TN Handgun Carry Permit Schools and Instructors

[BimmerFreak]

Please post info on HCP schools that YOU RECOMMEND so other members can use this information in the selection of their HCP trainer.

Use This Format:

School Name:

Location:

Primary Instructor:

HCP Class Cost:

Website:

Phone number:

Your Personal Experience:

Edited October 9, 2008 by BimmerFreak

[BimmerFreak]

School Name:

Location: Fayetteville TN (Lincoln Co)

Primary Instructor: Brian Rutledge

HCP Class Cost: 75.00

Website:

Phone number: 931-993-6988

Your Personal Experience:

Brian is a first class instructor. With prior experience in Law Enforcement, USMC, and law (he is a Judicial Commissioner) Brian has a variety of life experience to draw from.

Very patient and humble, I would have no problem sending my best friend, wife, mother, or anyone else to Brian.

[musicman]

Critical Incident Strategies

Smyrna, TN

Officers Todd Bryant and Dustin Fait

HCP Class Cost $80

http://www.criticalincidentstrategies.com/index.htm

615-347-0787

I know both Todd and Dustin from their roles as Smyrna police officers and their involvement in the community, as well as working with them in business. They are real, honest guys who don't play "tacticool" and won't try to impress your girlfriend with their machismo. (You know the kind I'm talking about... I can't freaking stand that!) Their knowledge and advice comes from years of training of all kinds that they have attended, and real world experince as officers and SWAT team members. Anyways, I have had friends take their HCP course and all of them gave glowing reviews. They do more than just paper punching and really open up their students' minds to what can actually happen in a self-defense situation. We've all heard the awesome reviews on here about their defensive carbine, pistol, and shotgun classes, too. Once we can get our calendar straight, my wife will be taking her permit course here.

[Guest tlondon]

Safety South

Murfreesboro tn

Bo Alexander

75.00

http://www.safetysouth.net

(615) 566-9897

Bo runs a very professional class. He makes sure to give each sudent in his class enough of the personal attention that is needed.

[Guest 423aaron]

School Name: ETSU Human Performance Lab

Location: ETSU in Johnson City

Primary Instructor:Aaron Henley

HCP Class Cost: $60

Website: henleyaaron@yahoo.com

Phone number:423-928-3201

Your Personal Experience: I teach the class so I can't say enough good about it. Seriously though we have done the class for a decade and put thousands of people through it. Our class is all inclusive. We provide guns, ammo, eyes, and ears. All on our indoor range.

Mods PM me if this is out of place.

[Guest canynracer]

School Name: RangeUSA

Location: Memphis

Primary Instructor: Chip Holland (but there are several)

HCP Class Cost: 75.00 (120.00 for two)

Website: www.rangusa.com

Phone number: 901-213-4774

Your Personal Experience: Awesome instructors are very informative and take the time for interaction. Friendly knowledgeable staff. Great personable atmosphere!

[Smith]

School Name: Academy of Self Protection

Location: Joelton, TN

Primary Instructor: Rob Corcoran

HCP Class Cost: $90 (includes all materials even ammo)

Website: www.academyofselfprotection.com/default.asp www.legallyarmed.com/joelton2.html

Phone number: 615-876-3010

Your Personal Experience: Very good class. No non-sense approach and personal. Highly recommend.

[saintsfanbrian]

Well, I was going to put up RangeUSA but Canyn beat me to it.

[Guest db99wj]

School Name: RangeUSA

Location: Memphis

Primary Instructor: Chip Holland (but there are several)

HCP Class Cost: 75.00 (120.00 for two)

Website: www.rangusa.com

Phone number: 901-213-4774

Your Personal Experience: Awesome instructors are very informative and take the time for interaction. Friendly knowledgeable staff. Great personable atmosphere!

Well, I was going to put up RangeUSA but Canyn beat me to it.

+3

Also, I would be comfortable sending my wife, mom, sister if I had one, to these classes with any of the instructors. If I could only get my wife interested.....I saw that they have a women's only permit class, taught by a woman, Kristen. She taught my kids in the kids class that they have. Can't say enough with how pleased I've been.

[catsbackr]

School Name:

Location: Sportsman's Supply and Training, 4824 Hixson Pike, Hixson TN

Primary Instructor: Randy Harris

HCP Class Cost: $75.00

Website:

Phone number: 423/875-4868

Your Personal Experience: Great range and Randy is an absolutely excellent instructor.

