Frank Garcia Dot Drill — Skills Drill

For many shooters, myself included, the hardest thing to master with a handgun is combining speed with accuracy. That’s what this drill works on.

Gear

Gun capable of holding at least six rounds, two-inch circles or dots, shot timer.

Drill

The target consists of six two-inch circles or dots, engaged at seven yards. You can print out circles on a piece of paper and make a bunch of copies, or you can buy two-inch inventory control stickers and stick them on sheets of paper. Staple to a cardboard backer.

Set the shot timer par time to five seconds. With arms at sides, or from Low Ready if necessary, draw and fire six shots at each dot. Count up your hits. If the bullet hole touches the dot or circle, it’s a hit. Rounds fired after the time limit are misses.

Goals

This is not an easy drill. Starting out I found it best to begin with a warm-up. Shoot the first dot untimed. If nothing else this will tell you where your gun is shooting with that ammo at seven yards, which is crucial for success. Shoot the next two dots at progressively faster par times. I used nine and seven seconds. Then put up the full six dots and go for the five-second par time. This is a great drill for tracking your progress, so don’t neglect to record your first full run as a baseline.