Fast Drill

Grizzly

Regular Member
Good stuff. Sadly I didn't get under 5 seconds but I blame shooting into the sun or leprechauns or something.

Some of you may recognize the setting for the drills.
IMG_2174.jpg
 

jbull

Newbie
Went out on Sunday, best weather I've seen in a while.
G26, AIWB. Reload was a GL9. Concealment was a standard button up shirt.

7.19 (2.27 draw, 2.95 reload)
6.7 FAIL (Dropped a shot off the index card)
6.43 (2.05 Draw, 2.76 reload)
6.24 (2.24 Draw, 2.53 reload)
 

Brandon_T.

Regular Member
...and here's just the 8-inch circle for those who can only print 8.5x11. (I recently made this before seeing that you/Jackrabbit made the 11x15, but since I did, I figure I'll upload my circle-only here so people don't have to spend time chopping up yours.)
 

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MojoNixon

Established
I haven’t done this drill in quite some time. I’m about 6.25 to .6.50 on a good day. Considering I’m right handed and essentially have no feeling in my left hand as a result of my 2 strokes I’ll take 6.25 and keep on trying. Reloads can be a bit difficult. Bourneshooter had seen me do a 6.50 a few years back.
 

Brandon_T.

Regular Member
I haven’t done this drill in quite some time. I’m about 6.25 to .6.50 on a good day. Considering I’m right handed and essentially have no feeling in my left hand as a result of my 2 strokes I’ll take 6.25 and keep on trying. Reloads can be a bit difficult. Bourneshooter had seen me do a 6.50 a few years back.
You're heads and tails above me; I can draw and get 2 of the head shots in about 2 seconds, but once I get to the reload-plus-first-shot I easily fumble for 3 to 4 seconds, let alone anything after that: I still don't know how to do a quick reload from a weak-side AIWB mag holster without it taking way longer than can feasibly be done to make FAST times, hence why I am awaiting Jedi's upcoming videos...
 

chasnojm

Regular Member
Just my opinion, but I read somewhere (Pistol-forums) that the FAST/est was meant to be an self/evaluation of skills, but not something you were to train to execute. In light of the recent rise in popularity of LTT and the phenomenal LTT Elite (I'm a proud owner/user), it seems like there's been a surge of dudes on "the gram" showing off their sub 5 second runs. No telling how many of them spent hours burning down runs of this to achieve two in a row. This to me is a akin to the Paper GM's that practice the classifiers to achieve a particular classification.

There are plenty of dudes far smarter and far better shooters than I.

My use of this TEST is to do it cold first thing at the beginning and end of my range/training. Two iterations, no do overs, no practice draws/practice reloads/dry fires. I use this as one metric of my capabilities and to see if I'm atrophying or improving at the end of the day (given the amount of training etc).
 

MojoNixon

Established
Cold at the beginning and as a cool down drill at the end of your session is the way to go and as you say, no mulligans (do overs, for you non golfers).
 
I had done zero FAST specific training and was able to pull off consistent 4.2-4.5 runs last week. Would like to get a little better consistency on the reload from concealment but the skills themselves are pretty straightforward and the timeframe is pretty generous when you break down the drill into its components. 1.5 draw to headbox with a .3-.4 split is more than quick enough, a two second reload is a very doable standard and then four shots at .2-.25 splits. Shaving time off the draw and reload gets you mid 4 pretty quickly.
 
Just my opinion, but I read somewhere (Pistol-forums) that the FAST/est was meant to be an self/evaluation of skills, but not something you were to train to execute.

I had heard this too, and I agree for different reasons. More on this in a minute.

This to me is a akin to the Paper GM's that practice the classifiers to achieve a particular classification.

I don't think this actually happens. No matter how much you practice classifiers, there's no way you can consistently shoot 95%+ without legitimately having top-tier stand-and-shoot skills. I think so-called "paper GMs" are a result of either a) people who *only* practice stand-and-shoot skills and neglect movement & stage planning, or b) people whose clubs let people re-shoot classifiers so they keep playing 'til they win.

The reason I feel that the FAST Test is a poor drill is because there's too much going on. You've got a draw from concealment to a smaller target, a split on the smaller target, a concealed slide-lock reload, then 4 quick shots to a -0 at 7 yards. That's so many individual skills that I don't think you'll get any better at each one if all you do is practice them all together.
 

chasnojm

Regular Member
I had heard this too, and I agree for different reasons. More on this in a minute.
I don't think this actually happens. No matter how much you practice classifiers, there's no way you can consistently shoot 95%+ without legitimately having top-tier stand-and-shoot skills. I think so-called "paper GMs" are a result of either a) people who *only* practice stand-and-shoot skills and neglect movement & stage planning, or b) people whose clubs let people re-shoot classifiers so they keep playing 'til they win.

The reason I feel that the FAST Test is a poor drill is because there's too much going on. You've got a draw from concealment to a smaller target, a split on the smaller target, a concealed slide-lock reload, then 4 quick shots to a -0 at 7 yards. That's so many individual skills that I don't think you'll get any better at each one if all you do is practice them all together.

That's why its a TEST not a DRILL. Its to evaluate a combination of tasks, far from isolating certain components to hone them.

And for the paper GM's, you absolutely could setup a classifier a day prior when the match preview comes out and rehearse it till you are blue in the face....
 
And for the paper GM's, you absolutely could setup a classifier a day prior when the match preview comes out and rehearse it till you are blue in the face....

You could, but I disagree that the benefit would be more than a few percent. Have you ever spent an entire practice session trying to refine your performance on a classifier? I have. Hit factor got marginally better but it wasn't enough for a class bump.

Similarly, no one is going to get a FAST coin by doing the test over and over unless they also have their marksmanship and gun handling skills squared away.
 
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