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Dot Drill 101


38supPat

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O.k. Lets start fresh. The Dot Drill. Take an IPSC target and draw 9 ( or 10 ) circles about 2 1/2" to 3" in diameter.

in a pattern like this      

                         o

                      o  o  o

                      o  o  o

                      o  o  o

Set target at 7 yds

Drill goes like this

1- on the top circle fire a 6 shot group no time limit all shots must be in circle.( optional )

2- on the first row top left circle draw and fire 1 shot 6 times

3- on the first row top middle and top right circles draw and fire 1+1 one shot on each 6 times = 12 shots

3- on the second row middle and right circles draw and fire 2+2 3 times = 12 shots

4- on the bottom row middle and right circles draw and fire 2 shots on one reload and two shots on the other 3 times = 12 shots

5- on the second row left circle draw and fire 2 shots strong hand only 6 times = 12 shots

6- on the bottom row left circle draw, transfer, and fire 2 shots weak hand only 6 times = 12 shots

Only rule is ALL shots must be inside circle diameter.

Pat

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  • 1 month later...

Pat...

We have a specific target with these dots, except for the top dot.  It is an excellent target to work on your accuracy and often times we perform our warm-up on the target.

Forgot to mention, this drill is more affectionaly known as "Dot Torture".

Later,

(Edited by Jeff Gonzales at 6:56 am on June 11, 2001)

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The top dot is my own addition, it doesn't have to be done. The origional drill is done without it. I use it when teaching more to check the students gun for zero. So few shooters, especially with the matches we have nowadays (7 yds and closer) realize the value of zeroing their gun and checking/maintaining it. So I like for them to fire a group on it with no pressure on them. If they can't do it then the gun should be zeroed before starting drill.

Pat

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Yeah, I use those too. When I go to my indoor range I bring those and a roll of white tape. Then I poke around in the targets bin, find one that's full sized (usually human figure) and not too shot up, flip it around and tape up the back. Then lay the 10 dots in pink flouro. The faint silhouette that shows through the target paper is reminiscent of an IPSC target and the size is about right.

Works very well for me, and very inexpensive.

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  • 1 month later...

Pat had this same drill posted on the old forum.  

Bill N. raised a question about the time limit on another post.  Here is how Pat had it worded before:

"...the goal here is to have all shots inside the circles, no strays allowed.  There is no time limit on this drill.  Take all the time you need to hit the circles."

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  • 3 years later...

on mc_o's suggestion, i tried the dot "torture" drill this morning at a distance of 7 yards. i really had a tough time :wacko: drilling all holes on the 3" circles that i made. but since i was alone in the shooting bay, i was able to really take my time and closely observe my shot calling. and here are my observations:

1. i wasn't able to hit the mark when starting from DA (i'm using a cz 85b)

2. on some circles, i was able to drill at least 3 holes

3. observing where the sights are before my first shot and where they are after made me realized that i need to improve my grip, i had some really strong wobbles that i lost sight alignment on the 2nd shot so i had to realign

4. i really need to work on my weak hand :ph34r:

5. initially, i was trying to verify my hits each time i call the shot until i remembered focusing on my sights.

6. overall, i noticed that my eyes became more "trained" (or faster to acquire sight alignment?) to focus on my sights, maybe it has happened to me before but after the drill, as i recall my shots, all i can see on my mind's eye are my sights and their position relative to the target board.

to those who have tried it, did you experience any of the observations above? :)

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  • 6 years later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Todd Louis Green has a Dot Torture target on his website. A slightly different round count, but the same fundamental skills.

Print two (or more) copies on your printer. Tape one to your target and keep one at the firing line (instructions are printed for easy reference) on it. Then remind yourself: fundamentals are important. :cheers:

Dot Torture target

Edited by Golden Bear
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Is there another drill similar to the dot drill that could be used at more distance say 15 or 20meters. Or does a person try to speed up on the 7yd drill as a means to simulate greater distance?

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"...the goal here is to have all shots inside the circles, no strays allowed. There is no time limit on this drill. Take all the time you need to hit the circles."

