Acceleration

designed by Todd Louis Green
Range: varies (start at 7yd)
Target: 8″ paper plate, 8.5×11 sheet of paper, or similar
Start position: mid draw
Rounds fired: varies

The purpose of this drill is to improve speed and in particular speed during the press-out segment of the draw stroke. The drill requires a shot timer.

Shooter begins seven yards from the target. Start position is the point where you normally make contact with your support hand during a draw. The gun will be relatively close in to your body, pointed at the target, both hands on the gun.

Set the PAR time on your shot timer to 1.0 seconds. On the buzzer, press the gun out and press the trigger, working on your sight alignment and timing so the shot breaks at the moment you reach full extension of your arms. If you finish with plenty of time left, slow yourself down and work on breaking a more accurate shot without going over the PAR time. Go through one or two magazines depending on whether you have a double- or single-stack mag.

Next, put up a new target. Without changing the par time, do the same drill except fire two shots per iteration. This might be easy for you, or it might require you to push yourself to break that first shot a little faster. Again, the goal is to get the most accurate shots you can without going over PAR. Fire the same number of drills (so you’ll fire two times as many shots).

If you were getting two shots in the 1.0 seconds, next try three, then four, and keep going until you can no longer get all your hits within the PAR time. You’ll have to speed up a little more each time. This drill should take you from smooth accurate single shots to pushing yourself to the very limit of your speed & accuracy. 

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.