I've spent the last 15 years a a lead firearm Instructor/range master for our department and have had alot of exposure to many firearms instructors, this is my go to list for guys looking for the best in several disciplines.
Rick Crawley (Achilles Heal)
Joe Dawson (Veles)
Phil Velayo (The Cadre)
Caylen Wojik (Modern day sniper)
Pat Mcnamara (TMAC)
Drew Estell (Baer Solutions)
Aaron Cowan (Sage Dynamics)
Steve Fisher "Yeti" (Sentinel Concepts) he's also my old neighbor and friend of the family.
William Petty (Centrifuge)
Edit: If your going to carry a gun for defense you NEED proper emergency medical training.
I've done a 1/2 dozen different TCCC classes and Dark Angel Medical is at the top of the list, worth every penny.
Not sure where in WY you are, but you have a gem of a resource in Cody: Bill Tallen.
Bill is a former business partner of mine from when we were both at DSI. He was our VP of Training and Tactics. Before DSI, he was an agent, trainer, superviser and manager at Dept of Energy for the over the road nuke guys. He's been working with the local schools in recent years and providing them with combative handgun training as active shooter prep. Look him up. He's a pro.
As for the best class I've attended... I'll choose the last one I taught. Cowtown Range, last week. Post-DSI (now defunct), I kicked off my own company, Gringo Strategic, to carry forward the curriculum we used at DSI for Individual Training, specifically. Combative Handgun, Carbine, Shotgun, etc on the firearms side. We offer a number of other courses (some firearms related, some not), but Combative Handgun is the gateway. For reasons.
We're selective about who we train, provide a complete curriculum (to include rudimentary elements of TCCC), and run 6-student classes to maintain proper student to instructor ratio. We're also a "road show". So... travel on the part of the students isn't strictly necessary.
We aren't cheap, but we're damned good, and we're specifically focused on the realities of carrying concealed as a a civilian subject to self-defense law, as opposed to Use of Force (with Qualified Immunity) and/or RoE.
www.darc-usa.com
darkangelmedical.com
