Mother’s Day is approaching, and Mom deserves the best. She carried you for nine months, wiped your butt, your nose, and your tears. She kept you dressed and fed and likely taught you a whole lot about the world.
If you ask Mom what she wants for her special day she’ll likely tell you a whole lot of nothing. In reality, what mom wants is a little time with you.
There are lots of great ways to spend time with your mom, but here at Safariland, we are all about a trip to the range.
Taking Mom to the range offers a couple of opportunities. First, if you’re the shooter, you can teach her how to effectively and safely use a firearm. On the split side, maybe your mom took a page out of Annie Oakley’s book and can teach you a thing or two.
Regardless of which situation you find yourself in, we’ve put together a few drills you and your mom can take to the range based on you or your mom’s skill level.
Mother’s Day Drills for Beginners
If you’re going to the range, you should always have a plan. This improves productivity, maximizes your time, and ensures you don’t waste ammo. Drills give you a plan and a goal. It focuses on your training. Let’s dig into it, and by the time you’re done, you’ll never hear a ‘your momma’ joke again.
Let’s start with something easy that focuses on basic shooting skills. These drills will allow you to practice proper sight picture, grip, trigger control, and the ability to find your sights with a little movement. Here are my two favorite beginner-approved drills for Mother’s Day.
Ready-Up
The Ready-Up drill is one of the most basic firearms drills out there. It’s simple: Our shooter will start in a low-ready position with their firearm ready. Using a shot timer or a verbal command, the shooter will bring the gun up and fire one round on the target. Don’t immediately drop your gun off target after firing the shot; be prepared to take that second shot if necessary.
Shooters should try to accomplish this drill in less than two seconds as a beginner. The end goal is to be fast enough to do this drill with an effective shot on target in less than one second. That takes time, but it’s a worthy skill to have.
The 10-10-10 Drill
I often call the 10-10-10 Drill the beginner’s yardstick. You’ll be ready to move on to more advanced drills if you can accomplish this drill successfully. Shooters will need 10 rounds of ammo, a shot timer, and a B8 target.
Shooters will start 10 yards from the target in the low ready. At the command to fire, they will raise the gun and fire 10 rounds at the B8. They only have ten seconds to fire their 10 rounds.
The B8 target provides a scoring metric on the target. The best possible score is 100 points. A passing score of 90 points. The 10-10-10 challenges you to properly track your sights, exercise good recoil control, and shoot a long string rapidly.
Shooting Drills For the More Experienced Mom
If your mom can fly through those two drills, maybe she’ll be ready for something more challenging. Or maybe you’re prepared to be taught? Either way, here are a few intermediate drills to level up your challenge.
The Bill Drill
The Bill Drill is one of my favorite drills. It’s a great way to learn and refine skills and evaluate your ability to shoot. It involves a long string of fire, a draw, and good shot placement.
The Bill Drill requires an ISPC-style target, but you also take a piece of printer paper and draw a six-inch-wide rectangle that uses the entire length of 11 inches. This represents the A-Zone of the IPSC target, which is the only portion you need. In addition, you’ll need six rounds of ammo, a holster, and a shot timer.
You and Mom will start seven yards from the target. At the command to fire, you draw and fire six shots into the A-Zone of the target. Every round needs to land inside that rectangle. There isn’t a pass-or-fail time limit, but your goal should be to improve your time. Pro shooters can accomplish this drill in less than two seconds.
The El Presidente Drill
Take Mom on a walk through gun culture history with the El Presidente. This drill comes from Jeff Cooper and the Modern Technique. You’ll need three torso-sized targets. You can use IPSC, USPSA, FBI Q targets, or whatever. Space them one yard apart and seven yards from the firing line.
Shooters will need 12 rounds per run, two magazines, a holster, and a shot timer. They will start with their back facing the target and their weapon holstered. Each magazine holds six rounds. At the sound of the timer, it’s time to roll.
Mom will turn, draw her gun, and shoot two rounds into each target. When the gun runs empty, the shooter reloads and then shoots each target two more times. Most shooters accept seven seconds as a passing time, so try to aim for seven seconds. What’s most important is continual improvement and not making it too stressful.
Drills For the Pro Mom
At this level, mom is teaching you. She’s been teaching you forever. I’ve got one pro drill for both of you. It’s deceptive because it sounds simple, but it’s a challenge. Most days, the slowest time buys lunch but Mom doesn’t buy lunch on Mother’s Day, regardless of who wins.
The Fast Drill
Fast stands for Fundamentals, Accuracy, and Speed Test. The late Todd Green designed the drill to test those exact fundamentals. It only requires six rounds, a shot timer, a holster, two magazines, and a simple target. The target is a 3×5 rectangle atop an 8-inch circle. You and Mom will each need two magazines. The starting magazine will be loaded with two rounds, and the spare sits tight in a mag pouch.
Place the target at seven yards with your arms by your sides. At the beep, the shooter draws and fires two shots into the 3×5 card. The shooter then conducts a reload and fires four rounds into the eight-circle. Any misses are a failure. Your time reveals your skill level.
10+ seconds: Novice
10 seconds or less: Intermediate
less than 7 seconds: Advanced
less than 5 seconds: Expert
Cleared Hot
Make Mother’s Day important and aim to spend less money and more time with mom. A trip to the range can be an exciting change of pace and gives you and your mom a hobby to share. Have a great Mother’s Day from everyone at Safariland.
