A couple of my X (formerly Twitter) buddies and I were recently chatting about the recent surge of posts regarding and encouraging dry fire practice. Some posts issue challenges that include video on how to perform the particular drill issued in the challenge. Other posts include video answers to the challenge performed by folks with varying degrees of skill level. It’s been a breath of fresh air to see a surge in interest.

One of the challenges issued contained the Criss Cross drill. This drill is one of my favorite drills because it incorporates all but one aspect of practical marksmanship – the exclusion being movement. In a reply on X, I described the Criss Cross drill as a full three course meal. It begins with a draw for an appetizer. The main course consists of transitions to targets of alternating difficulty. And for dessert, we have a wonderful reload.

Drill Procedure

The drill procedure is the same for dry fire and live fire with the exception of using live ammunition during dry fire. As always, care should be taken to get your dry fire dojo ready for dry fire practice and ensure there is no possible way to “accidentally” load live ammunition. Safety first and foremost, always.

The Criss Cross drill calls for three USPSA or IDPA silhouette targets set one yard apart from each other. If you’re using reduced scaled targets, then place three 1/3 scale targets one foot apart from each other or three 1/6 scale targets six inches apart from each other. Don’t forget that free downloadable and printable targets are available from ConcealedCarry.com.

More often than not I like to perform this drill at a distance of 10 yards to the targets, but it can be done at any distance. I’ll cover goal performance times later in this post, but remember it’s okay to move in closer when the performance goals are too difficult and increase the distance when they are too easy. The performance times can also be reduced or increased as needed to increase or decrease difficulty respectively as needed.

The standard drill procedure is as follows:

1. With hands relaxed at sides, on the start signal, draw and fire two shots to the body of the first target
2. Transition and fire two shots to the head of the second target
3. Transition and fire two shots to the body of the third target
4. Reload and fire two shots to the head of the third target
5. Transition and fire two shots to the body of the second target
6. Transition and fire two shots to the head of the first target

At the end of the drill all A-zones should have two hits in them that were made in a criss cross pattern, hence the name of the drill. There is nothing wrong with catching the occasional C-zone hit when performing this drill in live fire at speed. However during dry fire practice, it’s important to hold A-zones while working the trigger.

Performance Notes and Goals

Performing this drill without time pressure is a good idea for those who are early in the skill development or when working on refining the process. When working this drill without time pressure, pay close attention to your visual focus which should be placed on a small and precise point on the current target. Additionally, make sure your vision is leading the draw, each transition, and the reload. Avoid riding the sights or the dot through the drill. Consider working the draw or the reload in isolation if either is being fumbled consistently. Ideally, the draw and the reload processes should be happening subconsciously and automatically.

Here are some performance times to work towards when working this drill at 10 yards (which I’ve borrowed from Ben Stoeger’s and Joel Park’s book, Practical Shooting Training):

• 10 seconds dry and 12 seconds live for those working to achieve USPSA B-class or IDPA Expert classifications
• 6.2 seconds dry and 7 seconds live for those working to achieve higher level classifications
• 5.1 seconds dry and 5.3 seconds live for those working to achieve competitive excellence

As already mentioned, adjust the drill distance or time goals to adjust the drill difficulty as desired.

Variations

Changing things up is never a bad thing. Changes keep us on our toes and can help keep us engaged in practice.

The most obvious change to me is changing the start position. Rather than starting with hands relaxed at sides, try starting:

• in a surrender position (wrists above shoulders),
• facing up range,
• with an unloaded weapon,
• or from a table top start.

Time goals can, and arguably should be adjusted, when using one or more start position variations. For a surrender or a facing up range start add 0.1 to 0.2 seconds to the goal time. Add 1 to 2 seconds for an unloaded weapon start. And add another 0.25 to 0.5 seconds for a table top start. Those time additions should stack when start position variations are combined.

Another variation is changing up the starting A-zone from two body shots to two head shots on the first target. This has zero effect on goal times since we are exchanging a slower draw for a faster reload assuming the alternating criss cross pattern remains intact.

Another change we can make is the transition direction. Instead of doing the standard right to left followed by left to right after the reload, we can go left to right followed by right to left. We can also maintain the same transition direction after the reload so that we end up going right to left from the draw and after the reload or left to right twice. Directional changes have no bearing on goal times.

Finally, we can add additional transition passes and reloads limited only by the number of magazines available on the belt. Since there is more to do, it will take more time. We can adjust the goal time by adding 50% of the original goal time for each additional pass. For example, given a 10 second original goal time, we would add 5 seconds for an additional reload and pass resulting in a 15 second goal for two reloads and three total transition passes, a 20 second goal for three reloads and four total transition passes, and so on.

Closing Thoughts

The Criss Cross drill is the most complex drill introduced in the dry fire series of posts. This is intentional because it combines several individual fundamentals covered in previous posts of the series. It doesn’t make any sense to start here unless those individual fundamentals have been worked on and developed to some extent prior to attempting to string them together.

That said, this drill is fantastic. It can also be incredibly frustrating when one isn’t seeing the results they are expecting. If that happens, take a step back, take a deep breath, and remember the results are going to be what they are going to be based on how well we execute the process that produces them. As such, the results shouldn’t be the focus, the process should. Focusing on the process will yield the best results we can produce. And improving the process is the path to better results. Practice, dry or live, is what leads to process improvement. I know it’s easier said than done, but avoid worrying about the results and remain focused on the process.

Now go and give the Criss Cross drill a try. If you’re willing, then let us know how it went. Even better, join the conversation on X. I would love to see more folks sharing their dry fire failures and achievements with others as I suspect it will encourage more folks to join the dry fire gang. Embrace the struggle; that’s where growth lies.