Indiana Training Links

[BarryinIN]

I’ll start.


Boone County Sheriff’s Office (Lebanon)
https://www.boonecountyindianasheriff.com/divisions/administration/training/
They host top-notch trainers and schools such as Steve Tarani and Gunsite, plus do some of their own. Their weekend-long Principles of Defensive Handgun is a bargain at $200. It’s a good place to start going beyond the basics, or is a good tune-up.
I think they have finished their classes for the year so you won’t find much on the webpage now, but keep watching.
First class all the way.

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Appleseed (Various locations statewide)
https://appleseedinfo.org
Basic but necessary rifle skills. Do NOT overlook this.
Most of their instruction is done with .22 rifles, and as an all-volunteer organization, it’s cheap enough the whole family can go, and you will see a lot of that.

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Revere’s Riders (Various locations statewide)
https://www.reveresriders.org/events/
Sort of the next step after Appleseed. They are also a volunteer operation. They use a format with a lot of one-day or even half-day classes, making them easy to schedule and to budget. I’m sort of a Revere’s Riders junkie because it’s so easy to schedule. I have taken some of their classes multiple times.

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Guardian Firearms Academy (Greencastle/Putnam County)
http://www.guardianfa.com/site/
He is a Gunsite instructor and knows his stuff. Also mostly single day classes.

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John Hearne/Two Pillars Training (Various locations, but has been to Martinsville and Riley)
https://twopillarstraining.com
John is a recently retired federal LEO, serious trainer, student, and historian. His lectures on historical shooting events alone are worth attending. Has a good focus on threat anatomy. He does one-day and two-day classes, plus online lectures.
He is usually hosted by the Martinsville Sportsmen’s Conservation Club for a couple of classes each year, plus has been at the Riley Conservation Club.

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Eric McElhaney/Professional Firearms Training LLC (Various sites)
https://professionalfirearmstraining.us/index.php
He is an Indiana Law Enforcement Academy instructor who teaches all guns, from basic level on up. I’ve had his shotgun class and would take it again. Shotgun classes can be hard to find sometimes, and he does at least a couple each year.
The last I knew, his outdoor classes were all at the Martinsville Sportsmen’s Conservation Club.

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Sentinel Concepts/Steve Fisher (Various locations)
https://sentinelconcepts.com
Steve started his own company, then taught for Magpul, and is back to his own company. Steve ATTENDS more classes than any trainer I know, so he is well-versed in about any method you can think of. He is also the hardest working instructor I know of, as he’s on the road constantly.
Also does a lot of one-day classes, but usually schedules two or three in a row (Pistol on Saturday and Carbine on Sunday, for example).
Based on Michigan (as if he ever sees home) he has been hosted at clubs and private ranges around the state. You just have to watch the schedule.

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Riley Conservation Club (Riley, near Terre Haute)
https://www.rileycc.com/
The club doesn’t do any training themselves, but many instructors and schools have held classes there.
Just a few examples:

Rangemaster/Tom Givens https://rangemaster.com/firearms-training/

Chuck Haggard/Agile
https://agiletactical.com/

Hardwired Tactical/Daryl Bolke
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100057131424473

Cougar Mountain Solutions/Erick Gelhaus
https://www.cougarmountainsolutions.com/

Keep an eye on Riley’s calendar.
It’s also a great range (240 yard rifle, multiple pistol bays), with a calendar full of matches and reasonable dues.

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Sand Burr Gun Ranch (Rochester)
The link I have appears to be no good, so I don’t know what’s up. The owner died a few years ago, but they were still operating the last I knew. You might keep checking. I will be.
They have hosted trainers most should know, like:

Massad Ayoob (formerly LFI, now Massad Ayoob Group)
https://massadayoobgroup.com/
and
Defense Training International/John Farnam
https://defense-training.com/

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That’s a start

 

[BarryinIN]

I’m signed up for two classes so far this year:
The new Advanced Principles of the Defensive Handgun at Boone Co, and RevolverFest in SC.

As they are announced, I will probably pick up a course or two or three from Revere’s Riders. Almost all of their classes are one day long tops, so it’s easy to grab one here and there. They have some new things planned this year.

 

[Frontiersman]

It sounds like you enjoy taking gun classes.

How many more classes before you will be able to shoot?

 

[BarryinIN]

I’m hoping they will let me when I turn 65.

I haven’t failed to learn something in a class yet.

I was trying to figure out how to get to Gunsite earlier tonight, but I’ve been doing that for about 45 years.
This year is their 50th, and I really want to get there for something.

 

[Frontiersman]

One of the things about being military is the free shooting classes. Sometimes they even provide live targets. I could probably use a refresher but they say I’m too old to join back up.

If you could take one class, which would it be?

 

[BarryinIN]

Here in Indiana, I would send everyone I knew to Principles of the Defensive Handgun at the Boone County Sheriff’s Office (Lebanon).
https://www.boonecountyindianasheriff.com/divisions/administration/training/
It’s a Saturday/Sunday class, taught by instructors who are either on the Gunsite staff or are at least trained there. You get what’s basically a five-day quality class crammed into two days and it’s only $200.
Every round fired has a purpose. You won’t be simply filling the backstop with lead.
It’s not all shooting either, with time spent on decision-making, awareness, a little legal info, etc.

Even though it’s a handgun class, I think it’s good for everyone even if you have little interest in handguns or carrying one.


If that particular class isn’t an option, I’d suggest any basic handgun class. Basic/Intro/Level 1/Etc.

1-A lot of the handgun material can apply to any gun.

2-You have to do the fundamentals. Everybody wants to do the “advanced” go-fast stuff with rappelling out of flaming helicopters. All those classes consist of are the fundamentals/basics with more distractions thrown at you.

3-Everybody needs work on those fundamentals. Everybody.


If I won the lottery and time was not a factor, and I could take classes all the time, the temptation would be to go to Gunsite or Thunder Ranch and go down the list taking every class offered. What I’d probably be better off doing was to go to as many places taking their basic class. Maybe their basic pistol, and basic carbine, and basic shotgun.
Once I’ve done the basics to death, then I would see about seeing what else each source had to offer.

It doesn’t work that way, though. You might be able to make a basic pistol class this month, but the next you can take is an intermediate shotgun two months from now, then something pretty specialized like a long range rifle in five months, and next one is a close quarters snubby class…
Most of us take what we can get to, as they come around.

P.S.
Somewhere, if not first or second, I would take Guy Relford’s Indiana gun law class.
Well worth it.