Low Round Count Pistol Drills: Sharpen your skills without emptying your wallet.

The price of ammunition continues to rise, and our lives keep getting busier and busier. Range time is more and more scarce, which makes the efficient use of your time and ammo on the range a very good thing indeed. To help with those goals, I’ve collected a few practice drills which sharpen your pistol skills without wasting your time or emptying your wallet.

The Bakersfield PD Pistol Qualification

Every Bakersfield Police Department patrolman was expected to be able to pass this qualification with no warm up, using their duty gear. As such, this is the drill I shoot at the beginning of each practice session to see what my on-demand performance looks like.

Bakersfield Police Department Pistol Qualification (10 rounds)

Target: USPSA or IDPA silhouette target

• String One: 2 rounds in 1.5 seconds at 10 feet. Par time: 1.5 seconds.
• String Two: 2 rounds in 2 seconds at 20 feet. Par time 2 seconds.
• String Three: 2 rounds, emergency reload, 2 rounds at 30 feet. Par time 6 seconds, 8 for revolvers.
• String Four: 2 rounds in 3.5 seconds at 60 feet. Par time 3.5 seconds.

If those par times look a little spicy, that’s because they are. However, the scoring adjusts for that, which is:

Every hit in the A Zone/Down Zero is 10 points. Every hit in the C Zone/Down One is 9 points. Every hit in the D Zone/Down 3 is 6 points. Misses do not count for points. Every .25 second over the par time is -1 point. Passing is 80 points or more.

So if, for example, you score 86 points, but make every par time, you pass. On the other time, if you take your time and get 92 points but go a cumulative 2 seconds over the par times, you still pass (92-(2 x .25)=84). This scoring system allows you to see what your balance of speed versus accuracy looks like at any given moment.

Five Yard Roundup 

Target: NRA B-8

Justin Dyal came up with this drill, and it’s shot (as the name suggests) at five yards. Each of the four stages has a 2.5-second par time, which means it can be shot on indoor ranges which allow drawing from concealment. It also uses just 10 rounds, but covers a lot of essential pistol marksmanship skills.

• String One: One shot draw from concealment
• String Two: Four shots from low ready
• String Three: Three shots from low ready, strong hand only
• String Four: Two shots from low ready, support hand only

Any late shot is -5 points, and any hit off the ten-inch repair center are counted as misses and are minus ten points each. A passing score would be ten hits on the target in under the par time. A great score would be all the hits in the 10 or X rings under the par time.

25 Round Dot Torture

Target: Click here to download

Tim Reedy came up with this shorter version of David Blinder’s classic Dot Torture drill which covers all the skills of the 50-round version, but with half the ammunition. Either version of the Dot Torture is a great way to develop a consistent, smooth trigger pull and a reliable sight picture. Passing on this test is 100 percent, so it demands that you keep your head in the game at all times.

All of these drills, however, need to be supplemented with regular dry-fire practice to create the muscle memory you need to perform on demand. Training once in a while is nice, but regular dry practice is the key to success.