FAQ

At TDI we believe in a well-rounded education, nothing is the end all be all. You may be involved in a physical confrontation prior to a gunfight, so if you don’t make it through that initial encounter the firearm does you no good.

There are places we just can not carry a firearm but can carry a knife or cane.

Where you start is not important, no one can tell you what your fight is going to be. Just start somewhere; no one gathers knowledge all at once.

Maybe, we ask you to bring 750 rounds for level I through III handgun. Most people will not shoot that much but we have had some shoot more. We allow people to train to their level, if we tell you to shoot 50 rounds and your hands are sore and can only shoot 20 good rounds, we would rather see that. No one at TDI will berate you shooting less, it’s your choice and your body – you know how it feels, we don’t.

That ammunition will not go bad, now you have something to practice with at home.

Handguns:

If you do not own a handgun do not purchase one prior to attending class. TDI keeps about 20 firearms on hand for students to use for free. That way you learn what is best for you and what works rather than buying something that is sold to you for one reason or another. TDI DOES NOT sell firearms; we want you to go to your local gun store for the purchase but forewarned is forearmed.

If you have a handgun, bring it, you should train with your firearm, if you have more than one bring several.

Tactical Rifles:

AR – 15’s, AK’s, Mini 14’s are all acceptable rifles/carbines for this class. Pistol class calibers are welcome as well; long distance will limit their effectiveness. We have a pistol caliber carbine class specifically for these firearms. There are many other acceptable firearms as well. Caliber is your choice. We do have limited firearms for RENT.

Precision Rifle:

The optic (scope) along with good rings and mounts are more important than the rifle. Good match ammunition is important for getting the most out of your class. The better groups you can shoot the more confident you will become of your ability. Rifles with more recoil than a 308 Winchester caliber are difficult to shoot repeatedly over several days. We shoot in various different positions, so weight of the rifle should be considered.

At TDI we believe everyone has the right of self-defense, good condition or not. Any class we do we encourage the student to participate to their level.  Very poor conditioning or some circumstances will prevent you from doing some things but get out of it what you can. We have had wheelchair bound people in our physical self defense class, obviously they were limited but got what they wanted

Bringing a back-up handgun or rifle similar to your primary gun is a great idea. However, swapping between striker fired, double action/single action, cock and locked or a revolver is difficult in the time we have to work with you. Stick to one type of gun.

TDI does not guarantee we can fix every gun problem. However, most of the time someone is here on staff that can fix most problems. TDI does not charge for that service but the individual armorer may.

You may not ship your firearm to TDI unless you are shipping from a current FFL location. TDI does not have a Federal Firearms License. If you are legally shipping a firearm it may be sent to the Bethany Ridge address.

We have a limited supply of ammunition that we can sell for our classes. We have 9mm, .223/5.56 and 7.62×39. We ask that you make every effort to supply your own ammunition for your class. Please bring what you have to class and we can supplement the ammo you bring up to the minimum round count. We will need to replace our ammo at current market pricing, therefore; we will be charging students current market prices for our supply. Our supply of ammunition will be sold to students during our classes on day 1. We will not sell ammunition for students to take home.

If you will need ammunition, please let us know 3 weeks in advance of your class.

Additionally, we have lowered the required ammunition count for our classes and will work with our students on keeping the round count low to meet your needs, including dry firing for some drills if you so desire. As a reminder, if you are borrowing a TDI gun, we do not allow reloads or remanufactured ammunition. We will accept remanufactured ammunition from Midwest Ammunition or Black Hills Ammunition. If you have any questions or concerns, please email us at tdiohio@gmail.com.

We  have space available for tent camping or RVs on the TDI property. If you are interested in camping instead of a hotel, please contact us well in advance. Camping spots vary each class depending on the range(s) being utilized. No water/sewage/electric available.

There are some great places to stay for the family. Murphin Ridge Inn (listed as one of the 20 best Inns in the USA) is close and priced accordingly. There is also Shawnee State Forest lodge and cabins, which are excellent. Food is awesome at Murphin and excellent at Shawnee.

Murphin Ridge Inn
www.murphinridgeinn.com
877-687-7446

We do not put groups that train here on our web site or advertise that in any way without their express permission.

We are offering a 5% discount for cash. When you register online and pay the deposit, your card will be charged. If you pay cash for the balance when arriving for class, we will honor the discount for the entire cost of the class. If you have any questions, please email us at TDIOhio@gmail.com

There are places to go for lunch, however there is little time and we encourage people to bring their lunch.

TDI has a refrigerator and 2 microwaves available for student use.

TDI averages about 20 people per class, some less, some more. We will have a minimum student to instructor ratio of 5 to 1 and generally more like 3 to 1.

We do have TDI apparel available for purchase and some pro-shop items such as TDI / Ka-Bar Knives and other products. TDI does not sell firearms.

We do not have an FFL and do not sell firearms.

You can find these products in our pro-shop.

We shoot rain or shine, on low level classes where we are on the main range most of the time there is a range overhead to get under to reload. Bring your rain gear.

Civilians are the dominant part of TDI’s business. No one gets “left behind”, our instructors work to bring out the best in all students from the person who has never used a firearm to the person with extensive training. The better you are the more we push you to excel.

TDI has been doing force on force training since its inception. We use soft air and code eagle marking rounds. We start force on force in Level IV handgun. To benefit from force on force our belief is you must have a good base level of knowledge. We think it is so important that we built a two-story house with movable walls and two different stairwells just for F/F training.

You may bring hand-loads to any class, TDI reserves the right should there be a problem, to stop the use of your handloads. We do not want to risk injury to anyone because someone does a poor job handloading. You are more than welcome to police your brass and the brass of anyone else who does not wish to take theirs.

If you are coming from outside the US we will do our best to communicate with you. We do have some instructors that speak different languages and we would attempt to accommodate that problem but we can not guarantee that. If you will be patient, we will as well.

TDI does off site training both in the US and overseas. You may contact TDI and discuss the terms. It does not have to be a military or law enforcement class.

Students that have major physical limitations are welcome at TDI. We will do our very best to accommodate you in any way we can. We have had people with all types of limitations, not all have been able to do everything but we try.

You know your child better than we do, we have had some as young as 13 attend our regular classes. You know how mature your child is and if you believe your child can accept the information and use it wisely it is OK with us. We do want you to understand that this is not some basic shooting class that simply teaches marksmanship and safe gun handling. We teach people to deal with other people. After all, I have seen people at 40 years of age I would not teach and 13 year olds that I would.

As our students know, we do much of our training with “roped” handguns. We use a yellow cord that is placed down the barrel and out through the magazine well, thus preventing the gun from being loaded. The cord sticking out the front and …bottom of the gun is visable proof that the gun is safe. We encourage students to rope their guns in a similar fashion when practicing their gun handling and building search skills at home. A simple weed wacker cord is sufficient. However many students want to duplicate the TDI experience and use a similar cord at home (we surmise that’s why so many of the cords make into range bags for the trip home, much to the dismay of the next class). For those wishing to obtain the cords for home use, they are available from McMaster-Carr, (330)995-5500, the website, www.mcmaster.com, the SKU is 6567K56, Urethane Hollow Core Round Belting, Yellow, 3/16″ O.D., 1-1/2″ Min Pulley Diameter.

Currently NO trigger finger release retention holsters are allowed unless you are LE or Security and the holster is issued by your Department/Agency. If you are unsure about what to bring to a particular class, click here to contact us. Be sure to download the TDI-Class-Checklist.