Rogers Shooting School Intermediate/Advanced Handgun, Sept. 15-20, 2019

Kevin 149

Newbie
Rogers Shooting School Intermediate/Advanced Handgun, September 15 – 20, 2019

Instructors: Bill Rogers, Ronnie, Kyle, Billy, Adam, David, and Zac

Attending Bill’s class has been on my list for a long time. I attended with my friend Mike, and I’m thankful that we could make it together. Mike is a Master-class shooter in both USPSA and IDPA, and has done very well at all levels of competition. Bill and his crew are 100% Gentlemen, who always responded to questions/emails quickly and professionally.

(I deliberately won’t get into specifics of class, the course of fire, or lecture notes. If you want that, pay the money, make the time commitment, and go to class! Cheater notes are out there, and even though a few years old, they are still spot-on. I can’t write a better review of the course of fire than “Rogers Shooting School Stage Guides” that’s posted on Pistol Forums.)

Class started at 7:00 PM Sunday evening at The Lodge, a purpose-built bunkhouse owned by Bill. The safety brief and an overview of the upcoming week lasted an hour or so. After, it was time to BS with fellow students, 17 of which stayed in the lodge.

Students consisted of 9 active-duty military, several active and retired police & fire personnel, and 2, non-mil/non-LE folks, both of whom shot advanced scores. Guns were all 9mm, mostly Glocks, with a few others thrown in.

If you are staying at the lodge, be early for the Sunday night lecture. The Lodge is 3 separate “wings,” each of which contains 6 bunks, 2 showers, 2 toilets, and 2 sinks. Get there early to get dibs on a bottom or middle rack, and so you can bunk with your travelling partners if you have any.

The wings surround a common area on the first floor, where much hanging out and BS’ing with other students is done. It contained a couple couches and a recliner.
There is no TV in the lodge, but a repeat student brought a large one of his own. Not that we watched it a lot, but it was nice to have it there to catch the news/movies/game. With 17 students staying, seating was a bit thin so folding chairs came in handy both inside and outside.

Five nights lodging + breakfast at The Lodge, (not mandatory, but a steal at that price,) will set you back $125, and is highly recommended. The Lodge is meticulously clean, the A/C worked very well, and breakfast was good and plentiful.

The lunch and dinner package was another $100, and it, too, was money well spent. You simply do not have time to leave the range for lunch, and having it there and ready to eat gives you more time to relax/get some shade/dry fire/BS with fellow students. Lunch was sandwiches and chips. A hot dinner was served family style in the walk-out basement nightly at 7:00 pm. Dinner was awesome, plentiful, and always included desert. It was home-made by the sweetest two ladies ever.

What I thought was really cool, was Bill and a couple of his assistants ate dinner with the class every night. I’ve never been to a class before where the instructors and AI’s ate with class every night. To be able to pick the brains of folks with this much experience instructing, and in the industry in general, is unique. I’ve taken a bunch of classes where the instructor eats dinner with class once, but never four nights in a row.

The shooting portion of the class is held on Bill’s private range, about a 20-minute drive from the Lodge. Weather was in the mid-80’s to mid-90’s, except for a slight break on Thursday when we had low-to-mid 80’s with a nice breeze.

Class ran daily 8:45 – 3:00, with lecture and dry-fire for an hour or so after, Monday through Wednesday. Thursday we knocked off early, and returned to the range at 7:45 for night shooting. (It was comical to look around the Lodge Thursday afternoon, before returning for the night shoot, and see many students…including several of the young & physically fit active-duty guys, crashed out on the couch/chairs/racks. Clearly 3 ½ days of shooting in the Georgia sun can take it out of you!)

Although there were 18 students in class, there were never more than 6 shooting at any given time. If you weren’t shooting, you were either coaching or loading magazines. The instructor to student ratio was fine as there were usually four instructors present, and they were constantly moving up and down the line offering tips and coaching as needed.

We did more one-handed shooting, and especially more weak-hand only shooting, than I’ve ever done before. Bill said in the beginning that about ½ of the shooting is one-handed, and indeed it was.

Bill or an AI demo’d every single drill. I think it’s important for an instructor to show by example what he wants his students to do.

The test is administered 6 times, and after every iteration, the line is re-adjusted, so you always know your rank in class based on what door you’re shooting from. At the Rogers Shooting School, being to the left is preferred…about the only facet in life where being towards the left is better than the right
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If you’re looking for tactical instruction…might be best to look elsewhere, as this class is all about accuracy + speed. Tactics were touched on, for instance, every reload and malfunction clearance had to be behind cover or an instructor or coach would let you know, but beyond that, tactics weren’t talked about much.

All in all, hands down this was one of the best classes I’ve been to. I’m taking my 15-year old daughter there next year for his basic class.

Class pic:

The range and view from the doorway. Plates are all 8”, and go from about 8 to about 20 yards.
 
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