I had the opportunity to take a one day shotgun course offered by T.D.S.A of Tulsa. Instructors were Marshall Luton and Lance Jensen. Course was held at U.S.S.A and commenced at 9 am. We started off the morning right at 9 am with 18 students (mostly civilians but there were 3 Law Enforcement Officers and two 3 Gun athletes) on the range discussing the nuances of the shotgun and why it is a viable weapon but is under rated, and often forgotten in the law enforcement community. We discussed using 00 buck as well as rifled slugs from a home defense stand point as well as how it would relate to Law Enforcement applications.
After the discussion, we went out to the range and "patterned" our shotguns with 00 buck to see how effective the round would be at various distances. I found this to be incredibly valuable as it showed me that out to 25 yards, 00 buck is a pretty effective round. With Federal LE 00 Flite control rounds, we were able to shoot a group that we could cover with our hand out to 25 yards. We then shot rifled slugs at 40 and 50 yards. The effectiveness were amazing. I found out that my gun shoots high/right so we were able to adjust the rifle sighs accordingly. I do think I need to find a taller front sight as under pressure with one of the later drilled we were doing I was consistently shooting over the steel at 40 yards ( I was placing the front sight centered on the steel).
By lunch we had shot maybe 15 rounds.
Once back from lunch, the fun began. We started working on "working the action" and reloading drills. Marshall and Lance had us working the guns (both pump and semi auto) hard and fast. They put us to the test engraining the process of "pull the trigger, work the action" until it became second nature.
We continued to work on drills for both distance and close shooting. One such drill was "select a slug" in which we would shoot (with bird shot) two clay pigeons (set up at 7 yards on stands) then "select a slug" and address a steel at 40 yards. We continued to run this drill against a timer. Definitely a very fun drill.
One of the most effective drills we did was "rolling thunder". In this drill, all 18 of us were on the line and shooter number one would shoot 1, then shooter 2 would shoot 1 and so on down the line. After shooter one would shoot, he would reload 1 and so on. After the entire line completed the first shot, then it would escalate to 2 rounds, 2 reloads; then 3 rounds, 3 reloads; then 4 rounds and 4 reloads until we were all out of rounds. This drill was so much fun because there was a lot to think about and pay attention to.
We continued to train until about 6 pm. I am pretty confident that everyone was ready to stop at that time. I believe we shot close to 300 rounds of birdshot throughout the day. I know I was pretty tired and feel I learned a lot.
After we cleaned the range, we stopped and had a debriefing with the instructors. We had an opportunity to tell them what we liked about the class and what we would like to see done differently. Overall, everyone had positives to say. There were a few things that people suggested, but it was pretty hard to find fault with what was being taught.
I highly recommend T.D.S.A and their instructors for local training.
After the discussion, we went out to the range and "patterned" our shotguns with 00 buck to see how effective the round would be at various distances. I found this to be incredibly valuable as it showed me that out to 25 yards, 00 buck is a pretty effective round. With Federal LE 00 Flite control rounds, we were able to shoot a group that we could cover with our hand out to 25 yards. We then shot rifled slugs at 40 and 50 yards. The effectiveness were amazing. I found out that my gun shoots high/right so we were able to adjust the rifle sighs accordingly. I do think I need to find a taller front sight as under pressure with one of the later drilled we were doing I was consistently shooting over the steel at 40 yards ( I was placing the front sight centered on the steel).
By lunch we had shot maybe 15 rounds.
Once back from lunch, the fun began. We started working on "working the action" and reloading drills. Marshall and Lance had us working the guns (both pump and semi auto) hard and fast. They put us to the test engraining the process of "pull the trigger, work the action" until it became second nature.
We continued to work on drills for both distance and close shooting. One such drill was "select a slug" in which we would shoot (with bird shot) two clay pigeons (set up at 7 yards on stands) then "select a slug" and address a steel at 40 yards. We continued to run this drill against a timer. Definitely a very fun drill.
One of the most effective drills we did was "rolling thunder". In this drill, all 18 of us were on the line and shooter number one would shoot 1, then shooter 2 would shoot 1 and so on down the line. After shooter one would shoot, he would reload 1 and so on. After the entire line completed the first shot, then it would escalate to 2 rounds, 2 reloads; then 3 rounds, 3 reloads; then 4 rounds and 4 reloads until we were all out of rounds. This drill was so much fun because there was a lot to think about and pay attention to.
We continued to train until about 6 pm. I am pretty confident that everyone was ready to stop at that time. I believe we shot close to 300 rounds of birdshot throughout the day. I know I was pretty tired and feel I learned a lot.
After we cleaned the range, we stopped and had a debriefing with the instructors. We had an opportunity to tell them what we liked about the class and what we would like to see done differently. Overall, everyone had positives to say. There were a few things that people suggested, but it was pretty hard to find fault with what was being taught.
I highly recommend T.D.S.A and their instructors for local training.
