Range Report: The Hateful 8 Drill

       So earlier this week, Greg Ellifritz discussed a drill called the Hateful 8, which is 8 shots in 8 seconds at 8 yards at B-8 center bullseye target. Oh, and you start from the holster with only 4 rounds, and have to make 2 reloads with only 2 rounds in the second and third magazines. Lucky Gunner has this to say about the drill:

(Source)

So while the Hateful 8 is an incredibly soul-crushing disappointment of a drill — not because it’s not awesome, but because it shows you what you’re doing poorly — there’s not a passing or a failing score, really. It’s supposed to be a gateway. So the first goal is to make all the shots in the 8-inch circle under the par time. Second goal is to make all the shots in the black under par time. Then when you’re really getting good, if you can shoot 76 out of 80 — awesome. 

He also mentions:

       If the eight second par time seems way out of reach or you find yourself struggling to even stay on paper when you’re shooting at that speed, you might consider starting with a 10 or 12 or even 15 second par time. The goal is to push you out of your comfort zone for speed while still maintaining a high standard of accuracy. So go at a pace that’s going to be challenging for you at your current skill level.

       I think of the Hateful 8 as an accuracy drill disguised as a reloading drill. You have to have a smooth and consistent reload in order to do well on this, but you also can’t let the reloads distract you because it takes a lot of mental discipline to keep your hits in the black for all 8 shots.

If you don't have B-8 targets, you can download a printable version from Lucky Gunner.

       I decided to give it a shot this weekend, and it is extremely humbling. I had set up two of the B-8 targets and used them multiple times, so I can't score the targets, but I was using a shot timer to measure my times, and it was rather pathetic.

       My set up was the target at 8 yards, of course. I was using a Glock 36 from a strong side waist holster (basically 4 to 5 o'clock position), with a magazine holder on the opposite side. My conceal garment was an untucked T-shirt. I ran the drill 10 times (well, actually 11, but I had to drop one because I had only loaded 7 rounds total). My times ran from 13.01 seconds all of the way up to 17.21 seconds, and my average was 14.74. However, that was because of a few outliers; the majority were under 14.5 and four of my attempts were under 14.

       A few points. First of all, it doesn't seem like the slightly longer distance of 8 yards should make a lot of difference, but it seemed to--I felt like I was having to slow down to make my shots count. I had a few instances where my handgun got caught up in my T-shirt, which cost me a couple of seconds each (it is much easier to draw and shoot when using a shooting vest to conceal the weapon, versus using a T-shirt). I also haven't been practicing handgun reloads for a while and had gotten lazy with my switching magazines, tilting the firearm to one side to accept the magazine which slowed me down a bit. I also seemed to hesitate a bit between shooting the weapon empty and moving to grab a magazine.

      In any event, the drill lives up to its name (I haven't seen the movie, but just mean that the drill is "hateful"). But it gives me something to work on.