Drills are important tools for developing our skills as a shooter: they help build fundamentals, expose mistakes, and measure our current levels of competency. And, they’re just a lot of fun to shoot. Given the immense number of drills available, I thought I would do a series of posts discussing some of my favorite drills, either ones that I use now or ones that were helpful to me when I started defensive shooting and concealed carry.
Let’s start with one of the most deceptive drills around: the 5×5.
The 5×5
By: Gila Hayes (amended by Claude Werner)
Target: 5-inch circle
Distance: 5 yards
Rounds needed: 25
From the 5-yard line, starting from the low-ready (pistol pointed at the ground under the target), fire 5 rounds at a 5-inch circle in 5 seconds. Repeat four more times, for a total of five sets. To “pass,” the drill has to be shot clean (no misses, no shots over time).
The Details
The 5×5 is a simple drill, so much so that if you’ve been shooting pistols for a little bit, you may think it’s too simple, but don’t judge too quickly. This drill can highlight the difference between simple and easy. Granted, once you’ve developed your fundamentals, this is not the hardest drill to pass, but even then, it can still sneak up and humble you if you’re not paying attention. A 5-inch circle from 5 yards is not all that difficult a shot; 5 rounds in 5 seconds is not shooting all that quickly. But putting it all together for 25 total rounds without any slips requires consistent focus.
The 5×5 emphasizes an important point: we’re not concerned about demonstrating a skill one time; we want to develop our skills so we can consistently execute our shooting tasks over and over. I also like the fact that the drill must be shot with zero misses to pass. As self-defenders, we are responsible for every single round we fire. There are no misses in the real world, only unintended hits. Every round hits something.
The simplicity of the 5-inch target is also a helpful component of the drill. Anyone can draw a 5-inch circle on a piece of paper, or targets can be printed on standard letter-sized paper. Plus, a 5-inch circle is close to the size of anatomically significant targets, like the human heart. One final advantage: by only using 5 rounds at a time, the drill will work not only with practically any semi-auto, but basically any revolver as well.
Variations
Once you can consistently pass the 5×5, there are all kinds of ways you can adjust the drill to keep learning from it. The first step I recommend is to start from the holster instead of from the low-ready. If you’ve never done holster work before, start slow and, as always, focus on safety. You probably also want to start without any concealment over the holster. Then, as you get comfortable drawing from an open holster, you can start drawing from concealment.
Other changes include decreasing the par time or the target size, and increasing the distance to the target. Shooting the 5×5 at 10 yards, from concealment, clean, across 5 sets, is no easy task.
Conclusion
Gila Hayes and Claude Werner both suggest that if you can’t shoot the 5×5 clean, you’re either not yet ready skills-wise to carry a pistol, or the pistol you’re using is not well-suited to you. I would also say that passing the 5×5 doesn’t indicate you’ve reached the level of skill desired to be able to defend yourself; rather, it indicates you’ve got a decent foundation upon which you can start building additional skill. Passing the 5×5 might be compared to graduating from elementary school: it’s absolutely an accomplishment that every “young” shooter should be proud of, but it’s much closer to the start of your development than the end.
Go out and give the 5×5 a try. You may pass it with ease, or you may find it’s a struggle just getting shots on paper. If the former, try one of the variations discussed above until it’s not so easy; if the latter, don’t be discouraged; drills are tools that help us find our flaws. Ask yourself: what’s going wrong, what could be the cause, and what can I do to address it? And of course, if you need some help getting things lined out, reach out to me, and we can set up a time to get you on track.
Train consistently.
