5 + 1 Drill
#fridayfundamentals
Last night’s IDPA match at Johns Creek Indoor Gun Range concluded with a Standards stage. It was a simple drill that we can call 5+1. Some variation of this drill is the last stage of every match there. It began loaded with five rounds and an available reload of at least two rounds. Since I was shooting my Model 65 revolver, I used a full speedloader for the reload. A single IDPA target was placed at 7 yards.
The drill was to: draw and fire four shots to the body, one shot to the head, reload, and fire one more shot to the head.
The drill is timed and scored. Although it seems simple on the surface, it includes a number of marksmanship components.
- Draw to a good first shot
- Three splits (successive shots to the same target, in this case the eight inch – 0 zone of the body)
- A transition (shot to a different target, in this case the four inch – 0 zone of the head)
- A reload
- One shot to a precision target (in this case the four inch – 0 zone of the head)
- Follow through on the last shot
It also requires the shooter to remember the drill while being timed. This may seem straightforward but every match several shooters make some kind of Procedural Error, such as shooting too many shots, forgetting where the shots are supposed to go, or riding the slide stop so the slide doesn’t lock back. Not having the slide lock back doesn’t incur a Procedural Penalty but if you look at the gun for a bit before initiating the reload, there’s additional time on your score.
For many shooters, the trip ups come at three places; the first shot, the shot after the reload, and following through on the last shot. Missing the first shot is the single most common marksmanship error. Missing the first shot after a stoppage clearance, e.g., a reload, is the second most missed shot. Not following through after the last shot is the source of many dropped shots.
Those two shots, first and first after a reload, require the shooter to ‘Shoot better,’ as Bill Rogers https://rogersshootingschool.com/ says it. It’s easy to let the trigger finger get ahead of the sights but that’s a mistake. In 1893, Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th President of the United States, wrote in his book The Wilderness Hunter:
“No possible rapidity of fire can atone for habitual carelessness of aim with the first shot.”
Some concepts are timeless, regardless of what gun you’re shooting or what sighting system it has on it.
Ill-Annoy Practice Session and Tune-up
#wheelgunwednesday
I’m going to shoot my Model 65 tomorrow at an indoor IDPA match, so I did a little practice and tune-up yesterday. The Ill-Annoy Concealed Carry License Qualification is a nice little tune-up vehicle. Good thing I did because the locally procured reloaded ammunition didn’t perform 100%. Remington UMC 130 gr ball is 100%. Testing one’s equipment is always a good idea.
If you would like to read more in-depth articles about self-defense and personal protection, please consider subscribing to my Patreon page.
Silhouette Torture
#22Tuesday
Decades ago, David Blinder created a 50 round drill for focused practice loosely based on Dot Drill 101 from the Brian Enos Forum. The late Todd Louis Green, who founded pistol-training.com, expanded on it, and codified it into a practice session containing most relevant defensive pistol marksmanship skills. He called it Dot Torture and put it up on the pistol-training forum.
ETA comment from Simon Golub of Pistol-Training
Dot Torture came to us as is. We simply photocopied the target and Todd liked it a lot, giving Blinder the correct credit on the target. –Simon
ETA 2 from the source, David Blinder, himself
I got shooting dots from John Shaw at Mid-South which I believe he got from IPSC. I am also the one who named it dot torture. Todd did some modifications and definitely popularized it.
I’ve made my own version of it using the target employed for the Swiss Concealed Carry License live fire test. Today was an opportunity to shoot it with my LCP II .22. It was fun. A .22 understudy for your carry pistol is a concept that can be very useful. Shooting .22s is inexpensive and has some benefits that centerfires don’t have, minimal recoil and Over Pressure Event being the principal ones.
The demanding nature of the target requires the shooter to know the zero of their pistol very well at whatever distance is being used. In the case of the LCP .22, at three yards the hold was about halfway up on the white circle in the chest of the silhouette.
I recently mounted a Ruger ReadyDot on my Taurus TX22 Compact. https://thetacticalprofessor.net/2026/08/03/readydot-on-tx22-compact/ It zeroes quite well at both 10 and 20 yards.
