Your CCW Class Experiences

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Kuyong_Chuin

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Okay, me and my brother both signed up for a CCW class that was supposed to be held the third week in February but after the instructor found out that I where a turtle shell brace for my back he made arrangements to hold a special class for us and a few students that he didn't have room for in his regular class on February 1st. I know every class is different but I would like to hear about what the class was like when you went class. Especially if you took classes in Tennessee. Maybe it will help some to prepare for what lies ahead.
 
Not in Tennessee, but the one I went to was not very good at all, just watched three videos and filled out the parts on a revolver and a semi auto pistol, then took the test. http://www.handgunlaw.us/ is a very good resource for learning your state or any state you may visit's laws, also Massad Ayoob has several good books on CC as well as handguns and ammo. Hope you do well and train. Stay safe.
 
The NC-CHP class meant the minimal standards mandated by NC. Extremely basic written test on legal aspects and minimal firearm firing qualification standard. I was some what surprised by the misconceptions regarding legal aspects of the law by some of the attendee's and the difficulty encountered by some in firearm's qualification.
 
Well here in MO state law is 8 hours minimum I took 12 :D before range time why because I enjoyed it and we had a lot of things to discuss all in all a good experience
 
Cops get 40+ hours of training, and they mess up all the time. You don't have cop buddies, prosecutors and judges covering for you. Just the reverse, actually. So I recommend that you know a lot more than the typical cop knows about guns or self defensive laws, tactics, and so on.
 
I'm in MN. It really depends on the instructor and also depends on the others in the class. Six or ten folks doing a renewal, no change in the law and the students generally keep up on things anyway... class might be 2 hours then add 30 minutes to an hour for a trip to the gun range for the shoot. Take the same instructor with 3 or 4 folks with no experience and the class could take 6-7 hours. It really does depend. Sometimes I'll take a permit-to-carry class just because I have nothing better to do that weekend, so I have probably sat through 4 or 5 classes since ~2004 with different instructors. All instructors covered the legally required stuff in class. I had one instructor that spent our range time collecting brass rather than watching the students.

Here in MN there is no state requirement for written test or mandatory class length. We just have to cover specific material and do a live-fire at the range. Permits are good for 5 years and you have to retake the training every 5 years as well.

I would suggest going to the class with no expectations and just enjoy it. Take another class from another instructor to ensure you didn't miss anything.

If you want to get real heavy on the legal stuff... none of the instructors I had did a deep-dive. Basically just walked through the AOJ-P stuff which you can get almost anywhere. Here on THR is a good source for legal. I did Ayoob's MAG20 class and it was outstanding. Two days and twenty hours on deadly force. Best $400 I ever spent IMO.
 
Texas here.

As on Sept. 2013, a CHL class requires only 4 hours minimum, as opposed to the 10 hours it used to be, along with a proficiency test.

There were two people in my class, went through the "classroom" part for 6 hours, and headed to the range.

You need to be able show that you know your pistol, and how to shoot it, and you must score a 175 out of 250 shooting at a B27 silhouette. We got that done and out of the way, we signed our chl 100's, and we were out of there.
 
JRs12Valve said:
Texas here.

As on Sept. 2013, a CHL class requires only 4 hours minimum, as opposed to the 10 hours it used to be, along with a proficiency test.

There were two people in my class, went through the "classroom" part for 6 hours, and headed to the range.

You need to be able show that you know your pistol, and how to shoot it, and you must score a 175 out of 250 shooting at a B27 silhouette. We got that done and out of the way, we signed our chl 100's, and we were out of there.
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From what I understand here in Tennessee they changed from the B27 target to the B29 target and removed the 15 feet line from the requirements. So now we will be shooting at a smaller target at 50 feet instead of 15 feet. But since I can put 10 rounds in a 8 1/2 inch paper plate at 50 yards with factory ammo I shouldn't have any problem hitting a target that is almost three times as tall and 1 1/2 times at wide as the paper plate.
 
