The
El Presidente is a standard
practice drill in
IPSC and
IDPA and helps train the
shooter in firing at multiple targets and in performing a quick
tactical reload.
The setup is simple, only requiring three standard IPSC or IDPA target boards placed one meter apart at a range of ten meters from the firing line.
The shooter will need one extra magazine or speed loader and will start with back facing the target and hands above the shoulder. At the signal, shooter will turn and draw his sidearm and fire twice at each target, reload, and then twice more on each. Score will be computed in accordance to the sport which the shooter is participating in. IPSC and IDPA have slightly different scoring conventions.
Some variations of this take into consideration the tactical priority of the target and recommends firing once each at the target and then reengaging them in reverse order, so you fire 1 shot, 1 shot, 2 shots, from left to right (or right to left, depending on your preference), then 1 shot each to the other two as you reengage in reverse order. The end result is still 2 holes each per target.
The idea is that in a real life encounter, it is better to at least incapacitate all of your targets first, albeit partially, rather than focusing on one only to get shot by the other two. After having done so, you now have more time to finish the job.