Help Me Decide Who's Class

[smokshwn]

I have the opportunity to attend one of two classes occurring the same weekend. One is a three day Competition Shooting Camp taught by Ron Avery in CO and the other is a three day class with Todd Jarrett in Reno NV. It sounds like Todd's class is a two day class and the third day is a local match in Reno with Todd squadded with you. Ron's class sounds like it will be relatively small attendance wise and will focus on taking you as an individual farther in your shooting.

I am shooting open division according to Matt's, TT's, M2's, and Todd's advice in order to build my skills more quickly. I have been shooting competitively for about a year and a half and just received my B card hopefully moving quickly to A (with a good class behind me). Costs would be very close to a wash with Reno being a slightly longer drive.

I would love to hear anyone's opinions, especially from those who have actually experienced either one or both of the above instructors.

Thanks in advance Craig

[L9X25]

Craig,

I have taken instruction from TJ and also shot with him several times. I have a friend that is a Ron Avery fan and has taken instruction from him and TJ. They are both good instructiors and you will learn from either.

I think this will come down to what your personality is like. Avery is very structured (think law enforcement/military background) type of guy and his personality is more formal and structured. TJ is a more easygoing and IMO a more aproachable and friendly guy. I tend to learn better from people that have a personality that is similar/compatible to mine.

Just my .02

Leo

[Chriss Grube]

Ron Avery did a class out here a couple years ago. It was geared more toward LE. One of the guys at work took it and said he was a good instructor.

I took Todd's class in 01. The guy is an incredible teacher and just a hell of a nice guy. Since you are shooting open I would go with Todd. I never really saw Avery shooting open much. My suggestion would be to look at who is at the top of the game and pick that instructor. Todd can pick up a open, limited or prod gun and be at the top of the heap. He is just an incredible shooter and he can translate that ability into instruction. He will give you info overload, take notes because he covers so much stuff you can't get it all in 2 days.

[al503]

regardless of who, it's a nice dilemma you have there.

[blackdragon]

TJ

Ivan

[PaulW]

TJ - Just a down-to-earth guy that will answer any question you may have. He will honestly tell you what you need to work and will show you a ton of little things that will make you say "Why didn't I think of that?".

[Bigbadaboom]

T.J. Because he seems to care more about how to shoot the given target than what kind of target you are going to be shooting.

[Steve Moneypenny]

Todd

Because.

1 He's the only tripple crown champion (US nats Euro champ and WS)

2 He's been doing this game for years and you want to learn the GAME right?

3 look at the results he shoots open a great deal more than the other instruction you mentioned

open is a different game than any other of the divsions learn it from someone who knows it.

[BSeevers]

Open? Only choice is TJ

[Viggen]

Go with Todd.

[Viggen]

And now that I just finished reading Ron's article in Front Sight I would even more strongly suggest that Todd is the way to go for classes.

I haven't seen a good old Nija IPSC article in a long time. Often, as people age, they often take a more "tactical" perspecitive. I find myself falling into that mindset occasionally. But then I realize that I am there to shoot the stage as it stands. It's a shooting match.

You might not find Ron very open to what an Open shooter is looking for, at least by the looks of that article he would tend to cater to cops and the concealed carry "practioner", whatever that might be.

[Nick Weidhaas]

Highly recommend TJ. Have done two classes with him. He shows you very quickly the game is not about shooting fast, but efficiency of movement. His stage break down instruction was amazing. Nick-

[EricW]

I've spent a couple hours on the phone with Ron. I can tell you for a fact he is not brazenly "anti-Open Blaster." He actually believes that they can be highly effective tools.

He does train a hell of a lot of cops, so I will tell you that he is going to lean toward the tactical side if he leans at all, but he is NOT going crap all over you just because you showed up with an open gun. It's called "Competition Shooting Camp" for a reason.

Not a week goes by where I don't get an email or a phone call from one of Ron's students. I have yet to hear an unkind word for Avery's instruction.

[Merlin Orr]

My thinking is that as a "B" shooter that it would be much less important who you choose... You are likely to get much more info that you can process anyway. When you are near the top of the heap it looks like then is when you would want to look very closely at individual styles and teaching methods..

My .02

[Chriss Grube]

merlin,

I'll disagree with your thinking. Get the best training for the division as early as possible. You can prevent bad habits which will be much harder to retrain and why waste years of doing things half assed when you can start out right and save the grief?