I'm a fairly new shooter. I've had my gun about six months and had fired about 700 rounds through it at the indoor range. I had done dry fire exercises and tried to do some drills I had read about, but there's only so much you can do at the indoor range. So I signed up for the Basic Defensive Handgun Class with Crisis Response Group.
I went to my first class and WOW! It's a LOT of fun and they pack a lot of skills into one class. Ryan started us off with the basics of gun safety and operation. We practiced stance and grip and trigger control and did some basic shooting so that everybody had a foundation no matter what level of skills they came in with (CRG's approach to this class is crawl, walk, run, so they start with the basics and then build skills on top of skills as the day goes on). Once we were done crawling, we got going with shooting controlled pairs, reloading drills and malfunction drills. Compared to indoor shooting where everything is on a table in front of you, it's fun to present from the holster, shoot your gun dry, drop the mag, let it fall on the ground, pop in another one and keep shooting.
Next we started doing the move-and-shoot exercises and target discrimination exercises and it was straight up fun! I left the class really pumped and feeling way more confident about my shooting. Ryan and his crew run an organized but relaxed class where you are encouraged to shoot at your own pace. As Ryan says, "Speed is fine but accuracy is final."
I signed up for the next month's class and got my dad and sister to join in. We had a smaller class so Ryan put us through even more drills, shooting while walking a slalom course and shooting around and through barriers.
If you shoot but all you've done is shoot at the indoor range or done some random plinking out in the desert I strongly recommend this class. Even if you've never shot before (and a few members of the class seemed to be absolutely new to shooting), Ryan and crew will teach you the basics and then some in a safe, fun, and un-intimidating environment. I want to get some friends together to go again and I'm looking forward to taking more advanced classes in the future.
I recommend investing in a holster and a two-magazine holder so you can get the most out of the course. I debated buying them because it didn't seem like a practical thing and if all I ever did was use it once for this class it would have been a waste of money, but after the class I went out and bought a better holster and a dedicated duty belt Once you get the feel of having an extra magazine or two on your belt you WANT to have an extra magazine or two on your belt. I now keep my belt in my closet where I can grab it and put it on if something goes bump in the night and I feel like I can afford to take a few extra seconds to snap on my belt.
I also want to do a bit of full disclosure. I know Ryan "distantly". He's my sister's husband's sister's husband. So I know him but it's not like we hang out regularly. I hadn't seen him for a couple years at least before I took the class. When I was looking for a class to take, it helped to go with somebody I knew at least a little bit but Ryan and I aren't so close that I'd feel obligated to write a flowery review if I hadn't had a GREAT time shooting at his course. Ryan's an ex-Army Ranger, EMT, competitive shooter, and a very cool guy. He is NOT a cigar-chomping drill sergeant wannabe using his gun to compensate. If you feel intimidated taking a class like this (I did) you don't have to worry. Ryan is very comfortable (and GOOD) with his shooting and he has an easygoing confidence with zero abrasive macho swagger. He's very good about treating the beginners like beginners and the more advanced people like more advanced people and the whole thing feels pretty informal and if I haven't said it already a few times it is a whole lot of fun.
Also, if you're coming from the Orange County area, the drive out to the Rainbow Range and back are not bad. The class starts and ends early enough that you're traveling each way before the 91/15 traffic gets ugly. It took me less than an hour to get there from Fullerton, and about an hour to get back. read more