RDS classes

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  • SmileDocHill

    Grandmaster
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    61   0   0
    Mar 26, 2009
    6,159
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    Westfield
    It's my understanding Aaron Cowen with sage dynamics is kinda the gold standard. His classes fill up very fast. Pretty good youtube presence to check him out.
    Guys I shoot with took his class in Indiana last year (or 2yrs ago?), they couldn't recommend him enough!
    I'm going to his pistol rds class in Michigan this weekend, taking part 2 of that in TN in fall so I can take his instructor development class here in Lebanon, IN late fall.
     

    ECS686

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    Dec 9, 2017
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    Brazil
    Cowan and Jedlinski are 2 better known. If you have a Glock the Glock MOS operator course would be good as well but it’s for Glock Pistol s only.

    Eric Gelhaus has Cougar Mountian solutions and does a RDS class (Eric is a Gunsite Instructor as well) he’s in Dallas coming up but not sure where else.
     

    jlw

    Plinker
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    0   0   0
    Mar 30, 2018
    127
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    Georgia
    Erick's class is in Dallas is an instructor course with prereqs of having an LE instructor cert or Rangemaster Advanced Instructor.

    That doesn't mean he wouldn't come to IN for a different PMO class if there is enough interest.

    I'll be rolling out a PMO class in the fall.
     

    ECS686

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    Dec 9, 2017
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    Brazil
    Erick's class is in Dallas is an instructor course with prereqs of having an LE instructor cert or Rangemaster Advanced Instructor.

    That doesn't mean he wouldn't come to IN for a different PMO class if there is enough interest.

    I'll be rolling out a PMO class in the fall.
    I see that in Eric’s now. Sorry trying to get him a plug.
     

    jrm

    Marksman
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    26   0   0
    May 22, 2008
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    Both Modern Samurai and Sage Dynamics will be in Lebanon this fall. Modern Samurai RDS is full but his RDS instructor class has a couple spots left. Sage Dynamics is doing a 3 day RDS instructor course this year.
     

    ditcherman

    Grandmaster
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    22   0   0
    Dec 18, 2018
    7,607
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    In the country, hopefully.
    What makes a pistol class a PMO (RDS) class?
    Last year Gabe White was at Lebanon, and he was “that guy” without a red dot. He hasn’t bought into it but not against it, so he just teaches pistol. Not dot. Dot or no dot, we all benefited from it, he was a great teacher.
    Aaron Cowan teaches dot, but also has to teach pistol because that’s what the dot is on.

    I’m sure I’m oversimplifying something here.
     

    cedartop

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    1   0   0
    Apr 25, 2010
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    North of Notre Dame.
    Last year Gabe White was at Lebanon, and he was “that guy” without a red dot. He hasn’t bought into it but not against it, so he just teaches pistol. Not dot. Dot or no dot, we all benefited from it, he was a great teacher.
    Aaron Cowan teaches dot, but also has to teach pistol because that’s what the dot is on.

    I’m sure I’m oversimplifying something here.
    No, I don't think you are by much. Two red dot specific classes I took were both by instructors who said there is no point in having a red dot focused class. They only had them because of demand. That was Dave Spaulding and Steve Fisher. Both excellent instructors and coincidentally both around very early in the development of slide mounted red dots for defensive purposes, much earlier than Scott and Aaron and most of the "go to" guys. Much of the Red Dot class focus is marketing. Eventually there wont be a need to specify. It wasn't that long ago that I was the only guy in class shooting a dot gun, a few years later it was common but still the minority. Now, at all but the most beginner level I see more dots than irons.

    That being said, I see 2 or 3 areas that while they may not require an entire class, at least require some unique focus. Really though, any good regular instructor who has spent some time mastering the dot, should be able to teach it. I took my first "combat" RDS class in late 2010. I have changed my opinion on how to run red dots, and pistols in general since then quite a bit.
     

