ArrDave Posted January 19, 2016 Share Posted January 19, 2016 I've started trying to sneak in some live fire practice over some lunch breaks at a local indoor range so I'm limited on what I can do (all stall shooting basically), but one thing I can do is stuff from the holster, provided I stay in my little stall. I tried shooting the dots for the first time. That's mighty humbling. Six 2" dots at 7 yards in 5 seconds par time from the holster. Holy crap! I suck! I didn't "pass" a single dot, let alone an entire sheet. Best I could do was 4/6 honestly trying to meet the par time. 5 seconds sounds like an eternity, but I ran over twice I think. All of my misses were generally really close, if the dots were 3" I would have done better, 3.5" probably a lot better. I'm only an EX in IDPA (can't shoot USPSA at present due to scheduling issues, or I would). Can you / have you cleared this drill? What's your "rank" in whatever discipline you shoot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
motosapiens Posted January 19, 2016 Share Posted January 19, 2016 if you could consistently put 6 in the dot in 5 seconds, you would be a GM, which is like president/emperor in idpa I think. I typically can get 4 or 5 in and 1 or 2 close (within a half inch) in just under 6 seconds. 1/3 of the time or so I get all 6 in in about that time. there are lots of different ideas on how to use this drill concept. some suggest sticking with the 5 seconds and just shooting as many as you can get in (might only be 1 or 2 or 3 at first). I usually do 1 dot where i shoot at a pace that I'm almost certain they'll all go in, typically 10 seconds or so, then do 1 where I just draw and shoot 2 shots in the circle 5 times, noting the time. Then a few where I try to shoot all 6 shots as fast as i can see my sights enough to get most of them in, and trying to watch the sights so i'll have an idea of how I did before i look at the target. Then i usually do 1 or 2 dots weak hand only from 5 yards, with no real time limit. I have made significant improvements in this area. I personally don't see much benefit in pushing the speed to the point where the sights aren't fully settled. What I'm trying to get from this drill is better grip and trigger control, and better sight awareness so that I can hit difficult targets when I need to, not so I can get most of my hits on difficult targets and pick up a couple mikes and no-shoots on the way. Which makes me think I should probably treat even the close misses as unsuccessful, now that I think about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aceinyerface Posted January 19, 2016 Share Posted January 19, 2016 My best is one out by a mm at 5 yds. On a good day I can clean most dots, but some days I have a complete trainwreck on every attempt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeRush Posted January 19, 2016 Share Posted January 19, 2016 I recently took a skills and drills class from Ben Stoeger- well worth the money by the way. We did Bill drills, and I was ripping 1.7x's and generally feeling hardcore. We then did dots, and I cleaned zero of them. Hurt my feelings. I've been dry firing it hard. I am going to work on cleaning it closer in live fire, and gradually work it back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArrDave Posted January 20, 2016 Author Share Posted January 20, 2016 We then did dots, and I cleaned zero of them. Hurt my feelings. I've been dry firing it hard. I am going to work on cleaning it closer in live fire, and gradually work it back. Yeah to say it was humbling is an understatement. I probably will drop it to 6 initially and see how I do and adjust time up to settle out on what a solid accurate pace is or needs to be, the work on improving. Dry firing dots might be good, I will give that a whirl. Sent from an iDevice. Please forgive any grammatical or spelling errors. If the post doesn't make sense or is not amusing then it is technology's fault and most certainly not operator error. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hi-Power Jack Posted January 20, 2016 Share Posted January 20, 2016 "Dots" are Great :bow: They really help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjdaniel78 Posted January 31, 2016 Share Posted January 31, 2016 (edited) Sometimes I run two strings. One at 3 yards, which is easy to shoot clean. Then I back it up to 7 and fail to clean it, but I'm getting better. Doing it at 3 yards helps identify any little issues, like a flinch or just general idiocracy on that day. It helps build confidence. I also like to use the Dot target to practice SHO and WHO, without the timer. Edited January 31, 2016 by cjdaniel78 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevinB Posted January 31, 2016 Share Posted January 31, 2016 Which target are you folks using for this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CZinSC Posted January 31, 2016 Share Posted January 31, 2016 Which target are you folks using for this? just make your own. I took a target, drew the circles equally spaced apart ( for me i used four rows of three ), then carefully cut the dots out. I say carefully, cuz you want them to be as round as you can...you know..dots! Now you have a template. Just hold that target over a fresh one, use black spray paint, viola, you have a fresh target with 12 dots on it. Only takes you seconds to make one and take to the range. I can use one a few times, just use some black and tan pasters before it gets too tore up. But then since you have the template, you can make a new one in seconds. Its amazing how going from 5 yards ( not so hard ) to 7 yards ( HARD! ) changes things on this drill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lucky #7 Posted January 31, 2016 Share Posted January 31, 2016 (edited) Which target are you folks using for this? Its amazing how going from 5 yards ( not so hard ) to 7 yards ( HARD! ) changes things on this drill I don't know what all the fuss is about. I can pretty much clear the dots at will... even at 150 yards... with my scoped varmint AR... from a bench rest... That counts right? Edited January 31, 2016 by lucky #7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gooldylocks Posted January 31, 2016 Share Posted January 31, 2016 What is a good distance for doing this with a dot gun? I tried it for the first time with my open gun the other day and didn't find it to be terrible difficult, I only dropped 2 out of the circles and the light was fading fast so I was rushing. Is 10 yards a better distance for an open gun? