With a shot timer and a few drills, you can make your handgun training much more enjoyable.
We often take our defensive handgun shooting too seriously—not that being serious about defense handgun shooting is a bad thing. But one of the great things about shooting is that it can be fun, and sometimes having fun is a good thing, even with a serious firearm.
About 7 years ago I developed a comprehensive defensive handgun drill that incorporated five very popular defensive handgun drills. I don’t think it’s all that practical as a training or evaluation tool, but it’s a hell of a lot of fun to shoot, especially when you’re on the range with some buddies and want to have some friendly competition.
We call the shooting range I live on Shadowland, and I named this drill simply the Shadowland Drill. To run the drill, you will need three IDPA targets and a range where you can shoot from three to seven yards. Set the left target at 7 yards, the middle target at 5 yards, and the right target at 3 yards, spacing them about a foot apart. You will also need—at a minimum—15 rounds of ammo, your defensive handgun, a holster and a shot timer.
Five of the most used defensive handgun drills include a single shot to the head (one shot), a hammer pair (two shots), a failure drill (three shots), a reload drill (four shots) and an adrenalin dump (five shots). If you combine these five drills together, you have the Shadowland Drill that requires 15 shots. And by combining these drills, what I mean is that you shoot them all—one right after another—and use the shot timer to record all 15 shots.
The Shadowland Drill
Begin the drill holstered, and on the signal from the shot timer, draw and fire a single head shot at the 7-yard target. Then, immediately transition to the 3-yard target and fire a hammer-pair (two shots—one sight picture). After that, your focus shifts to the 5-yard target, where you fire a failure drill (two to the body and one to the head). Then, transition to the 7-yard target and fire a controlled-pair (two shots—two sight pictures). This is the first part of the reload portion of the drill.
Now, conduct a speed reload and fire another hammer-pair (two shots) at the 3-yard target. That’s a total of 10 shots, and the final part of the drill is to switch back to the 5-yard target and conduct an adrenalin dump (five shots center mass as fast as possible).
When you’re finished, the 7-yard target should have one hit in the 4-inch head circle, and two hits in the 8-inch body circle. In the 5-yard target, you should have one hit in the head circle and seven hits in the body circle. And finally, in the 3-yard target, you should have four hits in the body circle.
You score the drill by time—the total time it takes you to get all 15 hits on the correct target and in the correct location. A clean run in under 10 seconds is very good. I’ve done it, but I cannot do it every time. A clean run in less than 12.5 seconds is respectable, and if you can run it clean in less than 15 seconds, consider that a decent performance.
This drill is perfect for defensive handguns that hold at least eight rounds, because eight rounds get you through the first two shots of the reload portion of the drill. However, you can run this drill with a five- or six-shot revolver, too; you’ll just need to conduct two reloads.
With a five-shot handgun, conduct the first reload after the first two shots of the failure drill on the 5-yard target. Then, conduct the second reload after the second hammer pair on the 3-yard target. With a six-shot handgun, do the first reload after the failure drill on the 5-yard target and do the second reload after the second hammer pair on the 3-yard target. With a five- or six-shot revolver or pistol, a very good score would be a clean run in less than 15 seconds.
It’s Just a Drill
There are several reasons this is not a very practical drill. The first is that, whether you’re shooting or picking your nose, it’s not advisable to stand in one spot for around 10 seconds. If you’re in a gunfight, you will likely die, and if you are at a social function, you’ll most likely get embarrassed when someone sees you digging for boogers. Another reason it’s not very practical is because, if three or more bad guys accosted you, I seriously doubt this formulation of an attack would be the best or the one that you would choose.
This does not mean the drill is of no value. It requires you to stay on your gun and keep it running at a high speed for around 10 seconds or more. It also requires good shooting. And, just as importantly, it’s a great informal competition drill, because the memory and progression aspect can level the playing field between fast shooters and others who are more deliberate and accurate.
As much as this is a shooting exercise, it’s also a memory exercise, and learning to think while you shoot fast is a good skill to practice. You must shoot the targets in order, shoot them the correct number of times and shoot them in the correct spots. The actual shooting is not that difficult; trying to do it all in order and at high speed can get frustrating.
To some extent, this drill is also an exercise in humility. Just when you think you’ve become pretty good with your self-defense handgun, this drill can remind you there is always room for improvement.
Regardless, give the drill a try, mostly because it’s fun, and we could all probably use some more fun in our lives.
Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared in the October 2025 issue of Gun Digest the Magazine.
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