Although I started to shoot Silhouette Torture with it today, rain set in and I wasn’t able to finish. I was able to shoot it enough to learn that the hold at five yards was on the head. The 15 MOA dot completely covers the head at that distance but it’s not hard to hold. Knowing your pistol’s zero at different ranges, whether using iron or Dot sights is useful.
The Silhouette Torture target is attached. Its instructions are on the 2nd page of the 2 page PDF.
My Red Dot Adventure series is available on my Patreon page for those who are interested in exploring what Dot Sights can and cannot do.
ReadyDot on TX22 Compact
#mousegunmonday
As an experiment, I installed a Ruger ReadyDot on a Taurus TX22 Compact. The efficacy of this combination was surprising. Although the ReadyDot’s zero cannot be adjusted, Point of Impact was really close to Point of Aim at both 20 and 10 yards.
Body shots at 20 yards from a benchrest and headshots at 10 yards offhand were the test for zero used. No complaints whatsoever.
At 20 yards, the dot perfectly covers the four inch circle on the body of the target. For me, this made it very easy to aim without over-aiming. At 10 yards, it is slightly smaller than the head circle. Once again, I found this advantageous. This intrigued me so I shot the IDPA 5X5 Classifier. I didn’t time it but still shot at my normal cadence. Two Points Down.
I’ve created a drill I call the McGee, Shootist, Big Iron Challenge. It is a combination of the McGee Paradigm (3/3/3), Wild Bill Hickok’s shootist test from the American Mercury article about him, and Marty Robbins’ song Big Iron. The Challenge tests marksmanship at three separate distances; 3 yards, 8 yards Primary Hand Only, and 13 yards. It is 18 rounds total, six shots at each distance. In terms of proxemics https://thetacticalprofessor.net/2014/10/16/situational-awareness-and-positioning-part-iii/, marksmanship in the far phase of Social Space, and the near and far phases of Public Space are assessed.
McGee’s Challenge consists of three strings at three yards. One shot from the holster, two shots from the MidPoint, and three shots from Low Ready. The time limit for each string is three seconds. The standard is all six shots in the USPSA Metric target A zone in the head (2 inches x 4 inches).
The Shootist’s Challenge https://thetacticalprofessor.net/2024/08/02/gunfighter-challenge/ comes from the standard Wild Bill Hickok used in the Old West to see if a shooter was ‘good.’
The Big Iron Challenge was inspired by Marty Robbins’ song Big Iron.
“There was 40 feet between them when they stopped to make their play.”
The Big Iron Challenge consists of six shots at 40 feet/13 yards. It’s shot with Two Hands, Untimed. The standard is all six shots must hit in an eight circle, the IDPA -0 body zone.
The TX22/ReadyDot performed well on the Challenge. I’m very pleased with this combination of gun and dot.
Last Thursday, I shot an IDPA match that had a Pick Up Gun theme. I provided the TX22 Compact with the iron sights for one stage. Fifteen shooters fired six rounds each without any malfunctions. The match combined with the ReadyDot test totaled 143 rounds with no malfunctions. MiniMag solids were the ammunition used. This confirms my experience that the TX22 is a very reliable gun when fed decent ammo.
FTC Note and author disclosure: I purchased everything used in these experiments; gun, holster, ammunition, sight, and targets, with my own money. I receive no compensation whatsoever for anything mentioned.
More of my Red Dot Adventures are chronicled on my Patreon page. For those who are considering putting a Red Dot Sight on their pistols, I’m exploring my testing criteria and outcomes, both yea and nay.
Defense of a Third Party – Double Trouble
“What’s the difference between truth and fiction? Fiction has to make sense.” Variously attributed to Mark Twain, Tom Clancy, and other notable authors of fiction.
A recent incident was summarized in a news release by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation because it involved a GBI Agent’s interaction with an Armed Citizen. It is an example of why I don’t bother making up ‘Worst Possible Cases.’ I just follow the news. I’m not clever enough to dream up something as weird as this.
Incident Summary
While driving with his daughter, a man was blocked in by an unhinged driver. The attacker exited his vehicle and approached the victim. The victim put a revolver in his pocket and got out of his vehicle. A fight ensued and the attacker got control of the victim’s revolver. The victim regained control of the revolver and shot the attacker.
