October Drill: 5x5 by Gila Hayes.
Distance: 5 yards
Rounds: 5
Par time: 5 seconds
Target: a 5" circle.
Printable target PDF here:
http://loungecdn.luckygunner.com/lounge/media/5x5-drill.pdf Alternatively, a CD is 4.7" in diameter. Trace that on a target. The black center of a B-8 target is 5.5", so that could work too. Long story short, if you can't print off the target there are ways to get close enough for government work. I won't get mad if you have homemade targets.
If you don't have a shot timer, a phone timer with an alarm set for 6 or 7 seconds (or whatever additional time you need to get your phone down and in a ready position after starting the timer) would work okay for this drill.
Starting position for the drill is dependent on your experience level and range rules. If you cannot or are not comfortable drawing from a holster, start in the low ready position (hands on gun, gun lowered and not already lined up on the target). If you can and want to, start with a holstered gun, open or concealed.
Ideally, you want to shoot this drill 5 times as well. Partially because apparently everything has to be 5 with this drill, but mostly because what this drill is testing is our ability to consistently put rounds downrange in a semi accurate manner in a limited amount of time. You might get lucky once, but doing it 5 times in a row requires good trigger and recoil control.
I was hoping to have already shot this one and have a demo results post to share, but I haven't had time to shoot it yet. I'll be shooting it on Thursday and add my results then. You have until Oct 31st to shoot it, take a pic, post it and share your experience. I'll draw for the gift card Nov 1st and post a new drill. Hope everyone has fun (and as always, be safe)!
ETA November Drill:
November Drill: Fail this drill by Bender
Distance: Pick your poison
Rounds: 10
Par time: None (at first)
Target: Standard letter paper (8.5"x11")
I want to do something this month that almost no one practices enough: one handed shooting. No par times, no set distance. Just working on sight alignment and trigger pull one handed. Pick a distance you think you can go 10 for 10 unsupported one hand only, and try it. Any hits outside the 8.5"x11" paper=failed drill.
For some perspective, there is still a centerfire handgun bullseye sport like this. Their 10 ring in that competition (shot at 25 meters) is under 2", so an 8x5"x11" target is very generous.
Now here's where the drill name and the idea for this month comes from: Don't just shoot this once at 5 yards, pat yourself on the back and move on. Push yourself to failure. Find your failure point. Document it, work on one hand shooting occasionally moving forward and now you have a metric to measure progress against.
My recommended leveling up challenge: Push distance first. Once you can clear the letter paper at 25 yards, try it again with the 5" target from last month. Or try it with your non dominant hand instead. Or put a 30 second par time on it. Or a combination if that's what it takes.
Unless you can go 10 for 10 on a 5" target with your weak hand with a 30 second par time at 25 yards, you should be able to find a way to fail this drill. If you can do that, well...holy crap! You're awesome.