You’re not ready to defend yourself with a firearm. It’s a bold statement I know, but unfortunately it’s true for the vast majority of self defense shooters. This happens because of poor, unrealistic training, which gives the average shooter a poor understanding of the kind of shooting ability that is required to be proficient with a handgun. Don’t believe me, try out standards and see for yourself.

You might be asking yourself why should I bother, there are tones of qualification standards, and many of them are quite good, however often times they are geared towards training shooters, like Army Special Forces, SWAT officers, and combat personnel.

These standards are great, but they are not ideally designed for someone who carries a gun for self defense purposes. Sure, there is some carry over, but I like to compare it to driving a car and driving a dump truck. They are both vehicles, and they both have to obey the rules of the road, but they require much different skill sets.

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The Origin of the Pistol Standards

When I was designing these standards, I wanted to create something that was above all realistic. This means they had to accurately replicate the types of encounters one might realistically be faced with in a self defense situation.

To do this I looked at the research and statistics behind ballistic wounding, defensive gun use, and video analysis of real world engagements. This lead me to produce what I consider a much more realistic requirement to defend yourself, and your loved ones.

Before we get into the drills and standards themselves, we need to first discuss who they are appropriate for.

Master the Basics

Before anyone should attempt these they need to master the basics. If you’re told to load your pistol, and you have to think about the steps to do this, then you are probably not ready to attempt these standards.

You should be able to perform basic weapon manipulations including: loading, unloading, and malfunction drills without thinking through these processes step by step.

It’s fine if you aren’t there yet, but you should seek out competent instruction and work diligently on these areas before you move onto more advanced requirements. Remember, if you are learning how to fight you have to learn how to throw a punch first.

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The Pistol Standards Background

There are several key assumptions that have driven us to pick these standards. First our analysis of real world pistol accuracy indicates that for the last 100 years most shooters are approximately 30% as accurate in a real gunfight as compared to target shooting.

This has remained stable despite our best efforts to improve. There is some research that shows that force on force training can improve this however.

Secondly, we know that the average male has a chest that is roughly 18 inches in width, and even a cursory knowledge of human anatomy reveals that the most important structures (heart, lungs, spinal column) that keep you alive, are centered in the chest cavity.

Since there is a known accuracy drop off in real world engagements, we must tighten our pistol standards to reflect this. This is why I recommend shooting on a standard IPSC style target, which has a 6 inch wide “A” zone.

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If we keep our shots within the A zone, then even with our accuracy degradation we should still be on the torso for an average sized male. Will the hits be optimal? No, but people don’t just drop dead because they are shot through the heart, as it takes time to exsanguinate into your chest cavity. Most often they stop their aggressive actions because they are afraid of incurring more injuries and dying.

Now that we know some of the background behind the standards let’s get to the shooting part!

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The Pistol Standards

There are five drills which are solid realistic standards for self defense shooters. As such you will notice that there are no 25 yard headshots, and there are no slow fire stages.

There are basic, intermediate, and advanced times listed for each drill and those are there for a very specific reason. Research has shown that pulling your gun quickly, upon observing a threat, is a great way to get killed. The vast majority of successful engagements occur when we obscure and delay our draw to the most advantageous time, i.e, when the bad guys aren’t looking.

The times are included to make sure that there is a high rate of fire, and good recoil management. Placing more rounds in vital areas will give you a better chance of walking away from the engagement.

Three in Three

This drill is designed to mimic the average self defense gun use. Hence the range is 3 yards and there is one target. Only hits in the “A” zone count, and each drill is pass fail. You need to pass all five to pass the standard.

One Handed

This drill is designed to test your ability to control a pistol with one hand. You can use strong or weak hand, but the drill does not specify, so feel free to shoot with just strong hand.

This is a standard because approximately 43% of self defense gun uses were one handed. Often times the other hand is engaged with the target requiring us to fire one handed, strong hand.

Turn and Fire

This drill requires a 180 degree turn from up range to down range, and engage the target. This is included because almost half of self defense gun uses involved an attack from the rear or flanks.

You’ll notice that the times are the same as without movement. This is because you can draw as you turn and acquire the target.

Three Moving Left, and Right

This drill highlights the fact that shooting and moving is one of the best methods to reduce the likelihood that you will be hit during the engagement. The best method is seeking cover, but you still need to move to get there. Moving and shooting matters.

Transitions

This is the only drill that is further than 3yds, and is a whopping 5 yards! This is because 5yds is about the furthest a self defense engagement normally occurs.

There are two targets because roughly 66% of engagements have more than one bad guy. Often times in a commercial robbery there is a gun man and a bag man. It’s often the same for interpersonal robbery as well.

Discussion

Now I’m sure some of you, looking at you Randy, are saying, “Jake, why are these standards so close and easy, doesn’t accuracy and shot placement count.” Yes it does, but remember a test, or a standard is designed to validate that you have a certain level of skill.

It is not designed to help you train for higher levels of skill. Thats what training and practice are for. With this self defense pistol standard, we are saying that if you pass all five drills then you can feel confident that you have the skills to defend yourself. It doesn’t mean never seek further improvement!

I will also point out that the time constraints are pretty tight, so you will need to shoot quickly. You should also recall that your target zone is pretty small, as the “A” zone is only 6×11 inches.

I would encourage each of you to shoot this standard and let us know how you faired. Feel free to post your times and thoughts in the comments. Now get to the range!