Hello and welcome back to another edition of The Rimfire Report! This ongoing series is all about the rimfire firearm world and its many different types of guns, their applications, and even some of the weird history and obscurities surrounding rimfire guns. This week I want to talk about some quick and easy ways to keep your pistol proficiency up throughout the summer months while avoiding some of the heavy costs usually associated with running pistol drills. What’s more is that instead of a lot of your standard drills, I’m trying to include pistol drills that will really take advantage of the money you’ll already save – these are all really low round-count drills and the goal is to keep each of these drills to 50-rounds or less. This means that for all 3 drills, you should be able to head to the range with your targets, gun, shot timer, and 100 rounds of reliable rimfire ammunition and you’ll be out the door with some solid pistol training sessions for $13 or less in ammunition. Below I’ll give you 3 different rimfire pistol drills you can use to brush up on your handgun skills on a budget, included will be photos, links to the free targets, and video examples of each drill.

More Rimfire Report @ TFB:

• The Rimfire Report: The KelTec P17 Gets the Red Dot Treatment
• The Rimfire Report: The Five Most Affordable Rimfire Pistols Worth Buying
• The Rimfire Report: Comparing 22LR and 22WMR

The Rimfire Report: 3 Rimfire Pistol Drills for the Ultra-Frugal Operator

For the price and round count of each drill, we’re going to assume you’ll attempt it a minimum of 5 times, and we’ll assume you used CCI 40-grain Mini-Mags priced at $12.99 per sleeve.

The Bill Drill

Designed by Bill Wilson (sometimes erroneously credited to Bill Jordan, Bill Rogers)

Round Count: 30 Rounds

Reload Required: No

Par Time: 1.7 seconds is considered a “reasonable” goal time by professional shooter Ben Stoeger

Target: The bill drill normally necessitates the use of an IPSC/USPSA, or IDPA target, but since those cost about $1 each on the low end of things, you can substitute one for either a standard-sized paper plate, or use this free B-8 target.

Range: 7 Yards

Procedure: With the gun in the holster, hands in the surrender position or at your sides, draw and engage the target by firing 6 shots. A pass requires all shots to land within the “A” zone on a USPSA target or within the 10 ring of a B8 bullseye target.

• draw
• fire six rounds at the target and attempt to achieve all hits within the 10-ring on a  B-8  or the A zone on an IPSC target

Total Cost for Drill: $3.90

The F.A.S.T Drill

Similar to a “Failure” or “Mozambique” drill but with extra rounds. The F.A.S.T stands for Fundamentals, Accuracy, & Speed Test

Round Count: 30 Rounds

Reload Required: Per the targets I provide yes, but you can skip the reload if you only have one magazine or don’t feel like incorporating the reload

Par Time: Anything more than 10 seconds on this drill is considered “amateur” and anything less than 5 seconds is considered “expert.”

Target: Download the printable Pistol-Training.com F.A.S.T Target here

Range: 7 yards

Procedure: weapon concealed or in retention duty holster with all retention devices active; shooter facing downrange in a relaxed stance with arms down at sides. The drill begins from the holster, pistol loaded with exactly two rounds (or six if you are skipping the reload).

• draw
• fire two (and only two) rounds at the 3×5 box
• perform a slide-lock reload (optional)
• fire four (and only four) rounds at the 8″ circle

Note in the video below we are using a modified version of the FAST drill on a slightly different target for an extra challenge.

Also, remember to work through those malfunctions! It’s just extra training! 

Total Cost for Drill: $3.90

SIX Squares

I usually like to run this one at the end of my range sessions, it’s a good way to reaffirm that you’re getting a proper sight picture, pulling that trigger consistently, and focusing on forming a good grip during the draw and while shooting. This is an untimed drill so you can really slow things down here and focus on technique.

Round Count: 16 Rounds

Reload Required: No

Par Time: Untimed drill

Target: Six 1-Inch Targets download free

Range: First eight shots are from 3-yards and the final eight are from 6-yards

From any position or any condition, engage targets either from right to left or left to right. Repeat the procedure from the top row to the bottom row but increase the distance to 6 yards. No time limit. (I shoot from left to right so we’ll use that in our example)

• Engage the left box with two rounds using only your dominant hand
• Engage the middle box with two rounds using only your non-dominant hand
• Engage the final box with four rounds using both hands
• Repeat the firing sequence at six yards using the bottom row of targets (or the top if you somehow managed to reverse them)

Total Cost for Drill: $2.08

It doesn’t have to be expensive

I know that training with rimfire firearms isn’t going to give you a one-to-one experience for your EDC, or even your competition guns… unless you happen to compete with a rimfire pistol. However, I think a lot of these drills have helped me shore up my pistol skills over the years, and these are some of the most frequently used or practiced drills from the very skilled people I’ve had the opportunity to train with. These three drills if done at the range, should take you about 30 minutes or so to get through if you’re checking your work and performing normal reloads and target changes. So for about $13 (less actually), you can get some pretty good pistol training in with your favorite rimfire pistol, a sleeve of good ammo, and the free targets we’ve provided for you here today. If you guys have a favorite set of rimfire pistol drills you like to go through to get your skills back on track feel free to let us know below, and provide a link to the targets you use if possible! As always thanks for stopping by to read The Rimfire Report and we’ll see you all next time!

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