3 best static range shooting drills
Courtesy DrewR

By DrewR

A large percentage of the People of the Gun are relegated to shooting in a “static” or restrictive range, often indoors and sometimes lorded over by a range master calling when to fire and when to stop. I’ve been there and I know how difficult it can be to meaningfully improve your practical shooting skills under those conditions.

Here are the three drills I’ve use when I was relegated to a static range that actually improve my shooting. I hope they help you as much as they helped me.

Dot Torture

3 best static range shooting drills
A 4 yard example shot with a Ruger 22/45  Mk IV (courtesy DrewR)

This is probably the most difficult drill of the three, and you can download the PDF here. The directions are printed under each of the two-inch circles.

I recommend starting this drill at three yards, as even some high level shooters have trouble clearing it at five. The drill calls for drawing and firing, but if your range doesn’t allow that, the next best thing is to set the pistol on the bench and start each string with your hands on your head.

If you can’t do that, then starting at low ready will have to do. If you have a laser trainer of some sort this makes a great dry fire drill at home.

Triple Ten

3 best static range shooting drills
A pair of sloppy reloads kept this from being a Level 2 time (courtesy DrewR)

TRex Arms has a number of great, free downloadable targets and shooting drills, but my favorite is the Triple Ten. This is a timed drill, so it’s best if you get yourself a shot timer, but I think it’s worth investing in one anyway.

This is a seven-yard drill. Draw and fire ten rounds each at a two-inch, a three-inch and a four-inch circle, reloading between each string.

The time constraint and the various sizes work together to make you think about which target to go for first while also allowing you freedom to experiment. Do you want to shoot for pure speed from the draw and make your way down to pure accuracy? Maybe you start large, transition to small, and finish with medium to control the margin of error.

It’s up to you. Varying the pattern makes it interesting and challenging.

50-Round Drill

3 best static range shooting drills
A fairly typical 10 yard result for the 50-Round Drill (courtesy DrewR)

This is my favorite drill for a static range as it works on nearly every aspect of practical shooting. In a nutshell the drill is as follows: five sets of double-taps to the body, five rounds slow fire to the body, five rounds slow fire to the head, five sets of double taps to the head, 10 rounds alternating head and body, five rounds strong hand only, five rounds weak hand only, reload as needed.

The full version can be found here.

When first starting this drill I recommend shooting from low ready until you get the hang of things, then start incorporating drawing from the holster (if allowed) as you see fit.

This drill has no time or distance requirements, but you should try to go as fast as you can while keeping all shots inside the A-zone of an IPSC target or the 9-ring on an LE style target.

Start at the furthest distance you can consistently sweep the drill and add distance as your skill level improves. If your range lets you shoot multiple targets you can alternate between them for added challenge.

– / – / – / – / –

Shooting drills like these are an excellent way to improve your shooting skills while keeping your range sessions fun. I like to shoot different guns against each other on the 50-Round Drill as a basis of comparison of how I perform with different types of guns, and it also makes a great teaching aid for new shooters. So get out to the range and have some fun.

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30 COMMENTS

  1. 2A and NFA *Breaking News*

    Matt Hoover of CRS Firearms and business partner found guilty in ‘Auto Key Card’ case :

    “Jurors found an Orange Park business owner guilty on all counts in a federal trial about marketing thousands of illegal machine-gun conversion devices through a web-based company advertising on YouTube.

    A Wisconsin gun dealer whose gun-centered YouTube channel has 180,000 subscribers was convicted of conspiracy with Auto Key Card owner Kristopher “Justin” Ervin as well as four counts of transferring the unregistered devices.

    Gun dealer Matthew Hoover, known to many gun enthusiuast through his CRS Firearms channel, was taken into custody by U.S. marshals after the verdict was returned Friday. Ervin has been behind bars since his arrest in 2021.

    Hoover had been allowed to remain free before the trial and had continued posting YouTube installments, some about his own case.

    His attorneys asked to continue that or to let him surrender to marshals in Wisconsin. But U.S. District Judge Marcia Morales Howard said custody was the default for someone convicted of multiple felonies and declined to make an exception after a hearing where prosecutors raised concerns about safety of trial witnesses and prosecutors, citing hostile comments by visitors to Hoover’s YouTube site.

