Frontsight Training for my 12-year-old

[JENANI]

My daughter and I went to FrontSight for three days for private training (I bought a membership via an online charity auction, and quickly traded it up for "a reasonable price" to a membership that would include unlimited lifetime free private training for my then-11-year-old). It was such a great experience, even with the freezing weather! We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express in Parhump, had a rental, and drove the 20 minutes to the range each day. It is an easy drive. We had Madison for the first day, and Seth for the next two days. I recommend either instructor to train kids as both were very patient, knowledgeable, and took the time to really communicate to my daughter. It was a really great mother-daughter trip. She shot on a Walther .22P; I shot a Glock 19. We brought them with us from SFO to McCarran; it took less than 10 minutes to check the firearms at both airports. I brought back 1000 rounds of 9 mil ammo from Frontsight; again, no issue at the airports. We shot about 750 rounds each during the 3 days of training. My daughter went from never-before-having-fired a gun to shooting nearly as good as I can shoot (her eyes are better lol). She is confident, comfortable at 3, 5, 7, 10. and 15 yards. She is able to handle a gun in a responsible manner. Now, if only there were somewhere around where we live in Marin County to practice ! ! !

[Ubermcoupe]

Glad to hear it!

The last 4-day defensive class I took, there was a family of 5; husband & wife and their three kids (17, 15, 12/13?). Everyone had a great time.

[Royal_Cake]

That’s awesome. Plan on doing the same for my kids in a couple years.
Gotta hand it to frontsight for training the masses in solid fundamentals and more.
Glad you had a good experience.

[Supersapper]

I was there a year ago with a mom, dad, and two sisters. The youngest was 12, but looked like an 8 year old.

Little girl shot the center out of the target every time, but lost all the points on the test due to time because she simply was not able to manipulate the pistol for the malfunctions checks and getting the first round off quickly. She simply didn't yet have the upper body strength to manipulate it very well.

She was a trooper and took the training really seriously. Dad even said that if she did, then the gun would be hers when the time came. We all quipped with the parents that all she needed was some time for the body to catch up and practice and she'd out shoot us all.

Kind of an inspiration for those of us long time shooters to see someone taking such an interest.

[ThreatScenarios]

Originally Posted by JENANI

My daughter and I went to FrontSight for three days for private training (I bought a membership via an online charity auction, and quickly traded it up for "a reasonable price" to a membership that would include unlimited lifetime free private training for my then-11-year-old). It was such a great experience, even with the freezing weather! We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express in Parhump, had a rental, and drove the 20 minutes to the range each day. It is an easy drive. We had Madison for the first day, and Seth for the next two days. I recommend either instructor to train kids as both were very patient, knowledgeable, and took the time to really communicate to my daughter. It was a really great mother-daughter trip. She shot on a Walther .22P; I shot a Glock 19. We brought them with us from SFO to McCarran; it took less than 10 minutes to check the firearms at both airports. I brought back 1000 rounds of 9 mil ammo from Frontsight; again, no issue at the airports. We shot about 750 rounds each during the 3 days of training. My daughter went from never-before-having-fired a gun to shooting nearly as good as I can shoot (her eyes are better lol). She is confident, comfortable at 3, 5, 7, 10. and 15 yards. She is able to handle a gun in a responsible manner. Now, if only there were somewhere around where we live in Marin County to practice ! ! !

Great job getting your kids started on the right track with proper training! Front Sight does a fantastic job establishing and emphasizing the importance of strong fundamentals for students at all skill levels.

[XDJYo]

Front Sight is awesome in this regard. Training whole families to be a shooting family. To be a safe family. To be a family that can defend themselves should the need arise.

In the class the wife and I took several years ago, we saw quite a few husband and wife couples, some families and even extended families taking the 4 day class.

California might as well be another country it is so backwards from many other states when it comes to guns. Hope you can find a place to train and shoot in your neck of the woods.

Happy shooting and be safe!

[NorthBay Shooter]

Originally Posted by JENANI

She is confident, comfortable at 3, 5, 7, 10. and 15 yards. She is able to handle a gun in a responsible manner. Now, if only there were somewhere around where we live in Marin County to practice ! ! !

