Pistol 1

I just completed the course yesterday in Dalton, GA. Paul and Sam were my instructors. Some of the best firearm instructors I've ever met. They're just great guys. They know what they're doing and how to make it come across well. When I signed up for the course, I was looking for something that was "beyond" the basic courses that seem be prevalent around my area. I do understand that if you've never taken a course before, that the basic courses are beneficial. This course, for the most part, assumes you already know your pistol. You may or may not shoot well, but they make assumptions that most of the people there can probably reload their pistols, clear jams, etc. This course gets shooting almost right off the bat. Bring the recommended amount of ammo. We didn't use it all, but it did take a significant amount of my 500 round box. Regardless of your experience, I do recommend this course to everyone. This isn't the NRA "Basic Pistol" course. This is beyond that. I can't wait to take Pistol 2.

I attended Pistol Classes 1 & 2 plus Rifle Classes 1-3 all in one week so I’m just going to spam this review across all 5 site pages. The Good: - There was much useful information. Possibly too much doing all these classes at once in my case. Much was like martial arts instruction. Easy to note down, hard to put into practice instantly. I struggled in part due to my grossly outdated Army training. More adept shooters or those quick on the uptake will likely be fine. - The instructors Paul Perkerson and Sam Houston were excellent instructors, playing a “good cop/bad cop” type interaction with the students. - The two provided incredibly professional, highly knowledgable and highly proficient instruction. The offered no instruction mere opinion. They backed every instructional statement with facts, logic, or at least prior real world experience. They often said “This is not what I accept as a good technique but I know real world professionals who do it and excel.” I didn’t hear them once say “I don’t know.” But I’m absolutely sure if they didn’t know they’d happily tell us. - To my Big Army eye, they ran the range incredibly informally. Yet for that, it remained quite safe for students and instructors alike throughout. - They provided a superb balance between treating students like adults but at the same time not letting them get slack on safety. Both were funny and personable but not so funny or so personable as to lose track of their mission or allow students to become unfocused. - The students with me were overall excellent company and willing to help with skills, information and gear. - Overall, despite me being on the struggle bus, it was a fun experience. Not so Good: - Some of the gear linked in the course requirements is really an implied requirement. For example, I didn’t need a WPS belt. One of the best students just ran his holster off his leather belt. I also didn’t need a full retention holster. I got a SafariLand holster cops to keep crooks from stealing their gun. Its multiple locks plagued me during every quick draw segment. Any kydex-type holster that covers the trigger guard will do. I’ll add that the magazine carriers had two settings: Hold the magazine so tight you had to muscle it out or fall out if you breathe hard. No in between. Maybe they wear in but I gave mine and the WPS away to the guy with the leather belt. - WPS provided no real info on the range until the very last minute via email. And that just a time to show up and an address that wasn’t quite exact. The range was really super developed and had its own website with all the information anyone could reasonably want. The link could’ve been sent at least a week prior. - Warning, this is an unfair critique: So much was taught in such a little amount of time students couldn’t always learn it all properly. Follow on instruction built on those skills so students got acclimated to just fudging the foundational skills they hadn’t honed to practice the new ones. This proved frustrating for both students and instructors. Though I don’t know what can be done to fix it. That said, most of the training can be replicated in your home. So if you have a decent memory and/or take good notes you can pick it all up eventually with practice. Addenda: Much of the pistol class is a subliminal Glock advertisement. You can get way with a Beretta or 1911 but it’s easier to just bring a Glock or Glock clone. Part of the class is Glock style trigger management which will help. Running iron sights on your pistol is OK. But if you can afford it and get decent using them, a red dot is a good addition. As for rifles, it’s best to bring a an actual AR-15 style rifle and not a ban state compliant version. Bring one with as short a barrel as you can get away with and no added junk such as lights, lasers, bayonets, etc. Or do add all that but expect a good arm work out holding it up at various ready positions. LPVOs proved awkward, heavy, and not needed at the ranges we fired at. Just bring a red dot. Make sure whatever optic you bring is very solidly attached. If you can afford to buy enough magazines to load all the ammo required, do so. Or get a handy device to load what magazines you have. If it’s going to be dry or hot wear a canteen you can sip on. Breaks are kind of rare and short but the sun never lets up. Knee pads are important. I didn’t want to buy a new set of pants for the WPS insert versions. So I got away with using hex padded sports knee cuffs and so long as I didn’t drive my knee on to a rock, they worked. If you foresee yourself doing more vigorous kneeling, buy real knee pads. This review is from early 2025. Things may be different when you read it.

