March ’23 Drill of the Month: The Bill Drill

Welcome to the Drill of the Month! This is a new series that USA Carry will be providing to keep our concealed carry and shooting community sharp!

To begin this series, we are going to analyze one of the true industry standards among shooting drills; the Bill Drill. While some misunderstanding surrounds the establishment of this drill, it is thusly named after Bill Wilson, the well-known competitive shooter and founder of the company Wilson Combat.

The Bill Drill is exceptional in the gamut of handgun skills that it encompasses and focuses on. Many people may consider it a waste of ammo, as it may not appear to have much practicality. But this drill is designed to enhance a number of shooting fundamentals through rapid and controlled fire. Let’s analyze the drill:

The Bill Drill is officially conducted at seven yards on a single USPSA or IDPA target. The goal of the drill is to, at the beep of the timer, draw your pistol and fire six rounds into the A Zone of a USPSA target or the body Down Zero zone of an IDPA target within a time frame that is set as a goal. Therefore, this drill works on a number of shooting fundamentals.

To shoot this drill successfully, you need to execute the fundamentals well: from the beginning, a good grip must be established, followed by a clean draw to presentation, and then sight tracking, and a good grip is essential. The Bill Drill does wonders in developing a shooter’s sight-tracking ability and grip, as both are needed to maintain accuracy for the six repeated shots while doing so quickly.

Concerning par times, it has been long established that doing the Bill Drill in under two seconds is USPSA Grand Master skill territory. That is not really the case anymore

, although a sub-two-second Bill Drill is still the hotrod territory that good shooters aim for. Obviously, that goal was also established with race gear in mind, drawing the gun from an open holster. Drawing from concealment, needless to say, is more challenging. While the two-second goal remains worthy for the true shooting enthusiast who does a lot of practice, I would submit that being able to do a consistently clean Bill Drill (no shots outside the A Zone) in four seconds is an excellent initial goal, and doing it in three seconds or less is an excellent goal for serious practitioners who shoot and practice regularly, but are not dedicating their life to the craft.

The Bill Drill is an industry standard for a reason, and you should try it every once in a while.

To be entered in the Drill of the Month giveaway, post your score in the forum thread for this month’s article. We are basing this on the honor system. If you cheat, you are only cheating yourself.

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