Went to the range today, shot the dot torture drill for the first time. A hair under 5 yards with a Gen5 Glock 19. It was a humbling event. Range doesn't allow holster draws so I did low ready. Either way, I need to practice. Anyone else shoot this drill?

If I’m shooting pistols I will often start and end my range session with a run through of the drill. You’re right, if I haven’t shot in a while it’ll make you feel like crap. That said I’ve at least gotten to the point where even a bad run is much better than when I started.

I have not shot this drill yet. A friend I often shoot with found a version for DA/SA shooters at Lucky Gunner.

Dot Torture is one of my favorite drills to shoot. It works on trigger control and accuracy, while going through a number of different shooting requirements. You can focus on fundamentals, without trying to be too fast, while trying to achieve the goal of making all 50 hits. I like to start a training session with this drill, and then move on to other drills.

I was never able to find any time standards for the Dot Torture drill. Are there, and I’ve just overlooked them?

quote:

Originally posted by sigfreund:
I was never able to find any time standards for the Dot Torture drill. Are there, and I’ve just overlooked them?

If I remember right it was partially created because it didn’t require a timer to shoot, instead focusing on trigger control and accuracy. Though, I still shoot against myself for time.

quote:

Originally posted by sigfreund:
I was never able to find any time standards for the Dot Torture drill. Are there, and I’ve just overlooked them?

I was introduced to this drill by late Todd Green and he explained that this was specifically not a timed drill.
If you want a timed dot drill that has been well recognized, it would be a Garcia dot drill http://pistol-training.com/dri...nk-garcias-dot-drill. A murderous drill, I am yet to clean it. In fact, I get happy when I just get a couple of dots clean. All six seem like light years away.

quote:

Originally posted by YVK:
I was introduced to this drill by late Todd Green and he explained that this was specifically not a timed drill.

Thank you for the confirmation.

It's one of the weekly things we do on the weekends when things are slow.

Yes, it's a great drill. Very humbling.

I remember the first time I did the Torture. It was at a combat handgun course, the instructor said "This is what you are going to do" I looked at him "You think". I didn't too bad but I have gotten a whole better. We started 3-5-7-10 yards from the holster. It was and is fun, Chris

Like others have posted, it's a very humbling drill. It looks and sounds so easy, but it's not.

quote:

Originally posted by YVK:

quote:

Originally posted by sigfreund:
I was never able to find any time standards for the Dot Torture drill. Are there, and I’ve just overlooked them?

I was introduced to this drill by late Todd Green and he explained that this was specifically not a timed drill.


If you want a timed dot drill that has been well recognized, it would be a Garcia dot drill http://pistol-training.com/dri...nk-garcias-dot-drill. A murderous drill, I am yet to clean it. In fact, I get happy when I just get a couple of dots clean. All six seem like light years away.

I like the dot torture but this one is a bear to run clean through all the targets. Distance, time, accuracy, and consistancey makes this one very challenging.

Recent class I attended with Paul Sharpe and William April had us run the dot torture and I ran it clean for the first time. Was always close but nice to do it under a little stress.

I had a guy I used to work with stop the range when someone was getting a little big for their britches. He would put up the dot torture and have everybody off the line and stand behind the guy who was acting like a douchbag. No time. The only requirement was every body had to watch and couldn't make a sound so we could see "what a bad ass" really looks like. The person would always throw several rounds off. Always. The instructor would simply get the target back and carry on with drills. He would not even acknowledge how bad the guy did. He would just carry on like nothing happened. The person usually got the message and correct their attitude. It was magical.

Honestly, I don't get why this drill is that interesting to many people. I don't find it challenging until it is out to 7 yards, and I can't get excited when the time pressure is removed. In fact, I think that some components of this drill, such as transitions and 5-shot strings, don't make much sense without time allocation. I've shot this drill maybe 4 times, twice in Todd's classes and a couple of times on my own, and didn't find it particularly helpful.

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Originally posted by YVK:
Honestly, I don't get why this drill is that interesting to many people.

Interesting comment, and I admit I never got too excited about it myself.

Todd Green had another challenge which was to shoot five shots into one hole at 3 yards. That’s a more informal and less well-defined test that I can usually do at 3, often at 5, and sometimes at 7 yards. He said, though, that even at 3 yards many firearms instructors weren’t capable of such precision.

It seems to me that the Dot Torture drill is a (much) more rigorous version of the one-hole precision test. Indeed, it’s billed as a marksmanship drill. It requires maintaining concentration for many more shots, there’s no “Oh, I won’t count that one,” and even though it’s not timed, drawing, reloading, switching targets during a string, one-handed shooting, and especially shooting with one’s nondominant hand all add stress to the process.

I should try it again myself, but one of the things I don’t like about it is that it requires 50 shots to complete. I realize that’s part of the challenge, but that’s a lot of ammo to only get to the end and blow it with a miss.

quote:

Originally posted by sigfreund:
. . . but one of the things I don’t like about it is that it requires 50 shots to complete. I realize that’s part of the challenge, but that’s a lot of ammo to only get to the end and blow it with a miss.

That's where the stress comes from. It must be shot perfect to pass.