Top 10 Pistol Shooting Drills to Boost Your Accuracy and Speed

Introduction

So, you want to develop a solid drill routine to improve your shooting? You step into the range, the familiar smell of gunpowder lingering in the air. The faint crack of distant shots echoes from the other lanes—a reminder that it’s practice time.

The cool metal of your pistol rests comfortably in your hand as you glance downrange. Targets are lined up, ready to challenge your skills and demand precision.

Well, you’ve hit the target today because in this post, we’re diving into the Top 10 Pistol Shooting Drills. These exercises are designed to help you master accuracy, speed, and, most importantly, build confidence.

Get ready to progress your training routine, from beginner drills that build your foundation to advanced shooting drills that push your limits.

The timer’s set, shooter ready—beep!

Basic Pistol Shooting Drills for Beginners

Dry Fire Drill

Let’s start with the basics. Dry fire drills let you practice shooting fundamentals: trigger control, sight alignment, and grip. No live rounds, just you, your gun, and your target.

Regular dry fire practice helps smooth out your trigger pull, maintain your sight picture, and improve grip strength. They’re a great way to hone technique and build muscle memory without using any ammo.

How to perform a Dry Fire Drill:

1. Clear your firearm and ensure it’s unloaded. Check again for safety.
2. Aim at a target, like a wall-mounted target or object in the distance.
3. Pull the trigger slowly, keeping your sights aligned and your grip steady.
4. Repeat to build control and consistency.

An extra tip for beginners here; you can use snap caps if you want. These are rubber or plastic dummy rounds that protect your firing pin during dry firing.

Penny Drill: Dry Fire for Trigger Control

Have you got a quarter? Because it’s time for our next shooting exercise. The Penny Drill is an excellent dry fire exercise that helps improve your trigger control without disturbing your sight alignment.

The Penny Drill is simple but very effective for refining your trigger pull, ensuring smoother and more controlled shots.

How to perform the Penny Drill:

1. Clear your firearm and ensure it’s unloaded.
2. Place a penny or small coin flat on top of your front sight. It should sit horizontally and balance as steadily as possible.
3. Aim at your target, and pull the trigger slowly and smoothly. Focus on keeping the coin perfectly still.
4. Repeat until you can consistently pull the trigger without disturbing the penny.

Slow Fire Accuracy Drill

Now that we've covered dry fire drills, it’s time to load up and head to the range. The Slow Fire Accuracy Drill focuses on perfecting your sight alignment, breathing control, and trigger discipline—all with live ammo.

The goal here is to slow down and focus on every detail of your shooting process, from your grip to your breathing to your trigger pull, ensuring that each shot is as accurate as possible.

How to perform the Slow Fire Accuracy Drill:

1. Load your firearm with live ammo and take aim at your target.
2. Focus on your sight alignment and slowly pull the trigger.
3. After each shot, pause and count to 5 or 8 seconds to assess your accuracy and make any necessary adjustments.
4. Repeat, focusing on maintaining control and precision with every round.

Now that you've nailed the shooting drills for beginners, it's time to step up to the intermediate level of our Top 10 Pistol Shooting Drills. Things are about to get a bit more complex, so gear up and get ready!

Intermediate Pistol Shooting Drills

Draw and Fire Drill

The Draw and Fire Drill focuses on drawing your pistol from a holster and firing a round quickly and accurately. It’s great to develop the muscle memory and speed needed to draw, aim, and shoot efficiently—key skills for defensive shooting and competition.

A good time to aim for is 1.8 seconds from draw to fire. Start slow, and gradually increase speed as your form improves.

How to perform the Draw and Fire Drill:

1. Start with your pistol holstered and your hands in a ready position.
2. On command or a timer, draw your firearm smoothly, ensuring a proper grip.
3. Aim at your target and fire one accurate shot.
4. Repeat to build consistency, improving both speed and accuracy over time.

You know what makes the perfect addition to the Draw and Fire Drill? Our top-quality 45 Blast Canik Holsters. Be sure to check out our recent releases, as we have some new gear that you don’t want to miss.

Double Tap Drill

The Double Tap Drill focuses on firing two quick, accurate shots at the same target. This pistol shooting exercises helps you develop better control over recoil while maintaining both speed and precision.

How to perform the Double Tap Drill:

1. Take aim at your target and fire your first shot.
2. Immediately follow up with a second shot, without pausing.
3. Focus on managing recoil and keeping both shots on target

The Double Tap Drill is excellent for sharpening your speed and control. The key is to get consistent, accurate shots first, then gradually increase your speed while maintaining precision.

If, like us, you are both a fan of the Double Tap Drill and Canik Handguns, you can get some extra help for recoil management with our 45 Blast compensator.

Reload Drill

The Reload Drill helps you improve the speed and efficiency of your reloads under pressure. The focus is to repeat the reload movements, building muscle memory for fast, reliable reloads without fumbling or losing accuracy.

What you’ll need here: Several magazines loaded with 1 or 2 rounds, as the goal is to force frequent reloads.

How to perform the Reload Drill:

1. First, aim at your target and fire the first round.
2. After firing, drop the empty magazine and reload with a fresh one.
3. Focus on making the reload as quick and smooth as possible while maintaining a proper grip.
4. Once reloaded, immediately aim and fire again to get back on target.
5. Repeat to build consistency and speed.

