10 Shooting Drills for Experienced Shooters (2026 Update)

The best shooting drills for experienced shooters are the ones with a measurable standard: a set round count, a defined target, and a par time you either make or miss. The ten drills below cover threat response, malfunction clearing, reloads, transitions, and multi-target work, and each one lists what it builds and the time to beat. Book a lane at C2 Tactical in Scottsdale, Tempe, or Mesa and start putting a number on your practice.

Owning a handgun is not training. If you carry, or you keep a firearm at home or in your vehicle, the gap between “I go to the range sometimes” and “I can perform under stress” is closed by structured, repeatable drills with a scorecard.

That is the difference between shooting and practicing. Punching a slow group into the center of a target tells you almost nothing about whether you can draw, transition, clear a malfunction, or hit a small target on a clock. The drills below all have a standard attached, so you leave the range knowing whether you improved.

What You Need Before You Start

• A shot timer. A dedicated timer or a phone app both work. Without a clock, most of these drills lose their point.
• 150 to 250 rounds for a full session across several drills. Individual drills run from 4 to 50 rounds.
• Two or three magazines minimum. Reload drills and 15-round strings are miserable with one magazine.
• Targets with a defined scoring area. Any target with a distinct chest box and head box works. Targets are available at the counter for $2.00 to $2.50.
• The four safety rules, every rep. Speed and par times never come before muzzle discipline and trigger-finger discipline. If you want the plain-language version to re-read before a session, the NSSF rules of firearm safety are the standard reference.
• A written plan. Pick three or four drills before you walk in. Trying all ten in one hour turns into sloppy volume shooting.

A reserved pistol lane at C2 runs $35.00 per person for an hour, walk-in range time is $25.00 per shooter for an hour when a lane is open, and handgun rentals start at $10.00 if you want to run a drill with something other than your carry gun. Check current pricing on our Range Info and Rental Fees page. If you shoot two or more sessions a month, a membership usually costs less than paying lane fees each visit.

A Word on Holster Draws at Indoor Ranges

Several classic drills, including El Presidente and the threat-response sequence, are written to start from a holster. Most public indoor ranges restrict that, and C2 is no exception.

Per our posted range rules: no drawing from the holster unless you are active-duty law enforcement, or an authorized member who has been pre-approved by the Range Master. C2 reserves the right to require our holster qualification class in either case. Firearms are un-cased and un-holstered forward of the yellow line, and everything stays pointed downrange.

This is not a reason to skip these drills. It is a reason to run them from the low-ready or high-ready position instead of the holster, which still trains the presentation, the sight picture, the trigger, and the clock. Then, if you want the draw, get cleared for it properly:

• Ask a Range Safety Officer or the Range Master at your location about holster approval for lane practice.
• Take the holster qualification class held before our weekly matches. In Tempe the class starts at 5:15 p.m. before the Wednesday night match and costs $20; you will need 25 rounds and a strong-side holster. Scottsdale runs its match on the second Thursday. Details are on the Weekly Match page.
• Book a private shooting lesson ($80 per lesson, includes one pistol rental) if you want an instructor watching your draw stroke directly.

Pro tip: our instructors would rather see a clean, repeatable presentation from low-ready than a fast, ugly draw. Speed built on a bad draw stroke is a habit you will have to un-learn later.

Drills 1–3: Threat Response (Three Drills in One)

What it builds: reaction to close-range threats, movement off the line of attack, and use of cover.

This is a three-part sequence for defending against threats inside conversational distance out to about five yards. Parts of it involve movement and contact-distance work that a public lane cannot accommodate. Run the shooting portions from low-ready on your lane, and save the full sequence for a private lesson or an outdoor range where movement is permitted.

Drill 1: Contact-Distance Threat

• Start one step from the target, firearm at low-ready (or holstered if you are cleared for it)
• Create distance: move two or three steps back
• Present and fire three rounds into the chest box
• Return to ready and scan

Standard: three hits in the chest box in under five seconds, including the movement.

Drill 2: Move Off the X (5 Yards)

• Target at five yards, firearm at low-ready
• Step laterally left or right while presenting
• Fire two to three rounds into the chest box as you settle

Standard: all hits inside the chest box, under three seconds. Moving laterally makes you a harder target and buys a second or two, but only if your hits still land. If the movement costs you accuracy, slow the movement down, not the shooting.

Drill 3: Move to Cover (5 Yards)

• Target at five yards, with an object large enough to shield you placed about four yards to one side
• Move to cover
• Present and fire from behind cover with minimal exposure

Standard: reach cover and land your first hit in under five seconds. Expose as little of yourself as you can while still seeing your sights.

Pro tip: shooting around cover is where people discover their support-side grip falls apart. If your hits open up dramatically when you lean, that is a grip problem, not a cover problem.

Drill 4: Malfunction Clearing

What it builds: the ability to get a dead gun running again without stopping to think.

