The El Presidente is a twelve-round pistol test: three targets set one yard apart at 10 yards, engaged with two rounds each, a mandatory reload, then two rounds each again, all from a start facing up-range with your hands raised in a surrender position. Jeff Cooper built it to measure whether a bodyguard could turn, draw, and deliver accountable hits on multiple threats under time, and it still runs today as USPSA classifier CM 99-11.
A good El Presidente is decided by the parts between the shots. The turn-and-draw, the two transitions across a yard of spacing, and the slide-lock reload eat far more time than the six pairs of shots ever will. Shooters who see the next target before the gun gets there and who index the fresh magazine without looking post clean runs in the single digits; shooters who shoot fast but transition and reload slowly stall in the mid-teens no matter how quick their splits are.
Timer runs prep and par beeps for each step.
Set three metric targets one yard apart at 10 yards. Load and holster with a full spare magazine on your belt. Stand facing up-range with your hands raised in a surrender position, wrists above your shoulders.
On the beep, turn, draw, and fire two rounds on each target left to right. Perform a reload, then fire two more rounds on each target for twelve total. The run counts only when all twelve hits stay in the A-zone.
Cue: Drive the eyes to the next target before the gun arrives. The transitions and the reload are where the time hides, not the shooting.
Score all three targets. Twelve A-zone hits inside 10 seconds is Cooper's clean standard. Record your time and hit factor, then repeat for five total runs.
As USPSA classifier CM 99-11, El Presidente is a twelve-round, 60-point Virginia Count course of fire scored on three metric targets, with the best four hits per target counting. Virginia Count means the round count is fixed: extra shots and misses draw penalties, so you cannot spray and make up hits. The score is a hit factor, total points earned divided by total time, and a higher hit factor moves you up the classification ladder.
For self-assessment away from a match, use Cooper's cleaner standard: all twelve rounds in the A-zone or the run does not count. A 6-second run with two hits outside the A-zone is a failed rep, not a fast one. Score every target, note any dropped points, and only chase speed once all twelve stay in the zone on demand.
| Level | Standard | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Novice | Clean run under 15.00s | Prioritize a safe turn and twelve hits on paper before you push the clock at all. |
| Intermediate | Clean run under 10.00s | Cooper's original all-points standard with a stock handgun. A solid, well-rounded practical shooter. |
| Advanced | Clean run under 7.00s | A-class territory in USPSA. Requires a fast turning draw, tight transitions, and a sub-2-second reload. |
| Master | Clean run under 5.00s | Grandmaster pace. Top competitors with tuned gear have driven clean runs toward the 3-second range. |
Cooper developed the drill in the 1970s while training a protective detail for the head of state of a Latin American country, then released it to the public through American Handgunner in the January and February 1979 issue. The exact country is told several ways in different retellings and is not firmly documented, so treat the specific nation as folklore rather than fact; the training context, a presidential security detail, is the part every account agrees on.
Cooper's original specification was metric: three silhouettes one meter apart, 10 meters from the shooter, all points on target inside 10 seconds with a stock handgun counted as good. When IPSC and later USPSA adopted it as a classifier, the course was standardized to yards, with the three targets one yard apart at 10 yards. Cooper never intended it as a stage for race guns chasing records; he built it to gauge a working shooter's overall proficiency across the draw, transitions, reload, and follow-through in a single string.
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Comparing timers first? The shot timer guide ranks the current field, and the dry fire practice guide covers the training aids that make at-home reps productive. Need the target? Print it free from the printable targets library.
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