Welcome to VX Marksmanship
Welcome to VX Marksmanship. We are a private member-only tactical firearm training facility located on 43 acres between Denton and Decatur. Our members come from all walks of life and include military and law enforcement personnel as well as civilians. Members train across a spectrum of platforms: Tactical Pistol, Tactical Carbine, and Precision Rifle. Our training emphasis is on fundamentals and dynamic instruction, with an overarching goal at all times being to instill and cultivate an “operator’s mindset.”
VX accepts a limited number of additional members each year. Member prospects are assessed and vetted over a four-session Tactical Pistol training course, with each session 3-4 hours. Please scroll down to read more about the prospect assessment and vetting process.
VX also provides team training to military units and law enforcement departments. If you are looking for military or law enforcement team training information, please click here to be taken to your page.
About VX
VX’s membership is comprised of serious shooters from all walks of life brought together by a common bond — dedication to the constant development of their tactical mindset and shooting skills. Members do so through our dynamic training program which is designed for beginners to advanced shooters across all platforms: Tactical Pistol, Tactical Carbine and Precision Rifle. Through intensive and highly personalized instruction, VX develops its members with an emphasis on fundamentals and dynamic movement and an overarching focus at all times on instillation and strengthening of an operator’s mindset. VX members of all levels are on a “training journey,” continually improving skillsets, focusing on economy of motion for a quicker presentation and becoming surgically precise in marksmanship.
VX’s motto is “Respect Defeats Ego.” All students, whether civilian, law enforcement or military, are treated with respect while being firmly and constantly pushed beyond their own perceived limits. By continually challenging members, VX develops their ability to respond in any situation, whether combat, self-defense, hunting or competition, and in the process also instills broadly applicable valuable life skills.
VX’s program was developed by its president and lead instructor, Dan Sanderford. Dan is a former Force Recon Marine Scout Sniper who spent many years as an operator throughout multiple deployments to the Middle East. While serving as a Recon team leader, Dan’s teaching talents were recognized, resulting in his reassignment to the instructor staff at Marine Corps Special Operations Training Group (SOTG), where he taught Sniper, Reconnaissance & Surveillance, Close Quarters Combat and Visit, Board, Search & Seizure (VBSS). After leaving the Marine Corps, Dan worked for several years as an instructor with a private security contracting firm before leaving to found VX.
The Facility
The VX facility is a state of the art, private 43-acre gated training facility located between Denton and Decatur specifically designed for training private citizens, military and law enforcement. It has four 360-degree Tactical Pistol and Tactical Carbine bays (including a covered bay), allowing our shooters to safely engage from all directions, as well as multiple dynamic impact, modular and moving targets for a variety of applications under the guidance of our training instructors. The VX range is equipped with lighting for night shoot courses, which we regularly conduct for our members.
Our 1,000-yard Precision Rifle long range has multiple steel targets at 100-yard intervals. Precision Rifle students engage from a covered shelter with multiple supported positions, providing a variety of options from which to shoot dynamically.
Our range house is a secured building with classroom (with seating for 25 students), members’ lounge, shower/bath and dining area. It is also used for room clearing drills and other related training.
Client Testimonials
Don’t take our word for it – here’s what our members say:
“They all put high emphasis on fundamentals, focus, and mindset. ”
John Doe
“…your mindset and shooting abilities will grow like never before.”
John Doe
“The training reaches far beyond improving our firearm skills.”
John Doe
Member Prospect Assessment and Vetting
Please contact us if you are interested in pursuing training with VX. A short telephone interview will be arranged to answer any questions you may have, assess your goals and evaluate whether VX would be a good fit for you. Assuming continued interest at that point by both VX and you, you will be invited to sign up for our four-course prospect Tactical Pistol training package. (While our members actively train across all platforms—Tactical Pistol, Tactical Carbine and Precision Rifle—the prospect training package focuses on Tactical Pistol only.) This consists of four training sessions, each lasting 3-4 hours, scheduled over a period of several weeks. Tactical Pistol fundamentals (both static and dynamic) will be comprehensively and expertly covered, but most importantly the prospect will receive an initial exposure to VX’s mindset-centric approach to training while VX’s instructors assess the student’s suitability for membership.
While all students will learn invaluable skills while training at VX, successful member prospects will be those who demonstrate a focused and professional mindset that evidences a strong learning curve: that is, an ability to improve the rate and quality of processing the instruction being received. As a natural corollary to this, VX is not seeking the fastest and most accurate or “perfect” shooters, but instead, those who are willing to set aside egos and apply grit to the process regardless of their background or prior experience level. These are the students who will respond positively as we deliberately manufacture stress—gradually and in a carefully controlled fashion—within our curriculum. This engineered mindset growth prepares students to perform successfully when faced with the realities of an actual situation requiring firearms proficiency. To build the trust level required to nurture and sustain this growth process, VX instructors continually provide the “why behind the what” as to all teaching points, thereby promoting a higher understanding level with respect to all elements of training.
VX’s training emphasizes conceptual understanding and development of the ability to think better under stress rather than memorization. Round counts are typically not very high during training sessions, enabling students to more productively focus on mindset, technique, marksmanship and tactical synthesis (putting everything together). It’s not about how many rounds you fire downrange, it’s about how much you are learning and whether you are actively improving your learning (that is, growing your learning curve).
Communication is also heavily emphasized. This does not mean that students are expected to employ the right “lingo” or speak eloquently, but rather that they are able to communicate effectively with instructors to evidence that fluid mental processing is occurring.
We will provide 100% effort toward teaching, but success will not be achievable without a reciprocal level of effort from our students. Not every prospect will receive an invitation to our membership program, but all will come away with some understanding of operator’s mindset and significantly developed or enhanced firearm and tactical skills. Prospects who demonstrate a high level of professionalism, an excuse-free mentality, a willingness to receive instruction, an ability to stay in sync with instructors and a learning curve will receive a membership invitation.
Once in the membership program, members will have access to comprehensive training across all platforms: Tactical Pistol, Tactical Carbine and Precision Rifle.
Contact us
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