Outdoor Tactical Training Range in Okeechobee, Florida
The Only Place in South Florida Where You Can Actually Move
Every indoor range in South Florida has the same rule. Stand still. Face downrange. Shoot the paper in front of you.
That rule exists for good reasons and it makes those facilities useless for the thing you actually need to practice. Because a real problem does not arrive while you are standing square to it with your feet set and your ears on.
Here you can move. Draw from concealment and move. Shoot from behind a vehicle. Work a barricade port at a height you did not choose. Engage a target at an angle. Run a drill on a clock until your hands start doing things you did not tell them to do.
1.25 private acres in Okeechobee. Nobody else on the property. No range fee, because we own it.
Or call or text Mike at 561-213-2974
Eight Things No Indoor Range Will Let You Do
This is not a criticism of indoor ranges. We train at four of them and they are good at what they do. But there are hard limits that no amount of good management can remove, and this is the list.
- Draw from concealment and fire. Most indoor ranges prohibit holster work entirely, or permit it only with a specific instructor certification and a rental bay.
- Shoot while moving. Advancing, backing up, moving laterally, all while keeping a sight picture. There is no lane in South Florida where you can do this.
- Use cover and concealment. Not the idea of cover. Actual barricades, actual obstacles, and the discovery that you are considerably larger behind one than you assumed.
- Work around a vehicle. Shooting around, over, and through a car. You have spent thousands of hours in a vehicle and have never once considered what happens if a problem arrives while you are in one.
- Engage multiple targets at angles. Not in a row at the same distance. Scattered, at different ranges, requiring you to decide the order.
- Run a scenario. A problem with a beginning, a decision point, and consequences, rather than a target that stands still and waits.
- Shoot from positions other than standing. Kneeling, prone, braced, and awkward. The positions you actually end up in.
- Train under a clock with your heart rate elevated. Everything above becomes a different exercise once there is time pressure, and that is the version worth practicing.
Every one of those runs here. That is the entire reason this range exists.
What Is On the Ground
The equipment is not the point. What the equipment lets you practice is the point. Here is what is here and what each piece is for.
1.25 private fenced acres with exclusive use. No lane assignments, no cold line every four minutes, no range officer stopping you mid-drill, and nobody else on the property. You get the space and the clock.
A wrap-around berm. This is the piece that makes everything else legal and safe. It supports shooting at multiple simultaneous angles, which is what permits movement and scenario work in the first place.
Three full size training vehicles. Real cars, not props. You will learn where a vehicle actually stops a bullet and where it does not, how to shoot from inside one, and how much of you is exposed when you think you are covered.
Two VTAC boards and a barricade system. Ports at different heights forcing positions you would not choose. Most shooters have never fired a round from anything other than a comfortable stance.
Steel reactive targets and paper stands. Steel gives you instant feedback, which changes how fast you learn. Paper gives you a record to diagnose from.
A full obstacle course. Movement under load, because a heart rate of 150 changes your grip more than any amount of standing-still practice will reveal.
No other facility in South Florida serving the public offers this combination under NRA certified instruction.
What Three Hours Here Actually Looks Like
The first twenty minutes are a safety brief and a baseline. You shoot a simple drill standing still so everyone, including you, knows where you are starting from.
Then you start moving.
You will shoot while walking forward, then backward, then laterally, and discover that your sight picture does something you did not authorize. You will work a barricade port set at chest height and another set low enough that you have to get on a knee you did not plan on using. You will shoot from behind a car and find out how much of your leg is hanging out past the wheel well.
Somewhere in the second hour there is a drill on a clock, and your first run will be worse than you expected. That is not a failure. That is the point of paying for the day.
By the end you will have fired from four or five positions you have never used, at angles you have never engaged from, with an instructor telling you exactly what your hands did wrong each time.
You leave with two or three specific things to work on. Most students take those back to an indoor lane, fix them, and come back.
Courses We Run at Okeechobee
Protector Courses, $200 each. Two levels of defensive pistol training. Level 1 covers stance, grip, vision, trigger control, and multiple target engagement in a live-fire outdoor environment. Level 2 is where it gets serious: holster draw, magazine changes, shooting while moving, cover and concealment on real terrain, vehicle-based scenarios, and high stress drills. Three hours each, ten students maximum.
Defensive Rifle, $150 per person. AR-15 and defensive rifle work across multiple angles and distances. Movement, cover, barricades, and vehicle scenarios. Three hours, minimum four shooters. Also available privately at $125 per hour. This course cannot be run anywhere else we train.
Custom Group Training, $150 per person. Three hours, fully tailored. Friends, families, corporate teams, security teams, and organizations. Minimum four people, maximum twelve.
Private Lessons, from $75 per person. One on one or small group instruction built around your firearm and your goals. At Okeechobee that means you can work a draw, run movement drills, or practice from cover, none of which is possible in a lane. $125 per hour one on one, $100 per person for two, $75 per person for three or more.
Concealed Carry Certification, $250. Florida CWFL qualification built around live fire rather than classroom hours. Two private lessons with the law delivered as a take-home PDF. Running it here means your certification includes holster work and realistic distances rather than the state minimum.
