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I'm taking the chl instructors course in Georgetown September 8-10. What can I expect? How many students are in the class? Are there many women (I'm a woman so I'm curious if I'll be one of few)? Is it more pressure than a regular chl course? The one I took was pretty relaxed and I scored 100 on written and 227 on live fire portion. Any insight would be appreciated. Also, I'm planning to shoot the revolver qualification with a smith and Wesson 686. Is it recommended to shoot single or double action?

When I took the Instructor course last year, there were quite a few (I'd guess at maybe 25-30) women in attendance, raging from quite young (20-25) to older (I met one lady who had just turned, well... A little bit older than I was, and I graduated from high school in 1969, so that should give you some reference) and everything in between. You'll most likely fit in well, and find some like-minded folks to hang around with.

The course, itself, is primarily one of going through all the material you're going to be presenting in your classes. It was only semi-formal in that they had certain things they needed to get through in a certain amount of time, and would limit questions at time, and steer people away from war-stories. But, should you have something in mind that was not covered in the lecture and Q/A, the instructors would answer things on one-on-one after the lecture.

Your 686 will do fine, especially if you're shooting .38 Special rounds instead of the .357 rounds. I wound up shooting most of the course of fire using single-action, except for the rapid fire sequences which I shout double-action. Had plenty of time for SA except during the shortest of the sequences, which turned out good because on one of them, I mistakenly loaded up with a live round under the hammer, which meant the gun went: "bang...bang...bang...bang...click" Oops! Pull the trigger again, and "bang" right before the targets turned, indicating my time was up for that string.

I had fun at the course, met some very interesting folks, and wouldn't mind repeating the course in a few years.

I was in the same class as N5WD and second his comments. Yeah, probably about 25-30 women and I think class was 100-150ish total (we fired in 3 relays on qual day). One of the primary instructors was a woman named Sherri who is the the Chief of the Regulatory Services Division (the folks who issue CHLs) Attitude for the most part was y'all are here to become instructors and we are all adults and professional so lets get the information transfered as quickly, enjoyably and as understandibly as possible with a minimum of bull. Like N5WD said, during the class time they would cut off discussion if it went too long or turned into war stories, but all instructors were quite accessible during breaks to talk. ALL students passed the exam on first attempt. Couple of folks in each shooting relay had to re-fire, but pretty sure everyone passed at the end of the day. I fired revolver double action and actually scored better with it then semi (250 with revolver and 245 with semi--Winchester owes me 5 points for the dud round). Had a friend that fired the course with a Ruger Blackhawk which only fires single action--he did fine even with the time limits.

Best advice is relax, listen, share ideas and experiences, learn, and before you go, PRACTICE with the firearms and ammuntition you will use. Guy next to me in the relay had never fired the revolver he brought until the day of shooting......... Good luck.

Thanks so much yall. I'm excited but I tend to overthink things and make myself nervous. Thankfully I work at a gun range, so practice is pretty easy to come by. So far using DA on the 686 with .38 and a full size 9mm semi I've been getting a 250 on practice drills. I just get to a point where my trigger finger is tired shooting DA for the revolver so I was worried that shooting SA would mess up my times.

There is PLENTY of time to shoot single action. Don't sweat it. You'll psych yourself out.

I took my initial course before the current crew was running the CHL division, so the course has probably changed. I thoroughly enjoyed the course and being with a bunch of like-minded men and women becoming instructors. I've been in renewal classes with the current folks and I would describe it just as others have in earlier posts. We had a good time, covered a lot of material in the allotted time, and had ample opportunity to ask additional questions on breaks.

I was surprised at how many people had trouble scoring targets on the written exam. I know that sounds silly, but we couldn't mark each "hole" to be sure it was not counted twice. I believe that has changed now and being able to mark a hole that has been counted makes all the difference, both on the test and in actual classes.

Relax and enjoy it.
Chas.

I did single Action and had plenty of time, plus for me its more accurate.
Great course and a lot of interesting people.