    ECS686

    Master
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    4   0   0
    Dec 9, 2017
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    Brazil
    No, I don't think you are by much. Two red dot specific classes I took were both by instructors who said there is no point in having a red dot focused class. They only had them because of demand. That was Dave Spaulding and Steve Fisher. Both excellent instructors and coincidentally both around very early in the development of slide mounted red dots for defensive purposes, much earlier than Scott and Aaron and most of the "go to" guys. Much of the Red Dot class focus is marketing. Eventually there wont be a need to specify. It wasn't that long ago that I was the only guy in class shooting a dot gun, a few years later it was common but still the minority. Now, at all but the most beginner level I see more dots than irons.

    That being said, I see 2 or 3 areas that while they may not require an entire class, at least require some unique focus. Really though, any good regular instructor who has spent some time mastering the dot, should be able to teach it. I took my first "combat" RDS class in late 2010. I have changed my opinion on how to run red dots, and pistols in general since then quite a bit.
    I attended a Range Master Instructor Development Course in January at Terre Haute. Out of 15 class attendees only 3 of us DID NOT have a RDS handgun. So they will definitely be here to stay.

    I am not sold on them (for me and me only) but have taken Dave Spaulding’s MRDS class just so I would know how to help folks I had in class since wether I ran one or not I see them. I will still go to some more RDS classes as well. Like anything they have both pros and cons.
     

    jlw

    Plinker
    Rating - 0%
    0   0   0
    Mar 30, 2018
    127
    28
    Georgia
    No, I don't think you are by much. Two red dot specific classes I took were both by instructors who said there is no point in having a red dot focused class. They only had them because of demand. That was Dave Spaulding and Steve Fisher. Both excellent instructors and coincidentally both around very early in the development of slide mounted red dots for defensive purposes, much earlier than Scott and Aaron and most of the "go to" guys. Much of the Red Dot class focus is marketing. Eventually there wont be a need to specify. It wasn't that long ago that I was the only guy in class shooting a dot gun, a few years later it was common but still the minority. Now, at all but the most beginner level I see more dots than irons.

    That being said, I see 2 or 3 areas that while they may not require an entire class, at least require some unique focus. Really though, any good regular instructor who has spent some time mastering the dot, should be able to teach it. I took my first "combat" RDS class in late 2010. I have changed my opinion on how to run red dots, and pistols in general since then quite a bit.

    I can see a few hours of specific dot stuff such as best practices for mounting, etc, followed by a few techniques specific to the dot. Beyond that, it's mostly burning reps.
     

    thopson

    Plinker
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    0   0   0
    Jul 7, 2020
    7
    3
    Trafalgar
    Last year Gabe White was at Lebanon, and he was “that guy” without a red dot. He hasn’t bought into it but not against it, so he just teaches pistol. Not dot. Dot or no dot, we all benefited from it, he was a great teacher.
    Aaron Cowan teaches dot, but also has to teach pistol because that’s what the dot is on.

    I’m sure I’m oversimplifying something here.
    Aaron Cowan told us in our instructor course last week that most of his classes are red dot because that is the demand. In our 350 class at Gunsite last year iron sights were the minority. Gunsite now has 250 and 350 classes that incorporate red dots. RDS are quickly becoming the new norm - for good reasons. . I have been shooting with a red dot for a few years and am a pistol instructor. I learned many things in Aaron's RDS instructor class that I can now pass on to students, correctly! The basics of pistol shooting is the same, the use of a dot vs iron sights is different. Most RDS class requests we get are from those who know the basics, have been shooting for a while and are making the transition to red dot. Thus the need for RDS only classes.
     

    Gabriel

    Grandmaster
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    9   0   0
    Jun 3, 2010
    6,713
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    The shore of wonderful Lake Michigan
    I'm going to a RDS specific class next week in Muncie. The company is called Tactical Options and the instructor is Jonas Polson. I've never heard of either (but that isn't really saying much), so hopefully the class is good. I have to come back and immediately teach two classes (rifle, not RDS related), so the next two weeks are going to be busy.
     

    SmileDocHill

    Grandmaster
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    61   0   0
    Mar 26, 2009
    6,159
    113
    Westfield
    Decent class. Learned a thing or two about a thing or two. It's interesting what little things you'll pick up from diferent instructors just by how they word things, even if it isn't specifically related to the topic of the class.

    View attachment 266426
    That's a cool pic! That just looks like a working mans gun. Use this pic whenever you go to sell it as a "safe queen" :-)
     
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