Bristlecone Instructors

Cindy was born and raised in a small town in Texas and grew up shooting Competition Skeet as well as hunting with her father. Cindy has been a USPSA and 3 Gun competitive shooter since 2012 and has been an instructor at Bristlecone since 2016. She has a passion for teaching new shooters with a focus on safety and basic fundamentals that will set them up for success no matter what their training journey is – recreational, defensive, or competition. She is a member of our development team for the training department, leads our competitive shooting classes, teaches intro to advanced classes across multiple platforms in both women only and co-ed formats, and is available for private instruction upon request. To top it all off, she is also a Match Director, Certified RSO, is a partner of NOCO Shooting Sports LLC, and is a partner in an architectural design firm downtown Denver. If she isn’t on the range you can find her….. Oh who are we kidding, you will never see her not on the range! 

Ever since a young age, Filipp has been fascinated by martial arts, archery, and swordsmanship. In college, he was introduced to firearms and fell in love with shooting sports; starting off in a 22lr pistol bullseye league, bowling pin matches, Amateur Trapshooting Association shoots, and gravitating towards USPSA (United States Practical Shooting Association). Filipp became an NRA instructor in 2017, specializing in Pistol, Shotgun, Family Firearm Safety, and Muzzleloading disciplines, and has collected six NRA Distinguished Expert awards. He enjoys working with students and passing on the spark of excitement to his students and inspiring them to achieve greater heights and exploring various potentials while focusing heavily on firearm safety. He currently teaches many adult and youth classes and is available for private instruction upon request.

Travis Gilliland learned to shoot at a young age while hunting with his father. He competed in minor competitions over the years and served in the Marines for 4 years, where he was a four-time rifle expert shooter and yearly rifle qualifier. While serving, Travis trained Marines on service rifle manipulation, handling and use of rifles in vehicles and close quarters scenarios and specialized in breaching, room clearing, demolitions and rocket usage. He was deployed to Afghanistan where he served as a vehicle commander and rifleman on foot patrols. Travis graduated from the Colorado School of Trades with a degree in Gunsmithing. He enjoys teaching youth and new shooters how to safely handle and operate firearms. Travis is an NRA Certified Pistol and Bristlecone Certified Instructor. He teaches Concealed Carry, AR and Tactical Rifle classes, and is available for private instruction upon request.

As a lifelong firearms enthusiast, an NRA certified instructor (in 9 disciplines), and Chief Range Safety Officer for 15 years, Pancho is passionate about firearm training and teaching the next generation of youth & adult beginners the safe and responsible use of firearms for recreation, competition, and personal protection. Pancho strives for a positive, fun experience which is the key to enjoying a lifetime of shooting activities. He prepares students for success through a patient and systematic training approach that builds on existing skills while developing proficiency with new ones all conducted under an umbrella of safety. He is adept at helping find the right gun for you and working with individuals who have special needs through adaptive shooting techniques. Pancho has certified security officers under the Denver Security Guard Firearms endorsement and is a USCCA Defensive Shooting Fundamentals, Concealed Carry, and Home Defense instructor. Pancho currently teaches introductory and specialty classes for multiple platforms and is available for private instruction.

Steve was born and raised in Colorado. He was introduced to firearms at a young age when his older brother and father took him hunting with them. Steve has been shooting for 40 years and has been carrying a defensive handgun for 12 years. Steve started working at Bristlecone in December of 2015 in the retail department and in 2016 he received his Bristlecone Instructor Certification and Range Safety Officer Certification. In 2017 he received the Defensive Firearms Coaching Certification, NRA Basic Pistol Certification and NRA Instructor Certification. In 2018 Steve received his instructor certification through USCCA to teach USCCA Concealed Carry and Home Defense Fundamentals, also Defensive Shooting Fundamentals Level 1. Steve was certified by the state of Utah as a Concealed Firearm Permit Instructor and he teaches Basic Firearms Safety, Intro to Pistol, Concealed Carry for Beginners, Bristlecone Concealed Carry, Utah Non-resident CHP, Holster Fundamentals, and Situational Awareness classes. He is also available for private instruction upon request.

Kevin began his firearms journey when he joined the Marine Corps. Starting as a machine gunner, he became familiar with fully automatic weapons platforms, and throughout his enlistment shifted his focus from accuracy by volume, to more precision rifle disciplines. Kevin completed the Marine Corps Scout Sniper Basic Course on Camp Pendleton and served in a Scout Sniper Platoon for the rest of his enlistment. Following his time in the Marine Corps, Kevin moved out to Colorado to work as an Armed Security Guard and Executive Protection Specialist in Denver and surrounding cities. Kevin began exploring more instructing opportunities including Medical (TCCC), Combatives, edged weapon techniques, Force De-escalation, Tactical Pistol, and Long Range Precision shooting. Kevin is a co-owner of 4 Rings Tactical who partners with Bristlecone and has been working at Bristlecone since 2019.  Kevin is the Lead Tactical Pistol instructor for Bristlecone and is available for private instruction upon request.