A failure to feed, a dead primer, or a dirty chamber can end a fight. This drill trains the fix as a reflex. Have a partner or an instructor load a dummy round into your magazine at random so the malfunction is a surprise, or set one up deliberately if you are shooting alone.

• Start at low-ready with a malfunction present
• Tap, rack, and reassess — for a failure to extract, strip the magazine, cycle the action several times with the ejection port angled down, then reload and chamber a round
• Fire one round into the chest box

Standard: back on target with a hit in five seconds or less.

Pro tip: practice this with your eyes on the target, not on the gun. In a real event you will not get to look at your hands.

Drill 5: The 1-Reload-1 Drill

What it builds: emergency reload speed under time pressure. 20 rounds.

• Target at five to ten yards
• Load one round in the magazine in the gun, with a full magazine on your belt or on the bench
• From low-ready, fire one round
• The slide locks back; drop the empty, insert the fresh magazine, release the slide
• Fire one more round

Standard: two hits with the reload between them in three to five seconds. Repeat until you are consistent, not until you get lucky once.

Pro tip: the reload is mostly a hand-position problem. Index the magazine with your finger along the front and bring the magazine well to your workspace instead of dropping your head to look for it.

Drill 6: The Mozambique (Failure to Stop) Drill

What it builds: the ability to switch from a body target to a small, precise target on demand. 3 rounds.

Also called the Failure to Stop drill, this is two rounds to the chest and one to the head. The point is not the round count; it is training your brain to escalate precision immediately when the first shots do not end the problem.

• Target at seven to ten yards, firearm at low-ready
• Fire two rounds into the chest box
• Transition and fire one round into the head box
• Return to ready and keep your eyes on the target

Standard: all three hits in their intended boxes in two to four seconds.

Pro tip: the head shot is where this drill is won or lost. Most shooters rush the third round and pull it low. Take the extra tenth of a second and get the hit — a miss on a small target scores zero no matter how fast it was.

Drill 7: The Phase 5 Drill

What it builds: precision on a shrinking target with a hard par time. 50 rounds.

Use this free printable target to run 50 rounds into progressively smaller circles in a set order.

• Set the target at three yards or more
• Set a par time of 2.5 seconds
• On the beep, present from ready and fire one round into the largest circle (#1)
• Return to ready, wait for the next beep, and repeat until you have fired ten rounds into circle #1
• Move to circles #2, #3, and #4 in turn, ten rounds each
• Finish on the one-inch Phase 5 dots, one round per beep

Standard: every round inside the circle you are working, within the 2.5-second par. Miss a shot and you repeat that phase from the start.

Pro tip: this drill exposes trigger control faster than almost anything else. If your misses on the one-inch dots consistently break in the same direction, that is your trigger press, not your sights.

Drill 8: The VTAC 1-to-5 Drill

What it builds: transitions between multiple targets with an uneven round count. 15 rounds, ideally in one magazine.

Developed by Viking Tactics, this drill forces you to track how many rounds you have fired while moving between three targets, which is much harder than it sounds.

• Three targets about one yard apart
• Stand five yards back at low-ready
• One round on the left target, two on the center, three on the right
• Then four on the center, five on the left

Standard: 15 hits, correct count on each target, in about five seconds or less.

Pro tip: most people fail this on the count, not the shooting. Say the number in your head as you fire. If you lose count, finish the string and start over rather than guessing.

A single lane will not fit three targets side by side. Run the transition portion across two targets on your lane, or bring the full version to a competitive shooting setting where multi-target stages are the norm.

Drill 9: El Presidente

What it builds: turn, present, multi-target transitions, and a reload under time. 12 rounds.

Jeff Cooper’s classic test, built at Gunsite Academy. It is a benchmark drill precisely because it packages so many skills into one string.

• Three targets about one yard apart, ten yards away
• Start facing away from the targets, hands raised, firearm holstered
• Turn and present
• Two rounds into each target, left to right
• Reload
• Two rounds into each target again, right to left

Standard: 12 hits in the scoring zones in roughly 10 to 12 seconds is the traditional benchmark for a clean run. Competitive shooters run it considerably faster, but a clean 12 beats a fast 9.

Pro tip: El Presidente is a holster-and-turn drill, so it needs holster clearance and space to run properly. Our weekly matches are the most practical place to shoot something this dynamic, and the holster qualification class is the entry point.

Drill 10: The Box Drill

What it builds: body-to-head transitions across two targets. 6 rounds.

The Box Drill is named for the path your muzzle traces: up one target, across, and back. It is short, cheap, and one of the best diagnostics for whether your transitions are driven by your eyes or by your gun.

• Two targets about one yard apart, five to ten yards away
• From low-ready, fire two rounds into target one’s chest box
• Transition and fire two rounds into target two’s chest box
• Fire one round into target two’s head box
• Transition back and fire one round into target one’s head box

Standard: six hits in their intended boxes in about five seconds. Accuracy first: run it slower until every round is in the right box, then compress the time.

