Why sub / super fast handgun draw or presentation – are overrated.
First consider this: not the first who shots wins.
Here is the formula. You are proactive; you have time. Whether the weapon is presented between 1 to 1.8 sec virtually has no difference, since, well, you are proactive, no survival is of necessity, but rather a commitment to a challenge. Optimal.
Another side of the coin - you are reactive. no time, lower level of orientation and therefore likely to be in a shitty position. Additionally, unlike the previous example, the individual will exhibit behaviors which will promote self-preservation, rather than the most optimal learned behaviors, due to flight or fight-driven responses.
So. We can agree, that if someone throwing a chair at you out of nowhere – you might want to move away rather than attempt to stop it as fast as possible, isn’t it? Logic bruh.
The point is. In this video, the defender was alarmed of a suspicious noise. He couldn’t see that much, but he figured out relatively fast that he is being attacked. However, due to the lighting conditions, the individual is still not fully oriented. He sees people who aren’t supposed to be there, followed with a distinctive sound of a rack – But is still not able to SEE a gun – a input vs output thing, ultimately, A big difference in how sensation manifests perception, and ultimately decision making.
What happens may be associated with capture error, although I will admit that we don’t know much from the video to conclude that. But for the sake of learning, we will use it as an example.
At this point, the individual resorts for a quick draw and a shot. This, puts him in the line of fire. Action beat reaction is a misleading grey term and is, generally, far more complex than that—this causes the individual to miss a bullet narrowly. So here you have it – the speed of the draw or how quick you break the shot, wasn’t a factor here. Position and movement - was.
So lets think about it for a second. The modern tactical culture is focusing on fine-tuning how we grip a pistol and how to do precision sub-second shot placements, yet, fails to stress how MOBILITY and PRE POSITIONING matter.
How much does it matter? Much. So much, that it virtually put the sub-second draw or blazing fast presentations…less beneficial than a 1.4 draw accompanied by a quick movement into a better position while shooting. What we also forget is at what context an handgun is to be employed – a confined environment, close distances and sudden encounters.
Conclusion.
I used to train a lot for time. But I have also shifted away from many shooting range metrics that simply fail to translate into reality either entirely or when looked at from a Frequency/consequence calculation. If you do a sub-second draw and very accurate shot – by all means, good job. But that does serve as a performance metric? In terms of motor skill, yes. In terms of decision-making influenced by stimuli and context – not even close.