[TripleDigitRide]

School Name: Small Arms Training School (S.A.T.S)

Location: Franklin, Tn (Williamson Co. Sheriff's Department)

Primary Instructor: Jim Mauth

HCP Class Cost: $75.00

Website: Unknown

Phone number: 615-794-3333

Your Personal Experience: I highly recommend these folks. This was an eight hour (1 Day) course, split into two groups. While one group was watching the dreaded video, the other group was outside on the range. Somewhere around luch time (IIRC), the 2 groups would swap.

There were roughly 5 or 6 total instructors, and every one of them did their best to make the day as enjoyable as possible. There was no shortage of humor all day long. They made the 8 hour day seem like a breeze.

Again, I highly recommend these folks.

Edited October 21, 2008 by TripleDigitRide

[Oh Shoot]

School Name: Coal Creek Armory

Location: 10737 Dutchtown Rd. Knoxville, TN 37932

Primary Instructor: Kent Brown

HCP Class Cost: $85.00

Website: http://coalcreekarmory.com/courses_carry.html

Phone number: (865) 966-4545

Your Personal Experience: Perfectly adequate course for the purpose; fair price for a centrally located facility with in-house range complete with rental guns, convenient to anyone in Knox or surrounding counties. Safety stressed in all aspects of classroom and range instruction; range supervision outstanding. Overall instruction is more than suitable for meeting state requirements without useless verbosity - several other course offerings are available for those wishing to further hone their firearms knowledge and skills. Overall a quite professional, safe, and efficiently competent operation.

... and always LOTS OF GUNS to ogle !

- OS

Edited October 22, 2008 by OhShoot
typos, addl info

[Guest monsterking138]

+1 on safety south. bo puts on a good class.

[Guest truthsayer]

School Name: RangeUSA

Location: Memphis

Primary Instructor: Chip Holland (but there are several)

HCP Class Cost: 75.00 (120.00 for two)

Website: www.rangusa.com

Phone number: 901-213-4774

Your Personal Experience:

I'd recommend it to anyone. I had a blast during the course. As a bonus, they'll do your fingerprinting there.

[dunndw]

School Name: HGR Firearms

Location: Gallitan Tennessee

Primary Instructor: Greg Knox/Len Assante/Danny Dunn

HCP Class Cost: (NRA Basic Pistol) $150.00

Website: www.hgrfirearms.com

Phone number: 615-364-4359

Your Personal Experience:

II'm one of the instructors so I'm biased, but I've seen Greg and Len both out out of their way to make each class a fun learning experience no matter what the skill level of the student is.

[Guest justaman30]

School Name: TN Sports Foundation Handgun Carry Permit Class

Location: Gander Mountain Store, Jackson TN

Primary Instructor: David Baker

HCP Class Cost: $65

Website: www.tnsportsfoundation.org

Phone number: 731-234-1200

Your Personal Experience: Excellent, informative class that was also alot of fun!!

[GLOCKMEISTER]

I hate to ring my own bell... but... others here were pming me wanting information to post here so I figure I'll just do it myself.

School Name: Goodlettsville Gun Shop

Location: Goodlettsville/Nashville, Tn

Primary Instructor: Phillip Arrington

HCP Class Cost: $75

Website: www.goodlettsvillegunshop.com

Phone number: 615-859-8822

Experience: We teach State of Tennessee handgun Permit classes and NRA Firearms safety classes. We have been Instructing for 20+ years, and teaching Tn's permit class for 14+ years. Our classes are usually held on Saturdays, but we do offer private and weekday classes are available. Call for times and schedules.

[Guest Todd@CIS]

Critical Incident Strategies

Smyrna, TN

Officers Todd Bryant and Dustin Fait

HCP Class Cost $80

http://www.criticalincidentstrategies.com/index.htm

615-347-0787

I know both Todd and Dustin from their roles as Smyrna police officers and their involvement in the community, as well as working with them in business. They are real, honest guys who don't play "tacticool" and won't try to impress your girlfriend with their machismo. (You know the kind I'm talking about... I can't freaking stand that!) Their knowledge and advice comes from years of training of all kinds that they have attended, and real world experince as officers and SWAT team members. Anyways, I have had friends take their HCP course and all of them gave glowing reviews. They do more than just paper punching and really open up their students' minds to what can actually happen in a self-defense situation. We've all heard the awesome reviews on here about their defensive carbine, pistol, and shotgun classes, too. Once we can get our calendar straight, my wife will be taking her permit course here.

