Everyone has their own routine when they hit the range: most will set up targets, many will check their zero. From watching a few casual shooters at the range, next comes practicing their ability to stand straight up and sling lead to an area +-3 yards around a target that’s about 50 yards away. Don’t be that guy! Show up prepared with a game plan. Learn a few basic shooting drills that you can repeat every time you hit the range for training, then watch your skills consistently improve over time.
Below are two simple shooting drills, the “V-drill” and one version of “El Presidente”. The first video is of world renown shooter Jerry Miculek performing the V-drill. This is great practice for transitioning targets and keeping tight controlled pairs on target while in a hurry. Yes, he’s blazing fast, but I included this drill because it will tangibly improve your skills and doesn’t require much setup. You can use cardboard boxes for targets if you’re on a shoestring budget.
The next drill is the El Presidente. I’ve seen a number of variations on this over the years, including one I was taught that places mag changes between firing at each target. When we Rangers were feeling extra competitive, instead of beating someone else’s time, we would add another two targets to the “V” formation, then two shooters would stand side-by-side and race to the middle. Misses were disqualifying and mag changes were mandatory between each target. This showed that the fastest shooters weren’t always the winners, either going too fast and missing a shot or not being as well-practiced at mag changes.
There’s plenty of resources out there regarding different shooting drills. Or, you can create your own. Decide what you want to get better at (faster target transitions, reload/malfunction drills to improve weapons handling and comfort) then design a simple, repeatable drill around that. Give it a catchy name and watch it become famous (or infamous).
