About Us

Meet Our Team

Our instructor staff has a diverse background, including competition shooting, defensive training, martial arts training, military service and law enforcement experience. We are committed to bringing you the best training opportunities in the Central Texas area. Our intention is to provide you with quality training that will increase your knowledge, skill, and attitude about owning, carrying, and shooting firearms safely and competently.

Karl and Penny developed most of the KR Training classes. Karl leads the instructor team, supported by our assistants. Our assistant instructors also teach many of our basic courses. Our adjunct instructors offer the Texas Concealed Handgun License course through their own training businesses, and you can enroll in those courses through KR Training.

Central Texas Best Firearms Training Karl Rehn TacCon4

About KR Training

No other school in the area offers the range of courses we do. Whether you are a total novice, recreational shooter, armed at home or in public for self defense, occasional or serious competitor, or even an instructor, we offer courses to improve your skills and expand your knowledge.

Subject Matter Expertise

We opened in 1991, before the Texas LTC program existed, and prior to 1996 we were the only school in the area offering firearms training to private citizens. When LTC passed and was signed into law, Karl and Penny were in the first LTC instructor classes DPS ran, and we started teaching LTC courses on the first day. We’ve trained thousands of students over the past 27 years.

Karl Rehn, lead firearms and tactics instructor, has trained with over 60 different top-tier instructors and schools over the past 30 years, including Thunder Ranch, InSights, Tactical Defense Institute, Massad Ayoob Group, Rangemaster (Tom Givens), Paul Howe, Dave Spaulding, Ken Murray (Simunition) and many more), as well as world champion competitive shooters (Todd Jarrett, Max Michel, Ted Bonnet, Kay Clark-Miculek, Jerry Miculek, Rob Leatham, Brian Enos, Ben Stoeger, Robert Vogel, and others). A competitor since 1988, Karl is a Grand Master in IPSC Production division, with experience at the local, state, national and world level shooting many different shooting sports, from IPSC and IDPA to Steel Challenge, 3-gun and Sportsman’s Team Challenge.

We host many guest instructors each year, carefully chosen to bring our students the most professional, most credible, most experienced, and most skilled trainers. We select those trainers based on documented credentials, not based on name recognition primarily earned by skill at internet marketing (youtube videos, blog posts, forum posts, or online controversy).

We have a large and diverse training team, with male and female instructors, because there are gender-specific issues related to shooting techniques and equipment selection. Our team has a wide range of experience, from training with national level schools, shooting major matches, law enforcement and military experience, martial arts and emergency medicine. In order to keep our skills sharp and our course content up to date, our instructors spend time each year in professional development: taking classes from subject matter experts, shooting competitions, and attending and/or presenting at training conferences.

Curriculum and Education Methods

In all our shooting and tactics classes we work 1 instructor for every 4 students, with many activities structured to provide students individual attention and coaching. Our curriculum is designed as a sequence of courses teaching a prioritized set of skills relevant to student goals. Most of our program consists of 4 hour courses, often with two courses in a sequence taught back to back in a single day. These courses cover the same material that’s taught in 2-, 3- or 5-day blocks by traveling trainers and larger schools, in smaller chunks. This not only makes the training more accessible by reducing per-class ammo requirements and cost, but also produces better results and higher skill levels in those students who practice the skills learned in our short courses before returning to take the next class. The short courses also work well as annual refresher of those skills that typically cannot be practiced at commercial ranges (drawing from concealment, shooting faster than one shot per second, shooting while moving, shooting in low light, for example).

The skills and techniques we teach are intended to work together as a consistent system; the smallest set necessary to reach the highest level of skill with the least effort. The more variations you have to learn, the more time it takes to reach mastery. We’ll teach you how to perform the skills correctly and advise you how to practice them after class to maintain or improve those skills.

