Look for Disconfirming Evidence: How to Measure Real Pistol Shooting Performance

If you’re using words like “I think,” “I believe,” or “I’m probably” when talking about your pistol shooting performance, you’re talking about opinion. Without quantitative evidence — personal range data — it’s not objective reality. It’s just a personal judgment. Or, to put it more bluntly, it’s fantasy.

Because I carry concealed, I want to be able to reliably predict my performance in real life. I want a demonstrable, verifiable level of proficiency that’s evidence-based. How I feel or think I’ll perform — untested — has no basis in reality. In order to predict my performance, I must measure my skills using benchmarks or recognized standards. And it’s only then, after I establish benchmarks for my own personal performance, that I have a reference point from which I can gauge my progress, identify skill gaps, and set goals. “You can’t change what you don’t measure.”

Test and Test Again

To get a realistic view of my skill set, I want to test and challenge my beliefs about my performance and training by running “tests.” For me, that’s:

• Running qualifications or timed shooting drills from credible sources
• Competing in practical shooting matches
• Training with instructors who offer a POV that might contradict my current beliefs

If selecting a qual or timed drill, choose different degrees of difficulty and complexity to test your fundamentals. Look at the results objectively. The target isn’t judging your performance. The goal is to get an objective assessment of your skill set in a point in time, giving you that reference point from which you can measure yourself against recognized standards, identify areas for improvement, and then track progress.

If you make the times and get the hits in a qual or drill, celebrate your success but don’t stop there. These are benchmarks but not the end of the training journey. When you don’t know what the fight might look like, “good enough” may not be enough. Keep pushing the envelope on speed and accuracy.

Five-Yard Roundup

Today I worked on the Justin Dyal Five-Yard Roundup. In his words, it’s a drill that tests your ability to get “solid hits under realistic time pressure at relatively close range.” It’s a quick, low round count drill that assesses key concealed carry skills, like draw stroke, grip, vision and single hand shooting. All at close range where you are more likely to actually engage in a real life defensive encounter. The drill is 10 rounds run on a B8 at 5 yards. There are 4 strings: one round from the holster, 4 rounds from the ready, 3 rounds from the ready with strong hand, 2 rounds from the ready with support hand. You have 2.5 seconds to complete each string and want all your hits in the black. Because it’s close range, it’s a great drill to test your vision and your ability to focus on the target and react to your sights more efficiently, rather than slowing down and over-confirming. At five yards you can go fast with full accountability. If you carry, this is an achievable benchmark for defensive purposes.

Assessing results

My biggest takeaway today was I still need to put in more work on my strong and support hand shooting with a focus on building a better platform and maintaining a more solid grip so I can get the gun to return more consistently. Second, at close range I don’t need a stopped, stable dot or even a bouncing dot. I just need to see a slash of red to give me what I need to shoot sooner. Ideally, I want to get my times down to 1.5 seconds for the draw and free style strings. Why? Based on research, the fight may be over in just three seconds.

Incorporate tests into your regular practice

I like to select a different qual each range practice day and run it cold. This gives me a realistic assessment of my fundamentals and on-demand performance. I know how my performance stacks up and what gaps I need to fill — based on reality.

Unfortunately, someone with low skill or a newer shooter probably doesn’t have enough knowledge or experience to accurately judge or assess his or her own performance. Making it that much more important to look for evidence that disconfirms beliefs or to train with a vetted instructor who can observe and provide valuable feedback that will inform your practice.