Short Version:
An outstanding experience from start to…read morefinish! Ken Hoyt, owner and instructor extraordinaire, far surpassed my expectations. Not only was Ken professional, personable, and incredibly knowledgeable about everything having to do with handguns in New Hampshire, he also managed to teach me in a single day how to identify and safely handle, load, unload, and clean a variety of handguns carefully and competently. In addition to correcting decades of misinformation I'd absorbed from movies and media, he taught me everything I never knew there was to know about kinds of gun actions, types of ammunition, things to consider when purchasing firearms, how to select firearms appropriate to your intended uses, protocols at firing ranges, state and local laws... the list goes on. Basically, by the end of the course, he had taken me from a complete novice to a person confident in basic skills who is now eager to keep learning and improving her firearm skills. Highest possible recommendation!
Longer version:
From the first email I sent during his off-season, Ken responded promptly and promised to contact me when he re-opened in the spring... and he did, helping me select and schedule exactly the kind of instruction I needed to feel safe handling firearms.
I took his private "Basics of Pistol Shooting" one day course and it was worth far more than the $200 I paid. Ken made the hours of classroom instruction fly by with his conversational yet cogent style, his humor, and his enthusiasm. He covered all of the NRA's required content and provided additional information specific to New Hampshire's firearm laws and gun culture. He happily answered every one of my questions as we went, adjusted his pace when I requested we review certain topics, and even let me practice the hands-on portions as many times as I wanted until I felt confident and comfortable handling the classroom guns. As a teacher myself, I especially appreciated the clarity of his approach as he balanced instruction, repetition, and hands-on practice in ways tailored for my particular interests and goals. I am someone whose entire previous gun knowledge came from the James Bond movies I watched as a kid. So it is a testament to the care Ken took in ensuring that I'd understood and retained the required content that at the end of the class, I aced the written exam.
Those learning-intense hours in the classroom led to the most exhilarating new experience I've had in a long time: a visit to the firing range to shoot an actual gun. Ken took me to a local outdoor range (for you non-enthusiasts of the outdoors, there were plenty of black flies but also a very clean port-a-potty!). As we got set up, he pointed out each of the rules and guidelines about firing range protocol and safe gun-handling we'd covered in the classroom before having me review the techniques we'd practiced for aiming and firing-- stance, breath control, siting the target correctly, trigger control, recoil and follow through. He then took the time to be sure that my ear and eye protective gear were secure and that I felt prepared to apply all I'd learned that day.
After some words of encouragement, he let me take my shot (haha) at meeting the marksmanship requirements to complete the course. After my first few shots, he offered incredibly helpful, specific feedback. I adjusted accordingly, and within a few magazines and respectably few misses, I'd hit the necessary targets to pass the course... and to discover a new favorite pastime that I look forward to pursuing, hopefully with more help from Ken!
Whatever your goal is in looking for a class and instructor for basic handguns, look no further than the NRA Basics of Pistol Shooting course offered by Ken Hoyt and Ridgetop Training.