Instructors and Top Shooters Train With Us

Many of the newer firearms training schools in the Austin area are run and staffed by people who got their NRA instructor training from us, and/or took advanced firearms and tactics courses with us. Most of the shooters winning local matches, and members of local law enforcement SWAT teams, have trained with us or with guest instructors we have hosted at our facility. We bring in top national level instructors to teach classes at our facility every year.

Facilities & Equipment

We own and operate private, dedicated training facilities so that students can learn in a comfortable environment free from interruptions, spectators and other distractions. We have a wide selection of loaner/rental guns and holsters available for students to use in our classes. In our intermediate and advanced classes, students get to use reactive steel targets, moving targets, a shoot house and other specialized equipment unavailable at commercial shooting ranges.

Quality Is Important to Us

If you are just getting started, you’ll be safer and shoot better if you learn the right skills and start with the right equipment. If you are a gun owner that’s never had any formal training, we can help you tune up your technique so you can shoot tighter groups, get faster hits, speed up your concealment draw, and teach you advanced skills like shooting on the move and shooting in low light conditions.

Other schools will let students with absolutely no shooting experience or skill into a LTC new permit class, and then let the student fumble through the shooting test, certifying that student as “ready to carry” when the student shoots the minimum score required to pass. If you are signing up for LTC new permit but are not comfortable and confident enough with your shooting and gunhandling to go to the range to practice by yourself, without that knowledgable spouse or friend that always helps you, we strongly recommend that you take one of our pre-LTC basic courses before the LTC class. That knowledgeable spouse or helpful friend probably won’t be around to help you rack the slide or find the safety if you ever need to use your gun to defend yourself.

We want our LTC students to have the best possible chances of surviving a violent attack. That means more than just “having a gun” and making a “C-” on the LTC written and shooting tests. In the LTC test you get to start with the gun in your hand, standing still, shooting a giant stationary target in good light with generous time limits. Data on real incidents shows that the most likely scenario is that you will start with your gun holstered and concealed, have very little time, dim light, and you may face more than one attacker who will be attempting to cause you serious bodily injury or death. This is why we offer many training courses that go beyond the state-mandated LTC course, including classes that teach non-shooting (but very important self-defense) skills such as awareness, communication, tactics, unarmed defense and more. The LTC course is a first step down the path, not the destination.

Our goal is to teach students what they actually need to know to make a smart handgun selection, to shoot fast and accurate, and to make legally justifiable and tactically correct decisions about what actions to take in a life-threatening situation. Our approach has worked to produce safe recreational shooters, winning competitors, home defenders and concealed carriers who have successfully used their skills in deadly force incidents.

Central Texas Best Firearms Training Karl Rehn Bio

Owner and Lead Instructor

Karl Rehn

NRA Certifications

Training Counselor, Chief Range Safety Officer, Instructor in Home Firearm Safety, Pistol, Rifle, Shotgun, Personal Protection Inside the Home, Personal Protection Outside the Home, Advanced Pistol,, Muzzleloading Pistol/Rifle/Shotgun, Metallic Cartridge and Shotshell Reloading. NRA Practical Pistol Coach.

Other Certifications

Texas Concealed Handgun License Instructor, Simunition Certified ‘Confrontational Simulation’ Instructor, National Range Officers Institute (NROI) Level II Range Officer, US Practical Shooting Association ‘Safe Handgun Competitor’ Instructor, Texas Commission on Law Enforcement Education (TCOLE) instructor, Rangemaster Master Instructor. Massad Ayoob Group certified Deadly Force Instructor. Glock Armorer. Force Science Certified Analyst. Image Based Decisional Drills instructor. SIG Pistol Mounted Optic (Red Dot) Instructor.

Memberships

NRA (Life), Texas State Rifle Association (Life), US Practical Shooting Association (Life), Steel Challenge Shooting Association (Life), American Society of Law Enforcement Trainers (ASLET), Texas Concealed Handgun Instructor Association, Single Action Shooting Society, many area gun clubs.

Competition

Karl is a Grand Master in 5 USPSA divisions: Production, Carry Optics, Limited, Limited 10, and Pistol Caliber Carbine.

