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Time to the gun


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In trying to speed my draw in dry-drawing, I decided to test my reaction time, as I am told it is slow...

So, I clipped the timer in place of the holster, strong side, and from surrender slapped it as fast as I could at the buzzer.

Average, .33, Best, .31.

How slow am I?

Steve

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Steve,

You can probably cut that nearly in half.  It may be your testing procedure that is slowing you though.  I do the drill at the range with a gun.  Prep the trigger, fire on the start of the beep.  I can get in the low teens.

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I know about that one, but my practice range is indoors, and the other blasters make timer use very frustrating.

(Had a damn .223 guy next to me this morning showing off his new muzzle brake)

I got the idea from a mas ayoob article on reaction time and really wanted to see how fast I could get to the gun.

I kinda like mine, because when will you ever have to (in a match) start on a buzzer with the gun in hand, sights indexed, finger on trigger? I will try it though.

Thanks! See ya Saturday...

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Well, when guns are outlawed we can all stand around and have "Timerslap" matches..

Actually this is a decent idea for checking reaction times without firing.  I'll have to try it sometime.

(Edited by shred at 2:14 pm on May 2, 2002)

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The instructional materials that I have from "the big guns" like Burkett, Barnhart, and so on use Flexmoney's method of determining reaction time. Hmmm....maybe Felxmoney got it from them. What I strive to do is to react to the very beginning of the buzzer. For example, I used to get going when I heard "buzzz". Then I cut it down to "buz". Now I am at "bu". It would be nice to get it down to "b". Does that make sense?

Obviously, the reason for the drill it to learn to listen to, and react to the audible stimulus. We don't always draw on the buzzer. Sometimes we step out of a box or across a fault line, or we might draw from under a counter, etc. The sooner we react, the better.

I have a tape in which Rob Leatham explains that the difference in time between a fast guy and an average guy in making the reach from surrender to the grip is in "hundreths of a second".  Getting the pistol out of the holster and in front of your face with sights aligned after you get to the darn thing is what really matters.

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Ron...those guys are using my trick???  

I am sure I got it from one or more of the big dogs.  That is where I get most stuff.  

Steve,

I don't think a short beep is the answer.  I've used timers with the batteries going bad.  They gave short beeps.  It seemed worse.

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Quote: from Ron Ankeny on 4:36 pm on May 2, 2002

I have a tape in which Rob Leatham explains that the difference in time between a fast guy and an average guy in making the reach from surrender to the grip is in "hundreths of a second".  Getting the pistol out of the holster and in front of your face with sights aligned after you get to the darn thing is what really matters.


I have the same tape. I am not one of the fastest guys around but I have played with Rob's theory and it works for me. In other words, spend a couple more hundreds of a second getting to the gun. IMO in the long run it will pay off.

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There was an earlier thread about reaction time here:

http://www.brianenos.com/cgi-bin/ikonboard...=5&topic=55

But basically there are two issues here:  

1) How quickly do you respond to the buzzer, and

2) How long does it take to move your hand from surrender to the timer/gun.

(1) can be tested with the little online tests from the linked thread, or with the "finger on the trigger" method

(2) can be deceptive if getting TO the gun faster actually results in a slower draw.

Given that, I'd say it's probably better to practice actually drawing and dry firing a shot with a par time set on the timer for 1 second, or whatever.

Semper Fi,

DogmaDog

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  • 3 weeks later...

First time i saw the reaction time drill as described by kyle was in an article by Matt Burkett in his Front sight column.

Steve i like your drill.. not to test reaction speed but more "get to the gun" speed again breaking down the draw in to even more steps.

I also like drawing with your hand on the gun.

and for the record, the WV IDPA state match did have you starting with the gun drawn, finger on trigger aimed at target.

happy shooting

steve

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OK.

I tried the slap the timer drill ( I have a PACT MkIV)... averaged around .29.  Best time was .25 and worst was about .31.  

I tried the reflex tester at

http://www.happyhub.com/network/reflex/

best time .26 avg. was about .30.  What gives?  It seems like one of these two timers is not right.  I can't believe I can slap my timer from surrender faster than I can click a mouse button when my finger is already on the button... for my money the happy hub timer seems kinda fast.  Anybody tried comparing the two?

Homero   bat.gif

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it sounds like a simple difference to me, one is an optical stimuli the other is an auditory stimuli. i am about.22 on the mouse one and not sure of the surrender, will post in just a min.

chances are you have faster auditory perception than visual, as i can get .19 consistantly with my pistol prepped and .22 on the eye reflex website.

steve

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Thanks Steve,

I hadn't thought of that.  That is certainly one possible (and very plausible explanation).

Please post your results when you get a chance.  I am curious to see how your visual reflex compares with your auditory reflex...

Homero   bat.gif

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buzzer slap, pretty consistant .36,.34,.36,.36,.36,.35

better comparison test. gun on target finger on trigger beep. times were. .35 OOPS forgot to shoot .25 .23.23.22.20in about that order.

i can remember being able to do .19 very consistantly a while back, but then gain, batteries are dead in ear muff's and old in the timer.

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OK... tried finger on the trigger, gun on target, fire at the beep.  Worst time  .29 (???)  most were in the .23-.24 range with some .20 and even one .17.

That's better than I did on the reflex tester website, so there must be something to that difference to reaction between auditory and visual stimuli.

Hmmm... and I would have thought it would be the opposite with me... judging by how fast I react when an attractive member of the opposite sex walks by...

Homero    bat.gif

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Cypher

Mouse buttons work when you release them and not when you press, so click start and inmidiatly click on stop and hold it, when collor changes release the button.

you will see the difference, by the way my times with the mouse 0.18/0.17/0.15/0.18.

I have to try the "timer slap"

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All kidding aside... I couldn't figure out why there was a discrepancy between my reaction times with a staged gun and my reaction times with the Reflex Tester site.

I knew how the mouse worked, since I work in IT, but it was one of those things that I knew so well that I failed to take it into account.

Dani helped me figure out where the discrepancy was ocurring and thus removed a cause of considerable consternation... even though he is a gamer...

Homero   bat.gif

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