Just got off the phone with a good friend up north. He is a new pistol shooter (but one hell of a trap/sporting clays shotgunner) who I told to quit dicking around and get some training. I recommended Tom Givens, but he could not get the stars aligned for that this year. About the only thing he could arrange, between his work schedule and the available classes that were within driving distance for him, was a three day class by a well-known and rather highly thought-of "trainer"... the questionable parentheses are because of what he just told me.
Today was Day One of three. I had to ask him again what he told me, because I couldn't have possibly heard correctly. I did. 22 students; no... ZERO... AIs; almost ONE THOUSAND rounds in Day One.
That's insane. My buddy got attention just a couple of times. He is quite unhappy that he dropped almost $700 in tuition, not to mention travel/lodging expenses, to stand there and teach himself. Of course, he is pretty much worn out tonight from all that shooting; with close to same amount tomorrow.
Is that what the "industry" is devolving to??? The few classes I have been to since I retired were outstanding people like Tom, Louis Awerbuck, and Tiger McKee. Small classes, 10-12 at most, and ALL had at least one assistant instructor. One thousand rounds... over three days. The last one was two years ago.
Now, if this guy was some shitbird who hung out a shingle with no creds, I would understand. This guy isn't, from most of what I've read in the past. But it looks to me like he's just in it for the bucks.
No, I will not identify this guy, because I'm not there. But my pal has no reason to fabricate any information; I believe every word he said. He is an very experienced competitive shotgun shooter, who just recently became interested in handguns for CCW purposes. I told him he needed to learn how to handle/drive his piece before he got into the CCW world. Looks like I talked him into buying a pig in a poke.
I'll say one thing... a lot of the so-called "Tier One trainers" that I haven't actually seen just fell off my suggest list. This is complete bullshit... 22 students in a basic class (and many of them nimrods), BY YOURSELF, with that many rounds per day??? Beyond amazing.
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Originally Posted by Luke
