Greenline Tactical
RDS Pistol
25-26 July 2020
Private range, Zephyrhills, Florida
Instructor: Don Edwards
Class Size: 12ish
Instructor to Student Ratio: 1:12
Ammunition Requirement: 1,000 rounds
Actual Rounds Fired: 933
Tuition: $500


Introduction & Training Background
This was my first course with Don, and my 17th class since I started taking training seriously in 2012. The majority of my firearms training has been with Randy Cain of Cumberland Tactics (primarily handgun). I’ve also trained with Craig Douglas, Jon Dufresne, Jeff Gonzalez, Ernest Langdon, John Murphy, Mike Pannone, and Bryan Veliz. I’m typically at the range two or three times per month, shooting on average around 10,000 rounds annually, though as of this writing in December 2020, I’m approaching 25k for the year as my love of shooting has continued to grow. I work in security management and I ride a desk, so my reason for taking this class was purely to further my proficiency for self-defense, as I do not carry a gun on the job. Going into this class, I’d been shooting a dot for just under a year and around 16k rounds. This was my first RDS pistol-specific class.


Location
The class was hosted at a range on private property in Zephyrhills. This was the first time I had been to this range. Facilities were sparse; apparently there was a cabin on the property with an indoor bathroom, but most of us just found whatever bush was convenient. The range was about 20 minutes away from Dade City, where most of us were staying.


Gear
Concealed carry was permitted for this class, so I shot my EDC rig: Phlster Floodlight and JM Custom Kydex AIWB High-Ride Spare Magazine Pouch on a Graith Specialist belt. I shot one of my VP9s, upgraded with Grayguns Striker-Fired Action Package, SweatyMuddyBloody grip work (they’re no longer around), milled for an RMR Type 2 (1 MOA) by Primary Machine, and equipped with an X300U (itself upgraded with Phlster ARC switches). Purchased new in May 2015 and dedicated as my range beater, at the start of class, this gun had 26,658 rounds on it. Magazines were all HK OEM 15-rounders, upgraded with Taylor Freelance +5 extensions and coated in NP3+ by Robar. Ammunition was Federal AE9N1 124gr.

Apparel consisted of TAD/Kuhl pants and ExOfficio Air Strip shirts, my favorite for shooting classes.

PPE consisted of Sordin Supreme Pro-X muffs upgraded with NoiseFighters gel seals over EAR Inc. custom-molded plugs and Rudy Project Tralyx Slim glasses with ImpactX-2 photochromic lenses.

I had no gear-related issues.


Course Description
From the Greenline Tactical website: “Mounting Red Dot Sights on pistols is becoming more and more common. This session is designed to make you more proficient and leave with a better understanding of how to maximize this advantage giving technology paired with a handgun.”

About the instructor: “Don Edwards is a 20+ year veteran of US Army Special Operations. He began his career in the 75th Ranger Regiment where he was a participant in Operation Just Cause. Retired from 20th Special Forces Group where he served as Team Sergeant during combat operations in Iraq. He has served for five years as the Use of Force training manager and primary instructor at the ATF National Academy in Glynco, GA instructing in tactics and firearms as well. Mr. Edwards has worked as tactical adviser to the Department of Defense since 2008 serving in both Iraq and Afghanistan and is a FLETC certified firearms instructor and is the former Director of Training for Tactical Night Vision Company.”


Day 1
0800-1700
Wx: Low 80°, high 93°, fair/partly cloudy with 10-16 MPH winds
500 rounds fired
Class started with student and instructor intros. This was an open enrollment class made up of mostly civilians, though there was at least one LEO in attendance. There was no safety briefing. This was followed with a lengthy discussion of optic selection and best practices for mounting. Don also briefly covered some common causes of difficulty in acquiring the dot on the draw. Many shooters with extensive iron sight experience present the gun with the front sight slightly proud and drop the front sight into the rear notch as they reach full extension, which translates to the dot usually being high at the 12:00. With the talking part done, we moved onto the range.
• Zeroing. We started at 10 yards shooting freehand (25-yard confirmation would come later in the day).
• Starting from high ready. Emphasis was on bringing the gun up high early to acquire the dot sooner.
• “Add one” drill from high ready. This was a simple exercise where you fire one round, then for each subsequent “up” command, you add a round, until the fifth repetition where you shoot five. The first time we did this, the focus was on perfect mechanics. We then repeated the exercise pushing for speed.
• After lunch, we moved back to 25 yards to confirm zero. Several of us (myself included) who had decent groups at 10 yards needed to adjust our zeros at 25. My windage was dead on, but I was shooting two to three inches high. I had benched/bagged the gun to zero it prior to class, but I was rushing and didn’t take as much time as I should have. That plus moving from a benched gun to shooting freestyle caused a noticeable POI shift.
• Single shots from the holster. Emphasis was still on getting the gun high early and making micro-corrections to the dot while reaching full extension.
• More of the “add one” drill from the holster.
• NSRs from the holster with magazines loaded with a mixed number of rounds to force surprise reloads.


