9 Best Shooting Drills: Pistol, Rifle, Shotgun

Do you want to be a better defensive shooter?

Of course, you do! So…can you attend a defensive firearms course across the country…basically once a month?

If you can, great! But if you can’t…welcome to the club.

So what do you do in between classes? Drills!

Defensive firearm drills are a great way to work on new skills and keep the ones you have sharp.

We’ve put together a few defensive firearms drills to keep your skills sharp & build a solid base in defensive firearms use, all from the comfort of your local range.

Why These Drills?

There are lots of great drills out there to improve your shooting ability. The ones I’ve chosen here were done for a purpose.

First, they are great drills to master.

Second, they can be done with minimal supplies.

Third, they can most likely be done or modified to be done in accordance with your range’s rules.

1. Malfunction Clearing

This drill is all about learning to get your gun back into the fight when it goes down with a malfunction. This specific drill is designed to teach shooters how to defeat a malfunction.

All standard PPE is required.

Start the drill in the ready position, as if you had just fired and are going to fire again.

If you are using a timer, wait for it to sound off. When it sounds, the drill begins.

If you aren’t using a timer for this drill, just start when ready.

Pistol

Use an empty brass case or a Snap Cap to simulate a complication.

With a pistol, remove the magazine — retain it or drop it (if you’re carrying a spare mag).

Pull the action to the rear several times as you tilt the weapon ejection port down. Once the malfunction is cleared, reload the weapon and fire.

Firing a shot on target completes the drill.

Want to see it in action? Check out the Brownells’ Daily Defense video below.

Rifle

Each rifle functions slightly differently, but this drill assumes you are using a modern rifle. If not, adapt the drill the best you can.

Starting in the firing position, drop the magazine with the firing hand as the nonfiring hand locks the bolt to the rear.

With the bolt to the rear, the jam should clear; if it does not, clear the brass with your hand.

Reinsert the magazine and fire a single shot, and the drill is over.

Shotgun

This drill is for shotguns with tubular magazines — revert to the rifle drill for box mags.

With a pump shotgun pull the pump fully to the rear. If necessary, reach in and remove the malfunction.

With an automatic, lock the bolt back to the rear and clear the malfunction with your hands.

Put another round in the chamber and fire a round.

Make It Harder — Randomly load an empty case into the magazine and let the malfunction surprise you.

2. Failure to Stop a.k.a Mozambique

This drill involves two shots to the chest and one to the head, and it’s the same drill as any weapon platform.

The Failure to Stop Drill, or Mozambique, is mostly useful with a rifle or pistol.

A failure to stop drill with a shotgun tends to be unnecessary, but can be done.

Using a silhouette target with distinguished chest and head areas, set your target up anywhere from 7 to 10 yards with a handgun and 15 to 25 yards with a rifle or shotgun.

If range rules allow, start with the handgun holstered or long gun at the low ready.

On the go signal, fire two rounds into the chest of the target and one round to the head.

Then keep the weapon aimed at the target to ensure it’s down.

This drill stresses shot placement into critical areas of an opponent and also teaches shot transition drills on the same target.

Shot placement is the most critical factor in ending a defensive encounter, more so than any kind of supposed knockdown power.

Make it Harder – Place a 3×5 index card on the chest of the target and a playing card on the head of the target. Shots will only count if they hit the index or playing card. This challenges the shooter’s shot placement skills even more.

Read more about the Mozambique and its origins in our article here!

3. Box Drill

The Box Drill is almost identical to the FSD drill; however, it’s shot on two targets.

Like the FSD, you can use any weapon’s platform to complete this drill…as long as it can hold six rounds.

I place the targets about a yard apart because it’s faster to engage with your dominant hand.

Engage the first target with two to the chest, transition to the second target, and fire two to the chest.

On the second target, take your headshot, then transition and finish the drill with a final headshot on the first target.

This drill stresses shot placement and multiple target engagement.

It forces you to think under stress and focus on kicking ass in a proactive way.

Make it Harder – You can make it a little harder by placing the targets further apart if possible. If not, mix in a reload in between shots. Make it interesting by loading three rounds per magazine and reloading right in the middle of the drill.

