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Where do you find formal firearm training for other types of shooting?

pk5333

pk5333

can't hit the broad side of a barn
Full Member
Minuteman
Nov 29, 2021
122
215
Northeast Ohio, USA
I know we have the training course forum here, which I've found to be helpful and actually signed up for a CR2 course in Virginia next May.

But where does everyone find training for other types of shooting and related training (pistol, AR, medical, etc)? Any good sources that compile this?
 
How far are you from Port Clinton? The Civilian Marksmanship Program holds National Championships there every summer for rifle, pistol and smallbore and they have practically free training there before every match. They also have a selection of military rifle, Garand matches and vintage sniper rifle matches you can shoot with everyone else. They shoot year round air rifle and pistol indoors there also. Nothing will punish you for bad sight picture, bad shooting position or bad self control quite like an air gun.

To be fair to the Marine Corps, they throw in a lot of first aid and AR15 stuff and they pay you to be there. ;)
 
pk5333 said:
I'm too old, and for this "Commander in Chief"? No thanks
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Well, you asked where we found our training and I never paid a penny for any of it...

For starters, what region are you in, or do you want to travel nationwide? What levels and what skillsets are you looking for? What's your budget?

If you want medical, start off with your local Red Cross for basic first aid, then your local community/tech college for an EMT-B course, then try a wilderness medical course that's available from a few different resources. There's some tactical medical courses out there, but I would recommend starting with basics of ABC if you don't have a background in first aid before stepping into that (and the wilderness medicine will still teach you more).

Firearms? Holy shit are there a ton of options out there, the devil's in the details for what you want and need. There's big names and locations and then the small LGS type training that may be a retired 18B or pure FUDD, odds of what you get are like shooting craps. Or you can just go to Gunsite, they do pretty much all of it and have a professional staff to teach to any skill level.
 
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There are tons of options for training. Where are you located? Dark Angel has pretty good training for medical stuff and now offers online training as well (thanks covid).
 
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pk5333 said:
I know we have the training course forum here, which I've found to be helpful and actually signed up for a CR2 course in Virginia next May.

But where does everyone find training for other types of shooting and related training (pistol, AR, medical, etc)? Any good sources that compile this?
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YouTube and arfcom.

You’ll be a ninja in like 2 weeks max…
 
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Redmanss said:
Well, you asked where we found our training and I never paid a penny for any of it...

For starters, what region are you in, or do you want to travel nationwide? What levels and what skillsets are you looking for? What's your budget?

If you want medical, start off with your local Red Cross for basic first aid, then your local community/tech college for an EMT-B course, then try a wilderness medical course that's available from a few different resources. There's some tactical medical courses out there, but I would recommend starting with basics of ABC if you don't have a background in first aid before stepping into that (and the wilderness medicine will still teach you more).

Firearms? Holy shit are there a ton of options out there, the devil's in the details for what you want and need. There's big names and locations and then the small LGS type training that may be a retired 18B or pure FUDD, odds of what you get are like shooting craps. Or you can just go to Gunsite, they do pretty much all of it and have a professional staff to teach to any skill level.
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Find a good TCCC course in your area......Tactical Combat Casualty Care.

They will teach you from the ground up. They are kinda pricey, but great knowledge and hands on stuff.

Doc
 
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Redmanss said:
Well, you asked where we found our training and I never paid a penny for any of it...

For starters, what region are you in, or do you want to travel nationwide? What levels and what skillsets are you looking for? What's your budget?

If you want medical, start off with your local Red Cross for basic first aid, then your local community/tech college for an EMT-B course, then try a wilderness medical course that's available from a few different resources. There's some tactical medical courses out there, but I would recommend starting with basics of ABC if you don't have a background in first aid before stepping into that (and the wilderness medicine will still teach you more).

Firearms? Holy shit are there a ton of options out there, the devil's in the details for what you want and need. There's big names and locations and then the small LGS type training that may be a retired 18B or pure FUDD, odds of what you get are like shooting craps. Or you can just go to Gunsite, they do pretty much all of it and have a professional staff to teach to any skill level.
Click to expand...
I'm in northeast Ohio. I'd like to be within a ten hour drive, but less if it's something more common like "defensive pistol". Budget, well, it's slightly flexible. I just paid $850 for a three day Precision Rifle Level 1 class, but for a 6-hour carbine class I wouldn't consider paying anything close to that.

