George Harris, co-founder of SIG Academy, showed me this quick five-minute drill, and it can help you develop your accuracy and marksmanship. It’s also an excellent opportunity to practice drawing from your holster.
You will need:
“The Wall Drill” will isolate muscle management and trigger-finger discipline. The goal is to maintain focus on the front sight through shot delivery rather than looking at the target downrange after pressing the trigger.
Stand facing a wall at about arm’s length, leaving an inch or less between your cleared firearm and the wall. Focus on the front sight as you press the trigger. You will probably notice a “bounce,” either up and down or left to right. This demonstrates deficiencies in your shot process. Instead, get the slack out of your trigger and concentrate on focusing through the front sight. You should see your shot improve.
Remember always to follow the four universal safety rules. Also, double-check that your firearm is cleared, store your ammunition in a separate room, and make sure there is nothing beyond your backstop (and that your backstop will not allow a bullet to pass through).
This is a great, easy drill that doesn’t require a lot of room or materials. Vary your training. Keep it fun. Keep it safe. And keep practicing.
[Steve] Hi everybody, Steve Fisher here, again. Welcome to another Tactical Tuesday video. Today, we are not at the range. We’re actually in our studio, and what we’re going to be working on is the wall drill. The wall drill was introduced to us, oh gosh, years ago by a very good friend and my personal mentor, George Harris.
George was the co-founder of the SIG Sauer Academy. So, you know, I plugged into him a while back and he’s done nothing but great things for me and my marksmanship development. And that’s what we’re going to be doing today — working on our accuracy and our marksmanship development.
So, this isn’t something that you’re going to be using or applying in a tactical way. It’s just to be able to hit the shot that you’re shooting. You’re aiming at a target. You want to hit the target where you’re aiming.
So, we’ve got our good friend Mike here today. Mike’s going to demonstrate for you, the wall drill as I explain it. Let’s get ready, Mike. All right, Mike, are you ready for this?
[Mike] Ready, Steve.
[Steve] So, we’re going to do the wall drill, as I previous explained. Today, there are two major components that we like to isolate when we’re working on the wall drill. Can you tell everybody what they are?
[Mike] Those would be muzzle management and trigger finger discipline.
[Steve] Outstanding. So, what we’ve learned through all of the years of shooting ourselves and working with others to help improve their marksmanship skills, we’ve learned that too often as shooters operate the trigger, their eye focus transitions from the sites to the target. Has that ever happened to you?
[Mike] Of course.
[Steve] Happens to me. Still happens to me quite a bit, which is why we do this drill. Correct?
[Mike] Exactly.
[Steve] So, what we’re trying to do is condition ourselves to maintain the focus on the front sites, through the delivery of the shot, correct?
[Mike] Correct.
[Steve] And where could this be done?
[Mike] Well, today we’re doing it down in the studio. So, what you really need is just a wall and a safe place to operate an unloaded firearm.
[Steve] So, you’ve got a firearm on you, right, Mike?
[Mike] Correct.
[Steve] Can you demonstrate that that firearm was empty and cleared?
[Mike] Clear.
[Steve] All right, good to go. So, two to three times a week, we like to do this drill everybody. And we like to do it in sets of 10 repetitions. Maybe three sets. Each time it takes us less than five minutes, right Mike?
[Mike] Yup.
[Steve] All right. So, we don’t want to overdo it because what happens if we overdo it, Mike?
[Mike] You get bored with things. You start to lose focus, and then you’re really not getting the benefit out of the training.
[Steve] That’s exactly what happens. If you do it too much, you lose your focus. And this is all about the focus. So Mike, why don’t you draw your firearm?
[Mike] Okay. To start off, Steve, I like to make sure I’m about arms distance away. Go ahead and take my firearm out and just make a little bit of contact with the wall to make sure that I am the proper distance away, which is about an inch or less.
[Steve] Sounds good. So the weapons charged but it’s clear. We know that already, right?
[Mike] Correct.
[Steve] Presenting toward the wall, you’re about — as I’m seeing it right now — you’re about 1/8 inch to 1/4 inch off the wall. And you’re looking through your sites. What do you see?
[Mike] I see the front sight post. That’s where my focus is at.
[Steve] Finger on the trigger. And then, do your first repetition. What did you notice?
[Mike] All right, I noticed a little bit of movement. So, I’m going to go ahead and rack the slide with the trigger depressed so that I can also work my reset point.
[Steve] Okay, so the movement that you were seeing is kind of like a bounce, isn’t it?
[Mike] Yup.
[Steve] It’s going to bounce up and down or it’ll bounce left and right. And these demonstrate deficiencies in our shot process.
[Mike] Yup … and the fact that I’ve had too much coffee this morning.
[Steve] George actually takes this drill to one higher level. And he talks about conditioning shooters to have an autonomic shot delivery. What that means, basically, is that you’re so intensely focused on the front sight, when you take the slack out of the trigger, you don’t even realize when the round goes downrange.
So, let’s try that once, Mike. On this repetition, get yourself — just take the slack out of the trigger — get your focus on that front sight. Front sight, front sight, intense, intense focus on that front sight.
Look what just happened. Now from where I’m standing here off camera, I noticed that that was actually your best shot.
All right, Mike. That’s it for today, everybody. The wall drill. Have a wonderful day.