Range USA 'Basic Handgun' class review

[ghbucky]

If you aren't familiar with Range USA it is a chain of ranges/gun shops. They have about 45 locations now.

I finally convinced my wife to get some training in firearms. She had never fired a gun before this class. I am not a good teacher, and trying to teach her just leads to arguments, so I signed us up for this 'Basic Handgun' class.

They started off the course with a spiel about USCCA and how they developed the class with the USCCA involvement.

The class was 4 hours, and it did a deep dive into the operation of each type of handgun. DA/SA, SAO, DAO and revolvers. I think they spent WAY too much time in this area, considering it is supposed to be a introductory course. I could see my wife glazing over just due to the information overload on a topic that had very little interest to her. We were shown renderings of what was happening in each type of handgun.

Then the instructor did a very good job of practical handgun use explanations. How to grip a revolver and semi-auto, shooting stance, sight picture and had each student demonstrate the ability to load and clear a revolver and semi-auto handguns (The guns were disabled by the manufacturer and painted blue for this purpose) while showing safe handling skills.

The range time was very good for my wife, and the instructor individually coached her to firing her first shot.

HOWEVER, I do have a big complaint: they never went into discussing eye and ear protection and how important it is. They spent so much time going over minutiea on pistols that this may have had to be cut to get to the range time. I really felt that was a big shortcoming.

[MarkCO]

I wish more ranges would use the NSSF First Shots program. Then offer a fan of training paths for HD, CCW, Action Competition, Straight Line Sports Competition and Clays. We keep trying to reinvent the wheel at the intro levels.

I bet you 3 .22RF (is that a dollar now?) , if you go ask the average person in the class, they have maybe 2 or 3 takeaways and missed several important things that you, as a gun owner, picked up.

Kudos for taking the wife.

My wife has taken a few classes, but getting her to the range to practice is like pulling Hen's teeth.

[ghbucky]

Originally Posted by MarkCO

I wish more ranges would use the NSSF First Shots program. Then offer a fan of training paths for HD, CCW, Action Competition, Straight Line Sports Competition and Clays. We keep trying to reinvent the wheel at the intro levels.

I bet you 3 .22RF (is that a dollar now?) , if you go ask the average person in the class, they have maybe 2 or 3 takeaways and missed several important things that you, as a gun owner, picked up.

Kudos for taking the wife.

My wife has taken a few classes, but getting her to the range to practice is like pulling Hen's teeth.

100% agree. I don't know how or why any instructor would think that a course on basic handguns for as an intro course would care about the engineering of the different kinds of hand guns.

This is their description for the course:

Learn the fundamentals of owning, safely using, and caring for a handgun. This course is ideal for first time shooters, new handgun owners, or as a refresher.

What the difference between DA/SA, SAO, or DAO matters to that audience is beyond me.

"What do I have to do to make it go bang, hit a target and not put others at risk" would be the question I would think they would want to answer.

Sadly, they made a big deal about wanting feedback, but when I tried to respond to their email request for feedback on the class, I was prompted to log into a google account. So they really don't care about feedback, they just want a google review.

I couldn't find a way to respond to the company, so I posted the review here. Maybe, just maybe someone will see it.

[Aguila Blanca]

I have a friend who, like me, has been an NRA-certified handgun instructor for many years. A year or two PC (Pre-Covid) he also became certified as a USCCA instructor. He said he likes their course, and he thinks that in some ways it is better than the NRA Basic Pistol course for students who need training to get a permit. However, my state recognizes the NRA Basic Pistol class for issuing permits, but the state doesn't recognize the USCCA course.

So after a year, USCCA canceled my friend's instructor certification because he hadn't taught enough classes. That happened shortly before the SHOT Show, which I attended (so this would have been either the 2019 or 2020 SHOT Show). USCCA had a big presence at the show, so I dropped by to see if I could get an explanation as to why they canceled my friend's instructor certification.

They didn't want to talk about that, but the DID try to talk me into signing on as a "regional manager." What I finally figured out is that USCCA is a front organization for the company whose insurance they sell. (In fact, they are in the same building, and the name on the building is not US Concealed Carry Association.) The reason they dropped my friend's certification was that he didn't bring in enough prospective customers to buy their insurance.

And the regional manager job they tried to get me to apply for wasn't about helping to spread firearms training, which would have been my interest. It was all about building a network to sell the insurance. Nope -- not my thing.

My opinion (note: "opinion") is that the USCCA class isn't a bad class, but I don't want anything to do with the organization.