Pistol Drills

Getting efficient at pistol craft takes more than punching holes in a paper target and shooting at your leisure. Many of us have made the significant decision to carry a firearm to protect ourselves and our loved ones.

There are hundreds of pistol drills available developed by some of the best shooters in the world, each drill with specific areas of development designed to help you identify areas of weakness to improve your shooting ability.

I am a strong proponent of starting simply and building upon these fundamentals. I also want to provide you with drills that you can perform as live fire on the range or as dry fire exercises.

Below are several of my favorites that have challenged me and which I still often practice.

https://www.concealedcarry.com/free-targets-and-downloadable-resources/

Dot Torture

This drill can be done in a number of ways.

My initial recommendation is to start off utilizing the simplest method. To begin, simply place one shot in each circle transitioning in numerical order to develop muzzle, sight transition, and trigger control to place all shots in the circle. Try it backward and forward at varying distances (5, 7, 10 yards) until you can comfortably place each shot in the circle.

Next, using a shot timer and selected distances, place a shot in each circle as quickly as you can. Mark your time and make adjustments to the distance until you can quickly and effectively place each shot in the circle at the maximum distance.

Now you’re ready for the “Big Time”

This firearms holster draw marksmanship drill came from David Blinder at personaldefensetraining.com.

Starting at 3 yards. You must get all 50 hits in the circles to pass. Once you can shoot the whole drill without a single miss, either increase the distance, add time pressure, or both.

The Goal - finish the entire drill in under 5 minutes while maintaining 100% accuracy.

Dot 1 – Draw and fire one string of 5 rounds for the best group. One hole if possible, total 5 rounds. Reholster
Dot 2 – Draw and fire 1 shot, holster, and repeat X4, a total of 5 rounds. Reholster
Dots 3 & 4 – Draw and fire 1 shot on #3, then 1 shot on #4, holster and repeat X3, total 6 rounds. Reholster
Dot 5 – Draw and fire a string of 5 rounds, strong hand only, a total of 5 rounds. Reholster
Dots 6 & 7 – Draw and fire 2 shots on #6, then 2 shots on #7, holster, repeat X4, for a total of 16 rounds. Reholster
Dot 8 – From ready or retention, fire five shots, weak hand only, for a total of 5 rounds. Reholster
Dots 9 & 10 – Draw and fire 1 shot on #9, speed reload, fire 1 shot on #10, holster and repeat X3, total 6 rounds.

F.A.S.T. Drill (Fundamentals, Accuracy, & Speed Test)

Range: 7 yards
Target: 3×5 card (head), 8″ paper plate (body)
Start position: weapon concealed or in duty condition with all holster retention devices active; shooter facing downrange in a relaxed stance with arms down at sides
Rounds fired: 6

The shooter loads the gun with a total of two rounds. On start signal, the shooter draws and fires two rounds at the head target; performs a slide-lock reload, and fires four rounds at the body target.

Monitor your progress of headshots to slide-lock reload, to fast body shots. Note your time and your progress if using a shot timer.

Ranking:

Novice: 10+ seconds
Intermediate: less than 10 seconds
Advanced: less than 7 seconds
Expert: less than 5 seconds

If the shooter is using a retention holster and flap (covered) magazine pouches, subtract 0.5 seconds from the recorded time.

If the shooter is using an open-top retention holster (e.g., Blackhawk SERPA or Safariland ALS) with no concealment, add 0.50 seconds to the recorded time.

Ball & Dummy Drill

Range: 3yd
Target: small (3×5 card, 3″ dot)
Start position: any
Rounds fired: varies

This drill has been used for decades to help shooters overcome problems anticipating recoil and jerking the trigger. It’s a staple of every instructor’s diagnostic toolbox.

You will need some snap caps or dummy rounds to do this drill. Have a shooting partner load your pistol magazine or revolver cylinder with about two-thirds live ammunition and one-third dummies, randomly mixed. (alternatively, revolver shooters can just leave 1-3 chambers empty)

Using a small but close target as outlined above, aim and shoot. You should have no idea whether you’re pulling the trigger on a live round or a dummy round, so treat every trigger press as if it were going to fire. When you get to a dummy round, the pistol should stay perfectly still as you press the trigger. If you jerk the trigger or anticipate recoil, you’ll immediately see it because the gun will move off target.

