We all want to be better shooters and to be a better shooter you have to get out and shoot! Unfortunately, we don’t always have the time to get a good long range session in. Others may not have the money to budget in a ton of ammo. With that in mind, there is no excuse to not train.
If you have a low budget or no time, there is always Dot Torture. Dot torture is a quick series of drills that’re easy to do, and hard to perfect. It was created by Dave Blinder, and the target can be found for free here. Even better, you can print it out at home.
Dot torture only requires fifty rounds of ammunition and can be done very quickly. 10 to 20 minutes would be you taking your time. The drill is actually a series of different drills using small dots.
The Dot Torture drills include a little bit of everything. There is slow fire, drawing, off hand shooting, and one handed shooting.
The drill can be as hard or as easy as you want it to be. Typically, a shooter is going to start at three yards and shoot the drill until they pass. A passing score is 50 out of 50, with all the shots landing inside the circles. It sounds easy, but I was surprised the first few times I tried it.
Dot Torture
The drill is written on the target so following it is very easy. Here is a quick breakdown of the complete drill:
Dot 1 – Fire one string of 5 rounds, try to make the smallest group possible.
Dot 2 – Draw and fire 1 shot, holster and repeat X4, total 5 rounds.
Dots 3 & 4 – Draw and fire 1 shot on 3, transition and place 1 shot on 4, holster. Repeat drill X3, a total of 8 rounds.
Dot 5 – Draw and fire 5 rounds, strong hand only, total 5 rounds.
Dots 6 & 7 – Draw and fire 2 shots on 6, then transition and place 2 on 7. Holster your gun. Repeat the drill X4, total 16 rounds.
Dot 8 – From the Low Ready, fire five shots with nondominant hand only.
Dots 9 & 10 – Draw and fire 1 round on 9, speed reload, fire one 1 shot on 10. Holster your firearm. Repeat drill 3x, for a total of 6 shots.
Why I like it.
Besides being challenging, cheap, and fun — Dot Torture is a useful training tool. You do a variety of different handgun related tasks.
The target doesn’t lie, and you’ll be able to see the functions on which you need work. I really need to work on offhand shooting, which makes sense because I can barely operate a microwave with my left hand.
After doing a round of Dot torture, I can go home and dry fire a bit, and work on what I’m coming up short on. Dot torture is an excellent method of evaluating your handgun skills and does allow you to hold yourself to a standard. DOT Torture can be modified for rifle use as well, and I’ve used my own version with my goofy little 80 percent lower AR at close ranges.
Mastering Dot Torture
There is no way to master Dot Torture. Sure you can Master Dot Torture at 3 yards, but what about 7? What happens if you add a time restriction? You can make this drill a little harder if you really try. An IPSC timer is an excellent companion for practice like this.
Dot Torture is a ridiculously simple drill that’s practical, easy to do, and only takes 50 rounds of ammo. Even if you are short on time or money, the Dot Torture drill is still an excellent training tool.