Shooting drills for practice do not need to be complicated or resemble a professional shooter like Tori Nonaka member of Team Glock, shooting a competition stage on the Outdoor channel.
We are going to look at a drill, which will aid you increasing your draw speed along with point shooting skills.
The best description of point shooting is just that, pointing your pistol just like it is your finger. Watch some little kids playing, when they are pretending to be cops & robbers, army or what have you. When they use their imaginary gun the pointer finger do they aim? When they pretend to shoot they do it with both eyes open to watch where the imaginary bad guy goes next. Now think about how the same kid might point at a new toy hanging on the shelf they want. Is there any difference, probably not.
When you practice point shooting, practice with both eyes open. With your pistol slightly below the line of sight, the reason being the same as the little kid so you can watch to see what your assailant will do next.
Starting with a full size silhouette target put it onto your backer with the blank side facing you take a marker draw five eight to twelve inch circles. Now move back to the 1 or 2 yard line, with your pistol loaded and holstered. Draw and fire one round into each circle (any order). Using one-handed point shooting, looking over the top of your sights. The distance on this drill can be increased, as you feel comfortable. Typical ranges will work with this drill out to about 7-yards. If you have a shot timer or a friend with a stopwatch you could be able to determine your times, but this is not a requirement.
Points to concentrate on:
- Start out slow and building up speed as you go.
- Concentrate on forming your grip on the pistol the same each time.
- Practice your draw stroke the same each time to develop muscle memory.
- Bring the pistol up to slightly below eye level and firing.
By starting out slow practice forming a good grip, nice smooth draw strokes, and bringing your pistol up to about the same level each time will help instill muscle memory. Once you have started to perfect the basics of this drill you may find your speed and accuracy will improve.
In closing we want practice sessions to concentrate on good shooting skills which will enhance your abilities.
This drill sounds like it might be fun, and would certainly have some survival value in a close encounter situation. I like this idea!
GREAT article! Too many people go for speed straight up. I teach that with practice comes accuracy, and with accuracy comes speed.
I think it’s Mas that is often heard to say.. slow is smooth, and smooth is fast. Others have said “you can’t miss fast enough to save your neck”.
This sounds like an excellent drill. I do another drill using the 5 circles, putting 3 shots in a circle within 10 seconds; then the next circle, and so on, in any order. This is not done point shooting, but with double-taps.
I will try this drill because I need to improve my point-shooting. Thanks.
There’s no doubt that one needs to know and practice point shooting. In a real life situation (other than hunting animals) you will not likely have the time, but to point and shoot. I do that often with my pistol grip shotgun, being my main home defense weapon. I don’t hold it down at my side, actually about shoulder level. I haven’t done much point shooting with handguns, but do on occasion; reading this has energized me to do more of it. I might add that you should do it with both hands taking turns being the trigger finger and also one handed with both hands (eventually). Ya just never know what the situation might be and it is important to be prepared for the worst scenario.
Using a shotgun on birds is point shooting and it works fine. I was taught to shoot a shotgun by shooting a BB rifle with both eyes open. In just a few tries I was hitting the targeted can and then progressively smaller targets with the BB gun, all the time shooting with both eyes open. It was an easy transition from hitting stationary targets to easily hitting those thrown into the air. This works and is excellent for close in shooting of any weapon.
I have been doing this drill for about three months now and have increased my accuracy by about 80% and speed about 60%. I recomend this to all hand gun shooters at all levels. I am past Army Ranger and revisited this drill from the “old days”. Enjoy and stay SAFE
Now this looks like a sensible and practical drill.
I’ll be looking for a range where I am moving to. I need the weapon for protection, it’s not for just practice.
accuracy is good but don’t take more than 1 sec as a final product
1 maybe 2 yards can be done quite well from the hip as in a ” Chuck Taylor speed rock “. Again , further than that use your sights. Sir , the modern technique of the pistol has been around for 30 years or more , in fact it has been around so long it is no longer called that. Sir, again I urge you to get some up to date training if you are going to impart the training on others. I have been around a while and I have never seen or heard of anyone writing on a website so ignorant of the subject. I am not sure of who I am dealing with, but I have a good idea. Larry Berry