The DotW this week was inspired by last week’s Ken Hackathorn 3-Second Standards. This is an expanded and more challenging version of that drill, as modified by Scott Warren. If you haven’t been able to earn a passing score on the original drill yet, put this week’s drill in your “For Later” folder.
Scott Warren is best known in competitive circles for winning 5 IDPA National Championships in Enhanced Service Pistol and Custom Defensive Pistol divisions, and as the creator of Warren Tactical pistol sights. Less well known is the fact that Scott is also a full-time member of the U.S. government’s premiere law enforcement counter-terrorism team, where he currently serves as principal firearms instructor.
Like last week, for this drill, you will need:
- Three IDPA or IPSC (standard, not classic) targets
- Shot timer with PAR time capability
Unlike last week, now you will need 63 rounds of ammunition. And probably a towel to cry into.
Again like last week, targets are placed at least two feet apart shoulder to shoulder. PAR time is set to three seconds for each string. There are three strings of fire for each stage of the drill:
- Fire one (and only one) shot at the head of each target, going from left to right
- Fire one (and only one) shot at the head of each target, going from right to left.
- Fire one (and only one) shot at the head of each target, beginning with the middle target and then finishing with the two outside targets in any order.
This set of three strings, with a 3-second PAR for each string, is conducted for each of seven stages:
- From the holster, freestyle at 5yd.
- From the holster, freestyle at 7yd.
- From the hoslter, freestyle at 10yd.
- From the holster, freestyle at 15yd.
- From the holster, strong hand only at 5yd.
- From the ready position, support hand only at 5yd.
- From the holster, while moving. (advance from 10yd to 5yd on string 1, retreat from 5yd to 10yd on string 2, and advance again from 10yd to 5yd on string 3)
A round anywhere in the scoring zone for the head (meaning both A and B zones for an IPSC target) counts as a hit. Shots fired after the 3-second PAR time count as misses. You may not take any extra shots. In total, you will fire 63 rounds: three rounds per string, three strings per stage, 7 stages.
A score of 49 or above (averaging at least 7 hits per stage) is a real accomplishment. If you give this drill a try, we’d be interested to hear your score!
Training with firearms is an inherently dangerous activity. Be sure to follow all safety protocols when using firearms or practicing these drills. These drills are provided for information purposes only. Use at your own risk.
Now this one looks much better – I’ll run it next range trip.
Todd,
I got a chance to run this one today – hit a 51 out of 54 – Dropped 1 on the support hand only string and dropped 2 on the movement string. Fun drill.
Great job, BW! I think you might be the only one who tried it. 8)
Man, I’ll try anything once. It is a good drill though and not easy. It’s much harder than phases of the IDPA classifier.
I was practicing the standards for the USPSA Area 4 championship today….goodness, talk about a drill that will humble you..LOL
So I ran a modified version of this at the NRA tonight, after adding the Stage 4 (15yd) segment. Due to range limitations, I had to make the following changes:
* used three 5″ square paper targets
* targets were spaced 1′ apart edge to edge
* PAR time was controlled by the turning target system, approximately 2.5-2.75 seconds per run
* only 2yd of movement is possible, so I went from 10yd to 8 on forward movement segments and from 5yd to 7yd on the backward movement segment
I scored a 59. I dropped three points on the 15yd stage and one shot on the WHO stage.