Originally Posted by
dogcaller
Approximately 4 hrs are spent in "classroom," including safety, different handgun/ammunition types, cleaning/caring for/storing weapons, legal issues, the fundamentals of shooting, and conflict avoidance, including Cooper's colors and Boyd's OODA Loop. I make painfully clear in my presentation that this is the beginning, and that it is vitally important that they seek out qualified instruction in firearms, either from me or elsewhere, and that they practice their skills. The range portion is typically ~90 mins. long.
My experience over the past several years is that essentially none of the participants have any sort of formal handgun training. Some have never fired a handgun, some "...grew up around guns," mostly rifles and big-game hunting, and a few were in the military long ago, but were trained in rifles. It is not uncommon for me to have paticipants new to shooting, particularly women. I find that these female shooters are often the best students, but also often have a hard time with the semi-autos which have been recommended to them.
I have never had a student "fail" the live fire portion, but that is because I am literally coaching them directly, and repeatedly, and we are from 1-5 yds on a large target. Left to their own devices, who knows? I haven't left them to their own devices because I feel part of my responsibility is to teach and coach. I could increase the live-fire portion, but by how much. Even a 6hr class makes a long day for participants.