Welcome to the family KC and hope the training prepares you for life as a responsibly armed citizen.
Thank-you so much Johnnyq ! Already getting so much out of the resources here. The video series that re-create real life scenerios is pretty sobering. Now to find a local instructor in Phoenix area for a few hours of one on one training.
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I think we all dream of taking the big dollar classes. I would love to take the list of pistol, rifle, and shotgun classes at Gunsite and Thunder Ranch there on location. However, from a time standpoint, its just not happening. One thing to look at is some of the big names also offer āsatelliteā classes, which are not on-site at the famous ranches. Typically they are a bit cheaper in price and if you can find one reasonably close to you, the travel expenses will be much less.
That said, training is important. While we all want to go to the big name schools and get trained by the famous gun-fighting teachers, lets not loose sight that the goal is to make ourselves better. So, if the goal is to get better, take a couple classes from local teachers and see what you pick up from them. Then, once you have taken some classes, you can better evaluate if the extra money is worth it. No matter how āgoodā each of us thinks we are, we can improve, and having a second look by an experienced eye can help break us out of techniques we have let slip and bad habits we have fallen into.
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I did some checking for you on the instructor site and I did find a couple folks you might talk with to see if they might fit the bill for you. Both show Phoenix area folks.
David Erisman
derisman2@cox.net
602-790-3644
Stan Hughes
stanhughes2@cox.net
They are both training counselors, and are certified to teach at least the first level of USCCA defensive pistol. If not one of them Iām betting they can lead you down the right path.
I would be happy to help but the commute to Florida would be excessive.
Bill
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All well said @Brian139. Sure if you were studying martial arts it would be great to have Jackie Chan or some Yoda type person to train you, but yes, there are folks like myself @Bill50 @Aaron25 @Jeff4 @SKIdaho and many others here in the USCCA family that are great instructors. Look up and reach out to one of us in your area for courses, or lookup one of us not in your area that you may want to travel and piggy back a vacation to with the family.
Iāve had a good handful of folks travel my way in winter to get away from the northern cold, or come here to the Texas Hill Country for touring the wine country and amazing wildflowers in spring. @Aaron25 is in central Ohio, and maybe hit his place in fall for the leaf change, @SKIdaho in Idaho which I can say enough here about the beauty in that state.
Iām in additional USCCA training the trainer classes as we speak for a week. Iām meeting a bunch of nice people, meeting super smart, friendly and experienced trainers, learning, and after class having some great food and talk with my new friends.
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I like this topic. I joined this group around the time that I was looking for suggestions on a new 9 mm as a new gun owner. I ended up getting a P3 65 and ask questions about my sight irons on back.
I have a friend who is a local range Marshal at a local gun shooting range and heās been giving me some pointers. I have another friend thatās been shooting for years and he has a concealed weapons permit. My wife and I are taking a gun safety class at shoot point blank. It may be basic, and I may or may not know everything that they teach but Iām taking it anyway because of the seriousness that I am giving my gun ownership. We will continue to reach out to the friend who is the gun marshal to ask for advice and my other friend will teach me how to clean my weapon.
I think what my next step will be is to sign my wife and I up for a concealed weapons class. We are shooting every other weekend at the gun range to build up proficiency. If anyone has any suggestions what I should do please feel free to respond to me in this thread or by private message. After I get my concealed weapons permit I will probably get instruction on holster and drawing from a holster And then some of the other scenarios that I see posted
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This is probably the best part of your post for me! You and the wife having fun together doing something you enjoy! Making memories. 
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Again, I have to vote for finding a reputable local instructor. The local instructor of choice for me, may not have a big āIndustryā name. But, heās got a very impressive resume of training heās done himself, along with tons of people heās trained. On top of that, heās a great down to earth guy. His courses range from about $150 - 200 and are typically full day classes. He also offers private classes if you need one on one work for a very reasonable rate. Honestly, these dayās ammo is more expensive than his courses.
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I didnāt want to name drop at all. I mean I respect their knowledge and training and what they value it at, then thatās totally up to them. But one person I watch religiously is Vigilance Elite on YouTube and I was really interested on even traveling to a class since I live in West Virginia and I forget how many days the class was but it was $5k for the class and I just couldnāt give up that much money for training.
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I have watched it with the Navy Seal Sean Ryan, its good training but a lot of people cannot afford it.
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@Johnnyq60 yeah thatās who I was referring to. Heās an elite level instructor with tons of knowledge from the seal teams and then a lot of years with the agency once got out and did some contract work. I would love to attend his firearms class but there isnāt any way I would pay someone that much for some training
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Look for Thunder Ranch classes away from its Oregon home base. I took a 2-day class near Phoenix, within commuting distance, for $800. Great class with Clint and his teamā¦ Iād take it again.
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Unfortunately theyāve taken down all the in-person class material so I canāt see what they wanted $5K for. I bet it isnāt your typical training class. Sometimes I will see something like a private class for a group to X people with a high price tag (no surprise since the price per student might be more like $500-1000 depending on group size). Or something else special, like them providing exotic equipment. Orā¦ Or maybe it includes travel to Syria for some on the job training 
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3 days for $5k??? Nope. I took some Lethal Force Institute, Instructed by Masaad Ayoob. Excellent training, and I was able to afford it without losing and arm or a leg, or selling a gun.
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Holy goodness, they better be teaching you ninja-level abilities for that price. Proficient instructors who pursue training for the ability to transform students into aware and proficient shooters shouldnāt have to charge a huge fee for a course. Now, prices do go up when its multiple days, includes housing and food and ammo, but if it doesnāt include those perks, you may want to look elsewhere. Just because someone is āfamousā on YouTube it doesnāt mean they are perfect in their field (and if they do say they are perfect, that is a quick indicator to run away and find another instructor).
Bottom line, many can put on a fabulous video with all the bells and whistles and unfortunately today that draws in the shooters who want to ālearn how to do what they do in the videoā but donāt understand the importance of finding a qualified (or even highly experienced) teacher. Someone instructing doesnāt make them an effective teacher. I have seen poor quality videos with the best instruction I have ever heard and I have seen some āhigh speedā vids where the instructor was lied to entirely too much because the information they put out was not adequate and some information was downright wrong.
Figure out what you want to learn, then pursue the valid qualified instructors that you think can deliver the proper instruction that suits your needs. Donāt fall for the ātacticalā trap, because so many people who should never teach another human being, use that term to draw in those who think they can become John Wick in 3 days and $5k.
Be careful and do your due diligence.
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Are there any USCCA Instructors in the Salem, Oregon area?
@George16, this is nice tool to find USCCA Training and Instructors.
https://training.usconcealedcarry.com/instructor-search?page=1&state=Oregon
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Thank You Jerzy! I will give it a shot when I am done catching up on what I have missed since last here.
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Books and youtube videos are great. Like you, Iāve read alot of what Ayoob has to say but havenāt got to one of his classes. Having said that, Personal instruction provides a learning that books and videos canāt provide
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