The NC class is a complete joke. Should be 100% voluntary.

Some people had such a hard time just hitting paper at 7 yards.
 
Inebriated said:
The NC class is a complete joke. Should be 100% voluntary.

Some people had such a hard time just hitting paper at 7 yards.
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Dad was out shooting one day years ago with his S&W 9mm autoloader and ask me if I wanted to try it, I said sure and fired off five rounds. At the time I had not fired a handgun in probably ten years or so. Dad told me I had a better grouping at the range I was shooting than most of the people that was qualifying in the class he took when he got his CCW and that it was half of the range we were shooting that day. I can shoot with ether hand but mostly shoot left handed. I have noticed two things lately, one that when I shoot my Ruger left handed allot of the times I'll end up with a hot casing down my shirt at least once before I empty a mag, and two that since I had surgery on my right arm that when firing right handed and squeezing the trigger that the guns muzzle is swinging to the left slightly. I am trying to figure out not only what is causing me to do this since I never did it before the surgery but also how to correct it and quickly since class is in a week.
 
Do you do much dry fire practice? And what part of your finger are you using to press the trigger? As to the hot brass, it's likely because you're not as firm with the left hand as you are with the right (I'm assuming you're right handed).
 
I suppose all states are different. My class spanned two 8 hour days, first day in the classroom and the second day at the range. The class had a diverse group of between 1 and 2 dozen students. We had single mothers who had never touched a firearm, hunters who had decades of shooting experience, and everything in between. This was actually what struck me most about the class. It looked just like any other random collection of people I encounter daily.

The first morning was spent with a retired homicide detective. He read us the laws of my state but mostly discussed mindset. The afternoon covered basic handgun function and marksmanship fundamentals, followed by a written test completed by the group. All passed, of course.

The second day was at an outdoor range. The instructor was joined by 2 helpers who continuously walked up and down the line watching and offering advice. The day consisted of a series of drills starting with presentation of an unloaded firearm and progressing to "failure to stop" drills. The end of the day was the state qualification course, which all students passed. Anyone who had trouble received extra time and instruction until they could pass. The only thing that would prevent someone from passing was giving up or a safety violation. Overall we shot just under 5 boxes of ammo.

I'm not sure what Tennessee is like this time of year. I took my class in February and it was really cold. Loading magazines at -15F hurts. Don't know how I could have done it if a classmate hadn't let me use her UpLULA.
 
Inebriated said:
Do you do much dry fire practice? And what part of your finger are you using to press the trigger? As to the hot brass, it's likely because you're not as firm with the left hand as you are with the right (I'm assuming you're right handed).
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Yes I do practice allot dry firing.I was born left handed and I am left eye dominate but I was switched over to right handed in the first grade. Basically I write right handed and do most shooting bow, rifle, and hand gun left handed though I can shoot with ether. Infill you asked about what part of the finger I use on the trigger I had never gave it a thought. So after reading your post I took out my P94 and noticed something interesting. When shooting left handed my grip puts my trigger finger, in this case my pointer finger, on the trigger right at the middle of the first joint of my finger. Right handed my finger is right in the middle of the first and second joint of my trigger finger. Now with a revolver I use my index finger on the trigger not my pointer and the grip and position of my finger on the trigger is the same. I do not use my index finger as my trigger finger on the auto for two reasons. First it is uncomfortable to do so for me with the design of the gun, and two the last time I shot that way with an auto left me with two scars on the web of my right hand and a blood blister on my left pointer finger from the slide. So I no longer shoot that way with any auto especially with one that is smaller in size.
 
In my opinion, CCW classes are to gain the permit and should not be considered training classes.

I've taken mandatory classes in four Western states and they are pretty much the same. Whatever skill level you arrived with, you left with. Did see one person disqualified who clearly was unsafe. You are there to prove you've been exposed to the law.

If possible, find a training facility that's on the list of qualified CCW instructors. You'll spend a lot more time than the mandated minimum, but you'll learn quite a bit more.

