Need Some Posting Advice Please - The Usual Suspects Are Falling Short

[Defaultmp3]

Defaultmp3 is a really good guy in that part of the world, who does a ton of training. His AAR's are a goldmine, too. I read them religiously.

Thanks for the vote of confidence.

Thank you Serious. I will start poring over those After Actions and also thank you for the lead on Default.

So, the deal is, I personally don't really know of any private ranges in the area with open sign-ups currently (e.g., Bayou Rifles, Pearland Shooting Center, etc.), which would have been your best bet for something where there's rifle bays or whatever so that you can just run around and do whatevs with either rifle or pistol. Most of them have pretty long waitlists, with no defined timeline of when you might be able to get in. Depending on what side of town he's on (Houston is huge, after all), it might be worth investing in a membership over at Cawthon, http://cccshootingcomplex.com/prices/. It's a really nice range (honestly, probably the best outdoor one I've been to), and not that far of a drive if you're near the NW side (which I'm guessing isn't the case, given that you mentioned Beaumont), and kinda puts you near College Station, too.

Beyond that, my preferred indoor range of choice is Shiloh Shooting (http://www.shilohshooting.com/), though obviously this will be pistol-centric. I'm friends with a lot of the guys behind the counter, and I help sweep and clean after they close, so they let me do stuff like drawing and stuff; pretty sure most of the regulars that show good handling skills are allowed to do that, too. Every second and third Sunday, they hold two-ish hour handgun classes going over whatever random material that my friend pulls out of his ass; I occasionally AI those, depending on my schedule, but it's a good opportunity to do stuff like reloads, draws, low-light, SotM, etc. if you don't have any other time. They also offer a first responder/military discount for range fees. They don't really like people to shoot rifles, but that's purely a function of noise and its impact on other customers, and they don't really care if it's a slow day and not many other customers around (or if you use a can).

I know both Athena Gun Club and Boyert Shooting Center allow you to do draws after you've been certified by their staff, and also cool with rifles all day. Both are a bit pricey, though, especially Athena, though to be fair, they are really, really nice indoor ranges.

I've not ever attended a class at Area 59, but I've been there multiple times for Steel Challenge. Relatively basic range, but they're doing a good job at sprucing it up, with benches and shade at most of the bays (the goal is to have them at every bay; I ain't been back in a couple of months, so they might have finished that project). The Steel Challenge/USPSA folks are real nice folks, too.

I know Phil out at The Impactzone hosts guys, I've been out there for a Shivworks ECQC and CWS Active Shooter/Low-Light course, and saw a Suarez class out there before, so a bit of a mixed bag. I believe there's also some competition shooting that happens out there.

My go-to local guy for training classes these days is Matt Shockey (of P&S fame) who owns Falcon Tactical (https://www.falcontactical.net/). He hosts plenty of big name guys out on a range at Eagle Lake (which is west of Houston), and I've been out there with Pannone, McNamara, etc. It's a nice range, and if you snag accommodations, you'll typically get to hang out with the instructor a lot, as they typically also stay on-site; the owner of the range, Nolan is also a phenomenal cook, and a super nice fellow. The range as of now is only open for classes hosted through Falcon Tactical (as Nolan's business is mainly trophy hunting, he has a bunch of exotic animals out on the property), as Matt's been super busy with his new baby, though there's been talk about opening the range back up to private range days and the like, as there's been some outside interest in helping run the range.

About the same distance from Beaumont to Eagle Lake is Nacogdoches, which is home to CSAT (http://www.combatshootingandtactics.com/), always a classic.

Hope that helps. Sorry it's mostly pistol-centric, but that's my primary focus on training, and since I found Shiloh, I've not had too much impetus to dig around for better ranges, as I'm basically allowed to do whatever after the range closes.