AAR: Justin Dyal Carolina Shootout Jacksonville NC 16-18 May 2025

[RJ]

@rcbusmc24 posted the class here:

https://pistol-forum.com/showthread....16-18-May-2025

I feel very lucky to get into this course, Justin does not offer many open enrollment classes. It just so happens my step son is stationed at Lejeune and we are traveling for the summer. Since Jacksonville is on our way up North, we could be in the area in May for me to take this course.

The reason for starting this thread early is so I can document my expectations. It will give me a place to put my thoughts down, set some goals, then see how they turn out. I'm really looking forward to this.

More to follow.

[RJ]

Some early thoughts.

Toolset: I’m 66, and had cataract surgery in both eyes last year. That went well, but seeing the front sight is a non starter. So I’ve been shooting target focused, with both dots and irons, with some success. I’m a lefty. I plan to use my USPSA rig and Ruger RXM (Gen 3 G19 clone) for class. I have a backup RXM with irons if my primary goes down. I plan to use a case of BB124, which I will pickup in Jacksonville.



Skillset: I try and get to one class a year. Quite a few years ago I managed to be classified D in Production in USPSA (38%), but I stopped shooting USPSA because: reasons. I’ve shot some indoor GSSF, and in ‘22 attended the Pin Shoot in Michigan and had a blast. I took Tim Herron's class in 2022 in Homestead FL. My most recent class was with Wayne Dobbs last October in Dallas; I did a one-day Snubby class and another on "Rule 4 Shooting". My last competition was a practice GSSF outdoor match, also in October in Dallas, where I shot my P365XL and Springfield Garrison (it was not GSSF, the Dallas Pistol Club just needed competitors to practice their scoring for the "real" match, which I did not shoot since I didn’t have a Glock at the time.)

Mindset: I picked up a gun for the first time about 12 years ago, because I’m not going to be a victim. Although I can’t articulate a specific objective for taking the class, I knew as soon as I saw the opportunity to train with Justin (and that our summer RV travel schedule was such we could be in Jax in May) I wanted to sign up.

As homework, Justin sent me some drill suggestions and a few questions to think about. I'll gather my thoughts on those in the next day or so.

[RJ]

The two drills suggested for homework were "Double and One" and "Prep Time":

https://pistoldrillqrc.wordpress.com...uble_and_1.pdf
https://pistoldrillqrc.wordpress.com.../prep_time.pdf

I've shot both of these over the last few square range sessions. I can't draw from the holster at my range, so I do the best I can, and estimate the time. So really I'm just going through the motions, but with live rounds. Best I can do.

As a self-assessment, I am currently putting between 5 and 6 rounds on the post it note on Prep Time, the rest are in the head box. I find "steadying" the optic on the target under time pressure to be the most challenging. I could probably use a critical evaluation of grip and trigger control, and advice on what to change.

In re: Double and One I average 7 rounds in the black of the NRA B-8 over the 10 rounds, with the remainder inside the 7 ring at least. I feel most comfortable at 5 yards; the close in 2.5 yard string is very fast. Out at 10 I'm ok, 20 yards I feel like there is more opportunity for me to blow the trigger press and pull the gun low and away (as a lefty my groups tend to shoot low and right). This is something I have to work on consistently, especially with Glocks/clones.


As a follow up to this, I was happy to get a phone call from Justin after my email with this info. We had a very useful conversation, and he asked some interesting questions. I've tried to put my thoughts as answers, below in Q and A format. It will be interesting to compare after the class.

I've never had an instructor call me before class to discuss my personal context. That is pretty cool.


Q Think about your “challenged” parts of the drill. What causes you to be comfortable? What causes you to be uncomfortable?

A I find a lot of time pressure induced by the timer at 1s for the close-in drill. I know the timer is going to go off so I tend to rush the shot. The gun comes up ANDOMGTHETIMERISGOINGOFFBANG!. It’s kinda like that for me at 2.5 yards.

