Thread: Pistol Drills

Hi experienced competitive shooters. I'm wondering what would be your top handful of good basic shooting drills that I can practise to build fundamentals? We don't do a tonne of structured training at my club and when there is, I'm usually working. Wondering what you would recommend for practise on my own, (particularly for speed steel and IPSC) rather than just shooting randomly at targets, wasting money and probably developing bad habits! Economy of ammo for these also a plus!

Get a good .22 as close as possible in design and size to your competition gun and practice, practice, practice! Sight picture and trigger control are the secret, speed comes with practice. Multiple paper targets, two shots on each, looking for accurate placement at various ranges and shooting positions, strong hand, weak hand, etc. Do some research on the late Col. Jeff Cooper's range drills - well worth the effort! Don't try and rush the results, just strive for perfection and the results will come in time. There are no instant solutions or magical equipment!

Yeah absolutely! Need to save up for a 22 slide!

Definitely looking to put in the reps, just trying to get some ideas of what those reps should physically be! Will definitely look up Col Cooper! Lately I have been trying to resist the temptation to shoot fast and focus on accuracy with exactly that philosophy in mind: the speed will come naturally!

plenty of top ipsc shooters on you tube with training advice Col cooper would be a waste of time pistol grip for starters Lena Miculek of her and her father Jerry Ben Stoeger Christian Sailer etc

also need to get your holster ticket involves a course run by pistol NZ and buy a shit load of ammo

Tactical Hyve is another good source of information

Christian sailers got a good video on vinemo, $100usd though. Ben stoeger and his books also. Doubles and 25m bill drills are good but can be overused particularly when your just pushing through reps without understanding whats going ondesignated targets also a good one, so much info online. 22 pistols for training is dumb in my opinion, the only thing you can't practice in dry fire is recoil control, and the only thing you can't practice with a 22 pistol is recoil control, ones free and uses your match gun, the other isnt. Slow down and get your hits is also dumb(in my opinion) shooting faster than your capable of is going to show and tell you how you suck way faster, so you can then make changes faster. One shot return is also another good drill, particularly at the start, hwansik kim on YouTube has a bunch of really simple drills to look at. Lots of other good shooters on here @Ozzy might completely disagree with everything ive said and he's definitely better than me at the moment haha

Originally Posted by NathanSBR

Yeah absolutely! Need to save up for a 22 slide!

Definitely looking to put in the reps, just trying to get some ideas of what those reps should physically be! Will definitely look up Col Cooper! Lately I have been trying to resist the temptation to shoot fast and focus on accuracy with exactly that philosophy in mind: the speed will come naturally!

I suggest getting a separate gun (tuned to match your competition gun) and take both to the range. A good session each time with the .22 to enhance accuracy and trigger control, and then 50 rounds through your main gun to check that you are carrying the lessons through. Watching videos of other top shooters could be interesting but will not do much to help your shooting as everyone is different, and you will naturally develop your own style with time. An experienced mentor looking over your shoulder occasionally can help to eliminate errors. If you want to make the odd trip to the Alex range I am happy to help. I might be old but I do have the experience (NZPA Holster badge #1).

You absolutely should be watching and analyzing match video from both yourself and others for IPSC, Mason Lane on YouTube has some really good videos breaking down match footage and analyzing it

Practice mag changes. Lots of them in all positions (standing, crouching, kneeling, prone and on the move) and from all mag holders on your belt rig. Fumbling mag changes can cost a lot of time. I learned to rotate my pistol about 45 degrees clockwise about the barrel axis after the mag was released putting the mag well in line with where my left hand is already bringing the fresh mag up to meet it, slap it in, rotate 135 degrees ccw putting the slide where my left hand still is ready to grip and rack.
If you also shoot a wheel gun like a 686 and have jet loaders you can also learn to reload them very fast, the technique I learned is I think from Jerry Miculek, you end up with the non shooting hand (left) holding the swung open frame while the shooting hand grabs the jet loader, it seems counter intuitive but it is absolutely fast. Practice practice practice.