Written by: Greg Ellifritz
My friend Marcus Wynne sent me a practice shooting course a couple weeks ago. He asked me to give it a try, noting that when he used it with some students he noticed some dramatic improvement in fluidity while changing hands with a pistol. I shot the course and found it challenging. I’m sharing it here for those of you who wish to improve hand transitions with your pistol.
START COLD, NO WARM UP.
Target is FLETC Transtar with a six-inch pie plate taped on the head and upper chest. In center of six inch pie plate is 3×5 card.
25 yards. From ready position with both hands, fire 5 rounds in 10 seconds at either head or upper chest target. Mark target hits.
From ready position with right hand, fire 5 rounds in 10 seconds at either target. Mark target hits.
From ready position with left hand, fire 5 rounds in 10 seconds at either target. Mark target hits.
(15 rounds)
3 yards. Cloverleaf drill. With both hands fire one shot at target of choice. Transition to right hand only, fire one shot into existing hole; transition to left hand, fire one shot into existing hole. Fire as fast as you can while moving smoothly. Record time with stopwatch.
Repeat 3 times.
(9 rounds)
7 yards. Cloverleaf drill. As above. Repeat 3 times.
(9 rounds)
7 yards. From ready position with both hands, fire 3 shots in 2 seconds at target of choice. Goal is to keep everything on the pie plate, p
referably on the 3×5 card.
Repeat 3 times.
(9 rounds)
7 yards. From ready position with strong hand. Fire 3 shots in 3 seconds at target of choice. Goal is to keep everything on the pie plate, preferably on the 3×5 card.
Repeat 3 times.
(9 rounds)
7 yards. Cadence drill. Both hands on gun. Fire 15 rounds in <11 seconds in this sequence: 1 to the head, 2 to the body, 3 to the head, 4 to the body, 5 to the head. Goal is to keep a steady cadence with no hesitation between shots. Record total time with stop watch or Pact timer.
(15 rounds)
7 yards. Transition from hand to hand. 3 magazines of 5 rounds each. Start with strong hand, fire one shot at target of choice, transition to off hand, fire one shot at target of choice, continue to transition and reload as needed (note if slide locks back in off hand, drop magazine with off hand and reload with strong hand; if in strong hand reload as necessary. Range does not allow holster work so stage magazines on booth shelf.) Record time and accuracy (all on pie plate, preferably on 3×5, total time elapsed, focus on smooth transition and no hesitation…flow drill)
(15 rounds)
7 yards. 15 round Bill Drill or Shaw NOW drill. 15 rounds < 11 seconds. As fast as you can on pie plate.
(15 rounds)
3 yards. Cloverleaf/head shot. For time – at beep fire both hands one shot, transition to right fire one, transition to left fire one, transition to both hands and fire one head shot. Accuracy and time.
(4 shots)
TOTAL 100 rounds.
A link to the full course description and its training goals is on Marcus’ site is HERE.
I don’t know if it was Marcus’ promotion of “cross-lateral neurological activity in the brain” that did it or just the extra practice, but I definitely felt more comfortable with my hand transitions by the end of the course. I wrote down my times and scores and will be shooting this one again. You should too.
