I got a Pact 3 timer for Christmas and have started using it during my range practice. Never having used one (except for matches) I’m wondering about some benchmark par times. I was doing mag change drills with my AR: at buzzer fire one round to bolt open, change mag and fire. My lowest time was 2.77, with the average being right around 3 seconds. I’m not smooth enough yet, but was wondering what to shoot for.

Also: any drills with par times you like and use would be great.

I do a lot of similar drills, but an essential element in addition to speed is accuracy. I can, for example, fire one shot, reload, and fire a second shot faster with a big, close target than with a small, far target. Just practicing shooting and reloading without an accuracy requirement doesn’t give us the maximum value for our ammunition and efforts.

I was shooting at a IDPA target at 25 yards, with A zone hits.

If you mean the center 8 inch circle -0 zone of an IDPA target and getting two hits at 25 yards and a reload in three seconds, I’d say that’s pretty good, at least based on what I can do. I don’t run any drills exactly like that, but as I recall the old original Federal Air Marshal course had a couple of stages with the handgun that required the same thing from the holster at 7 yards in 3.5 seconds. For that, though, I don’t know what the accuracy standard was. I do shoot a one-shot rifle drill at 50 yards on a 12 inch target starting with rifle muzzle down and my times are commonly 1.8 second or a little less. Twelve inches at 50 yards would be equivalent to 6" at 25, but it’s only one shot and no reload.

If you're looking for carbine "standards", I'd say start with Paul Howe's CSAT standards, which can be found on the top bar on his website main page:

http://www.combatshootingandtactics.com