TexasCHLforum.com

txinvestigator wrote:

What kind of safety briefing did the instructor give before going into the range? What did he tell you was required, how things were going to happen, and what the rules were?

Yeah. The range rules were clearly stated as was the coarse of fire. It was expressly stated that the barrel was to be pointed down range at all times. Many chances were given to ask any questions if anyone was unclear. I'm just not sure she undestood, or was even paying attention. Besides, anyone with even limited exposure to firearms should know this whether they were specifically told or not.

In order to pass the CHL class you need to pass both the written and range potions. I would have though that demonstrating safe and knowledgable hand gun practices would also be required though. Perhaps some instructors do. I'm not sure if an instructor is allowed to fail someone if they techincally pass the written and range portion, but this would certianly be a good reason to in my book.

The classroom portion was fine for me. Everyone was respectful and quiet. I felt there were some good questions asked and some good discussions. However, the range portion was a different story.

The class was mostly people getting their CHL for the first time. At at the range portion we picked up two people that were there for renewal. One of them was an elderly lady. For the range portion, they had five people firing and the other 5 people loading (for semi-auto) and the we switched. I was paired up with the elderly lady. I was shooting first so I handed her the mag to load. She was very confused. The instructor came over and she said she didn't know how to load it. As it turns out she was qualifying with a revolver, so..fair enough. The instructor loaded for me and all was fine.

Then it was her turn. She grabs her revolver like it was a snake or something, obviously uncomfortable with it. She turns to the instructor and says she doesn't know how to load it. So he shows her. As she is loading it, she has a question and proceeds to point the barrel at the instructor as she is speaking with him. The cylinder was open, so he didn't say anything, but he did lightly push the barrel away from him.

So she shoots the rounds and then needs to reload. The instructor helps her again. She closes the cylinder and prepares to fire. Apparently she has another question and again points the barrel of the now "hot" revolver directly at him. This time he had a few choice words for her. When all was said and done, she passed the range portion by 1 point.

I would have thought pointing your weapon at the instructor would have been an automatic fail, but I guess not.

Dave