Justified Defensive Concepts Shotgun Essentials Seminar review

[LittleLebowski]

Justified Defense Concepts Defensive Shotgun Skills I 6/16/19


On July 16th 2019, I took the Justified Defensive Concepts (“JDC”) “Shotgun Skills I” class at the NRA range in Fairfax, VA.

The lead instructor was Tim Chandler and he was assisted by two assistant instructors (“AIs”), as to therefore ensure a safe instructor to student ratio. Some firearms training companies overbook classes and you’ll see say one instructor per 20 students, such was not the case here.

My background and training with shotguns was nonexistent except for recreational shooting before this. I am a competent rifle, carbine, and pistol shooter; having been a US Marine infantryman and having competed in USPSA and have been a student at many carbine and pistol shooting classes.

The class began with instructor and student introductions and a 1.5 hour presentation on:

• The history of the shotgun in military, police, and civilian hands
• A technical presentation on why the shotgun is still relevant, with historical buttressing
• A discussion on the state of the modern shotgun design and how best to modify it for general defensive use

Some of my revelations from the presentation might be accepted knowledge for many, but I’d never truly thought about shotguns in this way. As a son of Wyoming, I grew up shooting at longer distances that most (we zero our rifles for 200 yards on the family cattle ranch), therefore I did not use shotguns growing up.

• “serving size” - Tim presented data showing that the serving size (the amount of rounds on target needed to defeat a threat) is equal between rifles and shotguns, despite the much smaller ammunition capacity of a shotgun. The reason is that one shotgun round (assuming a decent buckshot load) does what several rifle or handgun rounds on target can do. Think of say a 5.56 round on target as an “icepick” and then compare it to the “sledgehammer” of a 12 gauge buckshot round.
• Shotguns are not drop safe. The shotgun safety is simply a trigger block, JDC trains their students to keep the shotgun in “cruiser ready” mode or “Condition 3” which is a loaded magazine and no round in chamber.
Training on the differing methods to do so on pump action and semiautomatic shotguns is taught throughout the course.
• Shotguns are nearly a universal weapon across the United States and the parts of the world that still allow you to own firearms, however shotguns and the proper use of them are still misunderstood.
• I was aware that you cannot simply aim a shotgun in the general direction of your target and get effective hits, but the practical application we did to show what a target looks like at 5, 10, and 25 yards with a shotgun and buckshot was…illuminating. Aim your shotgun. Test your defensive ammo. Know how your ammo performs at various distances. Remember that you own each pellet after it leaves the barrel.
• Again, you must know how your shotgun patterns. Clean your bore, (Tim recommended a Tornado Brush) if accuracy drops off. Replace your magazine spring once a year to avoid malfunctions.

After the presentation, we moved onto training for the practical application of a shotgun for defensive use. A safety brief was conducted, and we began dry fire drills. This was when I began to be humbled. Shotguns are wildly different than carbines, rifles, and pistols. Literally everything is different. The shell loading manipulations are unlike anything associated with magazine fed weapons and it took me several iterations to begin to feel somewhat comfortable with this strange beast of a weapon.

However, my confidence began to grow as muscle memory began to manifest itself and revelations such as the fact that you can simply throw/slap a shell into the open chamber and run the bolt as your weapon allows and it will feed and chamber which is a bit easier than say doing the same with a bolt action rifle, handgun, or carbine. Also, Tim has a “top secret” method of loading your shotgun magazine and avoiding getting your thumb mashed/lacerated. Just bend your thumb at the first knuckle joint. Want to see exactly how? Take the class.

After beginning the class with testing our buckshot loads, the majority of the class was spent shooting birdshot loads. Birdshot was chosen because it is economical training ammo and the weapons manipulation skill training is paramount. JDC stressed that one must make time to practice at the range with birdshot and to find a good buckshot load that patters well from your shotgun and to stick with it. Furthermore, a deep dive into ammunition performance was presented; but I’ll save you some time: Federal Flight Control 8 pellet buckshot, get you some. It performed noticeably better than any other comparable ammo in all of the student’s shotguns.

The training progressed in a logical fashion. One shot drills, one shot, then reload drills, and drills at distance, plus some JDC-specific drills (“Rolling Thunder”). Sounds basic, doesn’t it? It’s my impression that the basics are what matter and also it was vividly driven home that the average shooter needs training with their shotgun. I certainly did not feel like anyone in the class felt that the pace of training was too slow.

The round count for the five hour class was 120 rounds. I was astounded to observe that my should was not beat up and bruised afterwards, due to the soft recoiling Beretta 1301 I used at the class. As the gun is a 1st generation weapon, I used the TauDevGroup “Bolt Release Shroud” which solves the infamous “shell dumping” design flaw of the 1st Generation Beretta 1301 (this was fixed in the 2nd Generation Beretta 1301s). At $9.50, it is the most no-brainer upgrade to the Beretta 1301 on the market and literally indispensable for the 1st Generation guns. I used the excellent KE Arms Aimpoint/Micro mount for my Primary Arms Advanced Microdot red dot sight. The Beretta 1301 Comp 1st Gen and red dot configuration ran perfectly for me and was lethally accurate with tight groups using Federal Flight Control. No malfunctions were experienced. I cannot recommend the 1301 enough and more importantly, it has JDC’s recommendation as “the best all around shotgun” that they have seen in their classes.

This was both a shooting and a thinking class. JDC teaches you history, why to avoid armed confrontation if possible, and why you must be accurate (errant shots are bad). Do not expect a JDC class to be a high round count, shooting-only class. You will receive training on mindset, history, and legal possibilities regarding defensive shooting.

The instructors were professional, the training was outstanding, and the class was well worth my time. I found the training to be humbling and enlightening. I strongly encourage all shotgun owners to take this training, it is a wonderful investment that will engender safety and confidence with your shotgun.

[TCinVA]

Slight correction:

This was the Defensive Shotgun Essentials clinic: https://www.justifieddefensiveconcep...gun-essentials

We have a couple of clinic style classes we do at the NRA range while our other classes are full day affairs at outdoor venues.

I'm glad you enjoyed the class, dude. It was good to see you.