The Bill Drill in 60 seconds (BLUF)

• What it is: Draw and fire six rounds into the A-zone of one target at seven yards, as fast as you can keep them all in. That’s the whole drill.
• Why it’s brutal: Six shots leaves nowhere to hide. A bad grip, a slow draw, or flinching all show up instantly in your hits and your times.
• What’s a good time? Roughly 4.5s for a new shooter, sub-3s for a solid club shooter, and sub-2s is the classic “you can really shoot” benchmark. Top competitors run it in the low 1.4s range.
• The two levers: Your draw (first shot) and your splits (time between shots). A shot timer breaks both out for you so you know which one to fix.
• Train it anywhere: You don’t need live fire to build the pattern. An airsoft pistol or a dry-fire rep with a par time on a free Airsoft Shot Timer app trains the exact same draw-and-run mechanics.

If you’ve ever watched someone at the range draw and rip six shots into a single target in about two seconds, you’ve probably seen a Bill Drill without knowing its name. To a bystander it looks like a John Wick impression. To anyone who trains seriously, it’s one of the most revealing tests in shooting — because there is absolutely nothing to it, and that’s exactly why it’s so hard to fake.

Why Is Draw Technique So Important?

In competitive shooting and defensive situations, the draw stroke is where everything begins. Whether you’re competing for first-shot advantage in IPSC or simulating defensive scenarios in IDPA, a smooth and fast draw is a fundamental skill every shooter must master.

The 60-second version: A shot timer measures the time from a start beep to every shot you fire, turning a vague “that felt fast” into hard numbers — your draw, the splits between shots, your reload. There are really only two kinds: a dedicated hardware buzzer ($100-200) and a phone app. You do not need to spend a cent to start, because the single most useful timer for most people is the free AirsoftShotTimer app already sitting in your pocket — and it’s tuned to pick up the quiet pop of an airsoft gun and even dry-fire clicks that generic timer apps miss. Set it to random delay, run one draw drill tonight, and let the data tell you what to fix. The rest of this guide explains what every number means, the five drills worth timing, and how to read your results.