Perhaps the most famous combat pistol drill is the El Presidente drill, developed by Jeff Cooper in the 1970s and published in the January/February 1979 issue of American Handgunner magazine. This is still used as a benchmark to gauge a shooter's skills, as it tests the draw and reload, and requires good transitions and follow-through. The El Presidente drill is set up as follows:

Scoring varies; the simplest method uses hit/miss scoring, with a time penalty (often 10 seconds) for each miss. El Presidentes scored under the IPSC Comstock system take the total number of points on the targets (possible 60 points) and divide that by the time taken to complete the drill. This generates a number called "hit factor" which is a numerical representation of how many points the shooter placed on target per second during the drill. Example: shooting 55 points in 5.5 seconds would give the shooter a 10.0 hit factor. Originally a time of 10 seconds with a stock handgun, and all the points on target, was considered good. Today shooters using modern IPSC raceguns with muzzle brakes and red dot sights are close to breaking the three second barrier, and even shooters using street-type guns with no muzzle brakes or optical sights routinely break the five second mark.^{[url=#cite_note-0][1][/url]}

  It was developed as a means to check shooter proficiency. Cooper didn’t name the drill El Presidente, that came later when it was adopted by IPSC as a standard competition stage.

  To perform the classic version, start with your back to three Gunsite silhouette targets, 10 yards away, spaced 1 yard apart. On signal, turn, draw and engage each target with two rounds, reload and fire two more rounds at each target. It is a timed drill with a 10-second par time for semi-autos and 12 seconds for revolvers.

  To score this drill, five points are awarded for every hit in the 8-inch center ring and two points for all other hits on the target, for a possible score of 60. Five points are added to the score for every full second under 10 and five points deducted for every full second over 10. Because of the time factor, the potential exists to score more than 60.

  Cooper believed this drill was not the sort of thing one should practice. He thought it best used as a test to measure what a person was capable of, with the gear they were carrying, at any given time. He also stressed it was not necessarily the correct tactical solution when dealing with three armed threats.

  El Presidente combines several skills: turning, drawing, shooting accurately and quickly and reloading. It epitomizes the need for balancing accuracy, power and speed—Diligentia Vis Celeritas as it is often cited at Gunsite.

  According to Ed Head, the operations manager at Gunsite, "Cooper felt anyone capable of performing this drill on demand, with a suitable carry pistol, achieving a score of 45 or better, was probably an expert with their firearm and carry gear. Some professional shooters are capable of shooting this drill on large steel targets in four or five seconds. I have never seen anyone do it properly, that fast, with a good score on paper targets—the-way we still do it at Gunsite.”

  As an interesting side note, Head said he can remember Cooper riding his three-wheeler down to the range while a group of students ran through this drill. He would say, "Ed, they aren’t doing it right.” Cooper had been listening to the cadence of the shots being fired from up at his house. According to Cooper, properly done, it should sound like six evenly spaced shots, a pause for the reload and six more evenly spaced shots. Not three separate double-taps with a reload pause, then three more distinct double taps.

  For information on training at Gunsite or to order your own Gunsite silhouette targets, call Gunsite at (928) 636-4565 or visit www.gunsite.com.

Now see, I often see folks shooting that inspire me to train harder.
THEN I SEE SOMETHING like that; and I just sigh!