Training

Firearms courses from Thunder Ranch (Defensive Handgun I), Lethal Force Institute/Ayoob (LFI-I), Tom Givens and Jim Higginbotham (Dynamic Pistol Marksmanship, Combative Pistol 1 & 2, Combined Skills, Defensive Shotgun, Firearms Instructor), Practical Shooting Academy/Ron Avery (2 day private course), Ted Bonnet (private training), Chip McCormick (Steel Challenge coaching), Jim Griggs (Level I and I handgun, IPSC Shotgun), InSights Training (Street and Vehicle Tactics, Intensive Handgun Skills, Weapon Effects, Defense Against Weapons), Jerry Miculek (Revolver), Kay Clark-Miculek (Competition Pistol II), Jim Crews/Marksman’s Enterprise (Urban Carbine), Wendell Joost (NRA Shotgun and Training Counselor training), Todd Jarrett (Level II IPSC) Leatham/Enos/Wallgren (Area 2 clinic), Max Michel (IPSC and Steel Challenge), Claude Werner (snubnose revolver), Bill Rogers/Rogers Shooting School (pistol & carbine), Ben Stoeger (IPSC pistol), Trip McIngvale (IPSC 3 gun), Kenan Flawoski (FAST 762.com) and others.

Tactics, combatives and martial arts training from Massad Ayoob, InSights Training (Defensive Folding Knife I and II, Unarmed Self Defense, Impact Weapons, Close Quarters Combatives, Wilderness First Aid, Al Qaeda Seminar), OPS/Andy Stanford/Paul Gomez (Dynamic Tactics), Erik Remmen (Level I and II Spyderco course), Tactical Defense Institute/John Benner (Level I Unarmed), Frank Benn (Brazilian jujitsu), John Blankenship (Cha Yon Ryu, Tai Chi), Tony Blauer (SPEAR System Fundmamentals), Southnarc (Extreme Close Quarters Concepts) and others. Medical training from InSights (Wilderness First Aid), Tactical Response (Immediate Action Medical), and Lone Star Medics (Dynamic First Aid, Medicine X-EDC).

Experience/Achievements

IPSC competitor since 1988. Executive VP, Texas CHL Instructor Association (1997), numerous officer positions in local gun clubs in 1990’s. Grand Master in IPSC Production and Carry Optics divisions. Master class IPSC competitor in Open, Limited, Limited-10, Revolver and Pistol Caliber Carbine divisions. Master class ranking in SSP and ESP in IDPA. Professional research for DoD on non-lethal weapons including publications and presentations. Top 20 at 2001 Steel Challenge. Limited 10 division winner, 2002 Space City Challenge. Invited speaker, RangeMaster ‘Polite Society’ Tactical Shooting Conferences 2002-2022. Article in SWAT magazine on Airsoft training, 2003. Ran Airsoft Force on Force Scenarios at Polite Society conferences 2002-2014. Multiple articles published in Concealed Carry magazine, 2010-present.

Recent

Karl has over 2700 hours of training from more than 80 of the nation’s top schools and national/world-level competitors, acquired over more than 30 years as a student, competitor, and instructor.

In 2021, he trained with Hock Hockheim (Vehicle Gunfights), Ben Stoeger, Gabe White, John Murphy (FPF Training), Rangemaster (Defensive Shotgun), Lone Star Medics (Medicine X Scenarios), and a variety of trainers at the Rangemaster Tactical Conference, the Paul Martin Preparedness Conference, and the Texas Bar Firearms Law seminar. He also was certified as an Image Based Decisional Drills instructor by Brian Hill of the Complete Combatant.

In 2020, he was certified as a pepper spray instructor by Chuck Haggard of Agile Training, earned his Master Instructor rating from Rangemaster, and his Pistol Mounted Optics (red dot) instructor rating from the SIG Academy and completed another 16 hours of pistol training with Ben Stoeger. He also attended 14 hours of legal training from the Texas Bar Association’s firearms law seminar, training in land navigation from Mark Overstreet, and 16 hours of medical training from Lone Star Medics.

