The excellent discussion in the VP9 trigger characteristics thread really has me thinking about this. This forum has really expanded what I know about shooting a handgun and pushed me to get better. I have a background in coaching, teaching, and mentoring. I look at things a little differently than some people because of that. I try to break things down and figure out what constitutes the fundamentals of any given task and then come up with ways to practice and improve those fundamentals. What I want to get better at is tracking progress over time and determining overall skill level with a handgun.
Here's what I want to know. When it comes to the self-defense focused use of a handgun, what shooting standards really matter the most? What should a high-level shooter be able to do with their handgun of choice? What skills and standards should be practiced, measured, and tracked to determine progress?
At it's most basic level it would seem to be a combination of draw to first shot or multiple shots with 100% accuracy and acceptable speed. But there is so much more to showing a high level of competence with a pistol than that.
So what is it? What standards really matter and what standards do the best job of demonstrating a shooter's skill level with a handgun? What test or combination of tests hit all of the fundamentals?
To further complicate the question, how do we separate standards tests from drills? What drills build fundamentals and what tests measure mastery of those fundamentals?
I know there are probably a million answers to these questions but I'm really interested in reading the thoughts from the experts on this forum.