I was lucky to be able to train with a pro-Second Amendment police department for six years. Their trainer encouraged non-LEO to join in and to get CCW permits. Went through a series of classes culminating in graduating their "Advanced" class. No comparison to state mandated permit classes.
 
harrygunner said:
In my opinion, CCW classes are to gain the permit and should not be considered training classes.

I've taken mandatory classes in four Western states and they are pretty much the same. Whatever skill level you arrived with, you left with. Did see one person disqualified who clearly was unsafe. You are there to prove you've been exposed to the law.

If possible, find a training facility that's on the list of qualified CCW instructors. You'll spend a lot more time than the mandated minimum, but you'll learn quite a bit more.

I was lucky to be able to train with a pro-Second Amendment police department for six years. Their trainer encouraged non-LEO to join in and to get CCW permits. Went through a series of classes culminating in graduating their "Advanced" class. No comparison to state mandated permit classes.
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I am using the class to get my permit not training. I have been shooting for over 40+ years I am ex military and have a background in both law enforcement and armed security officer. I was not required to have a CCW back when I was an officer in ether case. Do to an injury I had to give up that line of work long ago. I have since moved to Tennessee and have become disabled so I want to get my permit so I can go for a walk off our property without getting in trouble with the law with their "for the purposes of going armed" laws even when it is in plain view. I am not worried about the few neighbors I have out here in the middle of nowhere since every neighbor within a mile of me is kin folk. But we do have critters around that I don't want to run into without being armed. There are some large bobcat, packs of coyote, and plenty of venomous snakes in the area so I want my pistol with me along with my camera.

P.S. The problems I am having shooting right handed started after having two surgeries on my right arm. They had to move both the radial nerve and the ulner nerve at the elbow. 2nd I don't normally shoot right handed for qualifying but, I do practice shooting with both because you never know when you will need to shoot with your off hand.
 
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Sure, I'll get in on this. I took mine in October of 2013 at a nearby indoor range and training center, Shooter's Edge. http://myshootersedge.com The instructor tended to go off on tangents with little folksy stories, I think a couple of issues could have been covered better and I was disappointed to hear him advocating chamber-empty carry of an auto pistol (the so-called "Israeli-style"), which I disagree with. But it wasn't unpleasant, and they did what they were supposed to do, meet the training requirements for my HCP. Ruger .22 pistols and ammo were provided and included in the price of the class for the live-fire portion, and I availed myself of them. We shot a total of 50 rounds at three, five and seven yards at a silhouette target like a B27 but half size. One shooter, a 70-ish woman, expressed apprehension about passing this part, saying, "Oh, my, I haven't fired a gun in years." She outshot nearly all of us, with essentially a single ragged hole chewed out of the X-ring. :D But all you really have to do to pass is get your shots somewhere on the silhouette.

The next step in the process is taking your training and birth certificates down to the DMV, filling out a form, waiting for nearly two hours, paying $115 and getting your picture taken. You must then get fingerprinted, included in the fee. You call a toll-free number or log onto a website to make an appointment. I got them done in, of all places, a UPS Store. Instead of ink and paper, the prints are scanned and submitted electronically.

After all this was done, my permit arrived in the mail in just short of five weeks. It is a plastic card similar to my driver's license with a scan strip on the back. On the front is my mugshot, name and address. The number is the same as that of my driver's license.
 
In Michigan, the class was 8 hours of classroom instruction, including the NRA 'self defense inside the home' video, then a 5 yard, 30 round qualification shoot.

Some people had a tough time, others did fine. Point shooting, I still managed to qualify shooting less than the maximum 30 rounds. The instructors saw I knew what I was doing and basically told me to save my ammo, I passed.
 
Minnesota here. Classes in this state are really a law class and a proficiency (safety really) shooting test. Quality varies widely between instructors, but as a whole is pretty good. Always look for references if you can for an instructor.

