Walk into almost any modern firearms class and you’ll eventually face a sheet of small circles—tiny black dots, each one just an inch wide. It looks simple, but it’s one of the most humbling tests of marksmanship you’ll ever run. Miss even slightly on your grip, your sights, or your trigger press, and the dot tells on you instantly.
At Strategic Defense Academy, we use these Dot targets in nearly every class. They’re brutally honest, endlessly versatile, and deeply rooted in a training tradition that stretches back decades.
Where the Dot Drill Came From
The story of dot shooting begins in the 1980s with world champion shooter John Shaw, founder of the Mid-South Institute of Self-Defense Shooting. Shaw broke new ground by combining bullseye accuracy with combat speed. His students had to draw and fire into the black bullseye of an NRA B-8 (about 5.5 inches across) at seven yards in under two seconds before advancing.
That “small circle standard” was revolutionary: if you could hold the black at speed, hitting a full-size silhouette under stress became much easier.
In the early 2000s, instructor David Blinder refined the concept into a printable drill known as Dot Torture. His target used ten 2-inch circles, each with a different assignment—slow fire, draws, reloads, strong-hand, weak-hand. Fifty rounds later, every fundamental skill had been tested, and every mistake was visible on the page. When instructor Todd Green published the Dot Torture drill on his Pistol-Training.com site in 2007, it spread nationwide and became a staple of defensive pistol training.
From Shaw’s bull to Blinder’s 2-inch dots, the principle was the same: aim small, miss small.
The Rise of the 1-Inch Dot
Over time, instructors kept shrinking the circles. If you can consistently hit a 1-inch dot at 3–5 yards, then hitting a chest-sized vital zone under stress is no question. Trainers like Paul Howe (CSAT), Ron Avery (TPC), and others baked 1-inch dots into their standards, and soon the format spread across the shooting world.
Today, the 1-inch dot sheet is one of the most common—and most dreaded—targets on the range. It has become the purest test of fundamentals: sights, trigger, patience.
Carrying the Legacy Forward: The SDA Target Pack
At Strategic Defense Academy, we’ve carried that legacy forward with our own SDA Target Pack. Instead of relying on just one kind of dot, we employ multiple variations, each crafted to pressure-test a different aspect of performance:
- 1-Inch Precision Dots – dozens of reps to refine core mechanics and identify errors.
- 6-Inch Dot – for marksmanship drills at longer distances.
- Throttle Control Dots – circles of varying sizes that force shooters to modulate cadence based on target difficulty.
- Dot Torture (SDA Edition) – the classic 50-round fundamentals test.
- 3-Inch Cadence Circles – for building rhythm, recoil control, and consistency.
- The SDA 3-5-7 Test – a timed progression combining accuracy, draw speed, and target transitions.
Each target is printable, affordable, and brutally effective—exactly what a training tool should be.
Download Your Copy
We’ve packaged our SDA Precision Dots, along with other mission-specific training targets, into a free downloadable bundle. They’re tools to pressure-test your skills and build confidence that lasts.
👉 Download the FREE SDA Target Pack Here
Final Thought
Every time you line up on a 1-inch dot, you’re connecting to a tradition that started with champions and warriors who demanded accountability from every shot. At SDA, we’re proud to honor that lineage while giving you the tools to sharpen your skills today.
Prepare. Protect. Prevail.
BONUS CONTENT FOR PATREON MEMBERS:
Bonus Content Available for Patrons:
- Drill walk-throughs
- Scenario setups
- Video demos
- Training plans with target integration
Want the full training system? Join SDA’s tiered Patreon membership to unlock exclusive content, live sessions, and more.