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lucky #7 Posted January 31, 2016 Share Posted January 31, 2016 What is a good distance for doing this with a dot gun? I tried it for the first time with my open gun the other day and didn't find it to be terrible difficult, I only dropped 2 out of the circles and the light was fading fast so I was rushing. Is 10 yards a better distance for an open gun? There isn't a good distance per se. As you "clear" the dots at a particular distance you move back another few yards. Dropping two is not clearing the dots so you have work to do at your current distance albeit not much work. This exercise is as much about patience and mental focus as it is about pure accuracy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jake Di Vita Posted January 31, 2016 Share Posted January 31, 2016 With a dot gun I would probably keep the distance the same and lower the par time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TDA Posted January 31, 2016 Share Posted January 31, 2016 Which target are you folks using for this? Here's one: http://pistol-training.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/dot-torture-target.pdf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yibomb Posted February 1, 2016 Share Posted February 1, 2016 yeah dots are hard at speed i had to just put away the timer and just try to get solid shots. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZachJ Posted February 1, 2016 Share Posted February 1, 2016 Which target are you folks using for this? http://www.benstoeger.com/index.php/gallery/23-second-category/90-the-dots Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zen_grasshopper Posted February 1, 2016 Share Posted February 1, 2016 (edited) Once at the end of last season I cleaned it at 7 yards and I haven't been able to clean it since. I usually drop one or two. I also tend to shoot a bit faster than I need to and finish at 4.3 to 4.5 seconds. Seems harder indoors due to lighting. Production A. Love the dots. Edited February 1, 2016 by zen_grasshopper Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gooldylocks Posted February 1, 2016 Share Posted February 1, 2016 With a dot gun I would probably keep the distance the same and lower the par time.I will try that next time, probably drop down to 4 seconds and see how it feels. I'm certain if I had taken the full 5 seconds per string and collected myself between strings I would have shot it clean. We just were running desperately out of light and I wanted to give it a try. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jake Di Vita Posted February 1, 2016 Share Posted February 1, 2016 (edited) A flat 20% off the top of a little excessive I think. Lower it by maybe a quarter second everytime you do it successfully. If you can't run 36/36 (6 clean runs in a row) on demand at 5 seconds, I wouldn't lower the par time until you can. Edited February 1, 2016 by Jake Di Vita Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gooldylocks Posted February 1, 2016 Share Posted February 1, 2016 A flat 20% off the top of a little excessive I think. Lower it by maybe a quarter second everytime you do it successfully. If you can't run 36/36 (6 clean runs in a row) on demand at 5 seconds, I wouldn't lower the par time until you can. I will give it a try next time I'm at the range and see what happens. At 5 seconds though it felt almost lazy, but I guess I did drop a couple. More work is in order I suppose. What are you shooting them Jake? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jake Di Vita Posted February 1, 2016 Share Posted February 1, 2016 I don't recall, it's been a long time. I'll get some numbers in the next couple months here when I start live firing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ecolyer325 Posted February 2, 2016 Share Posted February 2, 2016 I shot Dots the other day. I wasn't able to clear the dots but I did notice that almost all my shots were touching but they were all low. I have been training with a gun and new load for that gun, so I'm hoping that is the gun hitting low and I need to adjust the sight or the load a little. Otherwise Dots are a great test of a lot of different things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
racknrider Posted February 2, 2016 Share Posted February 2, 2016 Tried it today for the first time. With my SS 45, I went 5/6 on 4 dots, 6/6 on 1 dot, and 1/6 on the last dot. I averaged about 4.6 seconds. On the last dot the guy in the bay beside me cut loose and I lost focus. There might be something to this practice stuff. I think I'll try it a little this season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cwmax2000 Posted February 2, 2016 Share Posted February 2, 2016 Dot Torture is a great practice......I recommend you shoot it any way you want to......It is a great feeling as you see yourself improve each time you do it at each trip to the range...great for indoor ranges. It is also great for shooting that pistol that you don't shoot as well as some of your other pistols.... Cmax Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ultimo-Hombre Posted February 11, 2016 Share Posted February 11, 2016 Dot Torture is a great practice......I recommend you shoot it any way you want to......It is a great feeling as you see yourself improve each time you do it at each trip to the range...great for indoor ranges. It is also great for shooting that pistol that you don't shoot as well as some of your other pistols.... Cmax Dots and dot torture are two different drills amigo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now