Last month, I wrote about the importance of performance shooting classes as a precursor to a discussion on a Space on X (formerly Twitter) with Andreas Yankopolus on a related topic. In both the post and the discussion, I referenced to KR Training’s Three Seconds or Less drill (or test depending on context) as a good bar to measure when somebody is ready to take advantage of performance shooting classes. The premise for describing it as a good bar is based on my belief that anyone who can pass it has attained a minimum level of competency (which is exactly what the drill was designed to define a baseline for) needed to be safe in a performance shooting class and to avoid falling behind in the class. As such, I thought a deeper dive into the drill might be appreciated by some of y’all pistol nerds.

Let’s take a look at it.

The Course of Fire

Target: KRT-2

Par Time: 3 seconds (per string)

String #	Distance	Start Position	String Procedure
1	3 yards	Holstered, concealed, hands relaxed at sides	Step left, draw, fire 3 to the body
2	3 yards	Holstered, firing hand on gun, support hand on chest	Draw, fire 2 to the head
3	3 yards	Holstered, concealed, hands relaxed at sides	Step right, draw, fire 3 to the body
4	2 yards	Holstered, firing hand on gun, support hand on chest	Draw, fire 2 to the body with strong hand only, while backing up
5	7 yards	Magazine in support hand 1-2″ away from the magazine well of the slide-locked gun in firing hand (ready to accept reload)	Insert magazine, rack slide, fire 1 to the body
6	7 yards	At the ready	Fire 2 to the head
7	7 yards	Holstered, firing hand on gun, support hand on chest	Draw, fire 2 to the body with strong hand only
8	7 yards	Facing 90º to the left (or to the right for left handed shooters), holstered, firing hand on gun	Turn, draw, fire 3 to the body
9	7 yards	Aimed at target, gun in support hand, firing hand on chest	Fire 2 to the body with support hand only

Scoring: Count up all the hits within the grey zone of the silhouette (including the inner white zones). Overtime hits don’t count. A 100% score would be exactly 20 hits with 4 of those being in the head.

Qualification: This drill is used as a test by KR Training in order to pass the three levels of their Defensive Pistol Skills classes. The qualification requirements are as follows:

• Defensive Pistol Skills 1: 14 or more hits with 1 of those being in the head
• Defensive Pistol Skills 2: 16 or more hits with 2 of those being in the head
• Defensive Pistol Skills 3: 18 or more hits with 3 of those being in the head

My Thoughts on the Drill

The drill isn’t particularly difficult, but it wasn’t intended to challenge advanced shooters. Quoting directly from the KR Training website, “It’s intended to define a baseline minimum competency level every person that carries concealed should be able to achieve.” And I think it does that very well.

Passing it, even at very initial level, requires the shooter to:

• Draw a pistol from and return it to a holster
• Move left, right, back and turn with a pistol safely
• Perform essential pistol manipulations such as a reload
• Put multiple accurate shots on a target at common defensive use distances using a two handed grip, a strong hand only grip, and a support hand only grip
• All within a reasonable time limit

All of these tasks require an understanding of fundamental safety and marksmanship concepts and the ability to execute them competently. That said, folks who are brand new to pistol shooting or rarely handle their firearms will struggle to attain a passing score with this drill. At the same time, folks who aren’t completely unfamiliar with shooting pistols may find themselves struggling with some of the seven yard strings especially those that require one handed shooting or targeting the head of the target.

Relative Difficulty

Rather that do the difficulty myself, I’m going to borrow the analysis that Karl Rehn and John Daub have already done and published in their book, Strategies and Standards for Defensive Handgun Shooting. The very same book I used to learn how to perform this sort of analysis.

String #	Par Time	GM Speed	Difficult
1	3	1.4	47%
2	3	1.5	50%
3	3	1.4	47%
4	3	1.4	47%
5	3	1.5	50%
6	3	1.7	57%
7	3	1.4	47%
8	3	1.6	53%
9	3	1.4	47%

Given a total par time of 27 seconds and a GM speed par time of 13.3 seconds, the total relative difficulty to clean this drill is 49%. This suggests that a shooting with skill equivalent to that of a USPSA C-class competitor should be able to shoot this drill at 100%.

Using the difficulty buckets I suggested in the first post of this series, the Three Seconds or Less drill lands in the “normal difficulty” bucket.

Closing Thoughts

Some readers are probably thinking, “Zo, are you suggesting that a person be at least a C-class USPSA competitor before attending a performance shooting class?” That’s a fair question and we will get to the answer shortly. Bear with me a little longer.

If we look at passing this drill as the baseline of minimum competency that one should strive for before attending a performance shooting class, then we have to consider that passing has three levels and it doesn’t require a 100% score. In my mind, I think it’s reasonable to extrapolate the passing scores for each level using hit factor scoring for comparison. Keep in mind this is an approach that makes sense in my head as I’m writing this and I wouldn’t be surprised to get a communique from Karl Rehn informing me of the shortcomings of my approach.

For simplicity’s sake, let’s assume that a hit is worth 5 points like a USPSA A-zone hit and a miss is worth minus 10. Assuming a GM can clean this drill in 13.3 seconds, then 20 hits is 100 points and the hit factor (points/seconds) is 7.52 (rounding up). A 100% score at the drills par time is 100 points divided by 27 seconds, or 3.70. Consequently that is roughly 49% which lines up with the calculated relative difficulty of this drill.

The following table provides the minimum hit factor math for the passing score requirements for each of the three levels along with the relative percentage.

Level	Hits	Misses	Points	Hit Factor	Percentage
1	14 (70 points)	6 (-60 points)	10	0.37	5%
2	16 (80 points)	4 (-40 points)	40	1.48	20%
3	18 (90 points)	2 (-20 points)	70	2.59	34%

Given all the passing hit factor percentages are less than 40% but higher than 2%, it suggests that D-class (the first level classification) USPSA competitor may be able to shoot a passing score on the Three Seconds or Less drill. What level they will be able to pass is going to depend how close they are to making C-class which starts at 40%. It’s also worth noting that all of the passing hit factor percentages put passing this drill into the “easy” difficulty bucket. Furthermore and frankly speaking, earning a D-class rating doesn’t take much more than showing up to USPSA matches, having 75% of shots fired hit the paper, and not getting disqualified. That happens to amount to being able to follow safe gunhandling principles, work a piston in and out of a holster, move safely with a gun in hand, perform basic pistol manipulations, and put multiple accurate shots on target.

Circling back to the question of having to be C-class before attending performance shooting classes, the answer is no. One doesn’t have to be C-class. However, they do need to have a grasp of the basics in order to handle their pistol safely even during movement and put hits on paper without external pressure. That said, I hold a strong opinion that folks who are closer to C-class or higher will get more value out of performance shooting courses. This is why I think passing the Three Seconds or Less drill (and I suggest a level 3 passing score as being the best indicator) is a good barometer to determine whether one is ready.

For those who are not interested in taking performance shooting classes, or competition, but conceal carry for defensive purposes, I will encourage you to work towards being able to attain a level 3 passing score or shooting this drill at 100% and maintaining. Achieving this goal puts one on par or better than graduates of 2-5 day pistol school curriculums and law enforcement officer standards. Additionally, it is a realistic minimum standard to be ready for the tasks, speed and accuracy needed in a typical self defense incident (Rehn et al., 2023).