All trainers are not created equal

Exhibit A.

Exhibit B.

It’s none of my business where you choose to spend your training dollars, it really isn’t.  However, watch the two videos above.  There is really no logical reason to spend good money getting training from those people.  There are a lot of quality firearms instructors out there, and a lot of not-so-hotso instructors as well.  Just because a course is “tactical” or “defensive” or is billed as “high round count” doesn’t mean it’s good instruction.

15 Comments

  1. Thanks , now I will probably have nightmares ( if I can stop laughing long enough to get to sleep ) . Seriously though , how long did you have to hunt to find these wannabes .

  2. I enjoyed these videos so much, I’m pretty bummed that most every youtube shooting clip is better. Finding stuff so entertainingly bad is hard.

  3. Oh the stories I hear, are even worse than these clips.

    I heard one instructor walks in front of his class, removes the mag from his gun put’s it to his head, and dryfires it to prove they are safe, another that fires an AK near his students feet to induce stress

  4. “I heard one instructor walks in front of his class, removes the mag from his gun put’s it to his head, and dryfires it to prove they are safe”

    Do that with my 1911 and he’d be wet firing his last brain cells onto orbit.
    I personally wouldn’t own a handgun that wouldn’t fire with the mag out, if the interlock isn’t removable it gets sold real quick.

  5. Like the blogger showing us Example B, I’ve seen that “instructor” droning on and on about point shooting since getting an internet connection. I figured he had to either be OK after firing a zillion rounds getting there, or…not OK.
    Now that I’ve seen it, it looks like he fired a zillion rounds and got nowhere.

    Example A hurts. Since taking my first class, I have made it almost a mission to talk as many people as I can into seeking out training. It’s “instructors” like Example A that cost me every inch of ground I gain toward getting them to go. People see that, and I can’t blame them for not being interested in going anywhere.

  6. Example A: Aww, they’re so cute they way their synchronized pistol draws match the heavy-metal music. It could even be a new Olympic sport! “Synchronized shooting: Way more Xtreme than synchronized swimming”

    Example B: while I’ll admit to not knowing much about “proper” gunfight tactics, if I’ve learned one thing from a lifetime of videogames that’s applicable in real life tactical situations, it this: if you have a gun, STAY OUT OF MELEE RANGE. It’s much more difficult to be jabbed with sharp, pointy things if they can’t reach you.

  7. There’s one guy..I can’t remember his name. But he opened up a “shooting” school and I’d never trust him with his money.
    He was a PMC over in Iraq when his convoy got ambushed (he was leading the PMC convoy and was sitting out in the open..miles behind the US army convoy he was following). When the firing happened he got out..took a few long-range potshots with a MP5 then HAULED ASS to a ditch and hid there for the rest of the fight while the rest of the PMC’s actually tried to do their job. At least one of them died because of his ineptitude..damn I wish I could remember his name.
    But yeah…the last person on the planet I would let teach me how to defend myself…unless I wanted to master the art of hiding in a ditch during a firefight.

  8. Oh btw..love the heavy metal music in the first…heavy metal music ALWAYS goes SO WELL with firearms…./sarcasm.

  9. And wow I need to go to bed..on my first comment I meant “my money”..not his money.

  10. Nick, I remember who you’re talking about. He got a bit of coverage on the blogs here after they had a photographer standing between targets on the firing line taking pictures of the shooters.

  11. Yep, that’s the guy. I remember that incident.
    Shame I can’t remember his name..then I could find the youtube video of his failure as a PMC. He later got fired then sued the company for an insane amount of money..and lost…horribly.

  12. The first guy, Ralph Severe, has been exposed as phony more times than monopoly money.

    He’s tried to claim to be an expert on everything from MMA to weapons to tactical shooting to (seriously) diet and exercise. He’s got a personality defect or something, and I feel bad for anyone gullible enough to be duped by him.

  13. Since we’ve been at war for near a decade now, a lot of very, very qualified, excellent instructors have finished their service and gone into teaching. Let’s face it, its a growth industry and there’s money to be made, which brings the good and the bad to the market. It’s relatively easy to find great instructors, but if you don’t know what you’re looking at, it’s very easy to get sidetracked.

    Couple that with the Intardweb, and all of a sudden there’s access to a ton of people that have put out their training shingle. Some people are better than others at finding information and doing research, and matching what they need and want with the instructor that gives them that. It’s very much up to the student to research the instructor and what they teach. To use Ralphie as an example, will the instructor teach proper use of the sling and transitioning with it?

    Figure out what you need to know, and start searching for an istructor that fits the bill. Don’t be afraid to travel if that’s what it takes. It can be expensive, but that’s not an indicator. Finding no reviews may be as bad as a lot of poor ones. Its your money, spend it wisely. Don’t settle. You don’t have to.

    Sorry for blogging on your blog, Caleb.

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