LEVEL 11/4
CALIBRATION
Find your real starting point.
Your grip, sight picture and trigger press, measured on dedicated targets, so you know which fundamental needs work first.
For every handgun owner, from the first box of ammo on.
Pistol trainingfrom the ground up
NES is a 4-month pistol training program for every handgun owner, run at any range with a printed plan and targets for every session. It builds the fundamentals (grip, sight picture, trigger press, draw) and measures them, from LEVEL 1 CALIBRATION to LEVEL 4.Fundamentals first. Measured every session.
- New owners welcome
- At any range you choose
- Plans and targets in English
You own a handgun. Now what?
Most handgun owners get a safety talk at the counter, maybe one class, and then a lane and a box of ammo.
In a national survey, 39% of gun owners had never had any formal firearms training, and most of the training people do get covers safe handling and storage, not shooting well. So people practice the only way they know: they shoot. Without a plan, every range trip repeats the last one, mistakes included.
Habits form either way. A grip that shifts, a trigger you slap, a sight picture you rush: repeated for a year, they become how you shoot. The only question is whether the habits you build are the right ones.
Pistol training that adds up works the other way round: start from the fundamentals, measure them on targets built for it, and raise the bar only once you can repeat the result.
You don’t need to have grown up with guns, and you don’t need someone at the range to show you how you are doing. You need a plan, and a way to see your own progress.
What does good pistol training actually work on?
Four fundamentals. Every NES technical session builds them, first dry, then live, and puts a number on each.
Grip
The same full grip, built the same way every time. Sessions open with dry practice, bringing your hands together and presenting to the target for 5 to 15 reps, before a single live round.
Sight picture
One rule runs through the drills: press only once you have a full sight picture on the target. It is written into the plan, so you practice it instead of just hearing it.
Trigger press
A controlled press shows on paper. On the bars the standard is 3 hits inside the edges of each bar, so the target tells you whether your press held, not a guess.
Draw and presentation
From the holster to the target as one smooth sequence: draw, present, acquire the sights, press. Rehearsed dry first, then brought into live fire.
What happens in one pistol training session?
This is the LEVEL 1 technical session on the CORE track, stage by stage. 100 rounds in all: 86 planned and 14 held in reserve.
Stage A: Dry practice
Hands together and present to the target. Rack the slide. Dry press on a full sight picture. Then draw to a dry press. 5 to 15 reps of each.
0 rounds
Stage B: Circles target, top and middle rows
From the ready position: hands together, sights, 1 round per circle on the top row, then 2 rounds per circle on the middle row. Run twice.
26 rounds
Stage C: Circles target, bottom row
Small circle, 1 round. Medium circle, 2 rounds. Back to ready between circles, three 7-round magazines.
21 rounds
Stage D: Bars & Cones target, the bars
3 rounds at a controlled pace on each bar, back to ready, next bar. The standard: 3 hits inside the edges of each bar.
24 rounds
Stage E: Bars & Cones target, the cones
The number on each cone is the number of rounds: 1 at the first cone, then 2, up to 5, back to ready between them.
15 rounds
Reserve
Held back to re-shoot a string that didn't go well, so a weak point gets fixed without cutting into the rest of the plan.
14 rounds
Distance: at least 6 meters (7 yards) from the target, farther as your skill allows. What to bring: your pistol, 3 magazines, a holster (ideally the one you carry in), a magazine pouch, the session’s printed targets, and eye and ear protection.
Want single drills to try on your next range day first? See our free pistol drills.
Four levels, one month each, and one clear goal at the end:
How does your shooting progress from LEVEL 1 to LEVEL 4?
LEVEL 22/4
CONSISTENCY
Make the good shot repeatable.
One good group can be luck. Here the goal is the same result, string after string, session after session.
LEVEL 33/4
PERFORMANCE
Raise the bar and see what holds.
The demands go up on the same fundamentals, so you find out whether they hold when the standard gets harder.
LEVEL 44/4
INTEGRATION
Put it all together.
Draw, presentation and accurate fire as one sequence, ending at the NES STANDARD.
Why does structured practice beat just shooting?
Because practice compounds only when each session builds on the one before. Here is the difference, side by side.
A typical range trip
- No plan: you shoot whatever feels right that day.
- One target for everything, so it can't show you which fundamental broke.
- You count the rounds you fired.
- The next trip starts from the same place.
An NES pistol training session
- A printed plan, stage by stage, with the rounds for every stage.
- A target built for each drill, so your misses point to the cause.
- You count hits inside a standard.
- Reserve rounds to re-shoot what went wrong, and a next session that builds on this one.
Is this an online handgun course?
Partly, and on purpose. Online is how you get the plan: your member area, the printable training plan and targets, and a short video for each session. The shooting itself is live fire at a real range, because no screen can teach your hands a trigger press.
Between range days you can add dry practice at home if you like, always with the full safety protocol: the gun unloaded and checked twice, all ammunition in another room, a safe direction with a backstop, no live ammunition during the session, and reloading only after it ends, saying out loud that practice is over.
Two things to know before you buy. No instructor watches you shoot, so if you are brand new, take an in-person basic class as well. And the session videos are in Hebrew for now: the plans and targets are in English, and English videos are on the way.
