What are the Gabe White pins?
Pistol Shooting Solutions includes a heavy emphasis on technical skills in self-defense. There is no such thing as being too good at fighting for your life with a pistol. We conduct Technical Skills Testing as a standard part of every Pistol Shooting Solutions class to provide students goals to strive for, encouragement and incentive to improve, emphasize performance even in the face of stress and pressure, and recognize student achievement. The Technical Skills Tests can also be a part of private training or designated special training events.
We use four simple drills for our Technical Skills Testing. These are both simple stand-and-shoot drills that we use as vehicles for pushing our technical skills, and also resemble simple, credible engagement sequences for a single attacker in self-defense. The drills we use are:
- The Bill Drill (six shots to the body)
- Failure to Stop (two shots to the body and one shot to the head)
- Immediate Incapacitation (two shots to the head)
- The Split Bill Drill (four shots to the body and two shots to the head)
All are shot on a single USPSA Metric or IDPA target or similar, with either a 4″ circle or 3×5″ card added to the head, at a distance of 7 yards. The shooter can start with hands at sides, hands at high torso, or a hands-up surrender position. At the start signal, the shooter draws and engages the target exactly as required by the drill. No extra shots are allowed. Your score is your time, with penalties added for shots outside the A/-0 zone. B/C/-1 zone hits add .25 seconds per shot. D-zone hits add 1 second per shot. Misses add 2 seconds per shot. Head shots that land in the body count as misses. Body shots that land in the head count as lucky shots and are scored.
Earning a Pin
The four drills are used as practice drills and then shot for official score two times each. The highest-scoring four out of the eight total attempts count for Performance Awards. Times listed are for open-carried, non-retention gear. Concealment or duty gear (SLS+ALS minimum) gets a 0.25 second bonus (subtraction) on all drills.
Dark Pin
A tactical level of proficiency in core technical skills of drawing and shooting
- Bill Drill, 3.50 (Theoretical Breakdown: 1.50 + .40 + .40 + .40 + .40 + .40)
- Failure to Stop, 2.90 (Theoretical Breakdown: 1.50 + .40 + 1.00)
- Immediate Incapacitation, 3.00 (Theoretical Breakdown: 2.00 + 1.00)
- Split Bill Drill, 4.70 (Theoretical Breakdown: 1.50 + .40 + .40 + .40 + 1.00 + 1.00)
Light Pin
Excellence in core technical skills of drawing and shooting
- Bill Drill, 2.50 (Theoretical Breakdown: 1.25 + .25 + .25 + .25 + .25 + .25)
- Failure to Stop, 2.25 (Theoretical Breakdown: 1.25 + .25 + .75)
- Immediate Incapacitation, 2.50 (Theoretical Breakdown: 1.75 + .75)
- Split Bill Drill, 3.50 (Theoretical Breakdown: 1.25 + .25 + .25 + .25 + .75 + .75)
Turbo Pin
A highly developed level of excellence in core technical skills of drawing and shooting
- Bill Drill, 2.00 (Theoretical Breakdown: 1.00 + .20 + .20 + .20 + .20 + .20)
- Failure to Stop, 1.70 (Theoretical Breakdown: 1.00 + .20 + .50)
- Immediate Incapacitation, 2.00 (Theoretical Breakdown: 1.50 + .50)
- Split Bill Drill, 2.60 (Theoretical Breakdown: 1.00 + .20 + .20 + .20 + .50 + .50)
Philosophy Behind the Technical Skills Tests
Here’s an explanation of the PSS Technical Skills Testing Performance Awards origins, background and philosophy! Sorry about the sound quality – you might have to turn it up!
Technical Skills Test Demo
This video shows the four Pistol Shooting Solutions Technical Skills Tests shot in a practice environment at the overall Turbo Pin level.