In 2019 he passed the Glock Armorer’s course, and the Deliberate Speed Pistol and Social Levergun courses taught by First Person Safety (Lee Weems). He attended the 33-hour Force Science Institute certification course, 16 hours of training (Two Person Team Tactics & Vehicle Environment Skills) with John Murphy, a 1-day Defensive Shotgun class with Tom Givens (using a Winchester 1897 shotgun), and the 2-day Intensive Pistol Skills with Tom Givens (shooting DA revolver). He was also a speaker at (and attended) the 2019 Rangemaster Tactical Conference, and completed a Stop The Bleed course and the DHS Search and Rescue in Community Disasters training. He also was certified as an instructor for the Civilian Response to Active Shooter lecture course by the Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training institute.

In 2018, he was certified as a Practical Pistol Coach by the NRA, and a Deadly Force instructor by the Massad Ayoob Group. He presented at the Rangemaster Tactical Conference in March, and at the NW Regional Tactical Conference in July. He also attended the Texas Bar CLE Firearms Law course, and Gun Owners of America’s “How To Testify” training in September. In August, he attained the rank of Grand Master in USPSA’s Pistol Caliber Carbine division.

In 2017, he trained with Caleb Causey & William Aprill (Unthinkable), Cecil Burch (unarmed/ground fighting), and Massad Ayoob (MAG-20 range), and attended 24 hours of instruction at the 2017 Rangemaster Tactical Conference, where he also presented his Beyond the One Percent talk. Earned Grand Master ratings in Limited and Limited 10 divisions in USPSA. He attended 16 hours of training at the Texas Department of Public Safety academy, getting certified to teach the new DPS-designed School Safety (active shooter) course. In November 2017, he attended 16 hours of training at the Rangemaster Instructor Conference. In December he attended a one-day handgun class taught by John Farnam, a one-day medical class taught by Caleb Causey, and a one-day knife class taught by Chuck Rives.

In 2016, he trained with Ben Stoeger (Competition Pistol), Charles Rives (knife), Leslie Buck (knife), Kathy Jackson (instructor development course), Aaron Marco (carbine), Tom Givens (Advanced Instructor class, top gun award), Greg Hamilton (Street and Vehicle Tactics), and John Johnston/Melody Lauer (Armed Parent Course). He presented the results of the red-dot, iron sights, and green laser study at the 2016 Rangemaster Tactical Conference, taught multiple sessions at the 2016 national A Girl and a Gun conference, and attended the Texas Bar Association’s Firearms Law course. He also earned the rank of Grand Master in the USPSA Carry Optics division.

In 2015, he trained with Ben Stoeger (Competition Pistol), Craig Douglas (Extreme Close Quarters Combatives), Travis Haley (D5 Handgun), Massad Ayoob (MAG-20 range & classroom), Tom Givens (audited Combative Pistol 1 again), and co-taught a customized “Unthinkable” class with Caleb Causey and William Aprill. He also ran integrated medical/force-on-force scenarios at the 2015 Rangemaster Tactical Conference with Caleb and William. He also attended the Dynamic First Aid class taught by Lone Star Medics, attended the Shooting with X-Ray Vision class taught by Dr. James Williams, and got certified as a Texas Parks and Wildlife Hunter Education Instructor.

He also collaborated with Dr. Penny Riggs, and doctoral student Blaise Collins on a sports performance study funded by the Texas A&M Huffines Institute, analyzing shooter performance with iron sights, green laser, and slide-mounted red dot sights. That 100-shooter study is in the program, with results to be published in late 2015/early 2016.

In 2014, he attended a 3 day class on “Civilian Response to Active Shooter” taught by Paul Howe, a 2-day competition pistol course with Ben Stoeger, the 2-day MAG-20 course with Massad Ayoob, and 16 hours of training from a variety of trainers at the 2014 Polite Society Tactical Conference, as well as presenting two 2-hour sessions.