A Georgia Bureau of Investigation Agent passing by saw the confrontation. Upon seeing the victim shoot the attacker, the GBI Agent opened fire on the victim. Fortunately, no hits were scored. The victim dropped his revolver and complied with the Agent’s commands.
The attacker drove off. He went to an adjacent county and called for medical assistance. After being treated, he was arrested and charged with multiple felonies.
This incident contains at least three, possibly all four, elements of the Avoid, Escape, Confront, Resist paradigm. https://thetacticalprofessor.net/2016/07/24/the-cost-of-killing/ The underlying causes of all this weirdness have not yet been revealed.
A few of the elements involved in the incident for consideration
- Road rage
- Perils of Intervention
- Don’t Go Outside
- Car carry
- Entangled fight
- Defense of 3d party
- Mistaken identity shooting
This incident is worthy of an entire series on my Patreon page.
https://www.patreon.com/posts/complicated-of-i-156362758
Principles of Personal Defense
The Jeff Cooper Legacy Foundation https://jeffcooperfoundation.org/ has made available, as a free PDF download, Jeff Cooper’s short book, Principles of Personal Defense https://jeffcooperfoundation.org/?page_id=1546 The download link is at the bottom of the page.
You now have no excuse for not reading it. It is a short book and well worth an hour or so of your time.
Many thanks to Greg Moats for the heads-up.
Defense of a Third Person Incident
Two years ago today, an Atlanta mother shot her daughter’s ex-boyfriend when he showed up at their home, threatened them, and fired a pistol in the air.
https://www.goodguywithagun.online/p/good-guy-with-a-gun-120-atlanta-ga
Often, Defensive Gun Uses can be described as ‘Defense of a Third Person/Party,’ rather than Defense of Self, per se. That’s why I generally use the term ‘Personal Protection’ rather than ‘Self Defense.’
“A person is justified in threatening or using force against another when and to the extent that he or she reasonably believes that such threat or force is necessary to defend himself or herself or a third person [emphasis mine] against such other’s imminent use of unlawful force”
–Official Code of Georgia Annotated Section 16-3-21 https://law.justia.com/codes/georgia/title-16/chapter-3/article-2/section-16-3-21/
Defenders need to be aware of the fact that innocent parties may be downrange in addition to the assailant. Whether that was the case in this incident is unclear but it is a possibility. Defense of a third person by an armed citizen often does not involve the classic hostage rescue shot.
Nonetheless, when others are downrange, spraying and praying isn’t a good tactic. This was a counter-point article I wrote about the subject years ago.
Being a successful defender doesn’t mean you have to be a Delta Force sniper but you do need to know where your bullets are likely to go. Meghan Brown’s incident is a good example of having patience and making a good decision.
If you would like to read more in-depth information about shooting and personal protection, consider subscribing to my Patreon page.
He Saved My Life!
#mousegunmonday #win
The victim of the robbery wouldn’t go on camera but said, “He saved my life!” Customer’s mousegun comes to the rescue. The surveillance video of this incident shows a customer in a Michigan convenience store react to an armed robbery of the store clerk.
The customer draws a pocket carried, probably laser equipped, mousegun from his pocket, activate the laser, and fire seven shots in three volleys at the robber. His initial volley of three shots is taken at the closer end of the Near Phase of Public Space, probably about 12-15 feet. He made at least three hits for the seven shots; a minimum of a 43% hit rate. The firing solution required him to shoot past the clerk who is downrange and in close proximity to the robber. He was able to do this despite shooting with his Primary Hand Only.
The robber was neutralized by the customer’s bullets and the clerk was unharmed. #WIN It wasn’t a 25 yard headshot but it was beyond “arm’s length.”
Legal post-mortem: The District Attorney ruled that the shooting was Justified as a Defense of Another Individual.
SELF-DEFENSE ACT (EXCERPT)
Act 309 of 2006
780.972 Use of deadly force by individual not engaged in commission of crime; conditions.
Sec. 2.
(1) An individual who has not or is not engaged in the commission of a crime at the time he or she uses deadly force may use deadly force against another individual anywhere he or she has the legal right to be with no duty to retreat if either of the following applies:
(a) The individual honestly and reasonably believes that the use of deadly force is necessary to prevent the imminent death of or imminent great bodily harm to himself or herself or to another individual.
