quote:

Originally posted by ChicagoSigMan:
I'm a member out there. They have 2 facilities. One is the smaller gun club where most of the civilian classes take place (the Deep Lake facility). The larger facility (with a 2 mile rifle range!!!) is reserved for the most part for military training. They are both former prisons.

I've been to their Tac 1 and Tac 2 pistol classes and a couple of carbine classes. The training classes I've been to are good, and the ranges are nice (although the rifle range is not even 200 yds at the civilian club.)

I guess it depends what you are looking for. The civilian classes are geared towards what I would call the hobbyist - not someone looking to really master the weapon. I don't consider the classes at the same level as something offered by guys like John McPhee or Pat McNamara. Every once in a while they offer a cool civilian class at the big facility - like long range shooting or CQB in the kill house. I want to try one of those.

Most of the instructors are not names you've heard of, but they have solid experience and are competent and fun to train with.

I'm a little down on the place for 2 reasons - the owner, while he did have a great military career, sort of misrepresented himself as a Tier 1 guy. I don't want to say he lied about it, but in my opinion, he was intentionally vague enough in his bio to give the impression that he was a Unit guy, which he wasn't. That always rubbed me the wrong way, although he and his wife (a retired Army captain) are both very nice people. Secondly, even as as a member, you can't just show up. You have to "RSVP" a day in advance. I guess they only book RSOs if someone is going to come out and shoot. Not the end of the world, but it's a bit annoying as I often like to go shooting on a whim.