I have medical (first aid, cpr, aed, stop the bleed). I have basic firearms experience. Shot a little bit of pistol and rifle for years. Occasionally do comps like USPSA (maybe three per year). I probably have some bad habits that need to be dealt with.

I'll likely go to an Appleseed event in the near future. And a defensive pistol course.

I was more just wondering where to browse for such events, as I think taking some type of formal training should be a semi-regular part of my life.
 
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pk5333 said:
I think taking some type of formal training should be a semi-regular part of my life.
Click to expand...

For some specialized skills, yes.

To be skilled in the use of firearms, not so much.

IME shooting is something that you can easily teach yourself if you know where to look for resources, you are diligent, and can be objective and self critical.

When it comes to handguns, the weapon we will most likely ever need, start here:
 
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It's a little further than 10 hours, but Sig Sauer Academy is worth a look.

Edit- looks like @wcberry beat me to the punch.
 
308pirate said:
For some specialized skills, yes.

To be skilled in the use of firearms, not so much.

IME shooting is something that you can easily teach yourself if you know where to look for resources, you are diligent, and can be objective and self critical.

When it comes to handguns, the weapon we will most likely ever need, start here:
Click to expand...
I'll check those out, thanks.
 
308pirate said:
For some specialized skills, yes.

To be skilled in the use of firearms, not so much.

IME shooting is something that you can easily teach yourself if you know where to look for resources, you are diligent, and can be objective and self critical.

When it comes to handguns, the weapon we will most likely ever need, start here:
Click to expand...
What a dumbass, lol.
 
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I have been taking a class from OpSpecTraining.com every year for the last 10. I have been taking their pistol training classes, but they have all types of firearms training. They teach all over the country. I have been EXTREMELY please which my skill improvements. Outshoot all the LEOs in the class on a regular basis.
 
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Join a Bullseye shooting club and do that for 6 months to a year. Actually, do it forever.

After that do some of the ninja training and lol at everyone who gets wrecked shooting beyond 10 yards.

Shooting well at 25 and 50 yards…one handed translates to shooting phenomenal at shorter ranges.
 
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Bigfatcock said:
Join a Bullseye shooting club and do that for 6 months to a year. Actually, do it forever.

After that do some of the ninja training and lol at everyone who gets wrecked shooting beyond 10 yards.

Shooting well at 25 and 50 yards…one handed translates to shooting phenomenal at shorter ranges.
Click to expand...

Ima be honest, I don't see a lot of value in having the majority of your live and dry fire being slow fire one-handed shooting.

While I agree with your last sentence, Bullseye does nothing to teach you about a modern two-handed grip (which is what we will use probably 99% of the time), or about managing the balance of speed vs accuracy, or transitions between targets, or shooting targets that move, or drawing or reloading under tight time constraints, or shooting on the move, or any other number of practical skills.

As a matter of fact, I have watched a guy who is semi local and belongs to one of the reserve services shooting team make the transition from bullseye to USPSA and it's like nothing transferred. I've literally watched his fundamentals fall apart under time pressure since I've shot in the same squad as him a time or two. He's having to relearn almost everything about handgun technique.

People who shoot at a high level in USPSA seem to be the most well rounded in terms of handgun skill.
 
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I have been told, by those in the business, that the top level USPSA shooters all practice about 2 hours a day doing dry fire. 500-600 rounds of dry fire to each live fire round. Developing the "muscle memory" or conditioned response so the nerve impulses and trigger control are automatic is what makes top shooters so fast.
 
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308pirate said:
People who shoot at a high level in USPSA seem to be the most well rounded in terms of handgun skill.
Click to expand...

And just like that.....those handgun skills were directly transferable to a car_bean.

No joke - go find a competitive club and start working. The instruction from any class is one thing, your chops come about b/c of the work.
 
