JM4 Dimensions: Texas Holsters, Practice, and Training
Eve Flanigan 04.27.21
I’ve worn and enjoyed JM4 Tactical holsters for their comfort and flexibility of fitting more than one gun in my collection, but I’ve always dealt with the company by email; never setting foot in a store. That was the case until recently, when I had the chance to visit the Abilene location, called JM4 Dimensions.
Since my first encounter with the company years ago, they’ve grown into a supportive partner not only of their local community and first responders around the region, they’ve also invested in another essential component of successful concealed carry: training. In addition to being wowed by the selection of attractive holsters and accessories at the store, I left impressed by their all-weather training facility.
JM4 Dimensions training facility is not a live fire range. In some ways, it’s a more valuable and less common asset: a shooting simulator. Co-owner of the business and friendly host, Shawndalyn Myers, requested that my friend and I disarm and utilize the company’s safe for the duration of our simulator time – an essential safety practice. We were then welcomed into a large, private room that houses the simulator. She prepared carbon dioxide-powered Glocks while explaining the program. Onto the wall flashed a menu of choices for firing. Choices included target practice, games, deadly force decisions, and competitive exercises.
The simulator offers plenty of marksmanship and fundamentals practice. A large display serves as the range or other setting, and participants can stand up to about eight yards back or closer to replicate typical handgun shooting distances. As individuals and partners, we cycled through some of the system’s decisional scenarios. Questions of when to draw, when to communicate or flee, whether and how much to fire all presented themselves. By design, the scenarios reward situational awareness as most had subtle cues about where trouble would arise.
When using the system under supervision of a qualified use of deadly force instructor, students can be challenged in ways customized for their needs. Different outcomes are programmed into the system, so a single scenario can have different solutions. Myers pointed out that this feature often reveals dangerous assumptions students can make about situations.
The simulator records shots on target to provide immediate feedback to participants regarding marksmanship and speed. JM4 Dimensions offers it for rental on a membership or hourly rental basis for independent use as well as hosting their own training events. Co-owner Chad Myers, founder of JM4 Tactical, has also earned his credentials as a United States Concealed Carry Association Training Counselor, so he is qualified to train not only developing defensive shooters, but also to mentor new instructors.
JM4 Dimensions has locations in Abilene and Lubbock, Texas with more Texas locations on the drawing board. If you’re in the neighborhood, a visit is well worth your time to both train and shop for high-quality holsters.