I just got home from this last course a few minutes ago. There were 109 students in this class. Probably 8 or 10 women in the class. The main facility is brand new, nice, and big. Classroom was quite easy but different from classes before in that RSD has "given" the troopers the entire class; both the shooting proficiency as they always had and now the classroom section which was previously RSD. The troopers were some of the finest and most patient gentlemen I have ever worked with and they are positively owning this new responsibility. The proficiency section freaked me out a bit but as was stated; it was a cakewalk. Plenty of time for single action on the revolver. They won't "give" it to you, but they stated that they will let you go back through as necessary if you simply have a bad day shooting.

All said, not really any more difficult than your CHL exam was and perhaps easier due to the professionalism of the staff.

Instructor Surfer

BTW, the road one turns off of 35 onto to get to the facility is called 195 and it is under construction which threw my google maps for a loop. If you note your mileage when you turn into 195, the turn off to the road to the facility is about ten miles down. I believe it is cr440, but not sure.

Surfer

Please ask about renewals. Lots of us expiring and wondering what they have in mind.

Thanks.

kg5ie wrote:Please ask about renewals. Lots of us expiring and wondering what they have in mind.

Thanks.

They said this next renewal will be online refresher and pay a fee. We were told the next one (2017) will possibly have all returning to Florence for renewal. The trooper who accompanied the lady from RSD around to various locations for this past renewal seemed like he would not be doing that again.

Surfer

Thank you all for your tips and encouragement. I'm looking forward to the class. I'm taking it with my boss so it's a bit of added pressure.

surferdaddy wrote:I just got home from this last course a few minutes ago. There were 109 students in this class. Probably 8 or 10 women in the class. The main facility is brand new, nice, and big. Classroom was quite easy but different from classes before in that RSD has "given" the troopers the entire class; both the shooting proficiency as they always had and now the classroom section which was previously RSD. The troopers were some of the finest and most patient gentlemen I have ever worked with and they are positively owning this new responsibility. The proficiency section freaked me out a bit but as was stated; it was a cakewalk. Plenty of time for single action on the revolver. They won't "give" it to you, but they stated that they will let you go back through as necessary if you simply have a bad day shooting.

All said, not really any more difficult than your CHL exam was and perhaps easier due to the professionalism of the staff.

Instructor Surfer

I must have been in the same class. I think we were the first class at the new range. I was originally intimidated by the timed, turning targets. I practiced in the hotel room on my shot timer to make sure I could make my single action revolver shots in 2 seconds. When the test finally came, it was cake. It was a very liberal 2 seconds. It was interesting, though. Most people were very relaxed and still got off all their shots in time. I presented like I was battling Jerry Miculek in the Steel Challenge finals. I head the RO press the button and before the air in the compressor finished turning the target, I was on target and cocked. Most people had a relaxed cadence but I was punching out there...unnecessarily. Plenty of time and, while all us Type A gun nuts are trying to win the carnival bicycle by shooting out the X, remember, you only have to put them in the 8 ring. Aim small, miss small...but don't spend too much time drilling out the middle of the X. It all counts the same. A shot breaking the 8 ring is still 5 points. A shot at 2.5 seconds that misses because the target turned counts for 0.

I think the section on laws was weak as many students began looking up the regs and correcting the instructor. The information is changing a lot so I don't totally blame them for that. They kind of mentioned a dozen times that RDS should be doing the law portion. Also, I would have like to have had a segment on the implementation of the course. Show me where I go when I get my cert and how to sign up online or get my password. I have 80 people lined up to take my CHL course and I can't find out how to get logged on to get started. RDS hasn't responded to my emails yet. Got my instructor certificate Saturday (6 days ago). Also, it did seem like the class dragged a bit. 2 full days of instruction to teach a 4 hour class...and nothing on "how to teach" or "how to file paperwork after a class". I think we all know the CHL material in general so we could have sped through that and then focuses on the particulars for actually being an instructor.

