Review of ReturningLiberty's CHL course

[rrussotwo]

I attended the CHL course held at Bass Pro on May 19 in support of my wife, who'd been wanting to get her CHL for a while, but couldn't find any friends willing to take the plunge.


We got a babysitter for the day and headed out.


I already have my CHL and took a very senior and respected CHL instructor almost exactly one year ago. I was very satisfied with my previous course and found it far superior to the craptastic instruction I see in some BS posts.


Matt was 1000x better.


The class lasted approximately nine hours and was jam-packed with information. For a habitual college student, this is not a problem, although it could be if you were not a good student and incapable of taking useful notes. Matt presented most of the information in a professional and courteous manner. He was funny and engaging, which is hard to be with such boring information.


Yes, you have to take notes. Matt's slides are a bit low-tech, but informative and his instruction style is entertaining to the point that the hours seem to speed bye. If you don't take notes, you'll miss something.


Words cannot express the importance of accurate information in a CHL class and Matt does not disappoint. There is no misinformation. There is no conjecture. These two features of his course make it a must take.


If I had to knock Matt for anything it would be for his not quite PC use of the term "homeboy" when describing a generic perpetrator. The course would have been better without such remarks.


The venue itself was confortable, but shooting was ridiculously slow with only two lanes available for CHL shooters. Bass pro is centrally located with food and drinks available within the establishment and within walking distance.


I would recommend Matt's course to anyone wanting to get their CHL. At no point did I want to go to sleep, unlike in my own CHL course last year. I found his information insightful, accurate, and in agreement with what I know of the Louisiana Statures regarding Concealed Handgun License regulations.

 

[returningliberty]

I want to personally apologize for the actions of the Bass Pro counter staff. That has never happened before, and through my conversation with BPS's management it will not happen again. Part of my agreement with the venue was guaranteed use of the entire facility. I hired another instructor for the range portion, and when we were restricted to two lanes I had no use of him.

There was a second incident with a BPS staff member at the end of the course. Both incidents were discussed with management and rectified. Again I'm very sorry for the inconvenience and it will not happen again.

 

[Hattrick 22]

No offense meant but that sucks for the paying memeber's that use the range doesn't it?

 

[returningliberty]

No offense meant but that sucks for the paying memeber's that use the range doesn't it?

In my opinion, no. The range reservations are made 6 months in advance, along with my courses. It's not like we just show up one weekend and say "ok, its ours for the next two hours."

 

[charlie12]

In my opinion, no. The range reservations are made 6 months in advance, along with my courses. It's not like we just show up one weekend and say "ok, its ours for the next two hours."

I agree

 

[03protege]

No offense meant but that sucks for the paying memeber's that use the range doesn't it?

Another way to think about it is they would have to pay a higher membership if other entities are not renting the range out.

Although I doubt this would make a difference for Bass Pro but for smaller ranges this could certainly be the case.

 

[Hattrick 22]

I got ya I didn't mean to go off topic. It's the range I usually go to on a normal basis haven't lately due to the ammo limits (hope you don't take this as trolling now). If i was shooting though I wouldn't want to be told I have to leave the range so someone else can shoot when I am a yearly paying member.

I see where it could be an issue for your side as well though especially with a large class a range with 4 lanes would take awhile not to mention if you only have access to two of those lanes. Again sorry for going off track on your tread. I've read nothing but great reviews on your classes and one day hope to attend one of your classes myself.

 

[JBE]

I got ya I didn't mean to go off topic. It's the range I usually go to on a normal basis haven't lately due to the ammo limits (hope you don't take this as trolling now). If i was shooting though I wouldn't want to be told I have to leave the range so someone else can shoot when I am a yearly paying member.

It is not uncommon for other ranges to do this as well. Most give notice members ahead of time that the range will be off-limits for whatever the certain period of time is.

 

[Hattrick 22]

It is not uncommon for other ranges to do this as well. Most give notice members ahead of time that the range will be off-limits for whatever the certain period of time is.

I got ya man thanks for clearing it up for me I have a better understanding of it now. I get where the instructors are coming from more now than I did at the start of the thread. Sorry again for cluttering up your thread Russo

 

[JNieman]

No offense meant but that sucks for the paying memeber's that use the range doesn't it?

It's the same thing anywhere. The range owners rent it out as they see fit.

The only other option is that every instructor be able to furnish their own purpose-fit range that's only for those taking a CHP class and I think that the impracticality of that is pretty obvious. Besides, CHP testing takes like 10 minutes for a class, give or take. Maybe a bit more if constrained to two lanes, but Matt said that was an exception and not going to happen again.

If you want to talk about inconvenient, it's cops who want to qualify at a public range, and shut down an entire pistol range so they can use 3 of the 15 or so lanes, and don't even let you approach the range. Those people are the dicks.

IRT Matt, he's definitely one of the good instructors. I'd only read a bunch of him here, and met and talked with him at one class. He's professional and he obviously goes out of his way to make sure he's up on the real law, with an emphasis on getting the right answer and stays away from just repeating misinformation like some of the Bubbas sometimes do. I wouldn't hesitate to pick him if you actually care about learning the truth about our laws.

 

[mforsta]

As a paid member of the BP range I have no objection to the CHL classes using the range. Basspro would do us all a favor and post a schedule for the classes. I went there with my wife and daughter to shoot on May 11 and there was a class getting ready to go into the range. The BP staff limited them to just two lanes and left the others for general public. I am sure the CHL instructor would rather have the whole range as to get the shooting portion of the class done quicker, along with not having to worry about people outside of their control shooting in the same range.

 

[Glockrunner]

... post a schedule for the classes. ...

Exactly. Or - not that hard to put a notice in the lanes/on the door/at the counter a month ahead of a booking saying "Lanes closed between x & y times on z date". If it's more than a month since your last visit and you hit the time, well, gee, it's not the end of the world.

 

[zbaw]

I second the review on Matt's class. Great guy, great instructor. The use of homeboy didn't bother me as much, but I'm not all that PC anyway. I think we would be better off without all of the PC stuff that has been put in place. I'm not saying use offensive terms for people, but I think too many people are being coddled nowadays. The class was great and I would definitely take it again and refer anyone wanting to take the class to use Matt.

 

[rrussotwo]

I'm not too PC, but I had to pick nits. I didn't want anyone to think I had a man-crush on Matt.

 

[drpc]

I'm a member of a range that holds has classes and competitions on some weekends. I always check their web site to see the class schedule. There's also this neat invention called a telephone that you can use to contact them about the times the lanes aren't available.

 

[returningliberty]

I'm not too PC, but I had to pick nits. I didn't want anyone to think I had a man-crush on Matt.

heh I understand, and there's always room for improvement, especially about stuff like that. I'm glad you spoke up. I have a new comical phrase to use instead of one that can be construed as derogatory. You'll see it July 27.