McDaniel would generally begin with a row of six beer cans located at a distance of 21 feet (6.5m) from the student and spaced about one foot (30 cm) apart apiece. When the student could hit these targets regularly by hip-shooting the BB gun, which generally took very little time to master, since this type of shooting involved the same basic principles as the aerial shooting, but was a lot easier, McDaniel would then line up empty shotgun shells as targets, then empty .38 Special cartridge cases, then empty .22-short cartridge cases and finally BB's.