Skillz&Drillz: The F.A.S.T. Drill

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:

At 7 yards, draw and fire 2 rounds at a 3x5 card, perform a slide lock reload, and fire 4 rounds to an eight-inch circle in under 5 seconds. 

This drill forces you to draw fast, to let the sight settle and shoot more deliberately, to reload as fast as you can, and then shoot 4 rounds faster than the shots taken at the 3x5 card. Changing gears with a pistol is what it is all about. Most people think in terms of slow or fast, and it's difficult to learn to change up your speed based on the shot you're taking. Take the time you need to get the hits first, then write those times down. Then run the drill as fast as you can, in control, and write those times down. Don’t be afraid to miss over 50% of the shots. When you’ve completed those iterations, train to hit in the middle. Where are you losing time? Is it in the draw? Is it in the reload? Go back and isolate those components in your dryfire practice to build consistent draws and reloads. The speed will then start to become more consistent.