[Harold Mayo]

Does anyone have any suggestions for firearms training in the Midwest? My personal favorite is a school which doesn't advertise much and is pretty low-key but very good. It is the Association of Professional Trainers in Galena, Missouri (in southwest Missouri not far from Branson). I won't go into great detail but the instructors are professionals and most have both military and law enforcement experience far greater than you would expect to find in a small Missouri town. Not only do they teach all of the firearms classes that you might expect to find (at least three levels of handgun, carbine, utility rifle, precision rifle, subgun, etc.) but they also teach SCUBA, rappelling (they have a nice rappelling tower), parachuting/skydiving, unarmed combat (anything from basic LE or defensive stuff to full-fledged martial arts, mostly muay thai with a lot of add-ons from other arts and practical experience), hand-to-hand weapons, bodyguard skills, combat medic skills, high risk warrant service (for tactical teams, etc.)...and there are many more courses, as well as private training available. Their clients are mostly military and law enforcement personnel but civilians are very welcome and the school has a large following among shooters in the area. There are a couple of excellent gunsmiths easily able to hold their own among their more well-advertised brothers in the trade who are affiliated with the APT, as well as a couple of holster makers, one of whom has his leather sold by a big-name company under their name. The APT will travel anywhere to do training in addition to doing it on-site. I know that they're gone at least as far east as Maine and as far north as Chicago but I'm not sure about the other compass points. They are very reasonably priced as far as training goes. Another selling point is that most of the instructors are serving law enforcement or military personnel with current experience who keep their personal skills sharp...they practice what they preach and it is a rare student who can outshoot the lead instructors. They've had write-ups in military journals as well as civilian shooting magazines. One board member (I'm not sure he's migrated here yet), Roger Shambaugh, wrote and published an article about the APT in one of the shooting magazines a couple of years ago and he has plugged the organization on the 1911forum.

Well...I said I wouldn't go into detail but I did. I'm not sure of their mailing address but the APT phone number is 417-357-8482. Give them a call and they'll send a brochure.

 

[NeilCasper]

You might look over Tactical Defense Institutes website. They are in the extreme southern part of Ohio, just west-north west of Portsmouth, down by The River.
The owner, John Benner, is a retired Cinncinnati SWAT Commander who runs a great facility.
If you give him a call you'll find him to be a real good guy.

http://www.tdiohio.com/

 

[Shane1911]

Some of my guys took an APT tactical/dynamic entry course, as well as low-light combat tactics courses a couple years back. It was held in Tampa Bay. I received nothing but positive comments from the guys upon their return. I'll try to get some details from the boys next week, and relay more specifics then.

I believe Andy Stanford was contracted to do some of the training back then. His low/no-light courses are worth it even if that was they only thing they taught.

APT is indeed geared towards HRT/SWAT training, but as "oops!Fix me!" mentioned, non-LEO are welcome, and I believe the pace, although intense, is suitable for anyone that has slightly above average gun handling ability.

PS - "Oops!Fix me!" Send an email to Peter Loron with your user name and email address, so he can give you your identity back!