Instructor watching students shoot from simulated cover
Front Sight Training Center, just outside Las Vegas, NV is a much maligned and misunderstood facility. While I don’t claim to be an expert on Front Sight I have trained there on several occasions. It was the first formal shooting school I went to outside the military and I was impressed (or gullible depending on who you ask) to sign up for the membership. I took the 4 Day Practical Rifle course using a certificate I bought on eBay. Despite the Lead Instructor having an ND (negligent discharge) on Day 3 I still learned a lot and felt that I had improved as a shooter.
Front Sight 4 Day M16 Class
The membership is structured so that you can attend certain classes as many times as you want, so if you want to take 4 Day Defensive Handgun once a month for the rest of your life you can. It sounds like a better deal than it is. All of the 4 Day programs include lectures built in to the schedule so there is only so much shooting that you can do, particularly if you’ve already been through any of the other 4 Day classes. They advertise that they squeeze 5 days of training in to a 4 day course but the truth is that its more like a 2 day class stretched in to a 4 day class. The “Skill Builder” classes are the 4 Day classes minus all the lectures; all range work for 2 days which is actually the best value of a membership.
They do make a sales pitch for folks to sign up or upgrade their memberships and once you sign up you will get an endless stream of email spam and mailings. They’ve had several lawsuits brought agains them and google search of Front Sight + litigation will turn up quite a few links.
I’ve taken the 4 Day Defensive Handgun, 2 Day Handgun Skill Builder, 2 Day Advanced Handgun, 4 Day Practical Rifle as well as the 4 Day M16 class. I’ve generally been happy with the instruction and the facility is good for what it is but it would not be my first choice if money and schedule were no issue. The regular cost of a class has crept up to $2,000 for a 4 day class and there is no way that anything they teach is worth $500 a day! When I first started training there the cost of enrollment was about $800 and I thought it a bit on the high side even back then. At best, the training is worth about $100 a day and for $200 a day you can train with many of the best instructors in the community.
The advantages are a consistent and predictable schedule, very good range facilities and the support you get from the pro shop. If you need a holster or ammo or even a rental gun they can set you up, especially with advance notice. If you live close enough to go regularly its probably worth it.
The disadvantages are that the curriculum is dogmatic, some of your fellow students may display a bit of a “groupie” attitude and you will inevitably plateau since they go by the pace of the curriculum not the place of the students.
I would comfortably recommend it to a beginner student going there on a certificate or even someone who just wants to get consistent range time if they live close enough but otherwise there are other facilities that are equal or better.