thinking about it, it may just be that gross sight alignment "works" for shooting Alphas, if your grip is correct and you press the trigger straight back.



I may have more after a week or so but that's about it for now.



Admin notes:

Round counts were 183 on TD1 and 130 on TD2. No malfunctions. The Blazer 124 factory ammo ran fine. I got an unpleasant burn from an ejected case from down the line to my left which lodged inside my eye pro earpiece, beneath my hat. I have a little souvenir on the side of my head as a result.

The Homestead Training Facility was fine, a large open range that was fairly easy to get to. The roads in were horrible however; typical rutted gravel field Florida field roads, and very dusty. Glad I brought the truck. We had sunny and 88 on Saturday and a windy cold clear Sunday with a low of 54 and a high of 74 or so, unseasonably cold for Homestead.

The hotel was fine (I was in the Courtyard Marriott) just 20 minutes down the road, near Homestead Hospital. Plenty of nearby logistical support (Racetrak for gas/food/coffee, Publix for drinks/supplies, etc.)

Karim, the class host, was excellent, had great communications, and was a pleasure to train with. Would definitely take another class. In fact he has a Scott Jedlinkski dot class planned for next Feb, which I may sign up for. Bluemonday.

RJ
03-14-2022, 05:12 AM
I should have mentioned, the class I took was Tim Herron's 2 Day Practical Performance class:

https://www.timherronshooting.com/2daypracticalperformance

From Tim's web site:

"Classes consist of 10-13 students, and are two days long. Classes are focused on the practical shooting skills that will help you more confidently plan, tackle, and shave time from your performance with a pistol. While this class does contain some advanced fundamentals, the class is dynamic and stage oriented. The class also includes a day of “firing line” type fundamentals training, however we wont burn through ammo like a regular class. Therefore, the round counts are bit lower than what you might have seen at traditional 2-day classes in the past – we will make them count. I am a firm believer that when it comes to proper practice, quality is much more important than quantity, so this class will also cover principles of efficient practice, and how to structure your practices to identify and address your weaknesses."

Highly recommend, especially for someone looking for a foundational USPSA-centered class. It hit on absolutely everything in the above and more.

Tim has excellent instructional technique, and is extremely good at balancing class exercises and personal 1 on 1 attention.

I would (and probably will) take this class again.


Bluemonday
03-14-2022, 11:32 AM
Not here to hijhack this thread, but since my company EDC Pistol Training came up several times, I thought I'd chime in.

Special thanks to RJ for doing his due diligence and to Tom Givens for giving me the thumbs up.

My name is Karim Manassa, and I founded a civilian-centric training company called EDC Pistol Training LLC in 2015. We have myself and 5 contract instructors.

While we do Live Fire training (more frequently than we like to be honest), most of what we do is Force on Force (UTM, Shocknife) and Care Under Fire.

Having been in the training industry as a student or instructor for 32 years now, I'm a big advocate of open minded training with multiple instructors to maximize our skills sets.

As a service to our students, starting in 2017 I began hosting outside instructors on a 2 year rotation so as to keep the content varied.

So we had Varg Freeborn in 2017 and 2018, then Jedi/Reston in 2019 and 2020, then Tim Herron in 2021 and now 2022.

Jedi/Reston are returning in February 2023 due to some special circumstances, but after that I plan on having other trainers.

We do our best to be customer service focused, and are not in this for the money but rather to truly help defensive minded civilian shooters.

As I said in Tim Herron's class this weekend, it's YOU the students who make these classes happen, not us the instructors.

Kudos to all of you who spend your finite time and hard earned money to better yourselves.

RJ
03-14-2022, 02:38 PM
Appreciate the thread title change by The Leadership to more accurately reflect the training class title.

RJ
03-30-2022, 07:17 AM
I received a lengthy follow up email from Tim. He gave me several observations and specific areas to improve. I don’t recall any other training I’ve had with that level of personal detail. I appreciate Tim doing that.