Cammy, here's one of my favorite paper target drills. This came from chapter 3 of my book "Breaking the Shot."
• Set up a piece of cardboard or, better yet, an IPSC target and place it seven yards down range.
• Using a can of spray paint (black if you have it), paint six pairs of dots. These pairs should be
about four inches apart (up and down) and 12 inches apart (left and right), for a total of twelve,
3" dots. The cap of the spray is the right size.
• Standing at the firing line, get your natural stance (eyes closed hands out-stretched as if you
were pointing your pistol). Close your eyes again, lower your head and clear your mind. Take a
couple of deep breaths. Let the muscles in your stomach relax and let your shoulders hunch
forward. I know it looks a little silly, but the idea is to concentrate solely on what you are about
to do and become aware of how well you are performing the basics. By reaching a relaxed
state, you will be more apt to be in tune with your visual and physical awareness and therefore
will be able to self-evaluate what you are doing right and what you are doing wrong.
• Clip your timer to your belt and set it for delay. Load your revolvers with SIX rounds each.
At the beep, draw your strong side gun and fire one round at “T-1” (T-1 is the first dot at the top
left-hand side of the pairing). Holster. Repeat this step five more times for a total of six rounds
fired.
2. At the beep, draw your WEAK side gun and fire one round at “T-2” (T-2 is the dot on the top
right-hand side of the pairing). Holster. Repeat this step five more times for a total of six rounds.
3. At the beep, draw your strong side gun and fire two rounds at “T-3” (second row from the top,
left-hand dot). Holster. Repeat two more times for a total of six rounds.
4. At the beep, draw your WEAK side gun and fire two rounds at “T-4” (second row from the top,
right hand dot). Holster. Repeat two more times for a total of six rounds.
5. At the beep, draw your strong side gun and fire one round at “T-5” and one round at “T-6”
(third row from the top, both dots). Holster. Repeat this two more times for a total of six rounds.
6. At the beep, draw your WEAK side gun and fire one round at “T-5” and one round at “T-6”.
Holster. Repeat this two more times for a total of six rounds.
7. At the beep, draw your strong side gun and fire three rounds at “T-7” and three rounds at “T-8”
(fourth row from the top both dots) for a total of six rounds.
8. At the beep, draw your WEAK side gun and fire three rounds at “T-7” and three rounds at “T-
8” for a total of six rounds.
9. Transition: At the beep, draw your right hand gun and fire one round at “T-9” (fifth row, left
hand dot), holster, draw your weak side gun and fire one round on “T-10” (fifth row, right hand
dot). Holster. Repeat this five more times for a total of twelve rounds.
10. At the beep, draw your strong side gun and fire FIVE rounds at “T-11” (bottom left hand dot).
11. At the beep, draw your WEAK side gun and fire FIVE rounds at “T-12” (bottom right hand
dot).
Ok, so what does this drill teach?
The goal of this exercise is to put all the rounds in the circle or in the dot. In order to do this, you
must use all the basics of shooting. You might get lucky part of the time, but to complete this drill
without any misses requires concentration on all aspects of shooting. The time it takes to fire any part
of this drill is unimportant. Don’t even look at the times on the timer. The timer is nothing but a start
signal.
Steps 1-8: Work on all the aspects of shooting: stance, grip, trigger control, sight alignment and
sight picture. For example, if you get a bad grip, you may be able to hit the target with one round as in
steps 1 and 2 but, a with a bad grip you will not perform multiple shots as in Steps 3-8.
Step 9: Practice your transition. Again, it’s not important how fast you can move from one pistol to
another, instead concentrate on smooth. In the beginning, you will want to look at your holster in order
to make sure you are getting the gun into the holster before you let go of the gun. But with practice, you
should be able to do this without looking.
Steps 10 and 11: Get used to following the front sight as it moves up under recoil and then back
down into the rear sight notch. You will notice that in these steps only five rounds are used. This is
because you don’t want to get into a habit of shooting more than five rounds in a string of fire which is
the legal round count in any pistol in SASS matches.
This drill sets up the rest of the practice session. You will know if you are going to have a good day
or a bad day when you finish. If you are having a bad day, take the opportunity to go back and focus on
the basics and fundamentals. It is inevitable that you will get to a match and not be shooting well.
Practicing under these conditions will give you more confidence when it comes to pass.
If you are an accomplished shooter then continuing to practice on a really bad day can damage your
confidence and perhaps generate some bad habits that you will have to deal with later (be honest with
yourself—you might be better served staying and practicing this drill). If it’s a good day, then it’s an
opportunity to push your limits.
News & Blogs
Home
Posts
Recent Posts
Help
Business Directory
Calendar
Advertising Rates
Contact Us
Login
Register
