1.

The “Oh Crap” Drill

Applicable Weapons – Handgun, Shotgun, Rifle

Drill Goal – So the ‘Oh Crap’ drill is all about learning to get your gun back
into the fight when it goes down with a malfunction.  The objective is for the
shooter to safely and effectively learn how to clear a malfunction.  This
specific drill is designed to teach shooters how to defeat a complicated
malfunction, not something simple like a misfire.

Setting the Drill Up

So you need to set up a malfunction.  You can use an empty brass case, or
a Snap Cap to make sure it’s nice and complicated.  I prefer to load a
double feed to make things nice and hard on myself.

All standard PPE is required, and if you are shooting quite a bit that day I’d
suggest gloves to help avoid burns.  Set the drill up with your Snap Cap or
brass case and create a complicated malfunction in your weapon of choice.

You want live rounds in the magazine, or tube ready to rock and roll.
 Round in
chamber

The Drill

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
off, the drill begins.

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This is a very simple drill, but also an important one to master.  If you have
a complicated malfunction it may be a literal oh crap moment in a gunfight.
During my first deployment I was in charge of carrying the machine gun.

The gun I had during the first half of the deployment was best described as
ragged.  It was older than me and constantly had issues.  My squad
depended on my gun to suppress the enemy, so if my gun stayed down my
whole squad had an Oh Crap moment.
 Aut
hor in Afghanistan Circa 2009
So I learned how to run it, and how it functioned, and how to get it back in
action as quick as humanly possible.

If you aren’t using a timer for this drill, start when ready.  The drill ends
when a round is fired, using a Shot timer you can record your times.

Pistol

With a Handgun your are going to want to remove the magazine, retaining
it, or dropping it if you are carrying a spare mag.  Pull the action 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.

Rifle
Different rifles function differently, 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 non firing hand locks
the bolt to the rear.

With the bolt to the rear the jam should clear, if it does not, go digging with
your hands, and clear the brass.  Reinsert the magazine and fire a single
shot and the drill is over.
Shotgun

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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, and 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.
Snap Caps are totally fine for most of these drills.
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. The Failure to Stop Drill
The Failure to stop drill is two shots to the chest and one to the head.  The
failure to stop drill is the same drill with any weapon platform.  Except for a
machine gun, because with an MG it’s basically just a whole lot
everywhere.

Fai
lure to Stop is one of the most important drills to practice.
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The Failure to Stop Drill, or FSD for brevity’s sake, is mostly useful with a
rifle or pistol.  A failure to stop drill with a shotgun tends to be unnecessary,
but can be done.  Regardless of the weapon the being used the drill is the
same.

Setting It Up
You’ll a silhouette target with distinguished chest and head areas.  Set it up
anywhere from 7-10 yards with a handgun to 15 – 25 yards with a rifle or
shotgun.

If range rules allow the shooter starts with their handgun holstered, or their
long gun at the low ready.  On the go signal the shoot fires two rounds into
the chest of their target, and one round to the head.  Shooter keeps
weapon aimed at target to ensure it’s down.

The Failure to Stop drill is also called the “Mozambique” drill.

This drill stresses shot placement into critical areas of an opponent.  It also
teaches shot transition drills on the same target.  Shot placement is the
most important factor in ending a defensive encounter, more so that any
kind of supposed knock down power.

Make it Harder – Place a 3 x 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 will challenge the shooter’s shot placement
skills even more.

What’s your take on the Failure to Stop drill?

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3. The Box Drill

The Box Drill is almost identical to the the failure to stop drill.  However, it’s
shot on two targets. Remember that movie Collateral with Tom Cruise?  He
did a box drill on two targets.  

Like the FSD you can use any weapon’s platform to complete this drill…as
long as it can hold 6 rounds.

Th
e box drill is one of the more popular drills out there.
I place the targets about a yard apart.  It’s faster to engage with your
dominant hand, so that’s where you should start.  Engage the first target
with two to the chest, transition to the second target, fire two to his 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.  The Box drill lets you get your inner Collateral out, and dominate your
target.

