Ready Positions

[NickA]

The "pointing a pistol at someone" thread made me realize that I don't practice a ready position enough, so I thought this might be a good companion piece to that thread. I was honestly surprised to read that a low ready can be faster than pointed at the target, but enough people confirmed it that I believe it.
On the range I usually default back to the "#3" position or I guess what would be called a high compressed ready (I think). This is mainly because I know I'll be shooting again, and let's face it, my press out needs work, but may not be ideal in the "real world".
In classes I've used Sul and extended low ready, honestly don't remember what TLG recommended, if any, since I was too busy trying to keep up to take notes.
Realizing that ready positions are situation dependent, do you have a default that you use, or more than one? How do you work them in your practice sessions? Pros and cons of different positions regarding speed vs safety?

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[JHC]

As you note it's situationally "all of the above" but I think the high compressed ready appears most flexible to me. But to keep the muzzle discipline I'd use anything including Sabrina which I was fascinated to read on these pages that Kyle DeFoor taught for running.

I raised myself in the late '60's through '80's on the low ready from the Modern Technique but concluded the positions that pull the gun in closer to the body are better all the way around. Because there's so much more involved than just shooting. That's my take..

[GJM]

Two data points. Par time for a shot to the A zone, and ideally to a three inch circle at 7 yards, from the extended, confirmed ready is .5 second. Same, but high transition is .75 second.

[NickA]

Two data points. Par time for a shot to the A zone, and ideally to a three inch circle at 7 yards, from the extended, confirmed ready is .5 second. Same, but high transition is .75 second.

Just so I'm clear- you're talking about a low ready - gun extended, pointed at ground in front of the target, lifting the gun into your sight line, vs high and compressed, basically #3 in the drawstroke or start of a press out?


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[GJM]

yes and yes

[NickA]

yes and yes

Thanks.
As mentioned by someone in the other thread I do wonder what you'd be giving up for that extra speed, i. e. weapon retention or the ability to strike with the pistol if necessary.

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[Joseph B.]

My “low ready” with a pistol is muzzle at slight cant downward, sights just below line of sight, focus being on the threat hands. Same with a rifle.

My “ready” is muzzle on the threat, low center mass with focus on the threat with sight picture (front sight or reticle) in the peripheral vision.

My “high ready” is compressed towards the center of my chest, muzzle up at a 45 degree cant, front sight just below line of sight, and focus on the threats hands. With a rifle the muzzle is up, mid portion of the hand guard is in my peripheral vision with my focus on the threats hands.

On the timer I am faster from the ready than the low ready; I am faster from the low ready then the high ready. It can be different based on the platform I am using and the distance to the target.

After firing I will normally go to third sight picture, my “ready position” and then either compress to a high ready or lower down to a low ready, depending on the position I am in, the shooting environment and the scenario or CoF I am being faced with.


ETA: I normally default to a high ready with a pistol when standing or kneeling with drills or flat range work, if using reactionary targets I will normally go low ready on the downed target, start my S/A assesment process, etc.

[KravPirate]

Very interesting topic guys and I have no idea if I am faster from the low ready. This is definitely something I will test. Once again this goes back to training and how one would react in a high stress incident. I think we all feel comfortable from low ready because it is natural to keep our hands in a lower position but everything we know about unarmed combatives teaches hands up. To keep training simple with similar techniques practiced between armed and unarmed combatives, shouldn't we train more from a high ready position and make the high ready our default position? Not sure but wanted to get your thoughts because I also see the advantages of keeping the pistol low and tucked in close to body for retention purposes.

[GJM]

I practice shooting from both the extended, confirmed ready, and the high ready, on a timer at every shooting session.

This is what I know about times. Rogers School par time from the extended confirmed ready is .50. The fastest I have ever done is .32, many times between .35 and .40, and somewhere in the .40 - .48 range is typical. From the high ready, or what Rogers calls the transition position, par is .75, and my good times are in the .65 range, and I don't recall ever shooting faster than .60.

I will leave it to others to discuss the tactical advantages of the respective positions, but I know that absent such a consideration, the extended, confirmed ready is so much faster that I can place two good shots from that position in the time it takes me to fire one shot from the high ready.

[Mr_White]

I use/have used the following ready positions in training:

Threat ready, which has the gun extended and lowered enough to see the threat’s hands, is for general use where there is no proximate threat. It is similar to low ready, except the muzzle is as close to the desired point of aim as possible, but lowered enough to see the threat’s hands. Engagement standard for this is same as at Rogers - .50 for A zone hit at 7 yards. In practice, .3x is entirely doable, and I’ve seen a few reps at .28 or .29, though those are much less common.

Retracted ready, which is a muzzle-level version of the high ready others here employ, is for use when facing a proximate threat (I’ve been taught within 5 yards) or a proximate threat could be expected. I use the same .75 standard for engagement from this position, and in practice, usually see times of ~.6x and much less commonly ~.5x.

I might also use a one handed #2 position for even further proximate threat issues, though it is not as refined and specific as Southnarc’s #2 position.

Indoor ready, which is a renamed position SUL, is to avoid projecting the muzzle forward. I don’t know the engagement time from here. I’ll have to put it on a timer and see.

For me, threat ready, which is basically mechanically interchangeable with low ready, is the fastest, same as for GJM, and that’s why it stays in my repertoire. No question that retracted/high ready is more versatile.

In case anyone is wondering why some of us have been talking about it being faster to engage from an extended, confirmed ready (low ready or threat ready) than from being ‘aimed in’, that mostly comes from the fact that before you can shoot, you must first decide to do so.

To make the decision to shoot, you must usually see something that indicates you must shoot.

This requires at least adequate, if not maximum possible, incoming visual information to allow you to begin the firing process at the earliest possible time – the beginning of the firing process being to make the decision to begin the physical firing process. This requires at least adequate, if not completely unblocked, visual awareness of the threat/threat’s hands.

If you instead start out with sights on the spot you want to hit, and worse, are visually focused on the sights, the hands and gun blocking your view of the threat and your visual focus being on the sights rather than the threat/threat’s hands, may delay the incoming visual information that allows you to decide to begin the firing process.

I hope this explanation is not unnecessary and redundant; I thought I saw a few posters in the recent ready position discussions express surprise that a ready position that holds the muzzle off target/target spot would be functionally faster to engage from than being ‘aimed in.’