There are tons of drills and qualifications out there that are well worth your time and ammo. Training is always valuable, but how do you measure your skills? The F.A.S.T. was created by the late Todd Green as a way to assess handgun skills and is a benchmark for evaluating practical pistol proficiency.
F.A.S.T. stands for Fundamentals, Accuracy, & Speed Test, and it’s tough not to call it the “F.A.S.T. Test,” even if doubling up on the word ‘test’ is a bit redundant. It’s the ATM Machine or PIN Number of the shooting world.
Efficiency is the name of the game. This comprehensive skills test only requires six rounds and a few seconds to shoot. The F.A.S.T.’s ability to test your skills in such an efficient way makes it a fantastic tool to take to the range.
While the F.A.S.T. is designed as a test, it’s still a worthy training tool and drill that will make you a better shooter. Specifically, it’ll make you a better dynamic shooter, so if you focus on self-defense training or competition training, the F.A.S.T. is for you.
The F.A.S.T. and Logistics
As mentioned, we only need six rounds of ammo. That’s it. I can find six rounds of ammo in my truck if I look around hard enough.
We need a handgun with a spare magazine and both a holster and a magazine pouch. I’m going to rock and roll with my Safariland Solis and my Ruger RXM. The RXM has become one of my favorite guns, and the Solis absolutely kills it for daily use.
The F.A.S.T. uses a dynamic target that consists of a 3×5 card and an 8-inch circle. Pistol-Training.com has a free target you can print, but I could never get it to work right on my printer. Microsoft Paint and I made a 3×5 card and 8-inch circle easy enough. You can also use a 3×5 index card and a B8 target, and you’re golden.
This drill does rely on a time-based scoring system, so you’ll need a shot timer of some sort. Don’t forget your eye and ear protection.
Getting F.A.S.T.
The F.A.S.T. seems deceptively simple in its design, but when it comes to execution, things start to break down, and you see the difficulty of the drill.
You’ll stand downrange seven yards from your target. Your weapon will be holstered, and your arms relaxed at your side. The gun should be loaded with two rounds, and the gun in your spare mag pouch should carry four rounds.
At the beep of your shot timer, you’ll draw and fire two rounds to the 3×5 card. At that point, your gun is dry, and you’ll conduct a slide-lock reload. After reloading, you’ll immediately engage the 8-inch circle with your remaining four rounds.
That’s it, that’s the F.A.S.T., but it’s called the F.A.S.T. for a reason. You gotta be fast and accurate to succeed. Unlike most tests and drills, which are pass/fail, the F.A.S.T. has various rankings.
Scoring the Test
Let’s start with accuracy. If you miss a shot on the 3×5 card, you’ll add two seconds to your time. If you miss a shot on the 8-inch circle, you’ll add one second per miss to your time. Total time is how you’ll rank when shooting the F.A.S.T.
The rankings are as follows:
- 10+ seconds: Novice
- Less than 10 seconds: Intermediate
- Less than 7 seconds: Advanced
- Less than 5 seconds: Expert
Holster considerations are also added. If you use a retention holster with covered magazine pouches, you can subtract a half-second from your time. If using an open-top retention holster, you’ll add a half-second. If you’re using something like a Level 3 rig or shooting from concealment, you do not add or subtract any time.
Using the Solis means I have to add a half-second to my time. I ran the drill numerous times, and my cold performance resulted in an Intermediate time when I added the half second. Frustration, my old friend, nice to see you again.
I was able to score advanced on my first try, even with the half-second penalty. That’s my cold performance, and I was happy with it. After a few runs, I.E., ten or so, I even eked out an Expert time. Well, kind of. I got expert if we don’t factor in the half-second penalty. It’s not all that difficult, but any slight fundamental flaw will kill your time.
Getting Personal
There is a lot more you can take from the F.A.S.T. than where you place in four different tiers. A shot timer is your best friend and gives you a ton of actionable data. I can shoot the F.A.S.T., get my time, and break it down shot by shot to see what I suck at.
For example, my reloads are slow, which most of us can tell when we reload anyway. Using the shot timer, I can find more granular data. For example, my second shot on the 3×5 card and my first shot on the 8-inch circle is too slow; I need to speed it up at those points.
Now I’m able to diagnose my own problems and observe what I need to work on. The F.A.S.T. is more than just hitting the next rank tier. It’s able to drive you to fix your mistakes and improve. If you’re just running the drill over and over, hoping to magically get faster, you’re wasting your time.
That’s why I love the F.A.S.T. so much. It gives measurable progress markers while keeping the logistical demands low. It’s also practical and uses skills that are replicable in the real world. Every shot fired and second passed is valuable.
Cold Range
The F.A.S.T. is an excellent tool for you to keep in the box. It’s challenging, fun, and simple. It doesn’t require a ton of gear or time to shoot, and can show you where your flaws lie. Shoot it, use it, and push yourself to be better.