How fast should you reload when practicing this drill? A reload time of 1.5 seconds is considered very fast, so don’t get frustrated if you’re not there yet. Many shooters start at 3 or 4 seconds and progress with consistent practice.

Moving Backward Drill

The Moving Backward Drill focuses on improving your ability to engage targets while moving in reverse, simulating a scenario where you need to retreat while keeping your shots accurate 

How to perform the Moving Backward Drill:

1. Set up your target in front of you at a standard shooting distance.
2. Start facing the target with your firearm aimed.
3. Begin moving backward while maintaining your sight picture and firing controlled shots at the target.
4. Focus on staying balanced, taking small steps to keep your movement smooth and controlled.

Now that we have gone through reload, movement and multiple target drills, it’s time to take your skills to the next level. In the advanced pistol shooting exercises, we’ll challenge your speed and accuracy under more complex conditions. 

Advanced Pistol Shooting Drills

El Presidente Drill

Good ol’ El Presidente Drill, a staple in competitive shooting. It’s a classic exercise designed to work on speed, accuracy, and target transitions. The El Presidente Drill tests your ability to engage multiple targets, reload quickly, and fire accurately under pressure.

How to perform the El Presidente Drill:

1. Set up three targets in a line, spaced about a yard apart from each other.
2. Start with your back to the targets, hands above your head, and your pistol holstered.
3. On command or a timer, turn around, draw your pistol, and fire two shots at each target.
4. Perform a reload, then fire two more shots at each target.
5. Focus on smooth target transitions, a quick reload, and maintaining accuracy.

Mozambique Drill

We’ve already covered the Mozambique Drill, as it’s one of our favorite target practice drills. It’s a fantastic way to develop both speed and precision, especially in high-pressure situations—a must for effective shooting practice.

The Mozambique Drill pushes you to transition between larger, easier targets and smaller, more precise ones.

How to perform the Mozambique Drill:

1. Take aim at your target, focusing on the center mass.
2. Fire two quick shots to the body.
3. Immediately follow up with one precise shot to the head.
4. Repeat the sequence, focusing on speed and accuracy.

Figure Eight Drill

The Figure Eight Drill tops our list of the Top 10 Pistol Shooting Drills. It’s a dynamic exercise that adds intense movement into your firearms training routine, sharpening your situational awareness, footwork, and target acquisition skills.

The goal is to engage targets while on the move, simulating real-life scenarios. It’s called the Figure Eight Drill because of the figure-eight movement pattern you’ll follow. As you move between two points, you engage targets at various angles and distances along the way.

How to perform the Figure Eight Drill:

1. Set up two cones or markers about 5-10 yards apart, creating a lane to move through.
2. Position targets at different angles and distances along your path.
3. Begin moving in a figure-eight pattern around the cones. As you maneuver around the first cone, loop toward the second cone in a continuous, fluid motion, drawing and firing at the targets as they come into view.
4. Focus on maintaining accuracy while moving, transitioning smoothly between targets.

Tactical Pistol Drills

If you’ve stuck with us through the Top 10 Pistol Shooting Drills, congrats! You’ve unlocked two extra Tactical Pistol Drills. So, let’s dive in!

Shooting from Cover Drill

Our first tactical shooting exercise is the Shooting from Cover Drill, a real entertaining classic. This drill focuses on developing your ability to engage targets while using cover—a critical skill for both defensive and tactical scenarios.

To practice the Shooting from Cover Drill, you’ll need something to use as a barricade, like a detached door or a big square piece of wood.

How to perform the Shooting from Cover Drill:

1. Position yourself behind the cover and take aim at your target.
2. From about 3 feet behind cover, lean out or kneel to engage the target with controlled shots.
3. Move between different shooting positions (standing, kneeling) to practice firing from various angles.
4. Focus on minimizing your exposure while maintaining accuracy and control.

Low Light Shooting Drill

The Low Light Shooting Drill prepares you for scenarios where visibility is limited. One of the most effective ways to control your firearm and manage a light source is using the Neck Index Technique, which allows you to maintain proper control of both your gun and your light.

How to perform the Low Light Shooting Drill:

1. Hold the flashlight using the Neck Index Technique: Grip the flashlight in your non-shooting hand and bring it up to your neck, placing the light against your jawline or neck area. This technique allows the beam to follow your line of sight, illuminating where you look, while keeping your non-shooting hand close to your body for better control.
2. With the flashlight aimed, draw your firearm and engage your target with controlled shots.
3. Move and shoot, practicing how to keep the light focused while maintaining accuracy.

Repeat this Low Light Shooting Drill to build confidence in navigating low-light situations, focusing on accuracy and awareness.

Conclusion

These Top 10 Pistol Shooting Drills + 2 Tactical Pistol Drills are like our ultimate shooting practice pack here at 45 Blast. We’ve covered everything from basic accuracy and recoil management to advanced drills that test your speed, precision, and ability to shoot under pressure.

Now it’s time to take all this knowledge and hit the range. Just remember, practice makes the marksman, so progress with patience. Most importantly, always stay safe and have fun.

We hope to see you out there—hopefully with one of our 45 Blast Holsters or Canik Compensators. Get out to the range, practice hard, and show us what you’ve got!