I’m a little late here, but on Monday DocGKR posted the latest pistol-forum.com Drill of the Week: “3×5 in 5” which is a timed walkback drill on a simple 3×5 card. If you’ve been following along with the DotW you’ve noticed that this is the fifth drill in a row that uses a low% target. That’s not an accident. We’ve very purposely been trying to cultivate a higher degree of marksmanship at speed than most folks develop when they spend almost all their time shooting big targets (A-zones, -0 zones, etc) at close range.
Next week’s drill will be more focused on speed, though, and should provide an interesting data point for folks regarding their reloads.
Train hard & stay safe! ToddG
When you say “marksmanship at speed,” what is your definition of at speed?
The link above gives you the parameters for speed. Draw and fire two rounds in under five seconds, if both rounds hit the target in under five seconds move it back one yard.
Would anyone be surprised that the better shooters can make the hits further back than the lesser shooters? Or that the furthest distance for the same drill with those A zone/-0 zone hits will further than with the 3×5? It’s not like it’s rocket science that a smaller target is harder to hit or that guy who can make the furthest shot on the 3×5 in 5 will be the same guy who can make the furthest hit on the A/-0… he’ll just do further away. The size of the target isn’t magical.
I saw the parameters for the distance and time allowed. But when shooting at speed, why have a fixed par time? That isn’t exactly “at speed.” “At speed” would be as fast as that particular person could shoot while seeing what they needed to see to make that particular shot.
md12393–one can easily shoot a similar drill by running a reducing par time at a fixed distance say 7, 10, or 15 yds. After each successful run, decrease the par time by a set amount, perhaps 0.1 sec or 0.5 sec–whatever is most appropriate for the shooter skill level.
The 3×5 in 5 is more of a “timed” fire drill rather than a pure speed drill. It originated at an LE agency in an attempt to help their officers build confidence that they could pass a specific mandated qualification test in the required time and distance. It seems to have worked for the intended purpose. Why don’t you try it and let us know how you do?
Steven C: from a practical aspect of administering the drill, strong shooters may run out of capabilities of most indoors ranges if A/-0 were used. I am a very mediocre shooter by most standards, and I got to 45 feet on 3×5 today. 3×5 is magical from a practical standpoint since it pretty much guarantees most everyone will miss within a 25 yard length typical of an indoors range.
md12393: once I got to beyond 35, this started to feel like a speed drill to me.