If you are nailing it at 7y, I'd probably just move the target back (increase the distance)...incrementally.

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I am having trouble with the 2+2 portion of the drill where I seem to be pulling into the 7 to 9 o'clock position. I was thinking that possibly more distance might highlight / give some insights.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Tried this the other day.

I half expected this to be a drill that would - literally - focus on the dot. Slightly to my surprise I found that I could observe a lot of what was going on with my shooting.

I saw my mag changes, for instance, in great detail. I suck at changing mags, but while they were slow - or at least appeared so - they were all right and solid.

I felt, however, that I need to work with my support hand when getting back on the gun after mag change.

I could also distinctly feel my head coming far too low, making for a tense shooting stance.

All in all, I could observe a lot of stuff doing this, and it was quite the eye-opener! Having just done the Transition Drills the other day, it was really solid and constructive training.

.. okay, so the left hand shooting was a bit of a nightmare, but even here, I could feel that relaxing helps.

So, thanks for the tip!

Siphon

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Good stuff!

That's why it's important to do this with no time, just shoot and observe. When I'm doing this drill and I'm really on I usually surprise my self with how quickly I will trigger the shots, especially the two shot drills, when there is no plan to shoot fast but just acting on what I see. I'll end up with a pretty quick split and the shots nearly touching but I'm in a very open observation state of mind.

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Here is my target, not sure if this is good, or bad, Obviously all in, would be better. If this is bad, I am using the , its 36 degrees outside as an excuse.I guess if you are counting out any shots even touching the ring ( compleatly inside) I have 15 out.Shooting a limited gun A class. I would like to see more targets.

post-10856-048978300 1302021979_thumb.jp

post-10856-471302_thumb.jpg

Edited by waxman
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  • 2 weeks later...

Have been shooting this for several practice sessions, and I find it's starting to "backfire".

I'm a bit of a "thinker", sadly not in the "being intelligent" sense, but in the sense that I struggle with a lot of conscious thoughts when shooting these kind of relatively slow drills.

I have found that I now bring expectations and predictions on the number of hits into the shooting, instead of seeing what's going on. I get really annoyed when I draw a shot (or, more likely, eight or ten) out of the ring, thus spoiling my "perfect score".

Swearing and cursing ensue ( if I'm alone) and that's really not helpful.

It's a precarious balance; I do want to press myself, and certainly want to see progress, but on this particular drill I first and foremost want to see. Period.

I found, fortunately, that the Transition Drill 101 will "cure" much of this. A very visual drill, but - depending on your skill level - a quicker one. Worked like a charm yesterday.

I will return to the Dot Drill, however. I want to nail it, and clearly that will be an added bonus if and when it happens, but even more I want to keep seeing what the dot has to tell me.

(Switched to a really small dot, by the way. Thought I had a 10 MOA dot (C-more sight), but turned out it was a 2 moa. Ridiculously small, but now I keep with it for some reason. Will try and see if it necessarily affects speed on fast stages, or if it's just in my head. It certainly works on the Dot Drill when I'm on.)

Siphon

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  • 2 weeks later...

I have been shooting the Pistol_training.com website "Dot Torture" targets for a few months, my week hand shooting has improved for sure but everything needs some help, lol...... Todd Green explained to me that the test on his site is set at 50 shots, and a passing score is 50/50 in the circles, once you are able to complete this either shoot for time or move it further out.... to challange yourself. oh ya, I shoot it at three yards , and follow the shooting instructions, my best so far is 46/50,of course most are far worse. The "Pistol_training.com" targets use a 2" circle. there are a number of great training drills and printable targets on the Pistol_Training.com website.

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  • 1 year later...

I ran a version of the dot drill on the weekend using the brianenos.com stickers at 10m.I used a timer to start each draw, but really focused on getting hits not fast times. I only used 6 dots and shot 1 shot draws on top left, 2 shot draws on top right, draw 1+1 on the middle two and draw 2+2 on the bottom two. I got almost all my hits, dropping only 1 or two total out of all the dots.

Fwiw I glances at the timer each run, but really tried to avoid making the times my focus, and I was running 1.45 to 1.65 on most draws.

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