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Thread: Tim Herron 2 day practical shooting class 2/15-2/16 McHenry, IL

  1. #1
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    Tim Herron 2 day practical shooting class 2/15-2/16 McHenry, IL

    I'm still putting my thoughts together on this class, but it blew my frickin mind and I'll give you the TL;DR right now:

    Train. With. This. Dude.

    If you have the chance, if you're on the fence, sign up. You'll be glad you did.

    More to follow.

    Sent from my moto g(6) using Tapatalk

  2. #2
    Member MVS's Avatar
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    I am slipping more than I thought. I have been wanting to train with Tim and had no idea he was doing a class that close to me.

  3. #3
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    I learned of Tim Herron through the likes of the internet. Listening to podcasts by Scott Jedlinski, Ben Stoeger and the like I became familiar with him, and I followed him on Instagram. Guys like him and our own Les Pepperoni (who made me aware of this class. Thanks man!) who picked up shooting as an adult and didn't "grow up around guns" have always interested me, because they usually have a very efficient approach to practice, skill development and analysis of their own process.

    Let me also say that I've trained with some pretty awesome shooters before (also at Alpha), and this review isn't meant to take anything away from them, as my training before this was meant more to augment my skills with my carry gear. I've been bouncing around USPSA divisions too much however, to make any really meaningful progress and I decided that it was time to sit down in one division and try to move the needle from B-class to A. Thus, I wanted to do a competition focused class, which this was. But it was also something more, and we'll get into that.

    The class was held at the excellent Alpha Range in McHenry, IL and is probably familiar to anyone who as taken high level tactical or competition classes in the IL/WI border area.

    Day one began with some quick intros and a safety briefing. The class was a bunch of guys who were either competition or tactical backgrounds or both. I'd say I was on the lower end of the skill spectrum present, as a number of the guys were absolute savages. It was nobody's first class. I'd say probably a majority of the shooters were running some sort of optic on their guns (including our very own Matt Little, who was running what looked like a death ray, but was probably a STI Staccato XC) except for a few guys in production or duty rigs, and only one retard such as myself (and Tim), running God's Gun.

    My gear was a pretty basic USPSA single stack rig, with a BOSS holster, bladetech mag pouches, a Springfield RO with a fixed rear sight in .45ACP. I had exactly one problem with it, which was a failure on my part to seat a magazine fully, costing me a few seconds on a skill evaluation, but we'll get to why that doesn't really matter in a minute here. Otherwise, it fed, fired and ejected every round of the 600 or so rounds I put through it. I did clean it between days. Nobody else seemed to have many issues except one guy running a Sig 320 and another running a Tanfoglio.

    Lots of guys were running the Sig 320 X5 Legion model, which I commented on in another thread somewhere. Pretty cool carry optics gun, but as a 1911 guy, I feel weird having a trigger that light and no thumb safety personally.

    The class started with shooting a stage that Tim had set up. I was the first to go and aside from forgetting a target, I felt like I shot my game pretty well. But it was after shooting this stage that I started to realize that Tim is something special. He provided feedback to each guy who shot the stage, right after they shot it, pointing out areas for improvement, inconsistencies in movement, grip, shot calling, or position entry and exit. As you might guess, as a B-class shooter, I had quite a bit of feedback to receive.

    After the stage, he walked us through his curriculum through a shooting line, working on Draw, grip, stance and trigger control and sight management.

    The way he organized what he was teaching was very technical and academic, in that each lesson you learned built off of the previous lesson. Day 1 had us working a lot more of the shooting fundamentals.

    As a slightly lower skill shooter (and a dude running irons) I picked up a few nuggets. His concept of SHO and WHO shooting helped me to improve those skills IMMENSELY. That and his instruction on shot calling/sight management is easily worth the price of admission. Tim also introduced us to a number of drills that I found to be very useful. Everything from Frank Garcia's Dot's to the Accelerator type of drills, to Blake drills. These are drills that I'm definitely quite interested to run more of and improve those skills.

    At the start of day 2, we ran the same stage as day 1 and I found that using the things he taught us in day 1, I did considerably better with the hits. Tim also then demonstrated the stage and took away every single excuse I had as a single stack shooter ("Yeah they ran the stage faster, they didn't have to reload as much, my gun has harder recoil so I can't shoot splits as quickly"...yada yada). The only comfort there was that he used the same stage plan as I did. But yeah, he ran it about 7 seconds faster than I did.

    As an aside, he kept similar pace and equal if not better accuracy than a lot of the guys running Carry Optics guns.

    After that, he focused on the dynamic skills involved in USPSA such as starting positions, movement to positions, activator sequences and Tim's infamous "Barrel Drill" which was damn near impossible for me to pull off. Interestingly enough, that drill really does drive home the value of efficiency and is another part of the class that is worth the price of admission. Tim took the time to work with each shooter on their movement and efficiency and the personalized feedback that he gives his students is exceptional. I am not a guy with a significant training background, but I've gotta believe that how individualized this class is, separates it significantly from it's contemporaries.

    Finally, at the end of Day 2, after all the instruction, we shot the stage a 3rd time. I was able to run it even faster. Despite not seating a magazine deeply enough and having to tap-rack my gun, I still ran the stage about a second faster than before, when I didn't need to. Lots of the guys there saw even deeper improvements than that.

    Overall, I probably fired about 550-600 rounds during this class, and while it certainly isn't a super high round count class, it's not really meant to be one. This class seems to me to be something that is more geared towards folks who already have a solid grasp on safe gun handling and shooting fundamentals, but want to sharpen their skills and try to shortcut the learning curve a little. As a result of that, it involved a lot of personalized feedback. Which, if you listened enough to hear Tim give feedback to the other guys, you'd also pick up some more tidbits. This alone had me write in a shitload of notes and addenda in my notebook which I'll be studying for a bit.

