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What is the El Presidente / El Prez Drill?
El Presidente (El Prez) is a classic practical pistol drill, great for live fire or dry fire. If you’re active in the firearms training community, you’ve certainly heard of this drill and have likely shot it. The established standards act as a nice guide to determine how you stack up against the rest of the community.
El Prez works a nice range of handgun skills including the turn and draw, vision speed, recoil control, transitions, and the reload. All of which are fairly foundational skills for any practical pistol shooter – be it competition or self defense.
There are many variations of this drill that have popped up over the years, but they all involve a turn and draw, three targets with two shots, reload, and same three targets with two shots. The variations generally revolve around distances and accuracy standards.
Tim Herron
Tim Herron is a multi division USPSA Grandmaster with many titles and top level placements in the world of USPSA. He travels the US teaching practical pistol classes.
Drill Setup
- 3 Targets at 10 yards with 1 yard between targets
- Start position: Facing directly away from the targets with wrists above shoulders
- 12 shots required
Drill Steps
- At the beep, turn around and draw
- Engage all three targets with two rounds each
- Reload
- Engage all three targets again with two rounds each
Drill Modifications
- Simplify the drill by removing the turn and draw – simply face the targets and draw.
- To push speed, redefine the area of acceptable accuracy to anywhere on target.
Drill Tips
The turn and draw often slows people down. However, it is very possible for the turn and draw to be just a few tenths of a second behind a normal draw. The key to a fast turn and draw is to turn the head as fast as possible ahead of the body looking for the target. The sooner the eyes lock onto the target, the sooner the gun will follow.
Want to improve your transitions for El Prez? Try running the Blake Drill.
Drill Diagnostics
Strive to see the first target quickly. Do you have to hunt around to find the target? Or do your eyes lock on quickly to the center aiming point? Strive to get those eyes locked on target quickly – and not only locked on target, but locked on a small specific point on target.
Drill Author
Jeff Cooper
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Drill Environment
More Drill Modifications
Modifications to focus on: Conceal Carry
- Add walls to lean around - More info »
- Move through a door - More info »
- Start drills with something in your hand - More info »
- Start from a seated position - More info »
- Turn the lights out and use a flashlight - More info »
- Use a variety of your daily wear clothing - More info »
