srv656s
Member
So this last weekend I drove to St. Louis from Kansas City to take a conceal carry class with John Ross. Was it worth the drive? Most definitely.
My roommate from college and I took the class, and I'd been looking forwards to it for a while. I've been reading up on the CCW issue in MO for a long time on www.john-ross.net, and I really enjoyed Unintended Consequences so I thought it'd be a great opportunity to take the class and meet Mr. Ross.
April 9th, we took the classroom section of John Ross's CCW class, and on April 10th (Saturday), we did the range session. The classroom session was well done, and Mr. Ross did a good job of explaining not only how the law worked, but also the history and background behind it. He had a handout written up, and it translated much of the confusing legalese into something which was understandable to the average Joe. My only complaint with the class is that it was a bit crowded in the room we used, but I know his classes are pretty popular, and I would have been disappointed if he'd turned me away for the class, so that's understandable. John had a lot of good stories and examples for the scenarios he described, and while the classroom section was fairly long, it wasn't boring at all to me.
The range session is where it really got fun. The range is Mr. Ross's own land, and he'd setup a covered area for us to shoot from, so although the weather wasn't exactly cooperating with us that morning, we all stayed dry and were able to carry on with the class. While I've already got a very nice Kimber I intend to carry, it turns out I didn't even need to bring it that day. Mr. Ross brought all kinds of different guns to try out and qualify with. I had the choice to qualify with a Sig, Glock, Colt 1911, M9 Berretta, S&W 9mm, Ruger .22, S&W .38, and Keltec .32 auto. I chose to qualify with the 1911 since that's what I'll be carrying, but it was very cool to be given the opportunity to try out all the different guns.
Here's a pic of me qualifying with the 1911 while Mr. Ross observes:
After everyone was done qualifying, we were given the opportunity to try out a large assortment of guns. This part of the class was when it really started to get fun. John brought out a couple of .44 mags including a titanium .44 mag that was really not as painful to shoot as I figured it would be. We were allowed to try out whatever we wanted, and everyone really enjoyed this section. I tried out the .44's, the Sig, the Glock, and the M9 Berretta.
Here's a pic of some of the people trying out the different guns:
After everyone got done trying out the different guns, we ate. I know of no other class around that actually feeds the students, but John BBQ'd up some chicken breasts, and some of the thickest burgers I'd ever seen. Good stuff, the chicken was marinated in some Jamaican jerk seasoning, and was pretty damn good.
Now's when the class really got interesting! As we were all finishing up the food, John started unpacking the machineguns.
From R to L:
Thompson converted to 7.62x25
Suppressed UZI 9mm
HK MP5 9mm
Thompson .45 ACP
Swedish K
Suppressed Sten 9mm
(not in the picture: Glock 9mm)
John gave a couple demonstrations with the different guns, and this one is one of my favorites. It's John shooting up a 2x4 with the Tommy gun (I love what he says at the end of it).
John Ross shooting the Tommy gun
Here's a pic of my buddy Joe after he gets done shooting the Swedish K. This look was pretty common after everyone got done shooting a machine gun:
While John gave a fairly good demonstration of how to shoot bursts accurately even from the hip, most people just loved to see how fast they could empty the machineguns. The best gun for this job appeared to be the Glock. It went through 32 rounds in about one and a half seconds. Here's a pic of my buddy doing just that:
I really enjoyed the UZI, and shot it the most. I'm intending to get a Vector Arms Uzi as my first Class III purchase, so it was a great opportunity to try one out before I dropped the change on it. Very very very cool stuff.
Overall I was very impressed with the great deal this class was. To just be able to try out all the different handguns would have been a treat, but add to that the machineguns, the food, and the great class taught by Mr. Ross, it was the best deal I've gotten out of $100. If you're intending to carry concealed in Missouri, you should make the trip to St. Louis to take this class.
Shawn
My roommate from college and I took the class, and I'd been looking forwards to it for a while. I've been reading up on the CCW issue in MO for a long time on www.john-ross.net, and I really enjoyed Unintended Consequences so I thought it'd be a great opportunity to take the class and meet Mr. Ross.
April 9th, we took the classroom section of John Ross's CCW class, and on April 10th (Saturday), we did the range session. The classroom session was well done, and Mr. Ross did a good job of explaining not only how the law worked, but also the history and background behind it. He had a handout written up, and it translated much of the confusing legalese into something which was understandable to the average Joe. My only complaint with the class is that it was a bit crowded in the room we used, but I know his classes are pretty popular, and I would have been disappointed if he'd turned me away for the class, so that's understandable. John had a lot of good stories and examples for the scenarios he described, and while the classroom section was fairly long, it wasn't boring at all to me.
The range session is where it really got fun. The range is Mr. Ross's own land, and he'd setup a covered area for us to shoot from, so although the weather wasn't exactly cooperating with us that morning, we all stayed dry and were able to carry on with the class. While I've already got a very nice Kimber I intend to carry, it turns out I didn't even need to bring it that day. Mr. Ross brought all kinds of different guns to try out and qualify with. I had the choice to qualify with a Sig, Glock, Colt 1911, M9 Berretta, S&W 9mm, Ruger .22, S&W .38, and Keltec .32 auto. I chose to qualify with the 1911 since that's what I'll be carrying, but it was very cool to be given the opportunity to try out all the different guns.
Here's a pic of me qualifying with the 1911 while Mr. Ross observes:
After everyone was done qualifying, we were given the opportunity to try out a large assortment of guns. This part of the class was when it really started to get fun. John brought out a couple of .44 mags including a titanium .44 mag that was really not as painful to shoot as I figured it would be. We were allowed to try out whatever we wanted, and everyone really enjoyed this section. I tried out the .44's, the Sig, the Glock, and the M9 Berretta.
Here's a pic of some of the people trying out the different guns:
After everyone got done trying out the different guns, we ate. I know of no other class around that actually feeds the students, but John BBQ'd up some chicken breasts, and some of the thickest burgers I'd ever seen. Good stuff, the chicken was marinated in some Jamaican jerk seasoning, and was pretty damn good.
Now's when the class really got interesting! As we were all finishing up the food, John started unpacking the machineguns.
From R to L:
Thompson converted to 7.62x25
Suppressed UZI 9mm
HK MP5 9mm
Thompson .45 ACP
Swedish K
Suppressed Sten 9mm
(not in the picture: Glock 9mm)
John gave a couple demonstrations with the different guns, and this one is one of my favorites. It's John shooting up a 2x4 with the Tommy gun (I love what he says at the end of it).
John Ross shooting the Tommy gun
Here's a pic of my buddy Joe after he gets done shooting the Swedish K. This look was pretty common after everyone got done shooting a machine gun:
While John gave a fairly good demonstration of how to shoot bursts accurately even from the hip, most people just loved to see how fast they could empty the machineguns. The best gun for this job appeared to be the Glock. It went through 32 rounds in about one and a half seconds. Here's a pic of my buddy doing just that:
I really enjoyed the UZI, and shot it the most. I'm intending to get a Vector Arms Uzi as my first Class III purchase, so it was a great opportunity to try one out before I dropped the change on it. Very very very cool stuff.
Overall I was very impressed with the great deal this class was. To just be able to try out all the different handguns would have been a treat, but add to that the machineguns, the food, and the great class taught by Mr. Ross, it was the best deal I've gotten out of $100. If you're intending to carry concealed in Missouri, you should make the trip to St. Louis to take this class.
Shawn
