Top 5 Shooting Drills That Could Boost Your Weapon Proficiency

In most cases, it’s near impossible for the average shooters to completely master the handling of their firearms overnight. To become proficient with particular guns, you have to go through a series of practices day after day to grasp the fundamentals and build reflexes. Fortunately, there are a lot of shooting exercises nowadays tailored for various purposes so all you have to do is to follow the right ones. But what if you have no idea what suit you? Well, don’t worry as this article shall show you some drills that should improve your ability to handle weapons for most of the time.      

• A Quick Note: Depending on the situation, it’s possible for you to alter certain aspects of the drills down below to fit available facilities.  

1 To 5

Multiple people fixate on double taps (shoot twice and move on) which might lead to fatal consequences if the targets just refuse to go down. Hence, Kyle Lamb from Viking Tactics introduces the 1 to 5 drill to help shooters around the globe neutralize adversary for good. The idea here is quite simple: shoot until the opponents no longer pose a threat. That would ensure you don’t have to come back in order to re-engage the foes in critical times.     

To properly conduct the drill, you are going to need 3 man-sized targets (IPSC, IDPA,…). Place the targets 5 yards away from you and space equally them apart from each other. On the first target, fire 1 round, transit, place 2 rounds on the second target, transit and on the third target, discharge 3 times. Keeps the momentum going and go back to the second target and fire 4 rounds. For the finish, put 5 rounds square on the first target. The drill involves 15 shots and you should attempt to complete it in less than 5 seconds.    

El Presidente

Designed by Jeff Cooper, a handgun expert, El Presidente is a drill that challenges pistol shooters to draw, engage, transit, reload and re-engage in a short period of time. It teaches people all combat shooting skills out there: draw from concealment, shot placement, reloading,… From the first glance, the drill seems pretty straightforward but it’s also easy for you to send a shot out of the vital zones. That is why you have to do your best to conquer the stress if you wish to get good results.    

For the preparation, set up 3 man-sized targets 1 yard apart and 10 yards away from you. Additionally, you need 2 magazines that contain 6 rounds each as well as a holster for handguns. At first, stand with your back to the targets, hands in the air and your pistol placed in the holster. On the go signal, turn, draw your gun and quickly put 2 rounds on each target. After expending the magazine, reload and proceed to re-engage the targets one more time. The perfect score for the drill is 12 rounds across the targets all in kill zones within the time limit (10 seconds).    

Shoot Two – Load Two

Though shotguns excel at close quarter combat, they have an inherent weakness: low ammo capacity. That is why being a fast reloader is one of the primary criteria to become a true master of shotguns. Made to refine the reloading technique of shotgun shooters, the shoot two – load two drill allow you to learn how to reload your shotgun in the middle of an engagement. Once you get the hang of everything, you would be able to keep your shotgun well fed with shells on the field no matter what.

In order to get the most out of the drill, it’s strongly recommended that you fit a sidesaddle to your shotgun for more ammunition. Regarding targets for the drill, paper works adequately but clay could perform just as well. Arrange the targets 10 yards away from you, fill the sidesaddle with shells and start shooting. As the name suggests, the shoot two – load two drill requires you to shoot 2 times, reload 2 shells and repeat that until you exhaust your ammunition. Observe the time using a clock to measure your progress.  

Mozambique

Invented to make sure that target is down once the fight starts, the Mozambique drill trains you on shot placement. The drill remains the same regardless of what weapon you use so it permits you to boost your proficiency with multiple weapons (handguns, rifles, shotguns,…). Considering its robust characteristics, both beginners and veteran have something to gain from the drill.   

In the beginning, position a silhouette target that features well-defined chest and head region. In the case you use handguns, place the target between 5 and 10 yards away from you. For shotguns and rifles, the distance should be around 15 – 20 yards. At the go buzzer, you must immediately put 2 rounds on the chest and 1 round on the head of the target. The usual time limit is 2.5 seconds and experienced shooters could do in less than 2 seconds.  

F.A.S.T

Stand for Fundamentals, Accuracy, and Speed Test, the F.A.S.T drill is the ultimate challenge for shooters that want to test their capabilities. As you progress, you would be able to optimize drawing techniques, shot placement and chest-to-head transition under pressure. The drill is considerably more demanding than ones mentioned above but if you want to prove you are a competent shooter, give it a go.
   
In term of preparation, gather a target, a 3×5 card and an 8-inch paper plate. In addition to that, you are going to need 2 magazines for the drill, one with 2 rounds and one with 4 rounds. The ideal distance between you and the target is 7 yards. Place the card and the plate on the head and the torso of the target respectively to set things up. At the start signal, draw, fire 2 rounds to the card, reload and on the plate, shoot 4 times and see the results. You get a passing mark if you manage to finish the drill within 10 seconds with all rounds on point.

Conclusion

Everything takes times so there is no need to rush here, go through the drills at your pace and you should eventually master your firearms. Keep in mind that there are also various accessories that could increase your performance on the field: variable magnification scopes, muzzle breaks, caliber specific optics, slings, flash hinders,… It would be wise to take such items into account while practicing.   

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Author Bio: I’m Jessica – Owner of Shooting Mystery blog. I’m an outdoor nerd loving writing about hunting, shooting, survival with my favorite items: gun, scope, knife …. Follow me to better understand & broaden your knowledge about this awesome area.