Yeah, I was in that class with Chupa and it was a bit of a shock. Surprisingly, none of the class members (including Chupa and myself) wanted to get shot during the group drills. When we let the instructor know during a break, he tried to argue with us about it at first, then just gave up "curtly and rudely" (perfectly put). The somewhat more aggravating part, to me, was that the first part of the class almost seemed like a LTC-class all over again (laws, transporting, parts of the firearm/bullet, etc). Not to mention that the info on the S&W site is still wrong regarding the class and prior to attending, I called the Center with some questions and got wrong answers then too. I left very unimpressed with the SSC classes and would really need to convince myself to try it again. I've heard great things about Sig Academy, although from Western MA it's a hike.
Took my wife out there, last year for the "First Shots" course, as she had never fired a handgun, on a sunday morning.
When the instructor, John Lynch, started the class with "Good, a small group, we can out of here early" was an ominous warning of what was about to come.
Went to the range, and he had various pistols laid out at each stand. He had each person to come up and dry fire - keep in mind, that most had never held a handgun before, and there was no ammo on the range yet.
When he got to my wife, who has minor residual paralysis in her left hand from a childhood illness, she had some minor difficulty trying to grip a 44. magnum revolver (like that would really be her first gun!!!!), he started screaming at her - she quietly put the gun down, and said she did not want to hold the class up.
Apparently, this was not enough for him. He started yelling and getting very petulant, shaking his head then began pointing at her, in front of the class, yelling "safety hazard - safety hazard!"
My wife had had enough humiliation and degradation from this arrogant person (I will not call him and instructor). She quietly walked out in a dignified manner.
I have no idea, as to how the rest of the class went, but to wife's credit she did not give up, worked with a couple of the guys at the Mansfield club, (Don't teach your wife to drive or shoot, is my motto) and she is doing quite well now. She is confident with her Ruger Blackhawk (notice I did not say S&W) and has no fear of the .357 magnum, after Greg at our club, helped her with her confidence.
Why I am mentioning this is the post asking about S&W training
I do own some S&W guns, and will probably buy a 1911 - can't blame S&W for a bad experience, In my opinion, John Lynch should be promoted to Manager of Customer Prevention. Should anyone wonder, it takes a lot for me to "name names" but this not libel nor slander. It is exactly what happened.
As a side note, I recently had a wonderful experience attending Scouter Rick's Instructor training course. During the course, one of the students doing a practice presentation, obviously affected by nervousness, had Rick jumping and moving to avoid the gun being pointed at him. Rick used this as a very positive teaching experience, and it really hit home with all of us. To me, this is an "INSTRUCTOR".
Wonder how Mr.Lynch would have handled this!!
![[rolleyes]](/xen/styles/default/xenforo/smilies.vb/042.gif "Roll Eyes [rolleyes]")
![[smile]](/xen/styles/default/xenforo/smilies.vb/001.gif "Smile [smile]")
) and then back to the range. Don't know how many rounds, lost count. They had a 9, 40, and 45 in the M&P's full size and compact. I know one revolver was a 357 I forget what the other one was. Targets, glasses, hearing protection and hats are included.(can not keep) Hell for fifty bucks not bad in my book. Now that I think about it I spend more going to the range for an hour with my own M&P![[shocked]](/xen/styles/default/xenforo/smilies.vb/007.gif "Shocked [shocked]")