It is said that a novice can pull it off now and again, but the professional cannot get it wrong. To that end there are three mandatory elements of the shooting process executed subconsciously and cherished by the pros – hard visual focus, sustainable grip and precise trigger press. Mastery of these three define the elite shooter.
Our drill this month trains you to further develop these critical fundamentals pushing your skills envelop to the next level. These three essential sub-components are combined in such a manner that hardens their molecular bonding subconsciously.
Here’s the Drill
Set up four targets – two smaller steel targets placing one left and the other right and two paper targets arranged near and far in between the steel with all four targets together forming the shape of a diamond. The distance between each target linearly should be no less than ten yards. Adjust paper distances accordingly to your skill. Shooters seeking more of a challenge may increase target difficulty by either reducing target size, increasing distance or setting a greater penalty for a miss.
Label the paper target nearest you T1 and the paper target furthest T2. The left steel plate T3 and the right-most steel plate T4.
Near to Far
Stand to the left of T1 so you have clear access to all four targets of the diamond. Start with a holstered pistol, hands below your gun belt. On the buzzer or “go” signal draw form the holster to T1 and place one round in the A-box of the body and one in the A-box of the head. Transition to T3 for one round visual center of the target. Transition to T4 same (one round) and then end with T2 by placing one round in the A-box of the body and one in the A-box of the head for a total of six rounds. Only record your total time if it is a clean run. Run this drill at least three times starting off with “guaranteed hits” (no misses) and then push yourself on the remaining two runs to find where your wheels fall off.
Far to Near
Stand to the right of T1 so you have clear access to all four targets of the diamond. Start with a holstered pistol, hands below your gun belt. On the buzzer or “go” signal draw form the holster to T2 and place one round in the A-box of the body and one round in the A-box of the head. Transition to T4 for one round visual center of the target. Transition to T3 same (one round) and then end with T1 by placing one in the a-box of the body and one in the A-box of the head. Only record your total time if it is a clean run. Run this drill at least three times starting off with “guaranteed hits” (no misses) and then push yourself on the remaining two runs to find where your wheels fall off.
The purpose of this drill is to place your fundamentals under pressure by feel and experience. Which of the three components starts to falter first as you increase speed? Hitting all four points of the diamond without error requires sustained efficiency (from which speed is a byproduct) and control (from which accuracy is a byproduct).
Hardening the diamond at varying speeds provides you with a clear indicator of what you can and cannot do at varying speeds. The more you harden the diamond the further down your fundamentals compress into your subconscious (unconscious competence) affording you greater task focus—the holy grail of the consummate professional, versus consciously shooting.