AAR for Modern Samurai Project 2 Day RDS Pistol

April 13/14, 2019

Lewisberry, PA

I’m going to cover what gear I used first, because it was the foundation that allowed me to listen and absorb information without an underlying concern that my gear was going to fail me or I was being held back by subpar gear.

Gun used : Agency Arms Gavel 17 with RMR06 Type 2, ModK Armory Ported barrel, Agency trigger, stock minus connector shooting Fiocchi 115 grain

Support gear used : I was constantly changing up my gear throughout both days to find what I liked best and also I needed to work around a very painful injury to all of the fingertips on my strong hand (my nailbeds were exposed so even the lightest pressure hurt.) I used a Vdevelopmentgroup Meginjord belt, a Langdon Tactical Foundations belt, Alonso Defense Group, and Ares Gear Aegis.  I also used a Harry’s Holsters Executive, Dark Star Gear Orion, and JM Custom Kydex holster.  My mag carrier was a Harry’s holsters appendix carrier.  My favorite combination was the Vdevelopment group Meginjord belt with the Harry’s Holsters Executive, but another student was having holster issues (Instagram holster) so I actually lent him my Harry’s and I ended up using the JM custom.  He ended up buying a Harry’s on his phone before the class ended.

Here is a little bit about my background with Scott. After Scott was an AI for a class I was in in late 2016, we had kept in touch via social media and he was always available to answer questions I had about, well, anything. In 2015 I purchased a Unity Tactical slide and RMR – within 3 months I had 4 of these RMRs fail on me, but luckily Amazon had a great return policy and I just kept swapping them out for new ones.  When I received my fifth RMR, it, like all the others, failed again. Except this time I sent it to Trijicon for repair and got it back 6 weeks later.  I went to the range and within the first mag, the dot failed again.  When I say fail, I don’t mean flicker due to poor battery contact, I mean completely shut off and turn back on with a wildly different point of impact.  I sold the slide and RMR and swore off of them as I was convinced the technology was just not ready it (I am still not fully convinced on the Trijicon product, but I think it is the best available at the moment – waiting on the ACRO). After my trial run with the RMRs I went back to iron sights until late fall of 2016 when I was watching some videos and decided to impulse buy an RMR cut slide and a new RMR. A few weeks after that is when I met Scott at the class and I learned a ton.

Like I said, we kept in contact over the years and last summer I took a private lesson with Scott and my friend Damian who is a very proficient shooter.  Skills improved, learning happened, yada yada.  In February of this year, I took a trip down to VA to train with Scott again.  We were supposed to train outside on private property but the weather was so terrible that it was not an option.  Instead of driving 4 hours back to PA without training, we decided to pay a pretty hefty fee to rent out part of an indoor range.  Because of the weather and extra expense (which were all out of Scott’s hands) Scott told the three of us involved in this private lesson that we could attend any one of his classes for free, which was going above and beyond.  Being a full time student and not having much time to travel, I saw Scott was having a class in PA, so Damian and I used our scholarships to attend. 

 

Day 1

              We got to the range and filled out our waivers, did introductions and vocalized expectations for the class.  We covered safety brief and emergency plans in case of an accident inside while people were all paying attention and not distracted with loading mags, etc. Then we headed out to the range and began with the instruction and drills for the day. I’m not going to cover the details of everything taught and every drill run, because it’s not the most important thing.  Scott puts out a ton of free and high quality content on his YouTube channel and he teaches and perfects these things for the individual in class.  So, if you’re reading this and thinking, oh wow, he teaches the same stuff he puts on his YouTube for free – why would I pay to take a class? I think I know Scott well enough now to say that if you think learning from video without external and individualized analytics from a competent professional is sufficient – he probably wouldn’t want you in his class.  However, I will speak about the format of instruction because that is absolutely relevant.  Scott will explain a concept, then give a few examples of good options and a few examples of less ideal options and will explain why.  He will boil this down to a main point, explain the microdrill that we will do to build these skills up, and then DEMO the drill! It’s important that an instructor demos a drill and can perform if they are going to demand that level of performance from a student.  We learned aspects of the draw and presentation, grip, and dot tracking, and then had mini-competitions to see who could perform the tasks the fastest and most accurately.  The winner of these competitions got to hold the chalice (Scott’s spare mag)…. And also they won a shirt of their choice from Viktos. I ended up winning two shirts but the competition was definitely tough.  At the end of the day, Scott gave those interested the option of attempting the Black Belt Standards.  If you are unfamiliar with these, look them up on Modern Samurai Project’s YouTube or website.  I ended up accomplishing the Black Belt Standards successfully and becoming the third winner of the Black Belt Patch behind Point 1 Tactics Donovan and T1CS Jared. We debriefed and headed to dinner together.

Day 2

              Everyone was a little bit looser and more comfortable today but also anxious to see if the weather was going to hold out.  Phil of ViGR Training, who was a student in the class, brought steel targets to help out Scott for our shooting on the move and competition style stage at the end of the class. Side note about Phil – he was the only other instructor I’ve seen taking a class who didn’t parade around that he was an instructor or make comments or ask questions to kind of show that off during the class.  He was very professional and to be honest, the most proficient shooter I’ve ever been in a class with, by far.  We learned shooting on the move and the class environment was fun and everyone was having a good time.  At the end of the day we ran through the competition stage learning what we had from both days and Scott made another competition out of it, this time the winner gets a Phlster Floodlight holster.  I had never run through a competition style stage and been scored in that way before, but I used what I learned from Scott to do my best.  Then, Phil offered some advice to me for my final run through the stage.  He was aiding and abetting the enemy since he was in the lead with the highest hit factor, and he didn’t hesitate to help and explain things to me.  I listened to them both and ran the stage, and won the holster.  Scott ran the class through his Black Belt Standards to finish out the class. We debriefed again and Scott made each student reflect on what they said their original expectations and goals for the class were to see if they had been accomplished or if there goals had changed and opened the floor for any comments, questions or feedback.  Everyone’s expectations were met and exceeded and the improvement in skills and confidence of the class’s shooting ability was dramatic.

              Thanks for taking the time to read this, and I hope you get the opportunity to train with Scott one day.  11/10 would recommend, I even think I got more value out of the class setting than the private lessons, just because of the dispersion effect of having two days to let things settle in.  If you have any other specific questions or comments you want to direct towards me you can reach me on Instagram as @GetYourGunOn and Youtube “Get Your Gun On”.  My website is getyourgunon.com and Facebook is fb.me/getyourgunon

I will be posting gear reviews, training reviews, and AARs as frequently as possible.

Best,

Mark

 

To get in contact with Scott for a class, visit his website modernsamuraiproject.com, watch his youtube videos and follow him on Instagram @modernsamuraiproject