I’ve had the distinct honor over the past seven years of working with the Federal Air Marshal Service in various endeavors and have always bragged on their outstanding firearms training program. When you think about it, the primary job of a FAM is to sit quietly until he needs to stand up and shoot someone(s) multiple times quickly and with incredible accuracy in tight quarters with potentially hundreds of innocent bystanders packed in all around him. Since sitting quietly is pretty straightforward, the vast majority of their months-long “Phase II” training is devoted to fighting.
Back in the day, the FAMs had a very challenging Tactical Pistol Course that was used as a qualification. When the organization expanded by orders of magnitude post-9/11, it became clear that the old TPC was a little too challenging for many recruits and, faced with Congressional mandates to hire & train thousands of people in a very short time, the TPC went from a qualification requirement to a training drill.
The TPC also changed a bit to reflect certain tactical and training realities for FAMs, but the original remains an outstanding test of fundamental skills under very challenging timeframes.
While putting the finishing touches on a syllabus for a new class, I decided to include the (original) TPC. So starting with the format published at my friend Dean Speir’s The Gun Zone, a scoresheet was put together that describes all of the steps for the drill as well as providing space to record times and hits.
If you’re interested, you can download the scoresheet here. Give it a try and let us know if you pass!
If you need targets, the QIT is available from Law Enforcement Targets.
Train hard & stay safe! ToddG
I would love to try this out! Do they only do this test at 7 yards? Also, is there a way to download a .pdf, like the dot torture drill?
Brandon — The scoresheet is a downloadable .pdf file. The target is too large (torso size) to print with normal equipment. I do not have a .pdf version of the target.
This could be a good challenge, like the F.A.S.T. drill. I have some FBI Q targets around here somewhere. I will give this a try.
What is the distance requirement?
Found it on “The Gun Zone.”
7 yards for all shots.
Tony B — You’re the second person who asked that question. The distance is explained in the “Accuracy” section of the .pdf file. I’m beginning to think a lot of folks are planning to shoot the drill without reading the accuracy requirements first. 8)
will be running this drill Friday night at class. I think I’ve got a stack of these targets somewhere. otherwise we’ll figure something similar up.
RobE — I think you could use either the -1 & head zone of an IDPA target or the C-zone and head of an IPSC target to get a similar result.
Looks like a great drill and a good use for the old FBI Q targets.
hmm apparently I don’t have any of the Q targets anymore. Anyone have a PDF version? I’ve got access to a larger format printer, maybe they’ll fit on it?
Our stupid IPSC targets don’t have heads anymore, and it’s hard to source them or IDPA targets up here. But we’ll sort something out. Gotta keep working the new toy out.
Shot a very slight variation of the FAM TPC tonight.
First run was with a G19 in Raven Concealment holster.
148/150(dropped 1 shot, worth 2 points on our targets, on stage 6).
Second time was with an M&Pc in a Gould & Goodrich leather paddle holster.
150/150.
I shouldn’t have dropped the shot with the G19, but I haven’t been shooting much at all lately. :-p
well we shot this tonight on much smaller targets. I printed the one above on legal size paper. I didn’t add up my score, but I had about 10 shots in the larger bottle. The rest all inside the small one, with a few touching the lines (so those count as out I guess). I made all the times no problem, except the last one, I was .25 over. Mag stuck on the first pass and cost me almost 1 sec, then I was under for the 2nd pass but still over. Drawing from a race holster under a long jacket is fun, you actually have to be much more careful on the draw, as you don’t want to snag the gun with the jacket and rip it out of the holster before your hand gets there. once my Bladetech shows up, I’ll do this again.
fun drill, thanks for posting it.
I’m having trouble trying to Email Dean Speir.
Please forward this to his Email if possible.
My wife wants to purchase a small handgun, and take lessons at the
firing range at Gabreski airport.
I also need some practice with the firearms I have and would like to hear from Dean.
Thanks ,
Ford Fernandez (Fordfern@hotmail.com )
Cell 917 796 0942
18 Scrub Oak Road – Box 148
Quogue, NY 11959