In 2013, he attended a 2-day competition pistol course taught by IPSC Production Division champion Ben Stoeger, and presented at the 2013 Polite Society Tactical Conference, as a co-presenter with Caleb Causey of Lone Star Medics. He was also promoted to Master class in USPSA Production Division and was newly classified in A-Class in both Revolver and Single Stack divisions. In March he will be attending a 3-day instructor training course taught by Tom Givens of Rangemaster.

In 2012, he attended the Dynamic First Aid and Medicine-X courses by Lone Star Medics, presented at the 2012 Polite Society Tactical Conference, had multiple articles published in Concealed Carry magazine, and coached the Texas A&M Corps of Cadets Pistol Team. He was selected as one of the first NRA instructors in the country certified in the NRA’s new Advanced Pistol Instructor program. He attended courses in Competition Rifle and Competition Shotgun taught by national 3-gun competitor Trip McIngvale.

In 2011, he was certified as a Training Counselor for the new NRA Personal Protection Outside the Home course, placed 2nd overall at the 2011 Polite Society Tactical Conference shooting competition, and attended a 5-hour Low Light Shooting course taught by F.A.S.T. Inc. He also served as a beta-tester for a 40-hour online corrections officer training course and became a certified Mediator in November 2011.

In 2010, he led the team revising the TEEX Threat and Risk Assessment course, taught multiple Cyber Security classes in Texas, Alabama, and California, and received his Certified Training Professional certificate from Texas A&M. He also took level 1 and level 2 snubnose revolver courses from former Rogers Shooting School chief instructor Claude Werner, and was once again an invited presenter at the 2010 Polite Society training conference at the US Shooting Academy. Attended the Immediate Action Medical course taught by Tactical Response. Attended the Intermediate/Advanced handgun and carbine classes at the Rogers school, earning an Advanced rating in carbine.

In 2009, he co-authored the new TEEX Cyber Security Awareness course, developed under a grant from the National Science Foundation, and co-taught multiple sessions of that course in Texas and Louisiana. He was an invited instructor for the 2009 Polite Society training conference, held in Tulsa, OK at the US Shooting Academy, and his force-on-force scenarios were recorded by Michael Bane of the Shooting Gallery show (on the Outdoor Channel) for inclusion in an upcoming episode. He attended a Shoot House Instructor course taught by Singleton International at TEEX and attended the Black Hat cybersecurity conference. In September 2009 he attended the Combined Skills Course taught by Tom Givens of Rangemaster and Southnarc of Shivworks.

In 2008 he was an invited presenter at the Polite Society Tactical Conference, placing 3rd in the live fire competition, and he attended an AK-47 clinic taught by Paul Gomez. He has also attended the Dept of Homeland Security Incident Management / Unified Command (ICS-300) course, RAMCAP training (vulnerability and risk assessment methodology), and a 1-day tactical driving course. He contributed to the development of the ASTM standard for floating barriers for port security and attended an ASTM meeting in the fall of 2008. He also led the team that revised the TEEX Enhanced Threat and Risk Assessment course, including a full review and approval of the course content from the Dept. of Homeland Security.

In 2007 he was once again an invited presenter at the Polite Society Tactical Conference, placing 2nd in the live fire competition. He placed 9th in the limited division in the 2007 Steel Challenge (World Speed Shooting Championships), trained with U.S. Army shooting team leader (2007 USPSA national champion and Steel Challenge winner) Max Michel, Jr.and was on the range design committee for the Austin Rifle Club.

In 2006 he attended the Combative Pistol 2 course with Tom Givens and John Hearne of Rangemaster, and a 1-day Steel Challenge clinic taught by Max Michel. He also served as a firearms consultant to author James J. Griffin for a series of traditional Westerns about Texas Rangers (available in print or eBook form from iUniverse). He also competed in the 2006 Steel Challenge and attended the TCLEOSE Basic Instructor Training course.

