10 Round Assault Course | Skills and Drills [2025]

As a resident of the Western portion of the United States, I have the privilege to shoot on public land. This allows me to have more complex practice sessions, incorporating drawstrokes, alternative positions, and more. Lately I’ve been wanting to make my range time more dynamic to work on other skills. With this in mind, I started looking for drills and courses of fire to support my goals. The 10 Round Assault Course, originally created by Ethan Johns of SWAT Magazine, comes highly recommended by several friends. How did I do on this drill, and what do I think of it?

Setting Up the Drill

The 10 Round Assault Course is a really easy drill to set up. You need 10 rounds for your pistol, a holster, one B-8 target, and a shot timer. Place your target at 25 yards, load your magazine with 10 rounds, and charge your pistol. Set the shot timer to a 20 second par. There are no reloads in this drill, so only one magazine is necessary.

Having distance markers such as cones will also be helpful here. You’ll want to mark 25 yards, 15 yards, and 7 yards to help you run this drill properly.

Scoring

Scoring is also simple with the 10 Round Assault Course. You need to come in under the 20 second par time. Each round is worth 10 points, and with 10 rounds fired you have a total potential score of 100. A passing score is 80%, in addition to coming in under par.

To help you grow, try to keep your score above 80% while lowering your par time. Alternatively you can try to get as close to a perfect target score as possible in the time allotted. If you’re really good, do both!

Firing the Drill

Once you have everything set up properly, go stand at the 25 yard marker. Chamber a round in your pistol, then place it in your holster. This drill is one long stage, so once the gun comes out you’ll be shooting to completion. I’ll break this drill into specific yard markers, but don’t forget that the 10 Round Assault Course is a continuous course of fire.

• 25 Yards
  • Draw and fire 2x rounds standing, then advance to 15 yards.
• 15 Yards
  • Fire 2x rounds standing, then advance to 7 yards.
• 7 Yards
  • Fire 3x rounds standing, then fire 3x more rounds while advancing towards the target.

My Results

This was the first time I’d ever tried the 10 Round Assault Course, and the first time in a long time I’d shot on the move. I fired the drill twice with my Taurus 692 Executive Grade. That’s a 7-shot revolver for those unaware, this one setup up for 9mm moon clips. Because of this, I had to conduct a reload during the 7 Yard stage.

On my initial run I scored a 95/100, but my par time came in at 25.96 seconds. For my second attempt I dropped one more point, coming in at 94/100 in 24.78 seconds. I kept my movement pretty slow here, using this more as familiarization rather than a balls-out blazing run. The reload certainly added a significant amount of time to my scores, but I’m sure I could pass with a little work. I also held myself to a high accuracy standard, and likely could have traded a few points for a better time. I’m not upset with this performance overall.

Shifting Gears

This range session also saw a fair bit of carbine use as I prepare for an upcoming class. To close out my time, I opted to run through the 10 Round Assault Course with my rifle. We’re not using anything fancy here, just a simple AR-15 with a basic Aimpoint red dot optic. I made two runs of the standard course here. My first attempt landed me a 96/100 in 17.42 seconds. The second run brought in a 91/100 in 17.02 seconds. Knowing your holds can save you a few points as you close distance.

Curious to change things up a bit, I decided to change things up a little more. This time I doubled the distance and the par times. That means I started at 50 yards, making stops at 30 and 15 yards respectively, with a par time of 40 seconds. With my last few rounds I made one attempt at this modification. I got a respectable 97/100, in 27.44 seconds. Overall I’m very pleased with this considering it was the end of a long range day. I think both variations will keep a place in my carbine training range plans.

Final Thoughts on the 10 Round Assault Course

I’m really glad that I decided to give the 10 Round Assault Course a try. It’s one that I’ve known about for a while, but never made the effort to execute during my practice. Unfortunately the movement does restrict shooters from using this at most ranges. That said, when you can make it happen, it’s a great break from what people typically shoot. Give the 10 Round Assault Course a try and let us know what you think!

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