Three Helpful Shooting Drills for Speed and Accuracy

At the heart of defensive handgunning is the balancing of speed and accuracy. If you’ve been shooting for a while, you’ve probably heard the saying, “You can’t miss fast enough to win a gunfight.” While true, that sentiment doesn’t account for the fact that it’s also possible to shoot too slowly to win a gunfight.

It’s important to know how fast you’re capable of hitting your target. That will depend on such factors as the size of the target and the immediacy of the threat. Skill level plays a pivotal role as well, but unlike target size and immediacy of the threat, it’s something you have a say in.

Having learned to shoot in the police academy, I was taught to maximize my chances of hitting the target, and that meant slowing down. “Every bullet that leaves the barrel of your gun has a lawyer attached to it,” was the maxim.

Not only might an errant round land you in legal trouble, but even worse, it might injure or kill an innocent bystander. While there are too many variables to guarantee a hit, as a defensive handgunner, it’s your duty to do everything in your power to hit only what you’re aiming at.

Don't Spray and Pray

As the good guy or gal, we don’t get to “spray and pray” for a hit like a criminal with no regard for human life. What the bad guy lacks in marksmanship, he often makes up for in volume of fire, burning through a magazine as quickly as he can squeeze the trigger, while aiming in his target’s general vicinity.

Ideally, during a lethal force encounter, you would shoot as fast as you can hit, but no faster. But how do you know how fast you can hit? By practicing. A good starting point is the popular Bill Drill, developed by Bill Wilson, the renowned shooter and gunsmith who founded Wilson Combat.

The Bill Drill

The Bill Drill begins with your hands raised in the surrender position. On the beep, draw and fire six rounds into the A zone of an IPSC target or 0 zone of an IDPA positioned seven yards away. Two seconds with all A or 0 zone hits is the goal, albeit a lofty one for most shooters.

The Bill Drill is a great way to start developing the balance of speed and accuracy needed to prevail in an armed encounter. It provides tangible results. You either got all your hits or you didn’t. You either made the time standard or you didn’t.

If you hit the center zone with all six shots but didn’t make the time standard, speed up. If you missed, slow down. As a bonus, the Bill Drill requires a fast draw, which could come in handy in a self-defense scenario.

As good as the Bill Drill is, it doesn’t account for the target being at different distances and therefore, the target appearing larger up close or smaller from farther away—or partially shielded behind cover or, worse yet, a hostage.

Viking Tactics Hand and Half Drill

The Viking Tactics Half and Half Drill is a great way to get a feel for how fast you can hit the target based on how far it is from you. The drill, developed by Kyle Lamb, is a 30-round drill, shot from three positions. The drill requires all A zone hits on an IPSC target.

The drill starts at the 20-yard line, where you fire 10 rounds from a ready position in 12 seconds. Then, as the distance is cut in half, so is your time. From 10 yards, you have only six seconds, and from five yards, you have just three seconds to register 10 hits.

The drill is doable, but it’s certainly not as easy as Kyle himself makes it look. At distance, it requires concentration and patience, because the tendency is to shoot too fast. Conversely, up close you must shoot fast to make the time standard. This necessitates a good grip to control recoil and, just as importantly, trigger control.

This leads me to another of my favorite drills. While not as dynamic as the Bill or Half and Half, my friend Dave Spaulding’s Reset in Recovery Drill is equally beneficial. It’s not a timed drill, but it can improve your speed and accuracy. The purpose  is to ensure your gun is ready to fire the next shot as soon as you’re back on target after firing the last one.

Reset in Recovery Drill

The target isn’t all that important, but an A zone would be a reasonable size, given the drill is shot from five yards. Even round count is flexible, but you’ll need to fire at least two rounds to reset the trigger and fire again.

The drill has a three-phase progression. The first involves firing one-handed and not fighting recoil. Allowing the muzzle to rise gives you time to reset the trigger before it settles back on target.

The next phase is also one-handed, but while fighting recoil with a good grip and tensed arm. This requires you to reset the trigger faster, since muzzle rise is mitigated by your technique. By now, you should be getting used to the timing required.

Finally, add your second hand to the grip. This significantly aids in recoil control, meaning you’ll have to reset the trigger more quickly. At this point, recoil is forcing the pistol back in more of a piston-like fashion, as opposed to the muzzle flipping upward. Here you learn to control the gun while shooting fast.

Bottom Line

In a gunfight, missing your target could have tragic consequences. Missing doesn’t stop the threat and potentially endangers others. Then again, taking too much time to ensure a hit could lead to you being shot. Practicing these drills will help you get a sense of how fast you can shoot and still hit your target.

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