Front Sight Four-day Tactical Shotgun Class

[NWGlockgal]

Signed up for Tactical Handgun and Advanced Tactical Handgun end of May/first part of June.

 

[Ironbar]

Signed up for Tactical Handgun and Advanced Tactical Handgun end of May/first part of June.

NOPE! Been to Front Sight in 100+ degree weather. Not doing it again.

 

[Ironbar]

Well, trip is all booked! Turns out I'm going down at the end of March anyway, but the fellows I wanted to go with are going even later than me. I'll be in Disneyland when they're taking their class. Bummer, but oh well.

Looking forward to brushing up the pistol skills again, and possibly getting DG. I'm taking a different pistol this time so we'll see how it goes. (Maybe I'll take the Smith .40 just in case!).

 

[Ironbar]

Well, although I'm not from Missouri, it looks like Front Sight is finally showing me, and making headway in the construction of Patriot Pavilion. They've broken ground, and earth movers are actively clearing and grading in preparation for something big!

I suspect the higher ups at Front Sight have purposely instructed all staff not to mention time lines on construction efforts so as not to spread rumors or incorrect information. When I asked several instructors about the construction, they were all very coy about it and didn't offer anything concrete. I can appreciate that- I wouldn't want a bunch of false scuttlebutt floating around either. However, It was very gratifying to see progress being made.

This is a shot from the road leading to the Phase 3 ranges. On the left of the road is where Shotgun Canyon USED to be! As you can see, they've completely leveled it in preparation for construction. In the distance are the Phase 3 ranges.


This is a shot of the right side of the road. They're also leveling it here too, presumably in conjunction with the grading on the left. Can't wait to see how everything is going to turn out! They've been talking about this for so long that it's nice to see it finally going forward.


I'm already planning another trip to Front Sight in the Fall. Can't wait to go back!

 

[NWGlockgal]

I noticed all the equipment when I was there in December, but nothing was happening with it.
Glad to see they are making progress.

 

[shooter777]

I took a 4 day shotgun class there in 2012ish. Shotgun canyon was super fun as was most of the class(apart from the constant loading and unloading). Im glad to see them further their development plans but I hope they don't do it at the expense of some of their scenarios ranges. I hear they don't do the night shoot for the handgun classes anymore and the advanced classes are fewer and farther between. Front Sight has a lot of haters online but having taken 6 classes there I can say that their training is solid.

 

[NWGlockgal]

Back from Front Sight. Ironbar, you are right, better to go in cooler weather! There were some nice breezes however, and they made sure we kept plenty hydrated and took all the rest we needed. So it wasn't too terrible, even though it was in the 90's, but next time I'll go a different time of year.

 

[Ironbar]

Back from Front Sight. Ironbar, you are right, better to go in cooler weather! There were some nice breezes however, and they made sure we kept plenty hydrated and took all the rest we needed. So it wasn't too terrible, even though it was in the 90's, but next time I'll go a different time of year.

Hate to say I told ya' so!

HOWEVER, what classes did you take? How were they? Any progression on construction activities? Inquiring minds wanna know!

 

[NWGlockgal]

Hate to say I told ya' so!

HOWEVER, what classes did you take? How were they? Any progression on construction activities? Inquiring minds wanna know!

I took Tactical Awareness, Tactical Handgun, and Advanced Tactical Handgun. They were all very good. Absolutely nothing going on with construction that I could see. Someone asked one of the instructors about a time table for construction of the "resort", and he kind of indicated it probably won't be in our life time!

 

[NWGlockgal]

I just got back from the 4 day tactical shotgun course at Front Sight. I pretty much agree with Ironbar's review, except for the range boss. Mine (Donovan) was superb, funny, personable, and very much into teaching us. He did review how to work with the doors because a lot of us didn't watch the video the night before. It would have been nice to do it more than once, but they keep a tight schedule and it was simple enough that you can easily practice at home. He was flexible with what you do too, I didn't do any of the kneeling or prone stuff (bad knees) and I left early twice- an hour early on day three and then at lunch day four since I was not going to take the test. Since we had such a small class (eleven people) they were just going to run the test as a practice multiple times before actually doing the real thing.

I really enjoyed the course and it was my first real experience using a shotgun. It was physically taxing, which is why I left early a couple of times. The recoil did not bother me at all, but my forearms were screaming in pain, as well as my shoulders from holding up
the shotgun. Not used to it and it's heavy! So I was physically exhausted, which starts to mess with you mentally.

If I had to do it over, I would have taken only the 2 day course. A mistake for a beginner to do that much (I calculated we shot 275 birdshot, 65 slugs and 65 buckshot) and I think being female and not having the upper body strength the guys do was a factor. I think
I will retake it, but make sure to hit the gym before the next time! And just do the 2 day course. After the middle of day 3, I was so exhausted that I reached the point of diminishing returns-everything after that got sloppy and I got worse instead of better. And that started to make me feel discouraged.

But I really enjoyed it and thought they did a great job. I had an issue with my sling the first day and used their armorer to take care of the issue, I thought the price was more than fair.

Oh, if you take the class definitely get a side saddle. I didn't have one, just a shell pouch, but I could see how it would help to pass the skills test. I didn't stay for the test, but I suspect that only one person passed it, a young kid who was very very good. Everyone else did well, but there are a couple of things (mainly the port loading drill) that make it difficult to pass.

No sales pitches at all (well, except for the hearing protection that they sell, lasted maybe two minutes, and easily ignored). No indication of any building going on for the fabled Patriot Pavilion. I did notice the Pro Shop had very little in this time, and another student made a comment that it was that way the last time he attended a class and he thought it might be a sign that they are not doing well financially and was worried they might be closing. I have no idea.

I also attend the AR armorers course which I found useful because I know nothing about them, most people here would probably find they could get as much off of youtube. I also went to a precision rifle course class which was all class room lecture about ballistics and equipment and while very interesting, a lot of it went over my head since I'm new to that too. But it was interesting and peaked my interest so another thing to add onto the future classes to take.