    One over-arching theme in Tim's class is a huge focus on efficiency and self diagnosis. Efficiency to your first position, efficiency on moving between shooting positions, efficiency of transitioning between targets and efficiently getting on target from the holster and making appropriate hits. As I noted above, it's extremely individualized feedback that he'll give you, based on what he's seeing in your habits, movement and skills, but you'll learn from the feedback he gives others too. He's got this amazing ability to break down what you're doing inefficiently and helped me to smooth out a bunch of the hitchy bullshit in my game. Not all of it, of course. You can't just jump classifications based off of 2 days of instruction, and I'm not gonna say the class made me a GM or gave me GM splits or GM speed, but perhaps the most important thing it did give me, was the ability to look at myself after a stage run, observe inefficiencies and figure out a way to correct them when previously I'd watch some of my match video and say "Well...that seemed pretty fast, so why is it a B class run?"

    Now I know why. So the the improvement will depend on practice. But I feel that this class gave me the skills to self direct my practice.

  4. #4
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    I took a class from Tim in 2018, and he really is an amazing instructor. His diagnostic ability is top notch, and his attention to each individual shooter, as well as the support after the class, is impressive. We had everyone from newer shooters to GM-level guys in our class, Tim helped every single person improve, and everyone took away a list of things to get better at in our own practice. He is on the short list of people I will recommend for training.

  5. #5
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    https://youtu.be/q-pGB6AmtRM

    Just to illustrate. This was my final run on the assessment stage and my breakdown.


    I got too high on the beaver tail on the gun on the first two targets. I got to them quickly from the start position though, and my transitions were decent.

    I'm pleased that I kept my gun up while into the next position.

    I had a mental bobble on the next array. I did shoot it in the order I wanted though, and I was able to get all alphas except the drop turner which was A/C. The charlie was the first shot, which I felt was odd.

    The damn reload after that though. Having to rack the slide again threw a mental wrench at me. My transitions slowed down after that (the last target I shot there should have been a much faster transition)

    The reload after was decent. I pulled a charlie on the first shot because I didn't build my grip well enough after that reload but sorta re-gripped and tried to fight the urge to dismount the gun as I transitioned to the two last targets.

    I was still a second faster than the previous run, owing pretty much to the efficiency of movement. The hits were mostly alphas. I think I pulled maybe three Charlie's.

    Sent from my moto g(6) using Tapatalk

  6. #6
    Chasing the Horizon RJ's Avatar
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    Jan 2014
    Thanks, very useful AAR.

    I heard Tim discuss his class on a recent Podcast I downloaded, Civilian Carry Radio 093. I was favourably impressed enough to search for Tim's class schedule this fall. Looks like a couple opportunities that are not impossible to attend. Since I'm planning to reboot my USPSA shooting this fall, it looks like the focus of Tim's flagship "Practical Performance" class is aligned with what I want to achieve out of my next training event.

  7. #7
    Site Supporter JFK's Avatar
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    I would recommend Tim for sure. Full disclosure, Tim Herron Shooting is one of my game sponsors, and Tim is a good friend of mine.

    That being said I really like his training style. Having the luxury of beyond the class training I can say his lesson carry through. I like the fact that he not only teaches you technique, but a way to self diagnose and "teach yourself" with the style of teaching that he uses.

    Personal aside he is also a good dude that prefers shooting with his friends than getting on the supper squad, GM card or not.

    If you get a chance you should take his class. He also offers online diagnosis if you are having a particular problem or question, as well as one on one training.

  8. #8
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    I took Tim’s class back in June and it was probably the best class I’ve taken to date. Highly recommended.

  9. #9
    Chasing the Horizon RJ's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by JFK View Post
    I would recommend Tim for sure. Full disclosure, Tim Herron Shooting is one of my game sponsors, and Tim is a good friend of mine.

    That being said I really like his training style. Having the luxury of beyond the class training I can say his lesson carry through. I like the fact that he not only teaches you technique, but a way to self diagnose and "teach yourself" with the style of teaching that he uses.

    Personal aside he is also a good dude that prefers shooting with his friends than getting on the supper squad, GM card or not.

    If you get a chance you should take his class. He also offers online diagnosis if you are having a particular problem or question, as well as one on one training.
    Quote Originally Posted by spinmove_ View Post
    I took Tim’s class back in June and it was probably the best class I’ve taken to date. Highly recommended.
    Thanks a bunch.

    I'm a beginner USPSA shooter with only 10 matches lifetime, and still in D class (36%) in Production. Based on what I heard Tim describe as his class approach, and coaching, I was thinking I'd get a lot out of it. Do you think I'd need to be more advanced though as a shooter? As a relative newcomer to USPSA should I wait a bit do ya'll think?

  10. #10
    Site Supporter JFK's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by RJ View Post
    Thanks a bunch.

    I'm a beginner USPSA shooter with only 10 matches lifetime, and still in D class (36%) in Production. Based on what I heard Tim describe as his class approach, and coaching, I was thinking I'd get a lot out of it. Do you think I'd need to be more advanced though as a shooter, or as a relative newcomer to USPSA should I wait a bit do ya'll think?
    No, come as you are. That is the best way. Tim's class is uniquely structured so all skill levels can benefit. He really gives you the tools, gives you the instruction and you work in your pace for how you take said instruction. He keeps class size manageable so you get enough individual attention to adjust your unique needs for improvement.

    That being said a solid understanding of the rules of USPSA and impeccable gun safety are a must. In addition having good gear is a must. You really don't want to wast your money fighting gear and set ups that don't serve you and end up becoming a distraction. I think this goes for any class though. Your skill level will improve dramatically.

    Long story short, if you can keep the gun down range and your finger off the trigger when not on target you are good to go.

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