You can shoot outside at Richmond. Their range is pretty safe. You can also have you and your daughter take the Richmond Hot Shots action pistol safety class and then you two can shoot on the action range. The class is $25 but necessary if you want to shoot from the holster. There is open practice on a static line every Saturday. You can shoot as fast as you want (rather than the one shot every 2 seconds in a normal range) and draw from the holster. It is great practice. There are a lot of really good shooters there and most would be happy to help. You might even like shooting IDPA or USPSA. Both are great and Richmond is a great place for that.

[Califpatriot]

Not to threadjack but how does Frontsight make money? Seems like they provide pretty extensive training services people appear to like for the cost of essentially range fees (at least if you buy the certificates on eBay). What's the catch?

[damon1272]

Having been there once and going back soon I would venture to say they attract folks that have some wealth that may attend once or twice and not return. These same folks buy the more expensive packages, buy ammo from there because it is easy, and buy memberships for family members.

Most of these folks that can afford it are older and have the kind of money to come in through the front door.

I think money is made from local businesses such as the Best Western in town, the food served on site, and all of the up selling they do when there as you are a captive audience.

That said I have worked for places that operate near the same as they have a ton of folks coming through the doors. He has an efficient operation. He pays his employees dirt and the operation internally appears to be cutthroat if your not "in". I say this as I have worked for other operations much like this. It is a business model that works but tends to spit people out if they don't have the ability to hang or cant see it for what it is and how they have to operate to keep running. The other thing is you have to keep clients focused on the future and show some progress even if it is incremental to keep the money flowing.

All that said is not to take away from the operation. They are customer oriented and teach what they have to teach well. I plan on going back next month then in April and maybe in October again for this year. I was pretty impressed by the operation overall.

[Califpatriot]

Originally Posted by damon1272

Having been there once and going back soon I would venture to say they attract folks that have some wealth that may attend once or twice and not return. These same folks buy the more expensive packages, buy ammo from there because it is easy, and buy memberships for family members.

Most of these folks that can afford it are older and have the kind of money to come in through the front door.

I think money is made from local businesses such as the Best Western in town, the food served on site, and all of the up selling they do when there as you are a captive audience.

That said I have worked for places that operate near the same as they have a ton of folks coming through the doors. He has an efficient operation. He pays his employees dirt and the operation internally appears to be cutthroat if your not "in". I say this as I have worked for other operations much like this. It is a business model that works but tends to spit people out if they don't have the ability to hang or cant see it for what it is and how they have to operate to keep running. The other thing is you have to keep clients focused on the future and show some progress even if it is incremental to keep the money flowing.

All that said is not to take away from the operation. They are customer oriented and teach what they have to teach well. I plan on going back next month then in April and maybe in October again for this year. I was pretty impressed by the operation overall.

Thanks for the info.

[NorthBay Shooter]

you really don't need to get certs or memberships off ebay. There are 100 + FS members on CalGuns that would give you (or sell you) a lifetime membership for next to nothing. Check the FrontSight thread in comp shooting.

You have to get past the SPAM of the place, but as previously said, the do have excellent training. PM me if you want a membership.

[chestnut250]

Originally Posted by damon1272

Having been there once and going back soon I would venture to say they attract folks that have some wealth that may attend once or twice and not return. These same folks buy the more expensive packages, buy ammo from there because it is easy, and buy memberships for family members.

Most of these folks that can afford it are older and have the kind of money to come in through the front door.

I think money is made from local businesses such as the Best Western in town, the food served on site, and all of the up selling they do when there as you are a captive audience.

That said I have worked for places that operate near the same as they have a ton of folks coming through the doors. He has an efficient operation. He pays his employees dirt and the operation internally appears to be cutthroat if your not "in". I say this as I have worked for other operations much like this. It is a business model that works but tends to spit people out if they don't have the ability to hang or cant see it for what it is and how they have to operate to keep running. The other thing is you have to keep clients focused on the future and show some progress even if it is incremental to keep the money flowing.

All that said is not to take away from the operation. They are customer oriented and teach what they have to teach well. I plan on going back next month then in April and maybe in October again for this year. I was pretty impressed by the operation overall.

Damon, this is a very great explanation of how their business plan seems to work! There are so many comments in threads asking how they can stay in business and it would be nice if this reply was the go-to response. It it very true, their training and instructors is absolutely awesome. We have been there twice already and will be going back again in June at the latest. I'm actually looking to maybe take a shotgun course or something between now and June just to keep going. I will be buying my ammo from the bunker from now on as well. I didn't realize the pricing is very close to online prices and I don't need to deal with shipping!