The DPS guys are great and most have a great sense of humor. They take range safety seriously, as they should, but it doesn't feel up tight. Plus, I think probably 1/4 of our class was LE anyway (not me, but many others). Many prior military. and I think about 8-9 women, as stated. I think they were all from gun ranges or LGS. On the whole, the instructors were great and the class was great. Sometimes it's hard to run a class with 100+ people.

Not to get political, but if these guys represent DPS and law enforcement at large, it makes it even more abhorrent what's going on in the news right now. Decent guys just doing a largely thankless job and having to put up with thugs on a daily basis.

Feed&Guns wrote:

surferdaddy wrote:I just got home from this last course a few minutes ago. There were 109 students in this class. Probably 8 or 10 women in the class. The main facility is brand new, nice, and big. Classroom was quite easy but different from classes before in that RSD has "given" the troopers the entire class; both the shooting proficiency as they always had and now the classroom section which was previously RSD. The troopers were some of the finest and most patient gentlemen I have ever worked with and they are positively owning this new responsibility. The proficiency section freaked me out a bit but as was stated; it was a cakewalk. Plenty of time for single action on the revolver. They won't "give" it to you, but they stated that they will let you go back through as necessary if you simply have a bad day shooting.

All said, not really any more difficult than your CHL exam was and perhaps easier due to the professionalism of the staff.

Instructor Surfer

I must have been in the same class. I think we were the first class at the new range. I was originally intimidated by the timed, turning targets. I practiced in the hotel room on my shot timer to make sure I could make my single action revolver shots in 2 seconds. When the test finally came, it was cake. It was a very liberal 2 seconds. It was interesting, though. Most people were very relaxed and still got off all their shots in time. I presented like I was battling Jerry Miculek in the Steel Challenge finals. I head the RO press the button and before the air in the compressor finished turning the target, I was on target and cocked. Most people had a relaxed cadence but I was punching out there...unnecessarily. Plenty of time and, while all us Type A gun nuts are trying to win the carnival bicycle by shooting out the X, remember, you only have to put them in the 8 ring. Aim small, miss small...but don't spend too much time drilling out the middle of the X. It all counts the same. A shot breaking the 8 ring is still 5 points. A shot at 2.5 seconds that misses because the target turned counts for 0.

I think the section on laws was weak as many students began looking up the regs and correcting the instructor. The information is changing a lot so I don't totally blame them for that. They kind of mentioned a dozen times that RDS should be doing the law portion. Also, I would have like to have had a segment on the implementation of the course. Show me where I go when I get my cert and how to sign up online or get my password. I have 80 people lined up to take my CHL course and I can't find out how to get logged on to get started. RDS hasn't responded to my emails yet. Got my instructor certificate Saturday (6 days ago). Also, it did seem like the class dragged a bit. 2 full days of instruction to teach a 4 hour class...and nothing on "how to teach" or "how to file paperwork after a class". I think we all know the CHL material in general so we could have sped through that and then focuses on the particulars for actually being an instructor.

The DPS guys are great and most have a great sense of humor. They take range safety seriously, as they should, but it doesn't feel up tight. Plus, I think probably 1/4 of our class was LE anyway (not me, but many others). Many prior military. and I think about 8-9 women, as stated. I think they were all from gun ranges or LGS. On the whole, the instructors were great and the class was great. Sometimes it's hard to run a class with 100+ people.

Not to get political, but if these guys represent DPS and law enforcement at large, it makes it even more abhorrent what's going on in the news right now. Decent guys just doing a largely thankless job and having to put up with thugs on a daily basis.

I agree with all of this. I would have loved a section on paperwork and class implementation. But, they are noobs at this.

I was in the second group which qualified later in the morning. All the instructors came by my station and fondled my PPQ, I heard more than once that they wished they had been able to consider it in their last handgun trial.

Great bunch of guys for sure,

Surfer

PPQ?? I guess I am in the dark