Three Range Drills That Actually Fix Your Groups

Most range trips look the same: bench, sandbags, three shots, adjust turret, repeat. That routine will get you zeroed. It won't make you a better shot. These three drills take the same hour and actually fix the habit that's opening up your groups.

Drill one: the dry-fire ladder

Before you load a single round, dry-fire ten times focusing only on trigger press and follow-through. Watch your reticle at the moment of the "click." If it dips or jumps, you've found your flinch before you ever burned a round of ammo finding it the hard way.

Drill two: the called shot

Load one round at a time. Before you look through the scope to check the target, say out loud where you think the shot landed. Then check. The gap between where you called it and where it actually hit is the most honest feedback you'll get all day — closing that gap matters more than any group size.

Drill three: positional fatigue

Fire your first group from the bench, then immediately fire a second group from field positions — sitting or kneeling, no rest. Compare the two. That difference is roughly what shows up in the field when your heart rate is up and there's no bench in sight.

A tight group from a bench tells you what the rifle can do. A tight group from your knee tells you what you can do.

Run all three in a single range trip and you'll walk away with more useful information than a dozen boxes of ammo fired the usual way.