    Sentencing was tentatively scheduled for July 31.”

    https://news.yahoo.com/jurors-jacksonville-machine-gun-trial-091118015.html

    • Tell me about Freedom in America again because I’m not seeing much of what I consider Freedom.
      Reality is
      You have the freedom to obey all laws and the freedom to work as long as you pay taxes.

      • “Tell me about Freedom in America again because I’m not seeing much of what I consider Freedom.”

        That’s why you’re better off in your burrow, Marsupial One.

        IRS agents avoid nasty wet ditches with muskrats, crawdads and dumpsters… 🙁

  2. I really like the Dot Torture. I’ve been using paper plates with my laser bullet, but this looks like a more funner approach.

  3. It’s a little weird to see my old article reposted, but it’s cool. These are still really solid drills for places you can’t move or draw. Here’s a bonus one for really working the fundamentals:

    Set up a 5 inch circle at 5 yards.
    Fire 5 rounds strong hand supported, 5 rounds strong hand only, mag retention reload, 5 rounds weak hand supported and 5 rounds weak hand only, followed by a slide lock reload. Add a timer or distance if you want something more challenging.

    I don’t remember the name of this drill, something about a clock, I think. I’m also pretty sure I’ve changed it slightly from what I originally learned.

  4. I would and one other training item.Take one side step. Left or right. Then aim and shoot. Then repeat.

  5. A well thought out drill. Those that have foundation in the principles of shooting are a great training aid. Especially under time. Have a coach. You don’t know what you’re doing wrong. The coach can see it. If the coach knows what he’s doing (I’m guessing you trust the coach. Paid, or otherwise.) Listen to your coach. Besides, today they’ll just video on you a device and embarrass you on the spot.

    • I figured out what I’m doing wrong however years of closing my eyes and yanking the trigger is hard to break.

    • Possum,

      Someone’s been shooting them right off the rails. And blowing up meat packing plants….and slaughtering perfectly healthy cattle….and using bird flu as a cover for decimating chicken farms…and putting atrazine in the water, creating herds of bloviated trahnie dancers prancing through our schools and libraries.

      It ain’t pretty out there.

      • Terrorists
        Thank goodness we can import all the food we need to sustain our population.
        ” Mommie, why does my milk have sand in it and why does my Chicken McNuggets have slanted eyes?”

  7. One problem with the Triple Ten drill. Its taken as a given that your magazine holds, at least, ten rounds. What about poor 1911 carriers?

  8. You need to go someplace to practice that has moving targets. I’d suggest one or 2 of the neighborhoods in Chicago where the targets shoot back. Preferably at night on a weekend.

    • “you can only get those kind of groups if your running a red dot.”

      Wrong, skill is a thing.

      With some competent coaching (and some ammo to burn), your groupings can drastically improve.

      To maintain those skills, regular practice is required…

  10. If the clay pigeons would quit breaking when they hit the ground I’d never run out of targets, emu for sure but not targets.

  11. *Breaking*

    They released the ‘manifesto’ of the Louisville bank mass murderer:

    “EXCLUSIVE: Motive for massacre: Louisville bank shooter Connor Sturgeon wrote chilling 13-page manifesto laying out his THREE reasons for killing spree: To prove how easy it is to buy a gun, highlight America’s mental health crisis…and kill himself”

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11995155/Louisville-bank-killer-left-13-page-manifesto-revealing-three-motives-shooting.html

    • Well, for those particular reasons…
      How easy it is to buy a gun is a non-issue. Proving this is ridiculous and only serves as a trigger for the left. It’s a purchase that was never meant to be especially difficult. There is no meaning to making it hard to do.

      The whole of human society across the planet is very well aware of the existence of mental health problems that many people have. Entire industries have been created around dealing with it.

      Self termination has been an aspect of humanity from it’s very inception. This and mental instability are ancient and are not going away anytime soon. Regardless of what happens with firearms.

      In short, these might be the reasons given but ultimately are really quite petty. Hardly anything to make law or legislation from. Where as I do agree with keeping guns away from those that have mental problems; this used to be (and still should be) something for family, friends, and those closest to them to take notice of and handle directly. Parental responsibility getting shifted to the state just helps to create these kinds of problems. The answers to life is not going to come from political parties.

      • Excellent rational comment. Unfortunately rational thought and comment is not welcomed by authorities when it interferes with their political ambitions.

      • “Parental responsibility getting shifted to the state just helps to create these kinds of problems.”.
        And perpetuate them. If you are letting the State raise your children then you are the problem. (not you Prndll) people in general.

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