Anyone using the F.A.S.T test?

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willbrink

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Any use the F.A.S.T from pistol-training.com? It's a simple but effective test of basic fundamentals. I recently did a vid on it and a few misc drills I like to run:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7qRsO3SRzI

Pretty amazing how even a few months away from that type of shooting (been stuck at static line of indoor range) effects skills.I couldn't break 6 seconds this trip as I did end of the season last year. Blah. :cuss:

Seeing yourself on vid really helps diagnose. I can see my reload should be higher, closer, and closer to center line, and other things that added up to slow one down. Need to work on smoothing out the draw, getting a better initial grip, and others.

If anyone sees additional areas that needs fixing/tweaking, i'm happy to take constructive advice on how to be a better shooter.

Always something to work on! :eek:
 
Spend your evenings, each evening before bed, performing several dozen correct draws. Perform them slowly, focusing on the form. Then after you have the form down, each evening speed them up a bit, bit by bit. Train your mind and muscles to do it properly, then properly at increasing speed.


Not so much directed at you, but everyone else reading -

If you don't have a drone gun, unload and put ALL ammunition in another room.
Tell yourself, out loud, "I am beginning my practice session."
Find a safe wall and practice your draw.
After you are done, tell yourself out loud, "Practice is over."
Then return to the room you left your ammo, and if you keep a loaded handgun at home, reload.

Remember that you are deliberately breaking some of the Four Rules; you're telling yourself why; and that you've verified it's OK right now to break these rules, but only for right now. Once your practice session is complete, you are mentally telling yourself you've once again returned to observing the Four Rules.


This "show" may sound silly to some, but remember that complacency with the Four Rules is what causes us to let a round go when we shouldn't. An unconscious mastery of the Four Rules is only achieved through the proper mindset, and I concur with others on the subject who say when we break them, we tell ourselves why we're doing it.
 
1k, you can download the FAST test as a PDF and print out from Pistol-training.com

Ken, yup, dry fire work is something I need to do more of no doubt. Thanx for the tips. ;)
 
Get off the X man!!!:D

Good drill, gonna try it next time I go out. Index card and a paper plate. How are they oriented to each other? Plate on top, card on the bottom, side by side?
 
"Plate on top, card on the bottom, side by side? "

Download the FAST target free at pistol-training.com. Print on legal sized paper and set printer to legal.

Good luck!
 
Well, I don't have any legal paper, but I do have 8" paper plates, index cards and a stapler! I think a decent enough substitution will be possible.
 
"Nice vid. I like simple drills that enfroce fundamentals like that. "

Thanx, plenty of small mistakes going on there that need correcting, but it was my first outdoor range session of the season.
 
3x5" index card 3-4" above 8" paper plate, you are GTG. See vid for specific instructions. :)
 
Spend your evenings, each evening before bed, performing several dozen correct draws. Perform them slowly, focusing on the form. Then after you have the form down, each evening speed them up a bit, bit by bit. Train your mind and muscles to do it properly, then properly at increasing speed.

As a lifelong martial artist, I can only say that the above advice is one of the best things you'll ever read here. One thing that's very clear from both unarmed and weapons training is that speed masks mistakes. It's almost always best to begin with slow practice, and when the basics are solid, speed comes naturally.

I'd add to his remarks that just as physical training affects the mind, the mind can affect physical training and performance, too. I probably spend as much working on my speedloader drills in my head as I do with my hands.
 
Speed masks sloppiness.

Fast is smooth and smooth is fast. It'd always a struggle to remember that when going from a controlled practice, to a stressed practice, onto actual encounters.

shockwave said:
I'd add to his remarks that just as physical training affects the mind, the mind can affect physical training and performance, too. I probably spend as much working on my speedloader drills in my head as I do with my hands.

I'll back that up.


Well-ranked and accomplished competitors of any sport rehearse in their heads. I saw it in the Winter Olympics. You'll see them going through their routine in their heads. Then they'd mimic the motions again in their bodies and their heads right before they perform.


By the time they've actually stepped up to perform, they've already done it a hundred times in their minds. It helps in the performance. It works.
 
Very true boalex207. Only noticed I was doing that when I saw the vid. Vid is a great diagnostic tool to be sure!
 
Thanks for the pointer to Pistol-training.com . . . I looked at some of the drills and recognized one of my favorites, the Ball-and-Dummy drill. I load my GP100 randomly with about four rounds, mixed .38 sp and .357 mag, so all my motions must be the same, big bang, little bang, or no bang, because I don't know what's in the next chamber. Makes a flinch as obvious as a lightning strike.
 
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