Without getting into the long spiel, I - a 24 year-old ridiculously urban female - have decided to begin the journey toward obtaining a concealed carry weapons permit. I have never touched a gun in my life. In fact, up until now, they kind of freaked me out. I just never had that exposure.
I knew going from nothing to a certified gun-toter might be a bit of a challenge.
Enter St. Louis CCW. I found them online and it didn't take long from navigating the website to realize this would be the perfect place to start. I signed up for an Intro to Handguns class.
This business is a husband-and-wife-run operation out of their own home in Prairie, MO. As down-to-earth as a business could possibly get. They have converted their large garage into a classroom, and have a shooting range in their backyard they built themselves.
Greg and Leilani Pugh were incredibly friendly. From the moment Leilani offered me a beverage when I arrived to when she offered me one of her chicken salad sandwiches she'd just made before I left, I felt very welcomed.
For $50, I received a two-hour semi-private class - one hour of classroom instruction and one hour of range shooting. It was only me and one other guy, so we got very personalized instruction. Greg and Leilani are constantly doing classes, which enables the class sizes to be small, and for them to be flexible with class times, which is a great benefit to the student. Greg started out by asking me where I'm coming from and where I want to go, and I appreciated how he wanted that insight so he can better serve me in the class.
Greg was a fantastic teacher. He's personable and entertaining, and clearly knows his stuff - and I know that it's one thing to know what you're talking about, but quite another to be able to convey it to others in a way that they can learn. His classroom instruction, which was a combination of lecture with a Power Point presentation, demonstration, and hands-on dry fire practicing, was engaging and easy to understand.
I was then able to shoot some live ammunition out on the range with both a revolver and a semi-automatic (I got through 20 rounds of the revolver and 40 on the semi-automatic). They provided the guns and ammunition. It was great exposure and practice for me. I went from being a little nervous to even touch the damn thing in the beginning, to hitting a bullseye on the target before I left. Success!
The Pughs don't list the place's address or phone number on their website - understandably they want to be pretty private because it's their home. When you fill out the form to request a time for your class, Greg sends you back an email pretty promptly, which includes his phone number, and a map to his place.
One thing to note - this place is FAR. I did a dumb thing and glanced at the map, said, "Oh, it's right off of 44, that will take me 20, 30 minutes tops." WRONG. I should have appreciated the fact that the map was there to tell me how to get there and was NOT to scale. Duh. This place is about an hour away. So, Stupid Me was late. Luckily they were cool about it, and didn't cut my time short or start without me, which is what I feared. So if you live the in City, expect about an hour commute each way.
TL;DR version:
Even though this place is a bit of a drive, it's worth every minute and every penny. If you are like me and want a wonderfully thorough, individualized introduction to handguns, look no further. It's not a big fancy range by any means, but it is the perfect environment for learning.
They also offer a CCW class that is 8 hours long, and includes lunch. I'm sure he's got a wealth of information to share, and I'm greatly looking forward to it. read more
