As an avid shooter, there’s one thing that I take to heart: you can never have enough training. I think we can all agree that our shooting skills and techniques are extremely perishable and if you’re not keeping up with them, they can quickly dwindle. Even though I don’t get the chance to get out and practice as much as I’d like, I try to take every opportunity when it presents itself.
Coming from my time in the SEAL Teams, I can say that I’ve done a decent amount of shooting over the years. However, most of the focus was placed on training with a rifle. I never had an opportunity to really improve on my pistol skills unless it was on my own time. Recently, I had a close friend reach out about a training course out in Tennessee that he wanted to go to. Being out in San Diego, that’s a little more than a drive down the freeway, but what the heck, it was a good excuse to explore a new area and make a fun trip out of it. The course we took was a 3 day Reactive Shooting training class put on by Dodd and Associates Training that offered a different take on most pistol shooting I’ve been able to do the past.
Dodd and Associates Training is run by Ronnie Dodd who is retired Law Enforcement, Master Class shooter, as well as a Chief Instructor for the Rogers Shooting School. For those who aren’t familiar with the Rogers Shooting School, it is a reactive target course designed by former FBI agent and police instructor, Bill Rogers that incorporates a high speed moving target system that replicates the minimal amount of time a shooter has to successfully neutralize a threat. The training specializes in teaching how to engage and hit small reactive targets that are only exposed for a fraction of a second.
From the beginning of our first day, we were met with a high level of professionalism from Ronnie and his fellow instructor, David Smith. After a quick and easy classroom presentation, we hit the range. With only 3 days of shooting, they have you on the range as much as possible, getting in some serious trigger time with 500 rounds per day. Can’t argue with that. As the school does offer courses for beginner shooters, this one is definitely not designed for them. You’re expected to have a certain level of efficiency beforehand and it does require some prerequisites (unless you have an experienced background). Once on the range, the staff takes the time to go over all the different set of drills that you will be doing over the 3 day period. You will never have to shoot any of the courses of fire blindly. Our class was on the smaller side, so we were able to get a good amount of focus on each student.
The hydraulic targeting system they use is an awesome training tool in building your reaction time, draw speed, target acquisition and trigger squeeze. Shooting steel over paper is already a much better way of getting instant feedback, but adding quick time constraints ups the level of stress and the level of proficiency you will need. Even when using shot timers, it’s easy to continue to shoot after the buzzer goes off, but when they target presents itself for a fraction of a second then disappears, there’s very little/no room for error.
Each drill varies on what your round count will need to be, if you will be starting from a low ready, holster draw and how many targets will be presented. When the targets pop up, that is your indicator to draw/acquire your sights and each steel plate is up for a second or less before it’s gone. You will also be doing a good amount of one handed shooting on both your dominant and “weak” hand, as well as working through one handed reloads. Having such a short period of time forces you to adapt more quickly. I can honestly say that I’ve never seen such an improvement in efficiency and consistency in this short amount of time before going to this school.
I highly recommend that you take the time to check out this school if you’re looking to advance your skill sets. It is a challenging experience, but well worth taking the time. On top of it being one of the best courses I’ve taken, they make it an incredibly enjoyable experience as well. I find myself using the techniques they taught every time I’m at the range now, which makes the course well worth your time and money. After each day, you run through the “Bill Rogers Shooting Test” which is made up of 9 different individual courses of fire that require you to shoot from different starting points, shooting hands, reloads etc. and total up to a certain number of points. After comparing our scores, we would notice a drastic improvement between each day.
The caliber of their instructors matched with remarkably helpful reactionary techniques left me wanting to explore more of their courses. Dodd and Associates Training also offers all levels of handgun, shotgun and rifle courses to appeal to the shooters of every platform and every experience level. It is perfect for military, Law Enforcement and the everyday person. If you’re able to make a long trip out of it, the school is only a short drive away from Chattanooga, and if you’re really adventurous, a couple hour drive to Nashville.
Head over to https://doddtraining.com to take a look at everything they offer. You can also follow Ronnie Dodd on Instagram at @ronaldedodd. All the different classes vary in price, length, experience and round count, so make sure to choose what’s best for yourself. Again, I can’t say enough great things about my experience with the training and instructor staff. I hope that some of you will be able to share the same.
*The views and opinions expressed on this website are solely those of the original authors and contributors. These views and opinions do not necessarily represent those of Spotter Up Magazine, the administrative staff, and/or any/all contributors to this site.