The BEST Drill you Can do to Improve Your Carbine Skills

The BEST Drill you Can do to Improve Your Carbine Skills

Prove your Skill Set in 8 rounds.

We utilize the 1-2-3 Drill to test our on-demand performance capability to transition to our secondary weapon system when our rifle has run dry. This drill has the added value of requiring the shooter to then reload their rifle after engaging the target with their pistol, and then engaging with their rifle again.

The 1-2-3 Drill goes like this:

  • Set your rifle up with one round in the chamber and an empty magazine. Have a second rifle magazine and a fully loaded pistol on your person.
  • On the buzzer, the shooter will engage the 8 inch target zone from the ready position of their choice (We highly suggest the high port if you can on your range) with one round. The bolt will lock to the rear.
  • Shooter attempts to place the rifle on safe and transitions to their secondary.
    • PRO TIP: Guide your rifle to the left side (or right side for you left handed freaks out there) and start drawing your pistol at the same time. Doing so will cut down your time significantly.
  • Shooter draws their secondary weapon system and engages the eight inch target zone with two rounds and re-holsters while retrieving the rifle.
  • Shooter conducts a bolt lock reload and  engage the target with three rounds.
  • Par time is 10.0 seconds. The run in the video was done from 5 yards.

So let’s recap what you accomplish during this drill:

  1. First shot accuracy on a limited target zone.
  2. Utilizing proper off set given the distance to the target.
  3. Transitioning to secondary weapon
  4. Reloading the rifle within the work space
  5. Re-acquisition of sights and off set.
  6. Recoil management

Speed is a Byproduct Efficiency

We can’t stress this enough. Ten seconds is an eternity but there are a lot of moving parts here. The smoother you can make your movements, the faster you will become solely because you are more efficient. 

Don’t focus on being fast. Focus on being efficient.

If you liked this post, leave us a comment in the comment box below!

Robert Curran
rob@tacdynamics.com

Rob is co-owner of Tactical Dynamics Firearms Training and is a USMC veteran and active Law Enforcement Officer. Rob is a Sig Sauer Master Rated Firearms Instructor and holds several other ratings from various institutions.

3 Comments
  • Doug P
    Posted at 15:37h, 23 October Reply

    I like the drill, combines alot of different skills withing 10 seconds. Nice drill for our Carbine course on 10/30!!

  • Andy D
    Posted at 01:49h, 03 October Reply

    I think that your use of joe-average in the video above is a good lead-in. I have heard plenty of people feel discouraged initially when they see an opening drill executed by a highly skilled advanced shooter. As my sensei once said, the more advanced you get, the more you can learn from the mistakes and approaches of the lower belts.

  • Bass
    Posted at 22:07h, 14 January Reply

    Isn’t rushing to reholster a major safety issue?

    Perhaps move the pistol part to the end?

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