Excellent overall experience, very well organized and run. Trainers (Josh and Sam) were professional, engaging, patient, and observant. I walked away knowing what I need to work on, the order in which to work on them, and how to work on them. I will retake in a few months to see how much I improve. A lot of what you will do in this class is not going to be allowed at your local range, so repeating this class and pistol 2 yearly is probably in my future. Attendees were of varying skill/experience levels. It looked to me as if a good time was had by all in the class I attended.

It is an excellent course for those with little to no experience with working with pistols. They cover the fundamentals very well and bring shooters to a level of confidence and proficiency that they may not have otherwise achieved. However, for those that have experience and are at least of intermediate level proficiency this was a long and expensive course to rehash what you already know. Now if your goal is to take their more advanced courses then this is the additional price of admission to get to their "big show".

Took Pistol 1,2 & Rifle 1,2,3 in Immokalee. Pistol 1 was a great course that covered more than the typical fundamentals you will learn at your local range. No matter how much experience you have, you should not skip this course. I learned more in Pistol 1 than I expected to learn in the whole week. Paul, Sam, Josh are on point. You will not regret taking this training. It was so good I will likely take it again.

Life changing experience! Paul, Sam and Josh are nothing short of spectacular. I went into this class with a lifetime of firearm use, training and thought I knew a lot. Boy was I wrong. John and Paul have developed a “true” training system for the citizen soldier. If you are questioning whether or not you should take Pistol 1 the answer is yes! While this class touches on the fundamentals it is a high-paced, high-energy training that sets the tone for your classes to come. I highly recommend it, no matter your level of experience! Paul’s ability to articulate his lessons is outstanding. The humor and personal attention you get from Paul, Sam and Josh throughout the class is awesome. All three play off of one another making the class fun, while giving you the individual attention you need to improve. My only regret with this class is that I did not take it sooner.

The training with Paul, Sam, and Josh was amazing. I took pistol 1 & 2, and Rifle 1 in Immokalee . Aside from their clear experience and knowledge of firearms, their ability to teach and train was superb. I was one of only a couple of women in the class and all I can say is men BRING YOUR WIVES! Why just buy her a pistol for protection but not offer the training to use it. I heard so many of the men in all 3 of the classes mention their wife at home who has a pistol but is afraid to shoot it, or doesn’t feel comfortable carrying it. Give the gift of training AND have a partner in preparedness! The trainers were supportive and attentive to all levels of experience. I can’t wait to book my next training experience with WPS. Newport Pigs in a Blanket.

Just wrapped up Pistol 1&2 with Paul and Sam and the boys brought it. I’ve taken a handful of pistol classes in the past (including Pistol 1&2 with WPS) and it’s still just as relevant to me as to the family I brought that had almost no firearm experience. The class was different from the class I took in 2022, which shows that Paul is constantly improving his teaching techniques to stay at the forefront of the industry. I’ve taken classes with other groups and Paul and Sam do such a great job instructing that I would recommend them over every other class I’ve taken. Whether you have ten thousand rounds down range or 100 you’ll find things to improve and work on.

Paul is an amazing shooter and is able to articulate his wealth of knowledge on pistol shooting in a way that's easy to understand. He takes the time to answer questions so you really feel like you got your money's worth of training and information!

Just finished taking pistol 1&2 and rifle 1,2&3 with Paul & Josh and all I can say is what an amazing week. Not only the skills that was taught with both pistol and rifle but the way they teach is so easy to understand. Paul is great at what he does and would highly recommend any class he teaches. I wasn't expecting Josh to be there but what a treat to have him there. Josh is a great instructor and when you get Paul and Josh together they make the class so entertaining and fun at the same time they are teaching you all the fundamentals and advanced skills to become a better protector. If you're holding off on taking these classes like I was just because you want "John Lovell" as an instructor I'm here to say Paul and Josh were absolutely great. I would like to train with the man himself John Lovell also but I would train anything Paul and Josh teach and feel just as warm and tingly inside as I would with John Lovell. Don't wait just sign up and do it you will not regret it !!