Giving a fair chance to different guns – different makes, models, but the same class – can be worrisome. As a young troop recently had me shoot a course of fire for the first time, though I’d known of it for a while, I wondered how effectively that course could help me evaluate various firearms.
I’d all but cleaned the course – David Blinder’s “Dot Torture” – with a borrowed gun, a Glock 32 fitted with a KKM barrel. For the holster, I was using one I was evaluating for concealed carry, the Galco Extreme Tuk. A hybrid, Kydex pouch backed with cowhide, it doesn’t have a sweat shield that interferes with getting a firing grip on the piece and is short enough it’s not forced to curl in from the pressure of the body. The polymer belt clips are handy on/handy off, but seem to hang on to the belt with more than a little security.
I came up one short of “passing” with the borrowed gun at three yards.
I decided to try the Dot Torture drill (details can be found at pistol-training.com) for the exercise as I found it somewhat holster-intensive, as well as being great for practice of trigger control and focus. It’s good across the board because it requires a slow fire string, singles from the holster into a single dot, singles on alternating dots, shooting strings one-handed from either hand, pairs on alternative dots and, finally, a single on #9 followed by a mandatory reload and a single on #10.
There’s no time limit unless you impose one on yourself but the tendency is to start to rush as you go through the course.
The mental focus on a successful run is intense. I’m beginning to like to use the DT as a way to hard form skills; going for perfect reps at less than ‘operational speed.’
Would there be enough difference between guns to show up on Dot Torture? Is it a drill that helps one decide “which gun is the better” for a particular user?
I selected a pair of guns, real compacts this time, for my comparison run. I’d wondered about the difference between a hammer-fired single action and striker fired gun in terms of handling on a course like this and going for the pint-sized versions made sense. I selected the Ruger SR1911 9 AOFC Model Number 6758 for the hammer-fired gun. A 27 ounce, nominally 7-shot, aluminum frame gun, I paired it with the (sadly discontinued) Galco Quick Slide leather holster in Havana Brown.
The striker-fired polymer gun selected was the Smith & Wesson M&P Shield M2.0. The holster I selected is a new one, the Safariland Model 7371 7TS ALS Concealment Paddle Holster. Smaller than previous holsters of this type, it features Safariland’s ALS – Automatic Locking System. Operating like ALS duty holsters, the Model 7371 is a straight draw after the thumb defeats the retention device.
While there’s no par time on the course, fumbling with the holster is bad form. As I’d used ALS rigs in the past, it was no chore to sort this one out.
Both guns are 9mm and the ammo for both attempts was the Federal Champion “Aluminum” case 115 FMJ load.
I elected to shoot the course cold, no shots fired from anything before the first attempt of the day. The Ruger was first up. There were no real surprises and I finished with 49/50. Looking at the target may provide some confusion; to score the hit, the bullet strike’s full diameter has to be inside of the extreme outside perimeter of the dot. Cutting the line alone isn’t enough.
Strangely, it was the last round of the last stage in which the round neatly bisected the line at around 6 o’clock. The drill is, from the holster, a hit inside the #9, reload, hit to #10. I set the thing up to require a slide-lock reload. It doesn’t make sense to dump a semi-loaded magazine into the deck and it’s a bad habit to simply “speed reload.”
The singles to #10 post-reload could be covered with a dime. It was remarkable to me that hits to the #9 were all nicely centered and, even when going very slowly, the post reload hits were in the bottom of the aiming point.
Moving on to the S&W Shield M2.0, I was using a security holster. As I was “warmed up,” I cleaned the Dot Torture. I had two rounds ‘trying to get away,’ but they were well inside their respective aiming points.
Is the Shield better than the SR1911 AOFC based on this ‘test?’ The training effect caused by the order of testing could be the reason for the difference in scoring. Examining each target and comparing hits on each aiming point from the perspective of the shooting procedure didn’t show any real difference. #10 on the Ruger target was the only real question mark.
I found that shooting the Dot Torture was a good way to really get a feel for the trigger, for the action of the gun and for familiarity with the holster. Shooting it with smaller-than-service size pistols showed that if you’ll do it, the guns will deliver.
You take your choice. For me, it seems either gun will work fine. To date, I’ve had no stoppages with either pistol with a range of loads. As to the Dot Torture, it’s really good practice but I’ll keep looking for the best comparison test of defense handguns.
And I’ll keep you posted.
- - Rich Grassi