I’ve been using the Federal Air Marshal qualification course of fire as a fun and challenging training aid. This routine isn’t easy—only a small percentage of concealed carriers will pass it without serious practice.

What makes it a great training tool is that it requires absolute and legit concealment. I’m not talking BS concealment like a floppy shoot-me-first vest or an IDPA barely competition-legal setup.

The litmus test is clear. Could you walk onto an airplane, like an Air Marshal has to do, and suffer all the crammed seating contortions, with a zero percent chance of someone spotting your concealed handgun? In other words, to run the course fair, you have do it from legit, no cheating concealment.

Passing the course requires drawing (fast) from deep concealment and hitting small target zones. Oh, and one more thing. You have to run the course cold. If you blow a single time or scoring mark anywhere in the routine, you fail and have to try another day again. No practice runs, repeated stages, or do-overs of any kind.

Most folks agree that less than one percent of handgun shooters can pass the test legitimately. If you can, congratulations! If you can’t, passing this qualification is a great training and skills objective.

What I really like about it, other than raw proficiency development, is that it exercises your concealed carry gear and methods. If there’s a flaw in the works, this course of fire will expose it, especially if you do it on different occasions, under different conditions, and while wearing different types of clothing. I’d argue that clearing concealment garments present the lions’ share of the challenge of executing a fast and perfect draw.

Read the rest: Concealed Carry: Traditional IWB, “Hippendix”, or Appendix?