Advanced
Pistol
Bianchi Plate Rack
Source: Common dry-fire training standard
2.3s
Par Time
10 yd
Distance
5
Reps
Bianchi Plate Rack simulates the iconic steel array from Bianchi Cup competition — six eight-inch plates in a single row at ten yards, spaced twenty inches center to center. You acquire each plate in sequence and break a clean sight picture on every one. For dry-fire purposes, you mark the plate positions on a wall or paper and treat each as a discrete target.
The freestyle par is 2.3 seconds. Strong hand only is 2.8 seconds. Weak hand only is 3.5 seconds. These are demanding but achievable benchmarks — they reward shooters who can drive the gun cleanly between targets without sweeping the trigger or stopping the sights short. The drill is brutal on transitions: six clean acquisitions in under 2.3 seconds means each transition has to land in roughly 350 milliseconds.
The most common error is “sweeping” the plates — letting the gun glide continuously across the array while breaking shots. In live fire this misses. In dry-fire it builds a habit you will pay for at a match. Force yourself to see each sight picture settle on each plate before transitioning. If you can not do that under par, slow down until you can, then build speed back up with the technique intact.
Range Setup
Setup
Six simulated 8-inch plates in a single horizontal row at 10 yards, spaced 20 inches center to center. Use printed plates, taped circles, or scaled paper targets. Pistol confirmed unloaded, holstered or low-ready. Shot timer.
Scoring
At the par beep, all six plates must have a sight picture in sequence. Skipping, sweeping, or breaking the sequence = failed rep. Track separately: freestyle (2.3 s), strong hand only (2.8 s), weak hand only (3.5 s).
Tips
No sweeping. The sights have to settle on each plate, even if only briefly. Sweeping looks fast in dry-fire and misses everything in live fire.
Progression
Get freestyle clean before adding one-handed variants. Push the par down by 0.1 seconds at a time, and only when every plate gets a real sight picture. Add a draw to the start once the standing version is reliable.