The late Jim Cirillo was a legendary New York Police Department officer. He was most famous for being a founding member of the NYPD Stakeout Squad. The Stakeout Squad was formed in 1968 to counter the problem of armed retail robbers who were brutalizing and murdering small retail merchants in New York City. It was disbanded in 1973 because it was too efficient at neutralizing armed robbers with bullets. Squad members killed at least 41 armed robbers during robberies, which was just as unacceptable then as it is now.
Jim was also a National Champion pistol shooter and firearms trainer par excellence. He developed what he called the 1-2-3-6 Drill. Jimmy survived over a dozen gunfights but was killed in an automobile crash in July of 2007.
Shooting The Cirillo 1-2-3-6 Drill
The Cirillo 1-2-3-6 Drill totals 12 rounds fired in four strings. It starts by bringing the pistol up from a ready position to the target and firing one shot. The pistol is then brought back down to ready and brought up to the target to fire two shots. The same procedure is done again for three shots, and finally six shots. After each of the four strings, the shooter returns to ready and pauses so that the hits from each sequence stand on their own. The purpose of the drill is to practice recoil management and trigger manipulation. For each shot, the shooter does four things in sequence.
- Fire
- Reset the trigger in recoil while the sights are returning to the target
- Take up the slack in the trigger as the sights settle on the target, and finally
- When an acceptable sight picture is acquired, smoothly press the trigger to fire again
The objective of the drill is to learn to fire each sequence as quickly as good hits can be made on the target. However, shoot only as fast as the sights can be acquired on the target and the trigger pressed smoothly enough to not disturb an adequate sight alignment and sight picture.
The Los Angeles Police Department Shooting Proficiency Standards for CCW qualification can be a relevant structure for practicing Cirillo’s Drill. The LAPD course of fire consists of 72 rounds fired at 3, 5 and 7 yards. At each distance, 24 round are fired with no time limits. The target is the standard B-27 target. Rounds must strike within the "7" ring to count for score. To pass the course of fire, shooters must hit with 70 percent (17 of 24) of the rounds fired at each distance. The shooter must also safely load, unload, and reload their handgun during the course of fire. The Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department also uses this same course of fire.
While the "7" ring of the B-27 is specified as the target, we can improve our marksmanship practice by starting with a small but reasonable size target and then increasing the size of the target as the range increases. One possible progression would be a compact-disc-size circle at 3 yards, a letter-size sheet of paper at 5 yards and an 11x17 sheet of paper (or two letter sheets) at 7 yards.
Starting The Drill
To start the session, draw a 5-inch circle on your target. A compact disc or DVD can be used as a template, but as long as the circle is about 5 inches in diameter, that’s good enough. Put a small “aiming mark” in the center of the circle. When shooting, the aiming mark doesn’t have to be hit, but aiming at something smaller than the target will increases accuracy without decreasing speed. Place the target at 3 yards.
Start loaded with six rounds and have a spare magazine or speedloader handy. Begin at low ready, indexed below the base of the target. Bring the pistol up, fire one round and follow through. Then lower the pistol to low ready, pause and take a deep breath. Bring the pistol up, fire two rounds, and follow through. Then lower the pistol to low ready, pause, and breathe. Bring the pistol up, fire three rounds, follow through, and reload. Then lower the pistol to low ready, pause, and breathe. Finally, bring the pistol up, fire six rounds, follow through, and then unload.
Having high-visibility sights that are easily visually tracked in recoil is a great aid when shooting this drill. Night sights and three dot sights tend to be less helpful.
After shooting the 1-2-3-6 Drill from low ready, mark the hits with masking tape. Then reshoot it starting from the mid-point of the draw stroke rather than the low ready. At the mid-point, the pistol is at chest level, the line of the sights is underneath the dominant eye and the bore is parallel to the ground.
At 3 yards, you will then have fired 24 rounds, 12 from low ready and 12 from the mid-point of the draw stroke.
Moving on to 5 yards, place a sheet of paper on the silhouette and put an aiming mark on it of a size you can easily see.
Repeat all the strings at 5 yards for a total of 24 rounds. Once again, you will fire 12 shots from low ready and 12 from the mid-point of the draw stroke.
Finally, to shoot the 7 yards phase, place two sheets of paper horizontally on the silhouette and put an aiming mark in the middle you can easily see.
Repeat all the strings at 7 yards for a total of 24 rounds. As with 3 and 5 yards, you will fire 12 shots from low ready and 12 from the mid-point of the draw stroke.
Wrapping Up
At this point, the shooter will have completed the LAPD/LASD Qualification Course. Rather than simply blasting 72 rounds at the target, you will have shot a practice regimen developed by one of the legendary gunfighters of the 20th century.
For shooters who want to finish up two boxes of ammo, reshoot the 3- and 5-yard stages using the primary hand only. You could shoot 3 yards from low ready and 5 yards from the mid-point. That would give 96 rounds of very structured practice.
RIP Jimmy Cirillo, we’ll always miss your wit and wisdom.
