Written by Greg Ellifritz
“Chasing the Dot” is a great drill for mastering trigger control as well as reinforcing shooting fundamentals with both the strong and support hand.
I first saw this drill at a pistol class I took from shooting legend Rob Leatham. We did the drill several times in that class. Ron Avery taught the drill in one of his classes as well. If the drill is good enough for these two world-class shooters, it’s good enough for me! The drill is simple and easy to perform…but you can burn up a lot of ammunition and get VERY frustrated trying to do it. It’s kind of addictive.
You can use any type of target you like. I use the border of a shot-up silhouette or a blank 8.5″ x 11″ piece of paper.
- Fire at any empty spot on the target using two hands. Use that bullet hole as your target for the next two rounds.
- Your second shot must be fired strong hand ONLY.
- Your third shot must be fired support hand ONLY.
The goal is to make all three rounds touch
11 separate three-shot groups fired with my Glock 19 at a distance of 15 feet. I only “won” with two groups.
When I do this drill with my officers, I generally start them at a distance of 6-7 feet from the target. Very experienced shooters should be successful with more than half of their groups anywhere inside of 10 feet.
When I’m really trying to work on my trigger control, I perform it at about 15 feet. It’s VERY challenging at this range…as demonstrated by my crappy performance above.
Give this one a try. It’s a great drill for a quick tuneup or as a contest with your friends. The last person in the group to make a cloverleaf buys beers for everyone else after training!
