Optimizing Range Time: Drills
When we spend time at the range, we try to go in with a game plan on some skills to work on — and drills help facilitate that. Let's talk about our 3 most commonly used drills, the Bullet Hole Drill, the Acceleration Drill or Throttle Drill, and the Driving Drill or Present and Fire Drill. The video showcases handguns but these drills can be applied to other firearms as well.
The Bullet Hole Drill
This drill is great for reinforcing good shooting habits. It can be practiced with any firearm firing a single projectile. The goal is simple: make your first accurate shot on target and then simply aim for and hit the same hole. What this drill focuses on is honing your fundamentals. Your grip, stance, trigger control, reset, sight picture, and follow through. The goal is simple but the execution is key. Go slow, take your time, and focus on every movement.
The Acceleration or Throttle Drill.
It is a great way to work on sight acquisition. You should use a target with multiple-sized targets on it. Your goal is simply to move from one target to another, ideally taking less time to fire on the larger targets and more time on the smaller ones. You should move from target to target to target speeding up or slowing down as you need.
The Driving Drill / Present And Fire Drill
Moving into your sight picture is an essential competition skill and if you can shave time off here and keep accuracy it will make you that much better. Bring your firearm up into a firing position and take a shot. That’s it. Rinse and repeat. The goal here is speed AND accuracy. If you can work from a holster or sling for your rifle, it is recommend starting there. If you can't, begin at a low ready. This is also a great way to get around not being able to draw from a holster at some ranges.
While there are lots of different drills and skillsets to practice, we always find ourselves going back to these three drills time and time again. They help build fundamentals, accuracy, and speed, which are always our goals when shooting.