4. El Presidente

The El Presidente was designed by the King of Combat handgun shooting, Jeff Cooper. This drill challenges a pistol shooter’s ability to draw, engage, transition targets, reload, and then re-engage multiple targets again.

The drill should be completed in 10 seconds — five if you’re an advanced shooter.

You’ll need three man-sized targets set 1 meter apart, with the targets staged 10 meters from you.

Start with a holstered handgun and a spare mag carried as you please — six rounds in each mag.

You’ll need a timer to really gauge your ability, but if running it just for fun, don’t worry about it.

Begin with your back to the targets, and hands in the air, in the false surrender position.

On the go signal, turn, draw and shoot each target twice. Then reload, and shoot each target two more times.

The drill is quite challenging and does have a lot of moving parts. As such, finding a range that will accommodate it might be tough.

We offer an in-depth dive into El Presidente here.

5. 1 to 5 Drill

Designed by Kyle Lamb, the 1 to 5 Drill is perfect for any modern defensive rifle.

Kyle Lamb was a Sergeant Major in the U.S. Army, a Delta Force Operator, and participated in numerous deployments, including the Black Hawk Down incident. He’s the lead instructor at Viking Tactics and the subject of a serious man-crush on my part.

Lamb designed the drill to stress shooting until the target is down. Instead of focusing on the double-tap and transition, you’ll place a multitude of rounds on multiple targets.

You’ll need three man-size silhouettes set about a yard apart. The targets are only 5 yards from you.

Load one magazine with 15 rounds, insert it and make ready with your rifle.

Start in the low-ready position with your rifle. On the signal, put one shot on the left-most target, two shots into the center target, and three shots into the rightmost target.

Next, you shoot four shots on the center target and finish with five shots on the left target.

You should be able to do this in about five seconds. Anything less means you are doing pretty dang good.

6. Shotgun Casino Drill

I love my shotguns, and there is a drought of shotgun-specific drills.

However, I did see John at Active Self Protection post something called the Shotgun Casino Drill, which is new to me.

Shotguns are low-capacity weapons that require you to learn to reload to run one properly. This drill stresses speed combined with reloads and makes the shooter think.

You’ll need four targets, a pump or semi-auto shotgun, ten rounds of ammo, and a means to carry spare ammo on the gun or body. I prefer side saddles, but it’s up to you.

A shot timer is also required, with the par time set to 30 seconds. All four targets should be set up in a row, placed five yards from the shooter. Load the gun with four rounds.

Your goal is to fire one round into target one, two rounds into target two, three rounds into target three, and four rounds into target four. That’s ten rounds, but you start with only four in the gun.

How you achieve the goal and the method by which you reload is up to you. You can start loading extra rounds as soon as the timer goes off if you choose, reload as needed, or run port reloads after the first four.

It doesn’t matter as long as you get the appropriate amount of rounds into the appropriate targets within 30 seconds.

This drill stresses your recoil mitigation, target transitions, reloading skills, and ability to think under pressure. It’s a fair bit of fun, and you’ll likely have no problems passing.

If you’re faster than the clock, you can always adjust the par time as necessary to make you move faster.

7. Shooting and Moving Multidirection Live Fire Drill

Mike Seeklander is the real deal. He’s a pro shooter, Marine, and an all-around awesome guy.

He teaches classes, has written numerous books, and has contributed to the firearms world in a very positive way. One of his creations is the Shooting and Moving Multidirection Live Fire Drill.

This rifle drill incorporates movement in nearly every possible direction and stresses shooting on the move and proper footwork.

The drill requires a rifle, at least ten rounds, and two obstacles.

Obstacles can be poles, barrels, or anything else suitable. They should be in line with each other and spaced about five feet apart. The target should be set fifteen yards down range.

Start by standing in between the two barrels and then begin walking in a figure 8 around the two obstacles. While walking, have your rifle at the ready and engage the target as you move around the barrels.

This forces you to focus on proper footwork, movement, and accuracy. Use a relatively small target to demand excellent accuracy. Using an IPSC target and focusing only on the A-Zone is a great option.

Make sure you are using a fighter’s style of movement. Avoid crossing your ankles, and move one leg at a time without dragging your feet.

There is not necessarily a par time for this drill; the focus is on moving and shooting.