Pro tip: your eyes should arrive at the next target before your sights do. If you find yourself swinging the gun and then hunting for the target, you are leading with the muzzle instead of your vision.

Which Drills You Can Run on an Indoor Lane

Not every drill on this list fits a single indoor lane, and it is better to know that before you pay for range time. Here is the honest breakdown for a standard C2 lane:

• Run it on a lane, from ready: Malfunction Clearing (4), 1-Reload-1 (5), Mozambique (6), Phase 5 (7), Box Drill (10)
• Run a modified version: Threat Response shooting portions (1–3) without the movement, and VTAC 1-to-5 (8) reduced to two targets
• Needs holster clearance, and ideally a match or private lesson: El Presidente (9), plus any version of drills 1–3 that starts from the holster or involves moving to cover

If most of your practice goal is the dynamic end of that list, the fastest path is our weekly match or a block of handgun training courses, where drawing, movement, and multi-target stages are part of the format instead of an exception to the rules.

How to Build a 100-Round Practice Session

An hour on a lane and 100 rounds is a realistic weekly session. A structure that works:

1. 10 rounds — warm-up. Slow fire at five yards, no timer. Confirm grip, sights, and trigger.
2. 30 rounds — one accuracy drill. Phase 5 (7) is the best option here. Precision first, while you are fresh.
3. 30 rounds — one speed or transition drill. Box Drill (10) or Mozambique (6), on the clock, with your times written down.
4. 20 rounds — one manipulation drill. 1-Reload-1 (5) or Malfunction Clearing (4).
5. 10 rounds — a cold test. One run of your benchmark drill, first try, no warm-up next session. This is the number that actually tracks your progress.

Pro tip: write your times down. Shooters who track their par times improve; shooters who go by feel repeat the same session for years. A note in your phone is enough.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the best shooting drills to improve accuracy?

Drills that use a small target and a hard par time. The Phase 5 drill (7) is the strongest option on this list because the target shrinks as you progress, so trigger-control errors show up immediately. Dot Torture, shot at three to five yards, is another well-known accuracy standard. Accuracy drills should be shot early in a session while your hands are fresh.

What shooting drills do SWAT and special forces teams use?

Many of the drills on this list came out of military and law-enforcement training and are still used in that world: the Mozambique (Failure to Stop), El Presidente, the VTAC 1-to-5 from Viking Tactics, and box and transition drills all appear in tactical curricula. Real team training adds elements a public range cannot replicate — movement, communication, room clearing, and shoot/no-shoot decisions — but the marksmanship standards underneath are the same ones here.

Can you practice these drills at an indoor range?

Most of them, yes. Malfunction clearing, reloads, the Mozambique, Phase 5, and the Box Drill all work on a standard indoor lane from the low-ready position. Drills that require drawing from a holster or moving between positions need range approval; at C2, holster draws require Range Master pre-approval and may require our holster qualification class. Check the current rules on our Range Info and Rental Fees page.

What is the Box Drill in shooting?

The Box Drill is a six-round, two-target drill: two rounds to the first target’s chest, two to the second target’s chest, one to the second target’s head, then one to the first target’s head. The shot sequence traces a box shape between the two targets. It trains body-to-head transitions and target-to-target transitions in one short string, which makes it an efficient diagnostic for how well your eyes lead your gun.

What is a good par time for a defensive pistol drill?

It depends on the drill, the distance, and whether you are starting from a holster or from ready. As general benchmarks from the low-ready at seven yards: a Mozambique in two to four seconds, a Box Drill in about five, and a clean El Presidente in ten to twelve. Treat any par time as a target to beat with hits. A fast run with misses is not a faster run.

How many rounds should a practice session be?

100 to 150 rounds is enough for a focused hour if you are running structured drills and recording your times. Past roughly 200 rounds most shooters start to degrade rather than improve, and the last 50 rounds reinforce bad reps. Three or four drills done well beats ten done sloppily.

How often should you practice shooting drills?

Once a week is a strong cadence for a defensive shooter, and twice a month is enough to maintain skill. Consistency matters more than volume: four 100-round sessions a month will do more for you than one 400-round marathon. If you are shooting weekly, a membership is usually cheaper than per-visit lane fees.

Related Guides

• How to Break Through Your Shooting Range Plateau: what to change when your drill times stop improving.
• Wednesday Night Shooting Competitions at C2 Tactical: the weekly match format and how to get started.
• Discover Competitive Shooting in Scottsdale: where drill practice turns into scored stages.
• How to Choose the Right Concealed Carry Handgun: if these drills have you rethinking your carry gun.
• 25 Fun Facts About Guns: lighter reading for the drive home.

Ready to put a number on your practice? Reserve a lane at C2 Tactical in Scottsdale, Tempe, or Mesa, or book a private lesson and have an instructor run these drills with you.

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