Note that some common taters to the video were outraged that charges would even be considered. In any use of deadly force against someone, a decision will have to be made about the legality of the use of force. The news story was published three weeks after the shooting and the decision had not yet been made, pending the completion of the POlice investigation. Anyone who shoots at someone else for any reason is going to have a period of sweating it out waiting for the decision about prosecution. Be ready for that.
The robber was arraigned for three charges including armed robbery. He could face up to life imprisonment because he’s a three-time loser.
I’ll do a more in-depth analysis of this incident on the Incidents and Walkbacks Tier of my Patreon page in a day or two.
Shooting To Live for the 21st Century – Session 2
Shooting Practice for a Criminal Encounter
#fridayfundamentals a little late
I think of my year long series about practicing on Shooting Illustrated as an update to Shooting To Live. Fairbairn and Sykes didn’t talk about followon training and practice at all. This is understandable given their time and resource constraints but won’t lead to as good results as periodic practice will.
This is the February 2024 article. https://www.shootingillustrated.com/content/shooting-practice-for-a-criminal-encounter/ It’s unclear how long the Shooting Illustrated website will be up since the publication was discontinued, so here’s a reprint of the entire article.
The second installment of this series will use the Louisiana Concealed Handgun Permit Qualification Course as the basis for structuring a Live Fire Practice Session. The Louisiana Course itself is fairly simple, as most CCW Qual Courses are. Some variations are included in this article to increase the Course’s value as practice for self-defense and personal protection.
The basic Louisiana requirements are to shoot a live range fire session of a minimum of 12 rounds each at 6 feet, 10 feet, and 15 feet for a total of 36 rounds. The shooter must complete at least one safe reload of the handgun at each distance. The target is the NRA B-27 and the shooter must score 100 percent hits within the silhouette portion. Having a 100 percent standard is what makes the Louisiana Course a little different from most States’ qualification courses. Typically, other States require a 70 to 80 percent hit standard.
The Louisiana Concealed Handgun Permit Laws And Administrative Rules are available at https://www.lsp.org/media/e04occ5m/chrulebook.pdf .
To use the Course as practice for self-defense, include some variations that go beyond the bare minimum requirements. The B-27 target is extremely large. To make it more challenging, accept only hits inside the 8 ring. An even more difficult variation would be to use a sheet of paper on the B-27 target as your acceptable hit zone.
Additional variations are to break the 12 shots into shorter strings and include some one-hand shooting during the six feet phase. Hold something in your non-dominant hand to simulate a situation in which you are carrying something valuable and have to shoot with one hand only.
Six feet Phase
- Load with 6 rounds
- Two hand shooting
- Come to Low Ready. Any time you come to Low Ready, the pistol should point completely below the target.
- String 1 – Fire 1 shot. Return to Low Ready.
- String 2 – Fire 2 shots. Return to Low Ready.
- String 3 – Fire 3 shots.
- Check the hits on your target and cover your hits with masking tape.
Checking your hits regularly and then covering them with masking tape or pasters is a crucial part of marksmanship development. A target should have no more than 12 unmarked hits at a time.
Shooters often blast an entire box of ammunition at the target without checking and then marking it consistently. This is one of the worst mistakes that can be made when practicing for marksmanship development and self-defense.
Best practice is to check and mark your target after every string. When shooting this practice session, check and mark the target after every six shots.
- Reload with 7 rounds
- Primary hand shooting
- Place the pistol in the Primary Hand only. This is the hand you write with. Hold something like a briefcase or range bag in your other hand. Come to Low Ready.
- String 1 – Fire 1 shot. Return to Low Ready.
- String 2 – Fire 2 shots. Return to Low Ready.
- String 3 – Fire 3 shots.
- Unload
- Remove the magazine.
- Work the slide at least 3 times.
- Visually and physically check that the pistol is clear of all ammunition.
- Check the hits on your target and cover your hits with masking tape.
Ten feet Phase
At this distance, continue shooting shorter strings and include a malfunction clearance practice.
- Load with 6 rounds
- Begin at Low Ready
- String 1 – Fire 1 shot. Return to Low Ready.
- String 2 – Fire 2 shots. Return to Low Ready.
- String 3 – 3 shots.