In 2005, he attended the 2-day advanced competition pistol course with U.S. Army shooting team members (and IPSC Grand Masters) Max Michel, Jr. and Travis Tomasi, and taught Airsoft Force on Force instructor classes for Triad Training (Michigan) and Rangemaster (Memphis, TN). He was also a guest speaker at the 2005 Polite Society conference, where his force-on-force scenarios were videotaped for a segment of the Shooting Gallery show on the Outdoor Network. In May he completed the Extreme Close Quarters Combat level I and II and In Extremis Knife courses with Paul Gomez (Options for Personal Security) and Craig Douglas (Shivworks).

In 2004, he placed 2nd in ‘pro class’ at the RangeMaster ‘Polite Society’ Tactical Shooting Conference, placed in the top 10 at several regional IPSC matches, and 14th overall at the Area 4 championship. Attended the Defense Against Weapons course from Greg Hamilton of InSights. Attended the Dynamic Tactics course from Andy Stanford and Paul Gomez of OPS. was 2nd overall and top Master at the Area 4 Steel Challenge Championship. As part of his work with the University of Texas, provided prototype equipment and training to Navy and Coast Guard personnel collaborated with other DoD and Coast Guard-funded researchers in human testing of experimental non-lethal weapons and ran the UT component of a multi-laboratory, joint US/UK underwater acoustics research project.

In 2003 he ran force-on-force scenarios at the RangeMaster ‘Polite Society’ Tactical Shooting Conference, published an article on Airsoft force on force training in SWAT magazine, completed the Dynamic Pistol Marksmanship class with Tom Givens and Jim Higginbotham, and competed in the 2003 Steel Challenge and other matches. In October he attended the Dynamic Pistol Marksmanship course taught by Tom Givens and Jim Higginbotham. In November he attended the SPEAR System Fundamentals unarmed self-defense seminar taught by Tony Blauer.

In 2002 he attended the Urban Carbine course taught by Jim Crews, and won the Limited 10 division at the Shirley Skinner Classic and Space City Challenge regional IPSC matches. He also attended an advanced-level competition shooting course taught by Todd Jarrett, the InSights Wilderness First Aid course, and was an invited speaker at the RangeMaster ‘Polite Society’ Tactical Shooting Conference.

Personal

Karl is a full-time firearms trainer and professional musician, teaching firearms classes 40+ weeks a year and performing more than 100 shows annually.

In 2016 he retired from 33 years of employment with the state of Texas. Karl has a master’s degree in electrical engineering and spent 24 years as an engineer and engineering manager at a University of Texas research lab, working on DoD and DHS funded R&D programs related to underwater acoustics, non lethal weapons, and physical security. After a move to College Station (Penny got a faculty job at Texas A&M), Karl worked for the Texas Engineering Extension Service as a training manager. As part of their Public Safety and Security division, he developed curriculum, taught courses and supervised instructors delivering DHS-funded homeland security courses to city and county emergency responders all over the U.S.

He is also a musician who has been performing regularly in the Central Texas area since 1982. He plays keyboards with multiple bands in the Central Texas area. More about his music, including online MP3 files of original compositions and live recordings from various bands can be found here. His most current CD release is “Better Listen To It”, released June 2013, with the band Midnight Express. In 2007 he released “Respectable” – a 10 song collection of original blues and R&B songs featuring members of Java Jazz, UnderCover, the Fabulous GTOs, Duck Soup and local gospel singer Aaron Roughton. “Respectable” and other original CDs (Better Listen To It, Lost In Time, and “et. al”) are now available on iTunes, emusic, spotify, pandora, and other online music sites.

He has many videos of performances on his youtube channel.

He and Penny design and maintain the KR Training website, are remodeling their house in Bryan, and raise hay and cattle on the A-Zone range property, operating as the Box A Ranch. Occasionally he sleeps.