My wife has taken two, I took one. She said her first experience was bad, the guy overdosed on vitamin T and acted like an arrogant jerk the whole time, mostly espousing his opinions on crime, society, the law, liberals, etc. She said she learned nothing other than he was a jerk.

The second class we both attended, taught by a friend of ours that takes 2A activism seriously, along with personal safety, ongoing training, etc. That one was excellent. We learned a lot about self defense (based on documented case law, not opinions of instructors), situational awareness, ed-escalation of conflicts, and the ramifications of being involved in a shooting. Can't say enough nice things about him and his approach to materials and students. When we got the range, he gave pointers on stance, grip, aim, etc. Great experience, things like that make me feel good about training requirements for permits.
 
NC class.

It was very very boring.
It didn't tell me anything I didn't already know concerning gun safety, NC gun laws, concealed carry laws, or shooting.
And hitting the targets was a breeze.

But I have been shooting for over 30 years and I am an old soldier, and I did my own research on NC gun laws and concealed carry laws.

I think that if one had no knowledge of NC gun and CC laws, then the class was rather informative.
Some folks in my class were surprised by some of the law info.
But everyone in the class was very familiar with handguns, and no one had any trouble putting lead on target.
There were no real newbies in my class.
 
I took an online course for Iowa. It covered basic safety, but not Iowa law. It was a joke, but valid for a permit. I've since taken a proper shooting class and researched Iowa laws. I plan on taking an in-person ccw class for my own knowledge.
 
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oss117 said:
I took an online course for Iowa. I covered basic safety, but no Iowa law. It was a joke, but valid for a permit. I've since taken a proper shooting class and researched Iowa laws. I plan on taking an in-person ccw class for my own knowledge.
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Online class is not valid here in Tennessee for the class room part. I wish it was it would save me allot of pain.
 
Louisiana rules:

Act 4 of the First Extraordinary Session of the 1996 Legislature amended and re-enacted R.S. 40:1379.3 providing for the issuance of statewide concealed handgun permits by the Deputy Secretary of the Department of Public Safety & Corrections (DPS). Obtaining a CHP in Louisiana requires a 9 hour certification course which covers:
* One hour of instruction on handgun nomenclature and safe handling procedures of a revolver and semi-automatic pistol;
* One hour of instruction on ammunition knowledge and fundamentals of pistol shooting;
* Three hours of instruction on the use of deadly force and conflict resolution which will include a review of R.S. 14:18 through 14:22 and which may include a review of any other laws relating to the use of deadly force;
* One hour of instruction on handgun shooting positions;
* One hour of instruction on child access prevention; and
* Two hours of actual live range fire and proper handgun cleaning procedures
o Live range fire shall include 12 rounds each at 6 feet, 10 feet, and 15 feet for a total of 36 rounds;
o Each applicant or permittee must perform at least one safe reload of the handgun at each distance;
o Each applicant or permittee must score 100% hits within the silhouette portion of a NRA B-27 type silhouette target with at least 36 rounds

After completion of the required course, the applicant then sends in the application and required fees & documents. After passing the criminal and medical background check, the applicant will then be issued a permit.

A Louisiana CHP is valid for up to 5 years. When nearing expiration, the permit holder must take a re-certification class to apply for a renewal.

I've done it several times now, with two different instructors. They were very professional.
 
medical background check
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I take it that is a mental health check?

Just found out that reloads are not allowed by this instructor so unless I somehow find a 100 round value pack of 40 S&W and the money to buy them before Saturday I am going to have to find a .22 pistol to borrow from someone for the day. My brother is using the P1911 with the 22 conversion on it so I can't use it and the Colt .22 single action revolver had it's sights permanently removed before I was even born. Don't think trying to use that pistol and a quick draw rig is a good idea for a CCW class.
 
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The variety and differences in training seem to reinforce one thing us moderators have been saying for years. The training one gets for their CWP should be the start of formal training, not the end. ;)
 
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