- Check the hits on your target and cover your hits with masking tape.
- Remove the empty magazine.
- Let the slide go forward but do not press the trigger. Leave the pistol cocked.
- Reload with 7 rounds
- Begin at the MidPoint of the Drawstroke. At the MidPoint, the pistol is at chest level, the line of the sights is underneath the dominant eye, and the bore is parallel to the ground.
- String 4 – Aim at the target.
- Press the trigger to get a click. Work the slide to put a round in the chamber. This simulates either Empty Chamber Carry or having a malfunction. At the click, notice if the sights bounce around when encountering the empty chamber. If they do, it’s a sign of flinching.
- Fire 1 shot.
- Return to the MidPoint.
- String 5 – Fire 2 shots. Return to the MidPoint.
- String 6 – Fire 3 shots.
- Unload
- Remove the magazine.
- Work the slide at least 3 times.
- Visually and physically check that the pistol is clear of all ammunition.
- Check the hits on your target and cover your hits with masking tape.
Fifteen feet Phase
- Load with 6 rounds
- Begin at Low Ready
- String 1 – Fire 1 shot. Return to Low Ready.
- String 2 – Fire 2 shots. Return to Low Ready.
- String 3 – 3 shots.
- Check the hits on your target and cover your hits with masking tape.
- Remove the empty magazine
- Let the slide go forward but do not press the trigger. Leave the pistol cocked.
- Reload with 7 rounds
- Begin at the MidPoint of the Drawstroke.
- String 4 – Aim at the target.
- Press the trigger to get a click. Clear the malfunction just as you did at 10 feet.
- Fire 1 shot.
- Return to the MidPoint.
- String 5 – Fire 2 shots. Return to the MidPoint.
- String 6 – Fire 3 shots.
- Unload
- Remove the magazine.
- Work the slide at least 3 times.
- Visually and physically check that the pistol is clear of all ammunition.
- Check the hits on your target and cover your hits with masking tape.
Additional Practice
At 10 feet
- Load with 6 rounds
- Aim at a specific spot on the target
- Shoot the smallest group you can at the spot.
- Unload and check that the pistol is clear.
- Check the hits on your target and cover your hits with masking tape.
At 15 feet
- Load with 6 rounds
- Aim at a specific spot on the target
- Shoot the smallest group you can at the spot.
- Unload and check that the pistol is clear.
- Check the hits on your target.
Total – 48 rounds for the session.
In this session, you will have fired almost a box of ammunition and included several additional tasks relevant to self-defense. Firing short strings of fire and marking your target regularly will accelerate your marksmanship development. The MidPoint starting position is acceptable at ranges that do not permit drawing from a holster but starting from the MidPoint builds the skill of acquiring the sights as early as possible in the drawstroke. Beginning the strings from different positions and practicing clearing malfunctions are important self-defense skills that go beyond basic marksmanship. You will also have practiced unloading your pistol with a round in the chamber and ensuring that it is clear. The one sheet pump target is available at https://thetacticalprofessor.net/ . The sheet has the image of a gun on it, so no one can say you’re practicing to shoot unarmed people.
Underestimating Your Opponent
A picture is circulating on Facebook that many people are mocking because the only AR platform rifles they know are in caliber 5.56mm. The picture is of two youths in Minneapolis sitting on a car. One of them is holding a rifle. He’s muzzling his friend but that’s for another time.
“What do you notice about his magazine?”
What I noticed about his magazine is that it’s an M&P 15-22 .22 rifle with a partially loaded magazine. This fact seems to escape some ‘cognoscenti’ who aren’t as cognizant as they think. The follower isn’t all the way down but it’s not obscured by the magazine well either. There are definitely some ammos in it. It might be a magazine blocked to 10 rounds.
Within their performance envelope, which covers many urban situations, .22 rifles are incredibly lethal. One of my colleagues calls them ‘three step guns.’ After being shot with one, the shootee takes three steps and falls down dead as a hammer. Underestimating their lethality is a grave mistake. I have many incidents in my database of people killed by a single round to the chest from a .22 rifle.
“There is no greater danger than underestimating your opponent.”
― Lao Tzu
If you would like to read more in-depth information about shooting and personal protection, including making good decisions, consider subscribing to my Patreon page.
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