+1

I here those guys are AWESOME!

Although, one of them is quite a bit better looking than the other...

[Guest Cerberus]

Can anyone suggest another weekend class in Knoxville? The class I am currently looking at is 90$ which seems a bit high (although I know the teaching will be excellent).

[Guest Arko]

Check out Gunny's in Maryville. They have Saturday and occasional evening classes. My wife is taking the evening CCW next week. She has already taken a "Women and guns" class there and liked it alot.

[Guest bkelm18]

Check out Gunny's in Maryville. They have Saturday and occasional evening classes. My wife is taking the evening CCW next week. She has already taken a "Women and guns" class there and liked it alot.

Ehhh, I really don't mean to derail the topic, I'm sorry. However, I took their (Gunny's) HCP class, and I must say, it wasn't that great. The instructor was not up to date on all the laws and technicalities (to the point that he was teaching flat out incorrect info), and his firearm nomenclature wasn't exactly the best. He would dance around questions he didn't know and usually asked if someone else in the class knew the answer rather than answering it himself or directing them to someone who could answer it.

[Guest Arko]

Interesting. Wonder who the HCP instructor you had was. My wife thought Gunny was great for her other class.

[Guest bkelm18]

Interesting. Wonder who the HCP instructor you had was. My wife thought Gunny was great for her other class.

I think his name might have been John.

[Guest TheBadLuckCharm]

School Name: SafetySouth, Training Systems LLC.

Location: Smyrna (Middle TN. area)

Primary Instructor: Bo Alexander

HCP Class Cost: $75.00 (discounts available to families/groups as well!)

Website: http://www.safetysouth.net/courses.htm

Phone number: (615) 566-9897

Your Personal Experience: I can only say good things about this class.

Class size varies every time.

But, I was lucky enough to get in on a smaller group. And personally, I would prefer this for multiple reasons. One being that I am not a very experienced shooter.

I went into this class scared and very nervous. Bo put all of my worries to rest real quick.

So before you attend a class and just think all I have to do is attend 8 hours and hit the silhouette. Why not attend a class that will actually help you with any setbacks you may have?

On the first day, you will be in the classroom, you will learn all of the legal/safety procedures that are necessary to pass your written test as well as what's expected of you on the range. He makes learning fun and goes into depth on safety and proper gun handling techniques. Just when you think you have a question that has not come up, he is already ahead of you. Bo thoroughly explains everything you would have questions about and kindly answers all of them!

On the second day, you will be on the range.

You will not just show up with 50 rounds and be expected to shoot and qualify like many HCP classes.

You will be given practice trials with various drills, Bo makes sure you understand how to properly shoot your gun, and if you are having any difficulty he will do all that he can to educate you on how to use your weapon correctly. He isn't like many instructors who just want your money and give you a paper to sign to be on your merry way. (though you can do that if that's your thing)

Many classes are shorter hours, but you are expected to know everything already. And usually don't give you the personal attention you need. SafetySouth does. They really care about their students.You get the right length of training to cover everything necessary. And you get more bang for your buck!

Bo is experienced, and always sets a good example using proper safety procedures.He took the time to show me the right techniques and gave me the personal attention I needed to overcome my challenges with a snubnose revolver.

I highly recommend them, if you want to be thoroughly educated and have the proper training you need for your carry permit, I highly recommend this class, opposed to just getting a card and not being able to skillfully use your weapon if the situation ever arises, you will be held responsible for every bullet that you cause to be fired whether it hits your assailant,property or an innocent bystander.

It is also more affordable than most HCP Classes, We saved about $100 between my husband and I, though it's well worth the money and more!

SafetySouth also offers other various classes, and I will definitely be a returning student!

http://www.safetysouth.net

Edited December 15, 2008 by TheBadLuckCharm

[Guest sharpshooter01]

School Name: Small Arms Training

Location: Junior's Restaurant Rockwood,TN

Primary Instructor: Gene Sutton and Chris King

HCP Class Cost: $65

Phone number: Chris King 865-354-1056

Your Personal Experience: This is a great group of guys, that make you feel comfortable. They hold there class in the back room of Juniors Restaurant and shoot at the Rockwood PD range, which isn't anything more than a gravel parking area with 12 piece's of plywood nailed to some post. It's nothing fancy by any means, but it gets the job done! Notice the price was $55, starting in Jan. he is going up to $65 to cover the rise in his insurance cost, still one of the best deals out there.