The Valhalla Drill: Mastering Speed & Reloads with Shotguns

I can’t get enough of the old repeating claymore. The shotgun has seen a recent uptick in popularity, largely thanks to people getting bored with ARs and affordable, high-quality semi-autos hitting the market. New guns require new training, and if you’re new to the world of shotguns, then the Valhalla drill is for you.

The Valhalla Drill came from Bill Armstrong at Mead Hall Range. It’s a drill designed for modern repeating shotguns in the semi-auto or pump-action genres. To shoot the drill, you need six rounds of ammo and a means to carry them. A side saddle is the most common way to keep your shotgun fed, but you can run it from a belt or chest rig if you so choose.

Target selection is up to you, but I’d make it challenging with an IPSC target and aim for the A-zone. Shotguns destroy targets quickly, so perhaps a steel target makes more sense for you. Either way, make it at least a little challenging to hit the target to get the most out of the training.

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Running the Valhalla Drill

You’ll start with your gun empty and the action locked open. Your six rounds need to be ready to reload. I encourage the use of a shot timer to gather objective performance data to track progress.

At the go signal, you’ll load one round and fire. I use an emergency ejection port load for this stage. As soon as you fire the shot, you’re empty.

Now, reload two rounds and fire two. I do an emergency port reload and a standard tube reload. Again, we are empty.

Predictably, we are going to load three and shoot three. For me, this is one emergency port reload and two into the tube. After you fire your final shot, you are done. If you have a shot timer, you can rejoice at your speed or frown in disappointment.

Around 15 seconds seems to be acceptable, while under 10 seconds is considered exceptional. I don’t know about you, but when I heard 15 is acceptable and 10 is exceptional, that 10 became my bare minimum. Did I get there? No, especially with a pump gun, but it’s a goal to work toward.

The Purpose Behind the Valhalla Drill

The most obvious training value is your ability to reload the gun from your gear. Shotguns typically top out at eight rounds in a defensive format. Being able to competently reload the gun is a valuable skill, but there’s more to it than that.

You are constantly switching in and out of a firing mode to reload. You have to reacquire your sight picture and establish a good push/pull tension quickly. If you can do it quickly, you can do it competently.

Shooters are tasked with firing multiple rounds accurately, which means you have to be able to control the gun while firing rapidly. This is another valuable skill, and one that is likely more important than being able to reload.

Make It Harder

One way to make this drill harder is to use multiple targets. You can set this up in several different ways. I like setting up three targets and shooting them in a specific order.

I shoot the targets in order of the rounds loaded:

• Round 1: Fire one round on target one.
• Round 2: Fire one on target one and one on target two.
• Round 3: Fire one round on all three targets.

This adds target transitions to my training and provides one more thing to practice. If you’re using birdshot to train, which is the cheaper way, use clay pigeons on the berm as targets. Six clay pigeons, one for each shot, make it a fun challenge and amp up the difficulty.

Mixing up the targets is a great way to make this drill tougher while still building valuable skills.

Til Valhalla

The Valhalla Drill is not just challenging, but fun. If you’re a time chaser like me, you’ll want to go fast and see that timer drop significantly. The Valhalla Drill becomes addictive enough that you don’t care how bruised your shoulder is; you just want one more round to see if you can turn 11.7 seconds into 11 flat, and so on.

If you’re a scattergun fan, give it a try and let us know what you think.

About Travis Pike

Travis Pike is a former Marine Machine Gunner, a lifelong firearms enthusiast, and now a regular guy who likes to shoot, write, and find ways to combine the two. He holds an NRA certification as a Basic Pistol Instructor and is the world’s Okayest firearm’s instructor.