Day 2
0830-1630
Wx: Low 82°, high 93°, partly cloudy with 0-15 MPH winds
433 rounds fired
• 25 yards.
• Obstructed optic techniques. We worked with the front and back of the lens obstructed, as well as with the dot turned off. With the front of the optic obstructed, just keep both eyes open and the dot will magically appear on target. With the rear of the optic obstructed, use the top edge of the optic housing as a guillotine. With the dot turned off, simply use the irons.
• Handgun modifications. Ben Simonson from Boresight was one of the students, so Don let him spend about 15 minutes talking through the value of various frame modifications. Ben also had a small selection of loaner frames on hand for those who wanted to check out some different options.
• X-Box. Three targets downrange about a yard apart, a square set up with cones with near edge 10 yards from the targets, and the cones 10’ apart. Starting from back left cone, move forward, then right, engaging each target with two rounds while moving in each direction. From front right cone, go muzzle up or down and move to back right cone, then move diagonally to front left cone, engaging each target with two rounds. Avert the muzzle and move to the back left cone, then move diagonally to the front right cone, again engaging each target with two rounds. Drill is timed, with C-zone hits adding 0.5, D-zone hits adding 1.5.
• More 25-yard freestyle shooting.
• Accuracy drill, working one-inch dots from five to seven yards.
• Class debrief.


Summary and General Observations
It was brutally hot. There’s a reason I don’t usually attend classes in Florida during the summer. Despite pounding fluids all day, both days, I still ended up with a pretty massive headache by the end of day one, which was lurking in the background all day on TD2. I’m a runner and I spend a fair amount of time outdoors during the summer months, so it wasn’t an acclimatization thing, it was just that hot, and there wasn’t a whole lot of shade to be had. I will probably resume my practice of not taking summer classes.

Several friends of Don showed up midday on Saturday and jumped on the line with us to shoot some of the drills. This was unusual. I’ve attended classes in the past where a visitor or two might swing by at lunch to say hello, but I’ve never taken a class where a group of people just showed up at an arbitrary time and joined the class. It was a distraction. Worse, on Sunday, one of the late arrivals from the day prior started handling her gun behind the firing line before being noticed and corrected by another student.

The lack of a safety briefing was also abnormal. I’ve seen a variety of different briefings, from a basic recital of the four rules, all the way to designation of primary and alternate caregivers, communications protocols, and evacuation routes. At a minimum, I think the four rules need to be covered, along with instructor expectations for hot or cold range, designated area for weapons handling if not on line, and location of the trauma kit. This is especially important in a class where students haven’t trained with that instructor before (like me, in this case).

Who is this class most appropriate for? I’d say this is suitable for a novice to red dots. If I had just bought a dot prior to class, this would be a decent introduction. As I mentioned, although the was my first RDS-specific class, I had a fair amount of experience under my belt going into class, and I’d spent a ton of time researching the dot and how to utilize it effectively. I did appreciate the occluded optic techniques, as that was something I had not practiced on my own. The X-Box drill was a different twist on shooting on the move. Aside from that, there was essentially just a bunch of repetition of the “add one” drill. I didn’t walk away from class with any earthshattering revelations. Having subsequently attended Jon Dufresne’s LE RDS instructor class, I found that class to be far more in-depth, and I took away a lot more from that course. However, if I was brand new to RDS shooting, I might not have been able to absorb everything Jon was teaching, because he really got into the weeds on various topics.

Although I didn’t get a ton out of this class, I did enjoy getting some quality reps in, and I was pleasantly surprised with how well I shot at 25 yards, as that it not something I practiced much before this class (I have corrected that and now put more effort into balancing how I spend my time in practice sessions).

I did reach out to Don the week after class and provided my feedback on the areas for improvement I mentioned above. He was very receptive of the feedback, which I appreciated. While I didn’t have the greatest experience in this specific class, I would still like to train with him again. Setting aside the concerns I already covered, I appreciated Don’s low-key style, as well as the fact that he demonstrated everything he was asking us to do. He also went out of his way to spend time talking to each student during breaks. Most notably, during lunch both days when class dispersed into small groups to find whatever shade we could, Don made the rounds to sit down with each group for a few minutes to answer any questions we had, which was a nice touch.