If you do jerk the gun on a dummy, stop and fire ten perfect, deliberate dry-fire shots without jerking the trigger or anticipating any recoil. Then do the Ball & Dummy Drill again.

This drill is only valid when you are shooting slowly and deliberately, working 100% on accuracy and zero on speed. As you start to shoot faster, it’s easy to mistake proper recoil management for “anticipation” and make you believe you are doing something wrong when you’re not.

Circle Drill

attributed to George Harris, SIGARMS Academy

Range: 7yd
Target: 8″ plate
Start position: any
Rounds fired: 36

The Circle Drill is intended to teach students the relationship between speed and accuracy, and how time affects marksmanship fundamentals.

The drill begins by firing six rounds at the plate at a slow pace (1 shot per second). Repeat. This is fundamental marksmanship with little or no time pressure.
Next, pick up the pace. Fire six rounds at a moderate pace (2 shots per second). Repeat. This speed is the “comfort zone” for most shooters, they should still get reasonably good hits.
Finally, maximize speed by firing six rounds at a pace of about 4 shots per second (or as fast as possible if 4 shots per second is faster than the gun can be kept under control). Repeat. This pace should push a shooter outside of his comfort zone and force him to work harder at recoil management and sight tracking.
Accuracy will suffer but the goal is to keep 90%+ hits on the plate.
For an added challenge, perform the drill one-handed both strong- and weak-hand. Note that the times, especially the “fast” time, may need to be adjusted for one-handed shooting. The goal remains the same. The first speed is slow marksmanship, the second speed is a steady comfortable cadence, and finally maximum speed without losing control of the gun.

https://youtu.be/t368W6ot6lE?t=10

Press Six

Range: 3yd – 7yd

Target: 6 Circle Target

Start position: holstered

Rounds fired: 62

Press Six is a multi-string drill that will help you improve both your press-out skills and your ability to hit low-probability targets at speed. It utilizes six 2″ circles. The distance can be anywhere from three to seven yards depending on the shooter’s skill level.

The six strings of fire are:

Top left dot. Draw and fire one shot, focusing on a proper press-out. No time limit. Repeat ten times.
Top center dot. Draw and fire one shot, focusing on a proper press-out. 3-second PAR time. Repeat ten times.
Top right dot. Draw and fire one shot, focusing on a proper press-out. 2-second PAR time. Repeat ten times.
Lower left dot. Draw and fire two shots, focusing on a proper press-out and good sight tracking. No time limit. Repeat five times.
Lower center dot. Draw and fire two shots, focusing on a proper press-out and good sight tracking. 3-second PAR time. Repeat five times.
Lower right dot. Draw and fire three shots, focusing on a proper press-out and good sight tracking. 3-second PAR time. Repeat four times.

Start at a distance where you can reliably get all of your hits on the slow strings (1 and 4), then push yourself to develop the speed necessary to make the PAR times. Once you are getting all of your hits on every dot, add a yard or two to the distance.

3-Two-1 Drill

Range: 3yd – 7yd

Target: Special

Start position: Holstered

Rounds fired: 30

3-Two-1 is a close-range drill focusing on speed and precision as well as the ability to change gears seamlessly. It uses a 3×5″ rectangle, a 2″ circle, and 1″ square.

Using a shot timer, give yourself a four-second PAR time.

On the buzzer, draw and fire six rounds as follows:

Three rounds at the 3×5 rectangle
Two rounds at the 2″ circle
One round at the 1″ square

Repeat the drill for a total of five runs.

This should give you:

Fifteen hits in the 3×5 rectangle
Ten hits in the 2″ circle
Five hits in the 1″ square

For an added challenge, you can begin a string on a different shape. Note that the PAR time becomes more constraining when you have to draw to a smaller target. You can also change the orientation of the target from practice session to practice session, so you don’t just build “muscle memory” moving in one direction.

The range can be anywhere from three to seven yards depending on the shooter’s skill level.

Start at a distance where you can hit all three of the targets when there is no time limit, and then push yourself to meet the PAR time. Record your results for each target (rectangle, circle, square) and work until you are getting good hits within the PAR time. Then increase the distance.