I took a 5 day handgun course at Thunder Ranch when it was located in Texas and it was great. Plenty of shooting with about 1 to 3 ratio of instructors to students. Clint spent a lot of time with each of us. Shot targets, movers, Fun House, night, etc. Well worth the money in my opinion. A friend came back recently from the new Thunder Ranch in the northwest and had the same good experience. I have taken several one or two day courses with lesser known instructors. Most were very worth while.

with all the classes I have attended , I was hoping I would be better by now...

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Of the Troops & For the Troops

Only local training by local trainers. Good results, worth while. Would like to go to a big name trainer but not likely to happen.

Yes

It is well, well, well worth it. I know it isn't cheap, but the Gunsite 250 course is really good and well worth the investment.

Just my $0.02

Matt

It deals more with the legalities of self defense, and the consequences. It really is a "must have" class for anyone who carries a gun. It slso includes some shooting, but not to the extent of some of the other classes.....

I have been criticized for this position in the past but I still hold to it.

If your goal is to learn to maybe shoot somebody quick with a sidearm and for sure not get shot yourself (which should be the optimum outcome of any gunfight) the solution is clear.

Train force on force in your backyard in the dark with a flashlight and do it a lot.

Buy two high quality air soft pistols that match your side arm and proper flashlights, head out into your backyard with a friend at night and shoot it out until you both look like you have the measles. Have a couple of beers and do it again half buzzed. Get the hang of point shooting instinctively. Do it until it is hard wired.

A couple of things will become instantly clear.

To stand and deliver will get you shot right off the bat.

If one excepts the fact that 90% of civilian shooting are at conversational distance and most in the dark, the only thing that wins is speed and violence of action.

If you can jerk your sidearm and fire a burst at your man's face as fast as you can while jumping off to the side and running away as fast as you can and don't get shot...your a big winner and that's as good as it gets.

I have spent a fortune at gun slinger courses but some of the best training ever was/is the in back yard with some high school air soft ninjas and it was free.

Force on force is the only way to learn how to not get shot and can be learned at a very high level with very little money in your backward.

I have enjoyed most of the gun slinger courses I have taken however most of them taught marksmanship instead of how to not get shot.

Big difference.

Cheers,

Byron

Back in the late '80s I took the Mas Ayoob's LFI-1 course, plus the Firestar course (a weekend course taught by Rick Devoid). The following year, I had a weekend course with the Defense Training Institute in North Jersey with Farnum and Kapelsohn.

I brought a custom Smolt (Smith Model 66 plus a 4-inch Python barrel) to LFI-1 and shot .38 +Ps. For the DTI course, I switched to a Sig-Sauer 229 in 9 mm.

Great training from guys who knew what they were talking about.

Scribe