Hat Drill
So you have been shooting for a while and feeling confident. Maybe shooting mid-range has become easy, and you are looking for something else to work on; you might want to improve your skill set a little more. Like many shooters, you may not know how to tell what you need to work on. What is there to do?
My first answer is to practice the fundamentals of marksmanship. But if I'm being honest, it can get a little dull. So, what can we do to spice up our shooting? Well, we can start doing drills. There are dot drills, knock-out drills, speed drills, etc. But the most crucial drill and the most information-giving is the Hat Drill. It reveals almost everything and tells you exactly what you need to work on. In my opinion, it's the best test to see what you lack most regarding the fundamentals of marksmanship.
The set up
First, Place 5 rounds in a hat about 20 yards behind you. It needs to be far enough away to get up to a full-speed sprint but not so far away that someone not in the best shape can't complete it.
Next, have a target at least 100 yards away. The size of the target and the distance can be changed depending on the skill level of the shooters.
Starting at the gun line, on "GO," the shooter will run to the hat and get one bullet, then run back to the gun and get into the prone position, take the shot, then run back to the hat and continue this for all 5 rounds.
One point of this exercise is to induce stress. You will likely find that your groups at 100 yards open up to a pattern resembling a submachine gun at 200 yards. This exercise will have you failing miserably. You will be out of breath and will likely only be able to focus on one aspect of the fundamentals of marksmanship. That's precisely what we want.
Now, we can return to the fundamentals with some live fire practice. Take your time and make every shot count. Start the exercise again, but when you get on the gun this time, slow down and go over your mental checklist of the fundamentals. Once this is completed, do the hat drill again at full speed. This is a very fun drill to do with a friend or a group of people.
Tips
Remember the box breathing exercise I talked about in a previous blog? Controlled breathing is critical and has the most significant impact on success. Remember to shoot during your natural respiratory pause. Remember, you will be short of breath, and your respiratory pause will be very short.
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