EmpowHER Women’s Training, from $75 per person. Women only sessions where every student on the line is a woman. One hour. Firearms provided at no charge. The Okeechobee range means complete privacy, which matters more to some students than anything else on this page.
House of Worship Security. Armed security team training for faith communities. Active shooter scenarios, team coordination, and response planning. This is the course that most requires an outdoor facility, since coordinated team movement cannot be practiced in a lane. All faiths welcome.
Stop the Bleed. Tourniquet application, wound packing, and direct pressure, taught hands-on with real training equipment. A firearm without the ability to treat a wound is an incomplete plan. Standalone or paired with any Okeechobee session.
Yes, It Is a Drive
Who You Are Training With
Mike Kneuer has spent twenty-two years carrying a firearm daily and the last several teaching other people how to do it properly. He competes in USPSA, constantly furthers his education by taking other top level instructors courses, and has put thousands of hours in with students ranging from people who had never touched a gun to daily carriers with bad habits they could not see.
A certification is a starting point, not an achievement. It means someone passed a course, and it says nothing about the years since. What Mike brings to your session is a working knowledge of what actually goes wrong for shooters and how to fix it.
He does not lecture and he does not perform. Most of the session is you shooting and him watching, with short corrections between strings. If what you are doing works, he leaves it alone. If it does not, he tells you plainly and shows you the fix. Nobody gets yelled at and nobody gets talked down to.
- NRA Certified Pistol Instructor
- Tactical Hyve Level 1 Instructor
- Stop the Bleed Instructor
- USCCA Member
- USPSA Competitor
- 22 Years Concealed Carry
Mike built this range because he got tired of teaching around the limits of somebody else’s facility. Every vehicle, barricade, and target stand on this property is here because a drill needed it.
What Students Say About Training Here
“Standing and shooting at the range doesn’t even slightly compare to this. You’ll learn real life drills and skills that you hope to never have to use but you need to know. Mike is extremely knowledgeable, patient, and has a great teaching method. With Greg and Mike there’s no way to walk away without feeling confident that if something were to happen, you are significantly more prepared than before taking the class. I cannot recommend this enough!”
“I am so fortunate to have found the Suburban Protector, Mike is everything you want in an instructor when learning firearm safety, to advance shooting. The range allows for training for any level of training someone may need; from working on accuracy to shooting on the move at different targets in different angles— all sorts of stuff you would never be able to do at a regular shooting range. I recommend this to anyone who is looking to get more comfortable with firearms to protect their loved ones to advanced shooters who just need to find someone who can challenge them— this is the place!“
“Incredible instructor and great place to go shooting. It’s for all levels of shooting. For private groups, it’s the best. Mike is always next to you and providing step-by-step guidance. We will be returning and highly recommending to family and friends.“
Common Questions About Training at Okeechobee
Roughly an hour and a half from most of Palm Beach County and closer to two hours from Broward. It is a real drive, and it is also the reason the training is possible at all.
No. We own this range, so there is nothing to pay beyond the course price and your ammunition. Our other locations charge range fees paid directly to the facility.
Draw from concealment, shoot while moving, use cover and barricades, shoot around vehicles, engage targets at angles, run scenarios, and shoot from positions other than standing. No indoor range in South Florida permits any of it.
No. Private lessons, EmpowHER sessions, and Protector Level 1 all run here and all are built for people with no experience. The scenario work is a separate set of courses you move into when you are ready.
No. We provide one at no charge. If you own a firearm, bring it, since training with the gun that is actually in your house makes more sense.
If you have never had formal instruction, a private lesson or Protector Level 1. If you already run a pistol well, Protector Level 2 or Defensive Rifle. Call 561-213-2974 and describe where you are.
Protector Courses cap at ten. Group sessions run four to twelve. Private lessons are one to three people.
Ammunition, closed toe shoes, and a shirt with a high neckline. Water and something to eat if you are booked for three hours. Eye and ear protection are provided. Bring your own firearm if you have one, and your own holster and magazines for the advanced courses.
No. It is a private facility available to Suburban Protector students and range renters. That is what makes exclusive use possible.
Book Your Okeechobee Session
Here is the honest question. Have you ever trained the way a real problem would actually arrive?
If the answer is no, or if it is “I am not sure,” that is the answer. Call to check the schedule.
Or call or text Mike at 561-213-2974
PALM BEACH COUNTY: West Palm Beach, Boca Raton, Boynton Beach, Delray Beach, Wellington, Royal Palm Beach, Palm Beach Gardens, Lake Worth Beach, Jupiter
BROWARD COUNTY : Fort Lauderdale, Coral Springs, Pompano Beach, Deerfield Beach, Tamarac, Margate
MARTIN COUNTY: Stuart
OKEECHOBEE AREA: Okeechobee, Fort Pierce
Can’t travel to our Okeechobee range? No problem. We bring professional firearm training to Palm Beach County and Broward County at convenient local range locations. Wherever you are in South Florida, expert gun training is close.