Rifle 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 I struggled in part due to my grossly outdated Army training.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.

Paul and Rocco did a fantastic job teaching this course. They pushed the class hard but always made time to listen and help anyone who needed it. It’s been the best rifle course I’ve taken and would recommend it to anyone!

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 !!

This class far surpassed my expectations. John and Josh were extremely knowledgeable and took the time to really drive home the theory and process. Great class.

Sam, Josh, and Paul make an excellent team. Their weapon skills are only surpassed by their teaching skills. I highly recommend this course and these instructors.

This was my 4th day straight of learning from Paul and Sam, having done Pistol 1, Pistol 2, and Rifle 1 on the days prior. Even with over 30 years' of using firearms, and after 3 days of excellent instruction, there was still more to learn. Both skills and mindset instruction were relevant and achievable. Highly recommend their training and STRONGLY recommend you do Rifle 1 before Rifle 2. Keep up the excellent work guys!

Paul and Sam lead our class. I opted to take Rifle 1 &2 as a two day block considering travel and such. The course of instruction is presented in such a way that it smoothly builds on itself and is easily consumable. At no point did it feel like not having time to debrief or practice on your own in-between was any kind of a detriment to the new stuff you were trying to learn. These were the first rifle classes like this that I've personally ever done, but in other forms and capacities, I've done a lot of training over the years. These guys know what they are talking about, have an excellent delivery, and are really good at what they do. Watch the classes online first, take notes during the morning brief that you can refence back to later on, and show up with the attitude of a sponge. Do that, and I can't recommend them enough.