Back in the Summer of 2024 I had the opportunity to attend the inaugural Rangemaster Advanced Shotgun Instructor course. If you’re reading this now, you may notice that the current year is not 2024. I can’t tell you why exactly it’s taken me nearly two years to write the after-action report for this class, other than simple procrastination. In the early Spring of this year, 2026, I poured over my notes and student guides from every Rangemaster course I’d taken up to that point for a project. During this review, I realized that the Advanced Shotgun was the only formal Rangemaster course I’d not written something about. It’s time to fix that, so here is my unfashionably late after action report of the course.
[Author’s Note: It’s been a while since I attended this course, and while notes are excellent, there are certainly some things that have faded from memory. Additionally, some aspects of the curriculum, the range facilities, and more, may have changed in the following years. As such, there may be some omissions here to avoid confusion with more recent information or due to the sands of time.]
Cohutta Pines, Cisco, Georgia
The weather was hot, but overall fine during class. Students were able to stand underneath a large shaded overhang from our shooting positions, shielding us from the sun.
For this class I brought along my trusty Beretta A300 Ultima Patrol. In short, my gear didn’t change much from the “basic” Rangemaster Shotgun Instructor course that I attended in the Summer of 2023. The Beretta featured a Steiner MPS on a Reptilia Saddle Mount, and an Esstac soft side saddle. Reloads on my belt were from Safariland 085 shell holders mounted on a Blue Alpha double layer belt.
Class saw a somewhat wide variety of gear. Shotguns included various Remington 870s, Beretta 1301s, and Mossberg 500/590 shotguns, about 60% of which were semiautos. Many shooters used optics, which include the Trijicon RMR, Aimpoint T2, Shield RMS, UTG Micro Reflex, and the 507C, 507 Comp, and 509T from Holosun. Many of the Beretta guns were kitted out in gear from Aridus Industries, along with various Vang Comp accessories, and more.
Students range from law enforcement, former military, IT, doctors, and more. This class was a veritable “who’s who” of the shotgun world, and while not fully inclusive, saw several big names and faces. These include David Cagle, Tim Chandler, Ashton Ray, Aqil Qadir, Jonathan Willis, Zach Cox, John Motil, Dr. Andy Anderson, Eric Hite, Frank Groth, and more. In total, 25 shooters travel here from 16 different states.
Class begins with a warm welcome from Tom, which quickly leads into our introductions. Everyone here is a repeat offender when it comes to Rangemaster, and while there are a few new faces here and there, most students know each other from previous classes and social circles. After briefing a medical plan, lecture begins with discussion on Push-Pull from Tim and Ashton, followed by a creative demo of the technique from Zach Cox. Next we get a refresher on ammunition selection, along with serving sizes and shotgun manipulations. Finally we cap-off lecture with a long discussion on various loading techniques, covering some potential issues and context for each.
Range time starts with a warm up, working Up Drills with empty guns from low ready. From here we practice port loading, coming from both underneath and over the receiver. After this we compare and contrast Violin loading along side “duck hunter” loading. We break for lunch, then start working on some live fire against steel targets after a few students excessively shoot up our paper targets during morning range time. This starts with a run through Stationary Thunder to practice our loading techniques. Next we all run through the Shotgun Casino Drill, with some very solid times. Below are a few of our high performers, alongside their gun of choice for class.
That leads directly into a Man-Versus-Man shoot off, pairing people up based upon their Casino Drill times. I win 2/3 of our shoots, though I no longer remember who my opponent was. From here we go back to dry practice before transitioning to buckshot for Up Drills working ready positions. Next we swap to slugs to verify our zero, as our qualification will be entirely shot with slugs. Finally Tom reviews the day’s content, and gives expectations for tomorrow.
Day two begins in the parking lot with some students presenting a cake and presents to Tom as part of a surprise birthday celebration for our instructor. On the range, coaching continues as we run through Stationary Thunder, Rolling Thunder, and Static Thunder one after another. A dud round gives me a 30.36 time on my final Stationary Thunder, as I work to clear and replace my bad ammunition on the clock. During breaks several of our small groups have deep dives on topics such as performance ceilings and floors, emotional control, consistency versus peak performance, and more. Next we get a brief lecture on the left-handed use of the shotgun, along with some brief practice shooting slugs from our non-dominant side.
This leads into our final qualification, which is a modified version of the Shotgun Instructor qual we’re all familiar with. I shoot a 97% with my Beretta, making for a solid passing score. Once quals are done, we clean up the range and head to lunch.
After lunch we return to the classroom for a maintenance focused lecture provided by Tim Chandler and Ashton Ray. Ashton takes the lead, giving us a deep dive on weapons lubricant; we get instruction on types of lubricants and their qualities, things to avoid, along with context and some history leading up to today. After this Tim gives a lecture on basic maintenance and trouble shooting of Remington, Mossberg, and Beretta shotguns. We are encouraged to follow along with our cleared shotguns, getting hands-on to help us retain the information. This portion was worth the price of entry alone, and a big stand-out for me as someone who had been wanting to improve this area of weakness.
Once lecture concludes and we clean up, Tom presents everyone with their certificates, along with handing out awards to our high performers. Zach Cox of Apache Solutions makes Top Gun after a tight race for the number-one spot. From here we begin packing our things, say our goodbyes, and hit the road.
I really enjoyed my time at the Rangemaster Advanced Shotgun Instructor Course. This course truly epitomized the phrase “Rangemaster family” in my eyes thanks to the incredible amount of focused conversation, coaching and mentoring, and connection that was had by all involved. Tim and Ashton’s lectures provided an excellent compliment to the traditional shotgun employment portions of class, making for a well rounded presentation.
I’m curious to see if Rangemaster’s shotgun curriculum will birth a Master level class to compliment its pistol offerings. Should that happen in the future, you’ll be sure to see me there. Until then, if you’re a graduate of the Rangemaster Shotgun Instructor course, consider signing up for the Advanced course to further your learning.
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