Time to put your skills to the test! Here are our holiday shooting challenges. Download the targets in this post, and give them a try.  Post a video and your times in the comments below, let us know how fast you can shoot them. Christmas Tree Target Before you start: Begin Holstered with 6 rounds in the gun Yard Line: 5 Yards Course of Fire: On the buzzer, shoot 6 rounds into the trunk, reload, 2 rounds into each 2" circle from the bottom up, and 1 round into the 1" star  The

The five fundamentals of shooting a handgun breakdown like this: Stance, Grip, Sight Alignment, Sight Picture, and Trigger Control. In this blog post, shot calling, which falls under the sight alignment fundamental, is what we are going to focus on.  Whether you're still on iron sights or have moved over to a red dot, shot calling is considered an advanced skill when done at speed. The first step is to teach someone to look at a small spot on the target. Then either align the

What is occluded eye shooting? Occluded eye shooting is a training technique in which the front lens of a red dot sight is covered, forcing the shooter to focus on the target rather than the dot itself. By keeping both eyes open, the brain superimposes the red dot on the center of the target by a process called convergence. If you have taken our Pistol Mounted Optics Instructor  course, we discuss how convergence is a natural process that takes place in the brain. We show tha

If you have taken our Pistol Mounted Optics class, you may have shot The Devil’s Drill. In this challenge, you will shoot two-handed, strong-handed, and support-handed. If you have purchased The Quiet Professional’s Logbook  from our website, go to Section 3 and enter this drill in your book. Add up your core times (the draw, split, and reload) and get a goal for your projected time. Shoot it and document the difference. Course of Fire: You will need an IPSC target and 3 maga

The RE Factor Kill Card Challenge is designed to test your pistol shooting capabilities. This drill, which is completed on an Essential Target  from RE Factor Tactical, will test your speed, accuracy, trigger manipulations, and reload times.  If you have purchased The Quiet Professional’s Logbook  from our website, go to Section 3 and enter this drill into your book. Add up your core times (the draw, split, and reload), and solidify a goal for your projected time. Then, try t

How do you practice? You don’t need much to hit the range and put in a focused, practical training session. In this video, I will explain how I use only 3 paper targets to maintain my skills. Be sure to track your times, so you know if you are making gains or losing time.

The 1 - 10 drill can be done with a pistol and/or rifle, and it can be completed at the 5, 7, or 10-yard line. Of course, the further away you are from the target, the harder the drill will be. To start, begin at the 5- yard  line and work your way back. If you have purchased The Quiet Professional’s Logbook  from our website, go to Section 3, enter this drill in your book, add up your core times (meaning your draw and split), and get a goal for your projected time. Then, sho

The goal in Beat the Clock is to develop proficiency in the draw and reload. To begin this drill, you will need your gun, holster, mag pouch, magazine, some dummy rounds, and a timer or timer app. You will use NO live ammo in this drill, so check your gun and magazines to make sure they are clear. You will also need either a small spot on a draw fire target, a light switch, or even something as simple as a sticky note to aim at.  On your timer, set a par time of 3.00 seconds.

The F.A.S.T. Drill, the Fundamental Accuracy Speed Test, was developed by the late Todd Green of pistol-training.com . I love this drill because it combines multiple skills into one drill. If you have purchased The Quiet Professional’s Logbook  from our website, go to Section 3 and enter this drill in your book. Add up your core times (the draws, splits, and reloads), develop a goal for your projected time, and shoot it to document the difference.  Here is the course of Fire:

Everyone has drills to evaluate a shooter's skill and answers the question, “Can you accomplish this?” Our standards are no different, except for one thing. They meet you where you are.  This means the standards aren’t set out so far that no one can make the times, yet they will hold you accountable for your training. The skills held at certain line yards are exactly that; they’re skills.  The times on the standards are based on my twenty years of experience shooting. One int

You may have seen us use our WSC Training Target in either our Pistol Mounted Optics or Rifle classes. The sky is the limit as to how many ways you can use this target, and how creative you can be. We bundle packs of twenty-five targets at a time with glue at the top to make your training more convenient. The glue allows you to easily peel the targets from a compact bunch, just like a sticky note pad .  This design was intended for you to be able to use one target to build a

You are missing the foundations of shooting if you are an instructor that is not teaching, or have been to a pistol class where the instructor did not talk about the five fundamentals of shooting.  In this video, I name and break down the fundamentals of shooting a handgun.  Pistol fundamentals break down like this: Stance, Grip, Sight Alignment, Sight Picture, and Trigger Control. Some people include breathing as part of the fundamentals of shooting a handgun, I do not. Unle