Dakota Firearms Academy was founded in 2025 by Isaac Josephson with one clear mission: to make learning how to shoot easier.

It became evident that the average person had very few accessible options when it came to learning the fundamentals of shooting. Most beginners today rely on bits of advice from friends or scattered information found online—often incomplete, outdated, or just plain wrong. Our goal is to change that.

At Dakota Firearms Academy, we’re creating a welcoming environment where you can feel confident asking basic questions and learning through hands-on experience. Whether it’s zeroing your rifle, collecting ballistic data, or engaging targets at practical distances for your chosen cartridge, our training is designed to take the guesswork out of shooting.

Our curriculum follows a proven formula used across the firearms industry to teach beginners the right way—making the learning process both effective and enjoyable.

Isaac has been intimately involved with the shooting industry for nearly a decade, where he’s been asked the same question countless times by first-time rifle buyers:
“Where can I go to learn how to shoot?”
For years, there wasn’t a great answer.

After attending numerous shooting schools and a variety of training techniques, Isaac decided it was time to provide a better answer—and Dakota Firearms Academy was born.