Victoria Kogan

Victoria Kogan

Victoria is active in competition shooting, and she is an active member of A Girl & A Gun Women’s Shooting League. Victoria is passionate about teaching others to be confident and competent with firearms.  As well as being a manager at Shady Oaks Gun Range, Victoria is a Texas License to Carry Instructor, NRA Range Safety Officer, NRA Certified Instructor for Basic Pistol, and an IDPA Safety Officer.

Victoria’s advice for beginners:

1. You absolutely must know and follow the four gun safety rules.
2. It’s best to learn the basics of how to shoot before purchasing a firearm.  After you have some experience and familiarity, you’ll have a better understanding of what you like and how to find a firearm that fits your hand.
3. My most successful beginner students have followed the crawl-walk-run advice:
   1. Crawl: Small Caliber – It’s generally easier to start with .22LR and mastering that before moving on to a higher caliber.  While this isn’t the best choice for self-defense, it will establish good fundamental habits, develop confidence/competence, and is more affordable.
   2. Walk: Full-Size Gun –  The next step would be to practice with a full-size (9mm) gun.  When you have an explosion going off in your handgun, weight and size are your FRIEND when learning how to manage recoil.  Start at 3 yards and master the bullseye.  Move on to 7 yards and repeat, gradually adding distance.
   3. Run: Compact Gun – Those cute little pocket pistols are designed to save your life and be easy to carry/conceal.  The trade-off is that they are generally not fun to shoot.  The “snappy” recoil can be a challenge.  It’s also difficult to be accurate, especially at distance, because the shorter barrel amplifies shooting errors.
   4. In the long run (pun intended), you’ll do better by working up to it slowly so that you’ll be able to self-diagnose your shooting mistakes.
   5. Wanna up your game even more? Pick up a revolver. Same philosophy. Start with a full size…work your way up to a compact. (Those little snubby revolvers can be a beast for a novice.) Practicing with a revolver will greatly improve your skills with a semi-auto pistol.
4. If License to Carry is your goal, the course of fire requires 20 rounds at 3 yards, 20 rounds at 7 yards, and 10 rounds at 15 yards.  You can shoot the LTC qualification with .22LR!!!

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Schedule a Private Lesson:

Click on any of the green dates on the calendar, and you will see the available time slots for Victoria. Then click the “Book Now” button to book your appointment today! (Please see note above.)