Pistol drill # 3

     The previous drills have hopefully worked out common pistol marksmanship issues.  the mantra to achieve shooting zen should be to think "front sight ...press."  If one is able to keep shots in a fist sized 10 shot group on a target at 7 yards, it is time to establish the important difference between point shooting and making an intended shot. 
     The only differences between these two ways of shooting are focal plane and how the trigger is manipulated.  This drill requires a pistol with 4 rounds, a target at 3 yards, a target at 9 yards.  The shooter starts with arms above shoulder height.  On the fight call, the shooter draws and puts three rounds into the chest of the target at 3 yards as fast as possible.  These three shots are done with all the same fundamentals of grip, stance, and trigger control, but the focus is on the target, not on the front sight post.  The idea being that this target is so close, speed and simply sighting along the top of the pistol take priority over marksmanship.
     The difficult part comes when one must transition immediately to the far target, move focus to the front sight, and pull the trigger slow enough for a surprise breaking making a controlled, intended head shot on the 9 yard target. 

     It is important to establish this early on, as all subsequent targets will fall into one of these two modes of pistol shooting.  Point shooting is meant to save ones life in the event force is needed directly from the draw due to time and distance constraints.  The transition between point and intended distance will be different for each shooter based on skill and experience. 
     The main qualifier is the distance at which someone can not miss a human sized target.  A way to determine this is to have the shooter orient to a target while the instructor covers their face with a piece of paper and tells them to draw and point.  If after the paper blocking their vision is removed, the pistol is pointed in the center chest area, that would be an effective range for that shooter to utilize point shooting.
     This is a difficult drill for newer shooters as the normally have a great deal of confidence shooting the closer target, but are unable to slow down for the head shot and miss.  The reason for making the nine yard shot a head small is to simulate a targets that is mostly obscured by cover or concealment. 
     When planning a list of drills for a range day or training class, I want a good variety of challenges that push the shooters abilities.  This is a contrast of speed and fundamentals.  Other drills show the effect of shooting while moving verses moving then shooting.  Drills build a skill set that is later applied to sennarios one might encounter in daily life.  Most of the time people did not know what they are getting into when I took them shooting.  By the end of day they were moving while shooting at multiple targets that were also moving.  It is at that point where the pistol becomes and extension of ones arm, and all focus is on solving the problem.