I got this drill from my friend Bryan Eastridge of the EDC Belt Company. I really like drills like this that have the same set par time for each stage. They make for very simple and efficient shooting sessions. Here’s the drill:
Each stage has a set par of 2.5 Seconds
25yd-Draw and Fire 1 round to the head box. Utilize the entire head box.
15yd- Draw and Fire 2 rounds to the A-Zone
10yds- Draw Fire 3 rounds to the A-Zone
7yds- Draw Fire 2 Rounds to the A-Zone 1 Round to the head box (entire box)
5yds- From Low Ready Fire 3 Rounds to the A-Zone 1 Round to the Head Box
5yds- Low Ready Strong Hand Only Fire 2 Rounds to the A-Zone
This exercise is not a pass/fail. It is aimed at finding your ability to execute an action on demand and expose failure points in your marksmanship skill and your ability to shoot from a draw and a low ready.
I chose this one as my first handgun drill back after a long layoff precisely because I couldn’t fail!
I shot this one on January 21. Before that date I had last shot on November 20. Two months without shooting was one of the longest period without shooting that I can remember. Even worse, I spent almost half of that time traveling outside the country without a gun, so I couldn’t even dry fire. It was also the first time back firing rounds after my prostate cancer surgery and I was still operating under limited physical restrictions.
Let’s see how I did. The good news is that I made all the times on the drill (shot with my Glock 19). The bad news was my performance on the three required head shots. Look at the photo below.
I’m glad the entire head box counts as a hit. Two of the three head shots were just grazing wounds and wouldn’t be scored as hits on most other drills.
Looking below, you’ll see that I made all but one of the torso shots into the “A Zone.” I’m actually a bit surprised by that given my lack of recent practice.
As Bryan says, this is a drill to establish which skills need the most practice. For me, precision shots at long range were the most difficult. It’s interesting to see that for me, basic shooting skills seemed to be generally retained despite having two months where I didn’t fire a round. But precision shooting at long range degraded significantly. I know what I will be working on in the future.
Give this one a try.
