Pistol drill #2

     The last drill focused on identifying several problems at once concerning flinch, trigger control grip and stance with and empty pistol.  This drill builds on that concept by alternating a live round and dry fire.  The first time I saw this was from an instructor at the Sig Academy, and I Incorporated it soon after in my own teaching. 
     This drill starts with an empty gun, ten rounds in a magazine, and a paper target placed at 7 yards with a defined point of aim marked in the high chest area.  Load the magazine, rack a round into the chamber, remove the magazine, and place it in a pocket or mag carrier.  The first shot is made and without a magazine to activate the slide lock, the slide closes on an empty chamber.  The second shot is a dry fire.  Again most students see the second shot as pointless and rarely take it seriously, but the front sight and any movement speaks volumes.  While doing this drill if shots fall low, it is likely that anticipation of recoil is to blame.  Shots to the left or right can usually be corrected with better finger placement on the trigger and attempting to pull the trigger directly back to the dominant eye.   
     Over years of me showing students how to do this, I have found that usually I need to talk through the steps as they already have a lot they are trying to remember at this point, and the sensory overload from the shots tend to distract them.  Occasionally one will notice type 2 malfunctions, or "stovepipe" jams.  I believe this comes from the spent case not having the next bullet or the magazine follower to help keep it aligned on its way out of the chamber.  This can be distressing for a new shooter, but like the saying goes, "It is not a glitch, it is a feature", and gives one the opportunity to solve the problem. 
     The benefits of this pistol drill go beyond watching the front sight in dry fire right after feeling the snap of recoil.  It allows new shooters to get several repetitions of loading the gun, and beginning to feel and hear the different sound the gun makes when actually stripping a round from the magazine as opposed to an empty chamber.  For experienced shooters, this drill works well as a warm-up or as a way to check ones pistol fundamentals.