The late Todd Green posted this really good pistol drill on his forum. If you are looking for good practice ideas, give this one a try….
Drill of the week #27
Here’s the drill:
Range: 7yd
Target: 8″ circle
Start position: holstered
Rounds fired: varies
This is another AMRAP drill. “AMRAP” means As Many Rounds As Possible.
First, establish a baseline. Time yourself drawing and firing three hits on an 8″ circle at seven yards. For the AMRAP par time, round up to the next highest half second. So e.g. if you scored 2.15 seconds, your par for this drill will be 2.5 seconds.
Next, using that par time, draw and hit the target as many times as you can in the allotted time. After each run, check the target and the timer to make sure you know how many actual hits you scored within the time limit.
Starting position is holstered. Whether you use an open holster, retention holster, or concealed holster is up to you. Just be consistent and start the same way each time. If you cannot draw from a holster at your range, simply indicate what starting position you used.
You’ll repeat the drill a total of ten times. With each repetition, try to push yourself a little bit harder to make just one more hit.
I ran it cold out of Safariland ALS holster with my Glock 21 (.45). 1st shots of the day…3 in 2.56…round up to nearest 1/2 second = 3 seconds.
Ran 10 rounds of draw and fire AMRAP in 3 seconds. First run was five. Got up to 8. Had a couple other 8’s with one miss each run. 7 was consistent and easily doable by the end of the drill.
Then I wondered about the difference in the drill between the .45 that I had just shot and the 9mm. I waited until the next day (so it would be another cold shooting experiment) and shot it with my 9mm Glock 19 out of the same type of holster.
Results: 1st 3-shot group= 2.37. Round up for a par time of 2.5 seconds.
Ran ten rounds of AMRAP in 2.5 seconds. 1st run was 5. Then I began to speed up. I had one 8 shot run, but the majority were 6-7 shots. No misses.
I found it interesting that I could shoot the same number of rounds in 2.5 seconds (and with better accuracy) with my 9mm as I could in 3 seconds with my .45. There isn’t that much stopping power difference between the 9mm and .45 (using good loads) that I’m willing to sacrifice the 3- 4 rounds per second difference in speed for a marginal difference is stopping power.
Then I ran the drill using some hot .38 reloads in my S&W 342, drawing from the clipdraw IWB carry method. The results, 1st 3 shots= 2.97 seconds. Set the par time at 3 seconds and ran 10 rounds.
In all but one, I was able to shoot all 5 rounds in the gun right around the 3 second time limit. 3 misses in the 50 rounds. Not too bad for the lightweight wheelgun. The first round (slow) tells me that my transition between different autopistol and revolver triggers needs some more practice.
Just for fun, I then did the drill from the ready position with a 2″ snub .22 long rifle revolver (S&W 317). 3 rounds (from ready) in 1.8 seconds. Set the par time at 2 seconds and ran it 10 more times.
Results: consistently 6-7 shots. One time I hit all 8 shots in 1.99. No misses.
Conclusion: Don’t underestimate the role of a .22 snub as a defensive piece, especially for shooters who are sensitive to recoil! In a home defense scenario, most of the time the gun will be in hand anyway. 7-8 shots in 2 seconds into an 8″ circle (about the size of a human head) at 21 feet is nothing to sneeze at. I don’t know many people who would survive 8 headshots in 2 seconds even with the lowly .22.
Overall, I think this was a valuable drill. In just 10 runs you will see a noticeable improvement in your speed and accuracy. I plan on adding it to my regular practice routine and suggest that you give it a try.
For more great drills and shooting advice, check out Todd’s Page here.
