The wife has expressed a desire to begin carrying a firearm. She has pulled the trigger on a couple of my handguns a couple/few times out in the country. That's her experience.

Thinking about signing up for classes, for the both of us. I've shot guns all my life in a hunting/country type way. Nothing in a carrying/tactical type way. I have not been carrying on a daily basis, only in a traveling or "situational" basis (if I have a meeting or site visit in a sketchy area, I may have something in my console).

I guess I am asking the quite awesome Outdoors board on recommendations on places to take such classes. I am more than willing to take the "beginner" classes with her, and roll over to a more advanced class. Also would like for her to be able to get her hands on a few guns to see what fits her.

Cypress, Magnolia, Tomball, Waller area.

https://integrityftc.com/

Mr. Tom Estep is who you are looking for.

bump.

I'm surprised there's not more answers here. I haven't been in that area of Texas for a few years and this is an industry that has lots of turnover and lots of incompetent "instructors."

For practical shooting (not just entertainment) it should be thought of as the same as other martial arts. A one day class with a good instructor can give you decent skills, but you still have to practice them to ingrain them, and to keep proficient.

Your average cop spends at least a week on the range, usually one week straight. 40 hrs of training and most cops can't shoot very well at all. And in some agencies, these cops who can't shoot will go on to be firearms instructors. Point being, you need to figure out what level you want to be at and be prepared to put in the effort, just like any other skill in life.

There are so many bad instructors out there, and they can be very hard to pick out. I've looked these over and based on their bios, would recommend starting with these (not a comprehensive list) in your research...

These guys have been around since 2010. I met a couple of them at at Glock Instructor course and they were competent.
https://360tacticaltraining.com/instructors/

SEALS can be real iffy. They were early adopters of mid-south and finally brought alot of that training in house. So depends on which SEAL you get. Another dude if from 19th group and has at least been through SFAUC. Between this group, they should have a good understanding of the fundamentals and be able to transfer that knowledge.
https://www.awattclass.com/instructors

maybe this guy (you'll have to do more research)...
https://www.kineticconceptsgroup.com/about

TCOLE Firearms Instructor Course doesn't actually make good instructors, it just teaches you how to run a program. But it's means the cop has at least some experience teaching. The other guy has some of the best courses on the civilian side and so should have a good grasp of the fundamentals.
https://www.templardefense.com/about

And of course, KR Training. It's a little bit of a drive but Karl (and many of his instructors) have also grown up under the best of the civilian side instructors. The training is solid and they can teach and coach.
https://www.krtraining.com/

If I was teaching someone, I would spend 1-2 hours covering:
1- firearms safety
2- the "fundamentals" focusing on a good grip and sight alignment.
3- going from position 3 to 4 (from your chest to presentation)
4- trigger press without disturbing the sights.
5- wall drills
6- send you home to practice wall drills in as many short iterations as you can, until you can consistently press the trigger with no sight disturbance.
EVERYTHING builds off of this foundation.
7 -Start everything else: Marksmanship, Gun Manipulation and Mindset.

A day or weekend class is going to compress the first 6 steps into the training, but the ideal way is to perfect that foundation first. If you can get someone reputable to coach you on those foundational skills, one full day of the rest will make you a better shooter than 95% of cops.

Contacted a buddy in the industry and in the area (Houston). He has been thinking about teaching again, or he can put you in contact with other good instructors.

He knows how to accurately run a gun and he has experience successfully teaching. He used to teach for one of the premier shooting schools around, primarily govt contracts.

you can email him at todd at ctcgunworks dot com

Come see us at KR Training - krtraining.com
We get a lot of students from the Houston area, and our curriculum is mostly broken into 4 hour chunks to accommodate your schedule/budget. We have a lot of loaner gear as well.

InfantryAg, we appreciate the reference!

I will vouch for Karl and his crew at KR training.

One other place to check...

A Girl and a Gun clubs are hit or miss on instructors, but a good place to practice in a female only environment.

This particular lady is an Advanced Rangemaster instructor.
https://www.agirlandagun.org/chapter/tx-cypress/

Rangemaster is one of the best (the best?) civilian training programs. KR Training is associated/ lineaged with them as Karl and the KR instructors have been through rangemaster host Rangemaster at their range and teach at Rangemaster (at least the conference).

My methodology in my first post was to look at potentials, and eliminate any red flags I saw, little to no learning or teaching experience, or (purposefully) vague experience. I would avoid the hobbiest who saw a way to make a buck or be cool. I nwould also avoid the tactical man fantasy camp. Some good instructors will also have these because that's where the money is. Can be good when you have a foundation, but not a good place to build a foundation IMO.

1 buy a gun
2 learn how to load gun and where safety is
2 buy 10 boxes of shells
3.gather up a bunch of junk around. The house to shoot at
4. Go out into the country and start shooting
5. Go shoot some more
6. Go shoot some more
After a while it becomes normal and your comfortable

If you study adult learning and automaticity/mylenation/"muscle memory", it takes roughly ten times as much work to relearn good habits over bad ones, vs learning it correctly the first time.

If you don't come to KR, go SOMEWHERE with reputable instruction, and do it sooner rather than later.

Another recommendation for KR. I lived south of Houston. I taught my son safety and fundamentals but wanted him to have a formal course. (Don't try to teach your wife how to ski.). I made the trip another time for my own training. We moved near New Braunfels 10 years ago. I took a Red Dot Essentials class a couple of years ago.

https://texags.com/forums/34/topics/3487125/replies/68433605

since he was not posting for a few days, here is "new" stuff from Bender, an outdoor board gun SME.

Information pertinent to OPs question starts partway down in the post.

I would reccomend your missus taking lessons WITHOUT you in the beginning.

She will learn more from the instructor without the stress of you being there.

Took a class at KR training today. Going back next week for Defensive Pistol Skills.

They came highly recommended and did not disappoint