Valid points. Once again, the Venn diagram of police/military/civilian shooting needs touch but don't really have much overlap.
One other thing that bugs me is audible signals to start defending yourself. Yelling gun, police whistle, etc., etc., is (IMHO) different than seeing an attack coming at you.
I'd bet money this guy sucks at shooting. I believe that in a gun fight I want to do EVERYTHING as fast as I can.
Disclaimer: I'm a gamer. I have never been in a "self defense" situation.
i used to wannabe
I think that the timer is very important for diagnostic and skill-checking purposes. Probably not needed or super useful for all of your defensive shooting practice.
From what I have read, the science of learning backs up the statement that the more learned the skill, the more automatic it is, the faster one can perform it at a given level of precision. I think it is important to know what your own level is and at what rate you are progressing over time.
On the reloads angle, I'm totally on board as far as defensive shooting is concerned. I want to have a rock-solid, reliable reload technique that is the hardest for me to screw up as opposed to what is on average the fastest, but I will probably bobble a higher percentage of.
It is hard to take seriously a person who says they never use a timer in their practice.Originally Posted by Luke
As long as we are piling on, this struck me as odd:
My name is Grant Cunningham, and I’m a renowned author and teacher in the areas of self defense, personal safety, home and family defense, and instructor development.
I didn't know "renowned" was a description bestowed on you, by you.
Likes pretty much everything in every caliber.
When I started measuring performance, it was my first time shooting the FAST. I will take my current <6 self over the then >11 self any day. And I thought I was fast and accurate then, and now I realize I still need much work. But then I am not renowned for much these days.
Taking a break from social media.
I don't know about the author's credentials, but that doesn't affect my appreciation for his expressed point of view.
Many firearms enthusiast can get very, very deep in the weeds regarding specs/stats/pull weights/physical size & weight measurements/split times/etc. And that's fine. If one finds the exercise of squeezing out the last fraction of a second in draw times or reloads, that's totally cool and absolutely a legit pursuit. It's a very rewarding thing to improve one's skill level in a measurable way. But I also think that, in some cases, the intense hair-splitting can move quickly into focusing on distinctions that don't make a real difference.
No relation.
You and Big T have won the internetz for the day.
Likes pretty much everything in every caliber.
I've heard Tom Givens, Claude Werner, and Dave Harrington say something along the lines of; how much time do you have in a fight? The rest of your life.
So three guys I have immense respect for, essentially say a fight is a timed event. The meaning I take from that is the faster I can do the necessary skills like present the pistol and make an accurate first shot, (if it's a shooting situation), then the more time I'm giving myself of the allotted time.
If I'm not using a timer to track the data on an essential skill such as presentation time to first accurate hit how exactly will I know if I'm improving? I know my strength program works because I track the data and see the numbers changing. I know my conditioning program is working, even when I feel like it's not, because I track the data and see the numbers changing. How do I know if my dry and live fire training program is working if I don't have a way of tracking data?
Last edited by Paul Sharp; 09-30-2016 at 12:59 PM.
"There is magic in misery. You need to constantly fail. Always bite off more than you can chew, put yourself in situations where you don't succeed then really analyze why you didn't succeed." - Dean Karnazes www.sbgillinois.com
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