At 5 and 10 yards, I am pretty comfortable. I know there is enough time, having done it a lot, and I know I can get the dot in the sight picture. See color, press, boom, hit.

Conversely, accuracy tails off with longer shots like 15 yards, especially 20 and 25. Since there is more time to shoot precisely, I overthink the sight picture and have more opportunity to forget my grip fundamentals, and I hit low and away. If I grip the gun harder, and manage to focus on that, I tend to group better.

Case in point: I recently was at the 15 yard range at my local. I shot a group at 15, carefully. I was low and away, grouping low and right maybe 5". I actually was thinking, hey, my dot is not zeroed. I then shot another group, but this time gripped the gun like my life depended on it, and shot at a steady pace, a bit faster actually. My group was almost exactly centered. Hmm.


Q When you shoot a element of the drill, what about that experience in terms of your body are you? If you could pose an action figure of Rich shooting 2 Alphas on a stage, what would the figure look like?

Where are your hips in relation to your legs? Where is the weight on your feet? Where are your hands at the shot; are they fully extended? Where are your elbows? Where on the grip are you?

A I have a video of Day 2 of my 2022 Tim Herron course in Homestead. Sunday (Day 2)’s hit factor on the practice stage was much, much higher than Saturday, almost double.

I had forgotten my G34+507c gamer gun, and arrived for class only with my carry Glock 19+507c. (Tim: Stop complaining Rich, it's not the gun holding you back. )

This was my Day 2 run:



Looking at how I set up on that first target array, my body is leaning backwards, almost. I am not low to the ground. My knees are not bent. I am not shooting while moving. I am accurate, but very slow.

[RJ]

Received my pre-class handout from Justin via email. This provides an expanded summary of the class objectives and syllabus, along with specific training objectives. The over-arching theme is:

"...boosting our hit percentage under pressure on shots that are near the edge of our on-demand capability. We will explore the differences in approach between low and high confirmation shooting."

The handout includes further class prep notes and an equipment list.

Mindset

Justin also asked for specific objectives if we had them. Pondering this, I have a couple I'll share with him ahead of time:

To the extent time permits during class, I'd REALLY appreciate a critical once-over on my grip and trigger control. Being a lefty, something I have to constantly work on is pulling shots low and right, especially after reloads, or second shots on a string.

Second is any suggestions to make more effective use of target-focused shooting. I was diagnosed with cataracts last year, and had the surgery in both eyes. The target is now laser sharp out to 25 yards. Unfortunately, sights are now pretty much just blurry blobs of color at arms length. I do much better using a dot, as irons are a bit of a struggle at the moment.

Skillset

I spent some time yesterday with my USPSA rig and timer. Did practice on draw to a sight picture drills from my Steve Anderson Par log spreadsheet I last worked in 2021. Also some reloads on the timer. Good to get the rust off, but oof I am slower than when I was doing this regularly (well, duh, Rich).

Toolset

Retorqued and paint striped the 407k on the RXM. Gear bag contents and spares reviewed. Extra optic and earpro batteries packed.

[RJ]

All set for class. Renewed 407k battery, clean and lube, added a Talon Granulate decal (same as my old G34, I like this grip surface texture for Action Pistol, a lot).



Belt rig is same CR Speed as I had for my G34, speaking of. Had to rewicker the DAA Racer mag pouches for double stacks since I transitioned from X Macro mags. Using G17 mags for class, but will go try and locate a Dawson +4/5 basepad when we get back to FL after our summer trip. (I plan to resume USPSA this fall, after being on hiatus of a few years.) Holster shell is the same G34 R/C Blade Tech, with a little negative cant. RXM fits into it fine.

[RJ]

Class is done. I am whipped. Random thoughts.

On Gear

My Ruger RXM ran perfect. Shot 429 rounds day 1, 348 on day 2, for a total of 777 (Blazer 124. ) Gear was solid. No issues with 4xGlock 17 mags. My 407k apparently has some specular reflection in the glass on sunny days that produced a false dot. I chased this for 3 rounds until I worked out what was going on. It had a fresh battery the night before class.

