I want to give a huge thank you to Cary for the CCW CERTIFICATION CLASS that I attended. I have had my CCW for over 20 years but recently switched counties and had to redo everything. My friend and I chose Handgun Shooting Academy because of his location and knowledge and he put our nerves to rest with his great advice before we went. Cary is down to earth and makes you feel very comfortable and keeps your attention with a little humor thrown in. We as American citizens need to learn about our weapons and always educate ourselves on the weapon that could potentially save your life, when seconds matter you better know what you are doing. We can never learn enough about our weapons and the laws that follow with our right to bear arms. So thanks again for the class and I hope to learn more from you in the future, but that will have to wait until after hunting season. Women don't be afraid or intimidated by GUNS! Get educated and Cary is a great teacher. HAPPY, SAFE SHOOTING.
Corina of Shingle Springs

Cary, I want to take a minute to thank you for your professionalism and dedication that you show towards your students. I contacted you, and after listening to my needs you suggested that I take your Level I class. The class size allowed you to spend time with each of us giving individual attention and instruction. You went above and beyond even though we had very inclement weather delivering more than you promised. EVERYONE in the class left a much safer and more proficient shooter than when they arrived. I will be signing my wife up for your Level I class here in the near future. Thank you again for being thorough and professional, you have a client for life.
Respectfully,
Steven K.
Jackson, CA

Cary Talbott teaches because he is passionate about shooting and educating others in the fundamentals of shooting and the safe and effective use of firearms. Over the course of a year I have taken the level 1,2, and 3 courses with Cary Talbott at his Handgun Shooting Academy. As a result my shooting has improved tremendously. By focusing on sight picture and trigger control, my scores in local shooting competitions have greatly increased. I cannot emphasize enough how excellent Cary's teaching and courses are. His curriculum is rigorous, comprehensive, and coherent. He teaches all the basics well and shows students how to make sure a handgun fits the individual properly. At all times Cary emphasizes range safety and the profound responsibility that is part of carrying a gun for personal protection or recreational shooting. Cary is an excellent teacher. He keeps his class sizes very small and is able to give students individual attention. He was able to sense my wife's anxiety about recoil and show her what she needed to do to relax and enjoy shooting. She has just purchased her own gun and we enjoy shooting together. Her progress has been rapid. At the more advanced levels, Cary's background in law enforcement is evident in the cover and concealment drills and other tactical applications he teaches. There has always been a bit of friendly competition among some of the class members when shooting the timed drills which simulate shooting under stress from multiple positions. This always keeps it fun! I have been shooting for years and have taken many courses. Cary's instruction is far and above all of the other instruction I have received. He is an expert. I was initially skeptical when I was encouraged to start at Level I because I thought I was more advanced. I am very glad that I went back to the beginning. I didn't know what I didn't know. I am looking forward to taking more courses with Cary in the future to improve and maintain my shooting skills. Nick B. Lodi

Cary L. Talbott is the owner and operator of Handgun Shooting Academy. This is very small and personal instruction on handguns and Cary does an EXCELLENT job of instruction. He is very friendly and patient in his teaching with an instructor ration of 6 students per teacher. Everything is laid out in a very simple, easy to understand, and with such small and incremental steps that your learning pretty much guaranteed! While paying $200 may sound high, its actually lower than the competition (who has a lot of extra fees to pay), and you will be learning more than 90% of the people who own handguns. Even if you are just considering buying a handgun, talk with Carey first about finding a handgun that fits your hand. I really can't say enough good things about his instruction. When you get testimonials from Marines and cops that mention how much they learned that was NOT in their training, and end an 8 hour day in his training, you will agree this is an awesome and important investment in owning an handgun. I took the Level I class and will be back for more!