Due to the movement required, it is wise to practice without live ammo a few times. I run this drill with my Mantis Blackbeard system fairly frequently and get a lot of practice even without live ammo.

8. Sage Dynamics Eleanor

Aaron Cowan at Sage Dynamics was a driving force in the widespread acceptance of optics on duty and defensive handguns.

He’s a soldier and law enforcement officer that now spends his time educating the masses on firearms.

Today we are talking about a drill he devised specifically for handguns and rifles with red dots, although it’s also applied to rifles.

The drill is called the Eleanor and requires you to be both fast and accurate at very close range. It requires a specific target, which is free to print from the Sage Dynamics website.

The idea behind the drill is to practice rapid close-range shooting with excellent accuracy while also being aware of the height over bore issues with a red dot. Depending on your platform, the drill may change slightly.

With a rifle, you fire at five yards from the low ready. With a handgun, you fire from three yards from a holster. For both styles, you’ll need a magazine loaded with four rounds, a shot timer, and the Eleanor target.

At the beep, you’ll shoot the dot in the top of the target with a single round, then transition to the reduced size A zone (aka the square) and fire three rounds into it. Par time is 2.5 seconds to land those four shots.

This drill can be quite a challenge. I’m not ashamed to say I failed it several times and only barely passed when I eliminated concealment as part of the drill.

It’s fast and requires you to remember that height over bore issue and land those shots with a good degree of accuracy.

9. Shoot Two – Load Two

Even in the most kitted-up combat shotguns, you are likely only getting nine rounds or less. So, it’s essential for any shotgunner to know how to reload their weapon.

The S&L drill helps shooters master how to load a shotgun in the middle of using it.

A shotgun’s tubular magazine is an advantage since you can constantly load the gun as you shoot. Being a speedy reloader is the key to mastery.

Place any target downrange, and start 10 yards from it. I prefer to use clay pigeons set on the berm for shotgun training. Shotguns rip targets apart, so paper targets are kind of not needed. Clay pigeons explode and are fun to shoot.

You’ll need at least five shotgun rounds — Three in the tube and two secured outside of the shotgun to load the gun.

Shoot two rounds, reload two shells.

You want to reload with your non-dominant hand and keep the shotgun pointed at the targets.

The key to this drill is repetition. The faster you get, the better.

A way to measure your progress is by keeping time. Shoot two, reload two and observe your time.

Accessories to Maximize Training

I’ve mentioned a few accessories above, and I want to go ahead and double down on just how handy they are.

These tools will make it a lot easier to train and ensure you get the most out of your training.

Shot Timer

A shot timer is an invaluable tool for tracking your skills and ability to shoot.

Sure, a target makes it possible to see how accurate you are, but a shot timer shows how fast you are. You can record the data and track your progress.

A shot timer also adds stress to your shooting, making you work to overcome that stress.

If you can’t afford a shot timer, there are several apps that function decent enough. They aren’t perfect, but they’re better than nothing.

See our round-up of the Best Shot Timers!

Good Targets

While just about any target can work, I prefer targets that resemble an actual opponent. This makes it easy to determine how I’d deal with a real defensive situation.

For a round-up of our faves, see the Best Targets & Stands.

Snap Caps

Snap Caps are invaluable training aids in general — be it dry fire, basic firearm safety, or inducing malfunctions. These rounds are quite distinct from actual rounds but are built perfectly to the spec of a real cartridge. Snap Caps are cheap, easy to find, and are made for nearly any caliber imaginable.

Our faves are below:

• A-Zoom 12 Gauge Snap Caps
• 9mm Luger Snap Caps
• .223 Remington Snap Caps

But we also have an entire article dedicated to the Best Snap Caps for you to look at.

Final Thoughts

When it comes to training, remember that success is not measured overnight. You tend to get better in increments. Be patient and keep training.

For more on basic drills to do at the range, check out the Brownells’ Daily Defense videos below.

Or, for some basic rifle mounting exercises, check out this other video from Brownells.

Or check out the TC Drill below.

Got drills of your own…or any of your favorites we’ve missed? Let us know in the comments below. And if you’re looking to save some money on ammo, check out the Best Low-Round Count Drills and our guide on Dryfire Training.