The Talon granulate panel was very effective in retaining grip. No issues with the NDZ 15# RSA. I applied lube (Lucas ED) at the connector and barrel hood 1x each morning. Pistol was not cleaned between TD 1 and TD 2.

Weather was bearable, sunny and 86-88 Saturday, a bit cooler Sunday. Still pretty warm though. I stayed hydrated and ate sparingly.

We had 7 students, with a mix of retired .mil, gun shop owner / instructor, Medical, IT, and Engineering professionals. The level of shooting was very high. The class included 2 Glocks+COA, a Walther PDP, 2 Ruger RXMs, and 2xS&W M&P 2.0’s. I did not notice any malfunctions, at all. All pistols had dots; 6 were red, 1 was green (mine).


On the class

It’s late and I’m tired but I promised myself I’d knock out some key takeaways. I’ll need to chew on these and expand a bit more but I need a nights sleep to post process. There are more; my notebook is full and there is much more to unpack. These are the top five in terms of money makers for me sitting here, fresh in my mind.

In no particular order:

1. Shrinking the golden triangle of Grip, Vision and Trigger
2. Satisfaction or Curiosity: your only two outcomes
3. Trigger Crash, Roll and Prep
4. Refactoring SHO
5. The connection of oxygenation, natural point of aim, and core strength to accuracy

Justin is a phenomenal educator. He breaks things down thoughtfully, and articulates the nuances of shooting better than anyone I’ve ever trained with. In the training business, I would call him a ‘multiplier’. He’s just at another level. I left the class a much better shooter than when I arrived, with new data to mine for further work and practice on my own.

More to follow

[RJ]

Final thoughts on class takeaways after a nights sleep.


1. Shrinking the golden triangle of Grip, Visual Squeeze and Trigger Press

This was significant. I’d never thought about these three elements and how they play off against each other, working together to increase hit percentage. I had a lot of notes on this, and look forward to putting them into practice.

“Building a sandbag under the grip” resonated with me. I also got some feedback from R., a fellow lefty, on why I might be steering rounds left, he suggested it might have been too much strong hand pressure with sympathetic trigger finger moving the gun at the break. This is something I will be following up on.

“Visual Squeeze” is a great mental image and is more meaningful. I am now thinking about this as I see the target. I used this at 40 yards on TD2; I was pleased with my results on that target.


2. Satisfaction or Curiosity: your only two outcomes

The concept of only allowing the two options after a shot – satisfaction or curiosity – really connected for me. This will really change my approach to practice shooting. Sometimes I just bang out targets on autopilot, and I’m going to stop doing that and slow down to do the Why? thing a lot more.

(Related, fellow student S. pulled me aside half way through TD1 and said in no uncertain terms “stop beating yourself up Rich – you are a great shooter, but you need to get rid of the negativity.” He’s right. He also suggested a book called “Mental Gym” (?) that helped him a lot on this. I need to go track that down. I really appreciated his input.)


3. Trigger Crash, Roll and Prep

Big gain here. I learned to remove energy from the trigger when it isn’t needed, and there is more than one trigger press. I “knew” this, but only connected the dots standing on the line with that 60 seconds of coaching provided. I’d never heard it that way. That was yuge. Really yuge.


4. Refactoring SHO

I’ve decided this is going to be my post-class focus item. I tried to apply each of the four factors during class, but not all at once. I am going to reformulate my approach for SHO now that I have the tools to do so effectively. I shot that B-8 on TD2 the absolute very best I have ever done SHO, and I am very excited about following up.


5.The connection of oxygenation, natural point of aim, and core strength to accuracy

I will not be able to shoot now without hearing “TANK UP!” in my ear

And connecting O2 uptake, with posture, and core / ab strength (head tilt / what’s up) is something I tried to apply more on TD2, with great results. Will continue to reinforce this.

[Cheap Shot]

Liked ^^^^^^