If you carry every day, the concealed carry training program page shows how the same tracks train you from concealment.
Who built this pistol training program?
NES started in Israel, and its programs were built together with operators from Israeli special forces units who have fought in active combat. What they brought to a civilian program is structure: every session planned, every round accounted for, every stage measured against a standard.
Pistol fundamentals are the same in every country, so the method travels. Laws are not, and your state’s rules are yours to learn from local, official sources. More about NES Defense firearms training.
What you get
Everything in the 4-month NES training program
A complete 4-month training plan
4 levels that build on each other, with a clear printable plan for every session.
A dedicated target set for every session
So every drill, every round and every metric is tied to a clear goal.
Measurement and tracking all the way through
So you know where you stand, what improved and what comes next.
Access to your own member area
Where you download the training plans and targets for every stage of the program.
A note on language: the printable plans and targets are in English. Each session also has a short training video, and for now those videos are in Hebrew. English videos are on the way.
Plus 2 bonuses: a month of coaching support and NES MEMBER for life
Choose your training track
- 4 months · 4 levels
- Dedicated targets for every session
- At any range, anywhere
- Finish at the NES STANDARD
CORE
up to200roundsper month
2 sessions a month · rounds per session
- Technical session100
- Combat session100
$299
One-time payment for all 4 months
*Split into up to 3 payments
PRO
up to350roundsper month
3 sessions a month · rounds per session
- Technical session100
- Combat session100
- Combined session150
$359
One-time payment for all 4 months
*Split into up to 3 payments
DIAMOND
up to500roundsper month
3 sessions a month · rounds per session
- Technical session150
- Combat session150
- Combined session200
$449
One-time payment for all 4 months
*Split into up to 3 payments
+ 2 bonuses with every track: a month of coaching support • NES MEMBER for life
Every track leads to the same NES STANDARD. The difference is how many rounds and sessions you run each month.
With every track, 2 bonuses
Included in the price. Nothing extra to pay.
A month of coaching support
For the first month you are not left alone with the plan. The NES team is with you for questions, corrections and help along the way.
- Questions
- Corrections
- Help along the way
02
NES MEMBER for life
The moment you join a track, you are part of the NES community. NES MEMBER includes:
- Access to the NES members community
- Early access to new NES content
- NES challenges and skill tests
You are not just getting a 4-month training plan.
You are joining a system that stays with you long after the program ends.
4 months of training. A community for life.
Pistol training
questions
First handgun, online or not, basic classes, gear, distance and rounds: what people ask before they start.
Right here, at LEVEL 1. This is pistol training for beginners as much as for anyone: you don't need any experience, and the first month, CALIBRATION, measures your grip, sight picture and trigger press and shows you what to work on first. Because no instructor is at your lane, we also recommend an in-person basic class if you have never fired a handgun. And learn the safety rules before your first range trip: treat every gun as loaded, keep the muzzle pointed in a safe direction, keep your finger off the trigger until your sights are on the target, and know your target and what is beyond it.
In part. Everything reaches you online: the plan, the targets and a short video for each session. The training itself is live fire at a range, which no online course can replace. That is why NES is not a video course you watch, but a plan you run.
A basic pistol class, from the NRA or anyone else, is a one-time class with an instructor that teaches safe handling and the basics. It is a good first step, and we recommend one if you are new. NES is what comes after: 4 months of structured handgun training, 2 or 3 range sessions a month, each with a printed plan, dedicated targets and a standard to hit. There is no instructor at your lane, and NES does not give you a certificate.
Yes, in the plain sense: a structured course of training, 4 months long, that you run at a range. It is not a permit, license or certification course, and it does not replace your state's permit requirements.
Yes. Every session is written so one person can run it: the plan gives you each step, the targets show your results and the reserve rounds let you re-shoot what didn't go well. Many people who start shooting as adults prefer exactly that: progress at their own pace, measured on paper, with no one looking over their shoulder.
Each plan lists it: your pistol, 3 magazines, a holster (ideally the one you carry in every day), a magazine pouch and that session's printed targets. And eye and ear protection, every time.
At least 6 meters (7 yards), as every plan states. As your skill grows, you can move the target farther back.
A LEVEL 1 CORE technical session uses 100 rounds: 86 planned and 14 held in reserve for re-shoots. A month is up to 200 rounds on CORE, 350 on PRO and 500 on DIAMOND, and every plan states its count up front.
Yes, dry practice, always with the full safety protocol: unload the gun and check it twice, put all ammunition in another room, point only in a safe direction with a backstop that would stop a round, keep live ammunition out of the session entirely, and reload only after the session ends, saying out loud that practice is over. Live fire happens at the range. Our guide to dry fire training covers the method in more detail.
The printed plans and the targets are in English. Each session's short video is in Hebrew for now, and English videos are on the way. The written plan walks you through every drill on its own.
No. One payment in US dollars covers all 4 months, and you can split it into up to 3 payments.
Your first session starts at LEVEL 1 CALIBRATION.
Pick a track by how much you shoot in a month, print the first plan, and find out exactly where you stand. From there, every session builds the next.
Already solid on the fundamentals and ready for pressure? See tactical firearms training.