Just a quick note to say that we’ve added a video demo to the FAST page. Its up on our Youtube channel as well. We will be going through future drills on the Rangework page and adding demo’s over time. FAST is understandably one of the most popular shooting tests on the site so we started with that one.
Todd Green came up with this test some years ago, and while I had some input during our fairly long trial period, FAST is really Todd’s baby. It is a great test because it hits the important pistol skills in only 6 rounds. Draw, two low-probability shots, reload, and four high-probability shots. Simple, but not easy.
For this run of the FAST test, I used my LTT P30L. As they did for Todd, the P30 series has really impressed me and I have been shooting them more and more. The modifications that Ernest makes to the P30 family make them even better.
As the proud owner of FAST coin #1, I have watched this test grow in popularity over the years. If you want to take a stab at earning a coin, sign up for a class from Ernest Langdon. Ernest is a longtime friend of Pistol-Training.com (Todd introduced us over 20 years ago) and is one of the few instructors out there who I can wholeheartedly endorse. His classes and teaching are simply excellent.
Love it, my favorite test and diagnostic for pistol shooting.
You mention in the video, slide lock reload, but Todd seemed to waffle on that, sometimes he said it was needed, other times he was happy with 3 rounds in the gun to start. Somewhere I have an email with him from just before he passed away where we actually discussed this and he said it really didn’t matter.
I am mildly curious to see that email, but all I can say is that in my time doing the FAST with Todd, a slide lock reload was an absolutely mandatory aspect. I have never seen or heard of a FAST without it. FAST is not a tactical drill, it was designed to cover as many major aspects of shooting as possible, with as few rds as possible. A slide lock reload is simply harder and slower, and is something that Todd and I were religious about in practice.
This seems like a fun test. I’ll have to give it a shot! Now I just need an LTT P30L to run it with!
I’m sure you’ll like it. 1911 performance, modern reliability and grip size. 🙂
I love it that you muffled the sounds of the shot. I had my hand on the volume ready to turn it down. So often the loudness of the shots on the screen is so loud that I turn that portion down and then have to turn volume back up when the talking starts again. This video was more enjoyable, because of your editing – Thank you!
Thank you and you are welcome!