Basic
Pistol
Table Start
Source: Common dry-fire training standard
3s
Par Time
5 yd
Distance
10
Reps
Table Start trains the move that some stages force on you — picking your pistol up off a table, getting a complete grip on it, and engaging targets. You set the gun on a folding card table or any flat surface roughly waist height with the muzzle pointing downrange. Hands free, you stand uprange of the table. At the buzzer you pick up the gun and engage.
The skill being tested is grip consistency under speed. A holster does most of the work of presenting the gun in the same orientation every time. A table does none of that. You have to build the firing grip from whatever angle the gun is sitting in, which means deliberately placing the gun the same way each rep. Most shooters benefit from placing the gun so the grip points slightly toward their dominant hand, making the pickup natural.
Experiment with table surfaces — wood, tablecloth, carpet — and note how they change the friction during pickup. A pistol slips a little on a smooth surface and grabs on rough fabric. These differences will show up at matches. Train across surfaces, and place the gun in awkward orientations as you progress so no real-match setup catches you unprepared.
Range Setup
Setup
Folding card table or similar surface at waist height, ~5 yards from the target(s). Pistol confirmed unloaded, placed on the table with muzzle downrange and grip oriented for natural pickup. Hands free, starting uprange of the table. Shot timer.
Scoring
At the par beep, you must have picked up the pistol with a complete firing grip and engaged the first target with a stable sight picture. Re-gripping after the pickup = failed rep.
Tips
Place the gun the same way every rep until the pickup becomes muscle memory. Only then start varying the orientation.
Progression
Vary the surface (wood, cloth, carpet). Vary the gun orientation (perpendicular to the line, sideways, with magazine well exposed). Then place the gun in deliberately awkward positions to simulate real-match setups.