AAR Justified Defensive Concepts Red Dot Essentials

[Youngandfree]

I'm a regular old guy with a regular amount of pistol skills. 🤣 I've taken some pistol training over the last 6 or 7 years, but nothing since covid started. I'm not the fastest shooter, and not winning any comps. Some friends have started getting into the red dot scene, and so I wanted to dip my toes in as well. Prior to this class, I maybe had about 250 rounds shot with the red dot working on sighting mine in. It was eye opening the difference the dot makes, magnifying your deficiencies. I said to myself, there is no way my hands shake that much with iron sights. So I knew I wanted to get some training. My buddy @RegularGuyMatt had done numerous training with these guys, so I knew I had to get into their class.

The class was at the NRA range in Fairfax, VA. It started with an hour on justified use of force by Brett. I've heard numerous lectures on that, and Brett's concise yet effective talk was perfect. For any new gun owner, that talk is worth the price of admission alone. Then we transitioned to the range and started with dry empty drills and manipulations so the instructors can guage everyone's levels. The class had very new folks, up to very experienced folks, and the instructors easily looked at your individual starting point and worked to progress you to the next level.

Once live drills started, one of the very first rounds, Tim Chandler immediately looked at my stance and grip, and made suggestions to correct. I discovered the holster I was using rode a little too low and banged my knuckles on my belt on every draw, with I had to work through. Those tips were the light bulb I needed. As the drills progressed, other instructors rotated around down the line, and each one had a tip to improve what I was doing. Another light bulb came from an instructor about finger placement on the trigger. I tried his method and seemed to feel a bit more comfortable, and allowed my grip to get a little better also. I shot around 250 rounds and was able to tighten up things better than when I started. It was definitely worth the 3.5hr drive for me to get there. I fixed my holster issues and plan to take the next seminar on March 5, the four count draw.

Thanks to @77grOption, the JDC crew and phenomenal instructors. Any class on the JDC schedule that you can get to will be well worth the investment in yourself.

[RegularGuyMatt]

Solid review, Jimmy.

Glad you got to come up. I heard you’ve already planned to attend another course with JDC.