How To Shoot Inside & Around A Vehicle

Setup, safety, and carry positions in the vehicle

Clint and Katie from Classic Firearms use a worn Prius and paper targets to explore shooting from inside a vehicle. The focus is on engaging threats through the windshield with 9mm pistols, simulating a defensive situation where attackers may be armed and approaching the car. Clint demonstrates how he carries concealed while driving, keeping the pistol exposed but under a cover garment, with the seat belt routed behind the gun. This keeps the belt pressing on his body instead of the firearm and allows a quick draw without reholstering in public. They emphasize that shooting inside a car will be loud, concussive, and filled with debris, especially glass and fibers from the windshield, and note that in a real incident there would be no hearing protection and significant stress.

First drill: five rounds through the windshield

The first drill is straightforward: each shooter fires five rounds as quickly as possible from the driver and passenger seats through the front windshield at separate targets. A shot timer is used only to start the drill, not to score times. Once the doors are closed to simulate being stopped in traffic, both shooters draw from their respective carry setups—Clint from concealed and Katie from a more open-carry style holster. As soon as the first shots break, glass, dust, and debris erupt inside the cabin, and visibility through the windshield rapidly disappears. Both shooters push through the disorientation and complete their five-round strings despite the sudden loss of a clear sight picture.

Assessing hits, concussive force, and visibility loss

After the first drill, they inspect the targets and windshield. Clint notes that the concussive force inside the car is disorienting even with 9mm pistols, and the blast, powder smoke, and glass fragments make it difficult to see or breathe. He mentions running 124-grain FMJ 9mm ammunition. On the windshield, his grouping looks tight, but the hits on the target are scattered, with a few solid center-mass impacts and others low or off to the side. Katie’s target shows five clear hits, with one described as still “bleeding out,” indicating a solid vital-area strike. Both shooters remark that once the windshield starts to break up, it becomes nearly impossible to see the target, turning the drill into something close to “spray and pray” while trying to manage the debris and smoke.

Second drill: shooting inside, then exiting the car

For the second evolution, they modify the drill to add movement and problem-solving. Each shooter will fire three rounds from inside the car through the windshield, then open the door, prop it, step out, and fire three more rounds on the same target from outside. The goal is to compare performance between shooting from the confined interior and shooting once outside with better visibility. Katie runs the drill under the timer, focusing on drawing, firing three shots from the seat, then quickly pushing the door open and transitioning to a more stable stance outside the vehicle. The sequence is meant to simulate an initial emergency response from inside the car followed by continued engagement after exiting to a safer position.

Malfunction, follow-up shots, and accuracy under stress

During the second drill, Katie experiences a stoppage that turns out to be an improperly seated magazine rather than a mechanical failure. She clears the issue under stress and finishes the drill, with her last three shots from outside landing cleanly on target. When they check the targets, they see a mix of high and low impacts, reflecting unfamiliarity with shooting from a seated position inside a vehicle. Katie notes she typically pulls low and left, and some of the low hits are likely hers. Clint points out that in a real scenario, if someone is forced to shoot through a windshield, the threat is probably shooting back, so getting rounds on target quickly becomes the priority. They highlight that working through a self-induced problem and still achieving accurate hits is an important part of realistic training.

Training value, real-world odds, and future vehicle drills

In closing, they discuss why this type of drill matters despite the low likelihood of ever needing to shoot through a windshield in real life. They reference the idea that the first time drawing from concealment or firing from a vehicle should not be during an actual life-threatening event. Instead, controlled practice reveals issues like visibility loss, concussive effects, debris, and equipment handling under pressure. They joke about who performed better, noting that Katie’s accuracy improved under stress and that more stressful drills might bring out her best shooting. They also float ideas for future content, including driving or riding in a moving vehicle while engaging multiple targets, using a neutral driver so both can focus on shooting and comparing performance in more complex vehicle-based scenarios.