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c1steve said:
I have been told, by those in the business, that the top level USPSA shooters all practice about 2 hours a day doing dry fire. 500-600 rounds of dry fire to each live fire round. Developing the "muscle memory" or conditioned response so the nerve impulses and trigger control are automatic is what makes top shooters so fast.
Click to expand...

Dry fire is key.

Once you understand how to do it productively, it is the key that unlocks performance. Fortunately there are excellent books/video resources to show you how.

The best formal training teaches you how to learn.
 
308pirate said:
Ima be honest, I don't see a lot of value in having the majority of your live and dry fire being slow fire one-handed shooting.

While I agree with your last sentence, Bullseye does nothing to teach you about a modern two-handed grip (which is what we will use probably 99% of the time), or about managing the balance of speed vs accuracy, or transitions between targets, or shooting targets that move, or drawing or reloading under tight time constraints, or shooting on the move, or any other number of practical skills.

As a matter of fact, I have watched a guy who is semi local and belongs to one of the reserve services shooting team make the transition from bullseye to USPSA and it's like nothing transferred. I've literally watched his fundamentals fall apart under time pressure since I've shot in the same squad as him a time or two. He's having to relearn almost everything about handgun technique.

People who shoot at a high level in USPSA seem to be the most well rounded in terms of handgun skill.
Click to expand...
The value comes from learning the fundamentals and shooting for pure accuracy. I challenge anyone to shoot a Bullseye match, and see how it goes. Eye opening for most. It’s a true test of the gun’s mechanical accuracy and shooter ability.

Rapid fire is no joke.

Fundamentals of shooting translate to all disciplines. Trigger pull, sight picture, alignment, breathing, etc.

However, Bullseye is just my recommendation. You’re dead on correct about the lack of multiple target engagement in Bullseye. Which I guess is more in line of what the OP asked for. As well as the more relevant shoot and move involved in other disciplines.

There is value in most of the competition shooting disciplines.

Well, maybe not CAS. Pure gaming shooting billboard size targets at very close distance.
 
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pk5333 said:
I know we have the training course forum here, which I've found to be helpful and actually signed up for a CR2 course in Virginia next May.

But where does everyone find training for other types of shooting and related training (pistol, AR, medical, etc)? Any good sources that compile this?
Click to expand...
This where you got yours?
Quantico%252C%2BVirginia%2B-%2BQuantico%2BVirginia-765593.png
 
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Bill Drill, when I was tested, .92 first shot and 2.09 for all six, thanks to OpSpec Training. At the range I use, there are guys MUCH faster than me.
They were not impressed with my times. Here is a 1.5 second Bill Drill on Youtube:

 
pk5333 said:
I know we have the training course forum here, which I've found to be helpful and actually signed up for a CR2 course in Virginia next May.

But where does everyone find training for other types of shooting and related training (pistol, AR, medical, etc)? Any good sources that compile this?
Click to expand...
I know your post is a little old but https://www.impactshootingcenter.com/courses near Cincinnati offers great courses if you're still looking for something close to Northern Ohio.
 
pk5333 said:
I'm in northeast Ohio. I'd like to be within a ten hour drive, but less if it's something more common like "defensive pistol". Budget, well, it's slightly flexible. I just paid $850 for a three day Precision Rifle Level 1 class, but for a 6-hour carbine class I wouldn't consider paying anything close to that.

I have medical (first aid, cpr, aed, stop the bleed). I have basic firearms experience. Shot a little bit of pistol and rifle for years. Occasionally do comps like USPSA (maybe three per year). I probably have some bad habits that need to be dealt with.

I'll likely go to an Appleseed event in the near future. And a defensive pistol course.

I was more just wondering where to browse for such events, as I think taking some type of formal training should be a semi-regular part of my life.
Click to expand...
Check out FPF Training. Run by a retired Marine, John Murphy, former president of the Quantico Shooting Club where I took a couple courses with him. He now travels around the country in an RV giving courses.

ww.fpftraining.comFPF Training​


Our mission is to provide training focused on the skills that provide the best chance for success in a self-defense situation. No Hollywood-style gun play or “trademark pending” techniques that look cool but fail under the pressure of violence wielded by a determined opponent.
 
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