Just
about any defensive handgun class is going to use the box drill, in some form or another.
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 somewhere between
shots.  Make it interesting by loading three rounds per magazine and
reloading right in the middle of the drill.

Pistol Specific Drills

4. The El Presidente
The El Presidente was designed by the King of Combat handgun shooting,
Jeff Cooper.  The drill is designed to challenge a pistol shooters ability to
draw, engage, transition targets, reload, and then re engage multiple
targets again.  The drill should be completed in ten seconds, or 5 if you are
an advanced shooter.

Eric did a great piece on the El Presidente Drill if you want to learn more.  
Setting Up the Drill

You’ll need three man sized targets set 1 meter apart, and the targets will
be 10 meters from you. You’ll start with a holstered handgun, and a spare
mag carried as you please.  You’ll need six rounds in each mag.  

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

Running the Drill

You’ll start with your back to the targets, and hands in the air, in the false
surrender position.  On the go signal you turn, draw and shoot each target
twice.  You then reload, and shoot each target two more times.

The drill is quite challenging, and does have a lot of moving parts.  It
admittedly is hard to find a range to allow this drill to occur.

Rifle Specific Drills

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, he was 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.  He 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.

Co
urtesy of Polenar Tactical
New to guns? Check out our online Beginner Handgun Course that
teaches all the important stuff you need to know.
Load one magazine with 15 rounds and insert it and make ready with your
rifle.

Setting the Drill Up

You’ll need three man size silhouettes set about a yard apart.  The targets
are only five yards from you. Start in the low ready position with your rifle.
On the signal to go you 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 5 seconds.  Anything
less means you are doing pretty dang good.

Shotgun Specific Drills

6. Shoot Two – Load Two

The thing with is a shotgun is the low ammo capacity.  Even in the most
kitted up combat shotguns you are likely only getting 9 rounds or less.  It’s
an essential skill for any shotgunner to know how to reload their weapon.

Th
e shoot 2, load 2 drill is a common military training drill as well.
The S&L drill is built to help shooters really master how to load a shotgun in
the middle of using it. A shotguns tubular magazine is an advantage since
you can constantly load the gun as you shoot. Being a speedy reloader is
the key to mastering the shotgun.

Set up the Drill

Place any target downrange, and start ten 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 5 shotgun
rounds.  Three in the tube, two secured outside of the shotgun to load the
gun.

Running the Drill

It’s simple shoot two rounds, reload two shells.  You want to reload with
your non dominant hand, and keep the shotgun point at the targets.  You
can do it once, or as long as you can continue reloading the shotgun.

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

If you use a side saddle you’ll have up to 6 rounds so you can run the drill three times.
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 to track 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.

This CED timer is
an industry standard.
 

A shot timer also adds stress to your shooting, and makes you work to
overcome stress. There is the anticipation of the BEEP which get the blood
flowing.  Depending on the timer the alarm can sound randomly to start the
drill.

It will then record the time between the start signal and your shots fired, as
well as your split times.  Split times being the time between shots, not the
time between shots and the go signal.

If you can’t afford a shot timer there are a number of apps that function OK
for shot timers.  They aren’t perfect, but better than nothing.

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 shoot on an
actual attacker.  Some drills really can’t be shot with a standard Bull’s Eye
target.

One of my Favorites of all time is the Thompson Target’s B27 IMZ.  It

assigns small sectors to the vulnerable parts of the body, ensuring you
learn where to properly place shots to stop a target.
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.

 A-Zoom 12 Gauge Snap Caps

 9mm Luger Snap Caps

 .223 Remington Snap Caps
A Little At a Time
When it comes to training you got to remember you better in increments.
Increments of an inch in your hits or misses, increments in seconds, and
increments in group size. Be patient, keep training, if you feel you’re at the
bottom all you can do is go up.

Got drills of your own…or any of your favorites we’ve missed?  Let us
know…and in the meantime check out our How to Shoot a Pistol More
Accurately post