Where to start beginner classes?

[Liquidus]

Hello, I recently purchased a Springfield XD 9mm and would like to become proficient in using it. Main purpose is for home defense/real world situations. I have no experience and am willing to pay for classes and/or private instruction. I live in the East Bay so the Bullseye Shooting Range would be a convenience place. Looking at their website, their Basic course costs $150 for a group class or $250 for a one-on-one.

http://www.bullseyerange.com/range/pistol-b.html

Are either of these a good choice? Thanks for the help.

[Lugiahua]

If you live in East Bay, the best local range for training is Chabot Gun Club. Has every thing from introduction into firearms to advanced course with Alias or other big names companies. They also run different matches regularly.

http://chabotgunclub.com/

If you don't mind traveling for class, there are also good courses around San Jose and Sacramental area, like Tactical Training Associates, LMS Defense, Gray Ops and many others.

[Bert Gamble]

It is not close, but Front Sight memberships can be purchased from people here for close to the price you are talking about. Front Sight is really good for the new shooter, and with a membership, you can go for the rest of your life (or theirs).

[Best sale]

It is not close, but Front Sight memberships can be purchased from people here for close to the price you are talking about. Front Sight is really good for the new shooter, and with a membership, you can go for the rest of your life (or theirs).

+1 on that. A great place for new shooter to develop safety awareness and firearm handling confidence for close to nothing $$$ wise.

[kicker510]

O'Brien Pistol Training

I've been taking lessons from Gary O'Brien of O'Brien Pistol Training at the Davis Street range in San Leandro. I have seen a dramatic improvement in my accuracy and technique. Gary is knowledgeable, competent , extremely safe and has a great sense of humor. I highly recommend him if your looking to qualify for your CCW or just want to tighten up your shooting skill set.
E-mail him at: gobrien747@aol.com

[Liquidus]

Thanks for all of the replies so far! I will look into all of these options.

[imBastos]

Thanks for this! I'm definitely going to look into Action Pistol Club.

Front Sight $50 training certificates seem like a good idea until you figure in the hassle and cost to get down there. 1,100 miles round trip is around $200 in gas, a day off work to drive down there, $70 a day hotel, and Front Sight isn't exactly the most respected firearms training outfit in the world. I'm sure you've already got PMs of people trying to sell you memberships.

Go to Action Pistol Club in San Jose. It's $12 for about 2 hours of showing you how to draw, reload, etc. Every other Saturday night.

http://actionpistolclub.com/

Then you can go to Defensive Pistol Club at the Metcalf range in San Jose. It's $30 for 6 hours of shooting. It's every other Sunday.

https://www.facebook.com/DefensiveShootingClubhouse

That's a really cheap way to get into defensive/action pistol stuff.

These outfits also provide local training:

http://yfainc.com

http://www.westcoasttacticaltraining.com

http://www.stoicventures.com

http://www.spartanconceptsandconsulting.com/

http://www.nielsentrainingassociates.com/

http://team3tactical.com/

If you're a super-beginner, Bill Tidwell teaches NRA classes:

http://train2besafe.com/

[mikeshan]

I'm in SLO. Willing to drive to OC, LA

Any recomendations?

[christ on a crutch]

I'm in SLO. Willing to drive to OC, LA

Any recomendations?

you are one serious road dog if you're willing to drive that far to train regularly. then again, i'm a front sight member, so what do i know.

for pistol, i've tried three: international tactical training seminars, phoenix tactical solutions and civilian arms training source. civilian arms was unsafe as hell. the other two were about equal and i'd recommend either. in both cases, you'll have safe instructors who know the basics and are pretty observant about diagnosing and improving your technique. most schools do pretty much the same beginners' curriculum. phoenix has smaller classes and offers a year's all-you-can-eat training deal that's unbeatable, valuewise.

for shotgun, i took firearmstraining.com's intro course. it gave new meaning to the idea of bare bones, but then it was really cheap too.

there's a ton more trainers that others here are more familiar with; 'google pistol training los angeles' and you can read their web pages.