Tac Pro Shooting Ctr

[ranburr]

Has anybody taken the advanced pistol class? Or, any of their calsses? How would you rate them?

[38super]

The CEO is ex SBS/ex SAS, writes for SWAT mag and many others. I have not been on his course, but know many who have.

[JohnKSa]

I've visited Tac Pro and shot on some of their pistol ranges. The owner/operator is a very sharp guy and has the credentials to prove that he knows what he teaches and what he's talking about.

In addition to doing some writing, he has also appeared on Shooting USA in some of the tips from the experts segments.

I have not taken any of the classes.

[Trigger Finger]

Would anyone care to name this mysterious Tac Pro instructor?

[zoomie]

http://www.shootingusa.com/PRO_TIPS/...l_davison.html

[JohnKSa]

Sorry, I can never remember his last name and it seems presumptuous of me to call him "Bill" given that I've only met him once.

Bill Davison is the name--thanks to zoomie for the "hint".

[Bartholomew Roberts]

I've taken a number of classes there, to include Primary Pistol, Intermediate Pistol, Primary Carbine, Intermediate Carbine and Force on Force. In addition to those classes, two good friends of mine have taken several of the Precision Rifle classes and Shotgun classes. I think they recently redid the courses to eliminate the Intermediate courses and combine part of that instruction into the basic course and the other part into the Advanced course. Under the older system there were three levels and fewer new things were introduced from one level to another; but you got more repetitions of each drill.

Obviously, I've been pleased with the course of instruction there. I've been paying my own money to go there since 2002. When I first started the facilities were pretty basic; but still some of the best within 2 hours of the DFW area.

The stuff they have out there now is even better. Last time I was out there in September, they were adding motorized targets to the 300-1,000yd range. It looks like the new targets will have a mover, wobblers, and turning/flipping targets that will turn sideways after a given time.

At the time I took the Primary Pistol Course, I had already had taken one pistol course from a former Army Special Forces instructor and had been shooting IDPA for awhile. Despite that, the Primary Pistol course there was easily one of the best investments I ever made in terms of my shooting skills and what I learned from it. I plan to take it again as a matter of fact, it was that good.

Bill Davison is the owner of the range and used to be a much more hands on guy where you would see him there all the time and could pick his mind on a wide variety of subjects. And that is pretty entertaining in itself since Bill's background is that he was a Royal Marine Commando with 45 Squadron and a Counter-Revolutionary Warfare (or some strange name like that - it was the British phrase from the 1980s for CQB instructor) Instructor who worked with SBS "M" Squadron and served in Northern Ireland and other places. On top of that, he has over 10 years experience in Executive Protection (a lot in Africa), including recent (2000+) exeperience including Iraq and SE Asia. As Ashley Emerson once wrote, Tac-Pro is one of the few ranges where the money to build it was earned gun-in-hand.

I think Bill still does most of the instruction out there; but there is also the former counterterrorism guy from DFW airport working as an instructor out there. I forget his name because they all call him "Uncle Dean"; but he is a good source of knowledge in his own right.

On top of that, I know travelling instructors come out to the range occasionally, including guys like Paul Gomez and Tom Givens. As a bonus, there are the "side events" going on from various agencies that you occasionally get to see a glimpse of... Surefire was out there with a bunch of suppressors and a SAW one time when I visited.

At one time, the range was open to the public and you could just drive out there and visit it. They had bays set up where you could practice shooting and moving, steel, etc. I think due to the increasing traffic out there, the range is now restricted to members or people with members. Too many yahoos shooting up the pistol steel with rifles or unaware of basic principles of firearm safety.

How would you rate them?

I've taken classes at Texas Pistol Academy, TDSA, Pro-Tac Global (when it existed), and Tiger Valley as well as Tac-Pro. I've even taken classes at other places I won't waste your time by mentioning. In all that time, there was only one place where I felt the course of instruction was a waste of my time and money (my last CHL renewal). Every other place, I've always had a positive experience and managed to take away some good info from good guys. Having said that, I like Tac Pro a lot and feel they have enough to offer that I am planning on paying even more money (higher class fees and higher ammo costs now) to retake a class I have already taken there. Considering some of the great training opportunities we have in Texas, I think that says a lot about their quality of instruction.