Brian Wilk, Novato, CA

Hi Cary - Wanted to again say thanks for the instruction that you provided. My wife and I just completed all 3 levels of the handgun course. We both came away AMAZED at the information that was presented and how it affected our shooting and gun handling abilities. We both agreed that we now feel absolutely confident when we handle our firearms - before firing and during shooting. Cary is a fantastic teacher with a knack for presenting topics in a way that makes learning very simple. He is patient and very effective in his approach. As my wife said - "it's like he was born to instruct." My wife came into the course with minimal exposure to handguns but felt very at ease during the entire course and showed amazing improvement. Se says she finally feels that she "knows" what she should be doing when she picks up a handgun instead of just fumbling around and being able to point and shoot. Cary, do you remember her improvement the second day of the course? For those of you who don't know, she started out being able to put 10 rounds somewhere on a large target to being able to put those same ten rounds in a very tight group within a few inches. It was awesome to see her improve so dramatically. And I will echo her comments about the instructor. Cary offered a few simple, practical techniques that proved to be very effective in the proper handling of the firearm. As he says, "you dont know what you dont know" and that became very evident in my shooting. After his instruction, I feel very confident in proper firearms techniques and enjoyed his teaching technique which made learning very fun and easy. Before his course I felt confident putting some rounds easily onto a STOP sign target. Now I feel very confident in being able to put those same rounds inside the "P" of a STOP sign sized target. We would gladly recommend Cary for EVERYONE serious about safe and effective handgun use. His instruction was some of the best money we have ever spent. Pete and Lisa F.

Cary, Thank you for the exceptional instruction in your Level I handgun course. I signed up to take the course because I bought my first handgun and was uncomfortable with handling and using the gun. Your instruction was organized, precise, and you were very patient. Your Level I course made me confident and knowledgeable with my handgun, thank you very much. I hope to take your Level II and Level III courses soon. In the meantime, I will continue to "dry practice" as much as possible.

Lacie Lambert

Cary, I attended your Level I course January 26th, wanted to say thank you for a well instructed class. I had attempted to learn on my own what you taught us (front sight, relaxing trigger hand) but couldn't get it. I believe your instruction of grip pressure from the support hand helped me relax my trigger finger and understand. This past weekend had a chance to get some practice in, and it works, I found myself performing trigger reset, front sight, automatically, no thought. As for my daughter, she's 20, attending Mendocino JC in Ukiah, loves and minors in dance, been shooting since she could hold a firearm (all my children have) from 22's to 300 mag. She has shot my Glock, grip too big, has shot a .40 Smith, fits better does not mind recoil of either caliber. She loves to shoot the Ruger .22. We're working toward saving the money for your Level I course for her and I'm saving towards Level II. Once again thank you for an excellent class.

John J Hays

Being a single mom and fearing for our safety (my son and I), I realized how important it is to be ready in case I ever need to fight for our lives. Having Safety First in mind, once I made the decision to purchase a handgun for self-defense, I also made the decision that I was going to learn from professionals who could coach me on all aspects of becoming a handgun owner. Cary was highly recommended to me and I am glad and grateful that I took that step to register for the Level I course that he teaches. I really accomplished a lot during that whole day of instruction and training. The time we spent getting me educated on handgun shooting helped me overcome my fears and build up my confidence to a level where I started feeling a lot more comfortable handling my gun and shooting with it, and becoming more proficient as the day went by. I am still impressed with my accuracy for a Level I first time shooter. Thank you Cary for your great coaching and such a fun day. I look forward to taking the Level II course.

Regards, Cintia Campos

I have been shooting guns my whole life. So, shooting handguns wasn't strange to me and having been trained in the Marine Corps on just about every conceived weapon, I thought I had a pretty good understanding of how to shoot. When I would go to the range I didn't do to bad and had a decent grouping. For the most part though, I felt I needed to improve and wanted to get more shooting experience. When I found Handgun Shooting Academy, it was perfect. I took the class and was blown away with what I learned and my ability to immediately shoot better, grouping 200% better than before. Now, the Marines trained me good, but what Cary at Handgun Shooting Academy showed me, took me to an advanced level shooter in one short day. This is a course that EVERYONE should go through no matter if you are a novice or an expert shooter. I recommend this to anyone looking to get better skills and know how to shoot their handgun in a self-defense situation. Heck, if you are just looking to become a better shooter, you won't be disappointed in what you learn.

Jason Froehlich - Business Owner, Former Marine

I have been in Law Enforcement for five years, with three years on our City Police/Placer Co. regional SWAT team. Last weekend, I participated in the Handgun Shooting Academy's Level I training. Cary was able to teach the five fundamentals of hand gun shooting in a way that both new and experienced shooters could understand and apply. These fundamentals are a foundation to becoming a better handgun shooter, and are something that I continually review and practice. This firearms training facility conducts handgun shooting drills that are spot on. Handgun Shooting Academy is filling a real need for the Sacramento Valley region.

L. Griffin, Norhtern Sac Valley PD