Best Long Gun/Handgun Classes Available

Hey guys, I joined this forum after moving here from Kansas and being an avid member of the Kansas CCW forums. I am now here in Grand Junction and am looking for the highest quality trainers in the area, whether that be 5 minutes from me, or 4 hours away. I have compiled a list from what I have found in the area near me, but none of them really describe what the trainers have done, as in what kind of experience they have had, other than one of the sites. I am really looking to get some more training for home defense, low light, long gun/hand gun, ground defense, hand to hand/pistol defense, etc. In Kansas we had a certified high end instructor which offered classes from Larry Vickers, this is kind of what I am looking for, a class where I will get top tier knowledge and attention. Here is what I have found so far, none of which look too appealing, but you may know more than me.

http://www.victorydefense.com

http://personaldefenseinstitute.org

http://grandvalleyshootingsports.blogspot.com/

http://freedomfirstfirearms.com

http://www.rmgo.org/

http://www.coloradoweaponstraining.com/index.htm

http://plctraining.webs.com/

http://www.specialtyfirearmstraining.com

If any of these places are good let me know, if not then if you can recommend someone that would be great. I have been here for all of 2 days so far, but would like to get a lay of the land as far as where I can go to take some classes and grab the schedule to match it with mine.

Thank you,
Yurik

Unfortunately I think your pickings are pretty slim on the western slope. It may be worth your while to come down to Denver for a 2-day weekend class- many of which are offered by Meanstreets Tactical and Defensive Response Training. I have taken many classes thru DRT, they sponsor Andy Stanford during the summers as their stud guest trainer. Look up his bona fides on the internet. I recently took my first class from Meanstreets, they seem to have it together, but I have not as of yet taken a pistol class from them.

John Brown in Montrose who is an instructor for Combat Focus Shooting - http://www.combatfocusshooting.com/people/john-brown
Jeremiah Miles - http://www.combatfocusshooting.com/p...jeremiah-miles

I have recently taken a carbine class with John. Jeremiah was the second instructor on the pistol part of the class teaching along with Rob Pincus.

If you want to learn long range shooting the Thunder Best Training Group is hard to beat: http://thunderbeastarms.com/training/

see links in sig line...

If you want I'm going to start up in Aug/Sept with Tactical carbine/pistol classes in/around Denver... just as soon as I get my NRA instructor Certs.
My experience is 4 years US Army: Protective Security Detail, Tactical Carbine, Combat Applications Training, Combat Pistol, BattleFocus training, Basic Army Rifle Marksmanship (qualification Expert), Convoy security training, combat detention training, static defense training... I should really get a training resume, the list goes on. And anyone else who wants in, I can post more info as time gets closer, just need to find a location to do training, which will also include CCW, Basic Pistol I & II, Tactical Pistol, Carbine I & II, Tactical Carbine/Pistol, and some more.

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I am now here in Grand Junction and am looking for the highest quality trainers in the area,

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I posted in your area as requested. More qualified instructors in the front range area as posted above.

Thanks guys! I think taking a class with Rob Pincus would be awesome, I have his training DVD series and watch his show on TV all the time. I will look into some of the others as well, if you have any more recommendations keep them coming, I usually have a pretty packed schedule so I would like to get a couple trainers picked out so I can hope that 1 of them will be teaching on the week I will be free.

Colo CCW and Front Range training, exactly what I'm looking for! Any others like that that may be closer would be awesome as well, but I would be willing to drive 5 hours for that type of training.

I'm also looking for handgun/knife hand to hand combat training, or blade martial arts in general, using less then 4" blade knives in a CC type environment, if anyone knows of those type of classes I'm very interested as well.

It depends on the training you're looking for.
If you just want to get your CCW permit, its not a big deal... go to the closest one.
If you want to learn how to fight with a firearm, you'll need to travel (worth it for these guys). SI is the hands down best school out there, and they teach courses in a few different places, but none in CO (look at the course descriptions... mainly Force on Force and 0-5, and the pistol and rifle courses... for details on em).

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Originally Posted by mcantar18c

It depends on the training you're looking for.
If you just want to get your CCW permit, its not a big deal... go to the closest one.
If you want to learn how to fight with a firearm, you'll need to travel (worth it for these guys). SI is the hands down best school out there, and they teach courses in a few different places, but none in CO (look at the course descriptions... mainly Force on Force and 0-5, and the pistol and rifle courses... for details on em).

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I already have my CCW, I am looking how to fight with a firearm, and how to handle various situations. I will look into it, I like the idea of force on force, what better way to learn than by actually doing it for real. I also like the fact that one of the other schools has paintball firearms for training indoors, real simulation is the best way to learn imo.

If you want REALISTIC Force-on-Force training you have to find a school that features Simunition training. There aren't very many- Defensive Response Training (DRT) is one of them. YammyMonkey here on CoAr is an instructor for that school.

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Originally Posted by sneakerd

If you want REALISTIC Force-on-Force training you have to find a school that features Simunition training. There aren't very many- Defensive Response Training (DRT) is one of them. YammyMonkey here on CoAr is an instructor for that school.

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Simunitions are not available for civilian use (their rules). Have to use UTM.

That's true in general. However- DRT does have occasional Simunition training classes. That's a fact. As I said, such training is hard to find. See you up there in a couple of hours!

I'll pig pile on what Blowby said...

I took a class (same one as Blowby) with John Brown, who is a great trainer of a great program. He is only a hour from Grand Junction. Philip

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Originally Posted by Blowby

John Brown in Montrose who is an instructor for Combat Focus Shooting - http://www.combatfocusshooting.com/people/john-brown
Jeremiah Miles - http://www.combatfocusshooting.com/p...jeremiah-miles

I have recently taken a carbine class with John. Jeremiah was the second instructor on the pistol part of the class teaching along with Rob Pincus.

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