the old west test of draw speed was to hold your hand outstretched, palm down, at waist height, with a coin on the back of the hand. Let the coin fall, draw and dryfire before the coin can hit the ground. That's about .55 second, and of course, does not include your .20 second reaction time ,nor the hitting of any target at all, with an openly worn pistol. While it takes a bit of doing if you are thumb-cocking an SA revolver, it's nothing special with a modeern handgun.
In the late 70's, after getting involved in IPCS matches, I worked at the fast draw until I could drop the coin from waist height, draw a 1911 from an IWB rig (but no garment concealing the butt of the pistol) and get to an eye level, 2 handed point firing position before the coin hit the deck. :-) With a lot more work, I was able to often(but not always) put the coin on the back of my left hand, hold it at waist height, let it fall as the left hand yanked up the tail of a t shirt, giving access to the pistol, draw and drysnap it before the coin hit the ground. Add in the .20 second reaction time to the "beep" of the electronic shooting timer, and the total is .75 second, to react, make a draw from REALISTIC ccw, and hit the chest at arm's length. Adding in live ammo, however, BETTER slow you down at least a little bit, so say .80 second. I have many times shown guys that I can react to the starting beep, with hands hanging naturally at sides, draw a Commander from iwb, under a shirt tail, and hit the chest at 10 ft, after going to the Weaver firing stance. Can you?
Ernie Linde used to demo his "quick sling roll' method of carrying/shooting a Winchester .351 self-loading rifle. He was right handed, but carried the rifle slung upside down, (mag forward) on his left shoulder. He could hold his left hand outstretched at shoulder height (3/4 second for a coin to fall that far) with a coin on the back of that hand. He'd let the coin fall, grab the forend of the rifle with his left hand, get a "hasty sling" wrap around his left forearm, get the butt to his right shoulder and fire before the coin hit the ground.
Ernie could also point a .22 pumpgun at the ground a bit in front of himself, with the ejection port up,butt of the gun by his hip,. He'd work the action, ejecting the empty casing straight up, you see. He'd then close the bolt, shoulder the rifle and shoot that first empty out of the air. Repeat. :-) Hitting a spinning .22 casing at such distances is equivalent to hitting you in the brain at 20 yds, or in the chest at 50 yds. The time frame is a hair over one second, without the .20 second reaction time seen when you react to the start-beep of a shooting timer. That's some fast and accurate rifle work. If you dont think so, try it sometime. Cheat a bit, having the butt of the rifle on your shoulder, but use an autoloader
In the late 70's, after getting involved in IPCS matches, I worked at the fast draw until I could drop the coin from waist height, draw a 1911 from an IWB rig (but no garment concealing the butt of the pistol) and get to an eye level, 2 handed point firing position before the coin hit the deck. :-) With a lot more work, I was able to often(but not always) put the coin on the back of my left hand, hold it at waist height, let it fall as the left hand yanked up the tail of a t shirt, giving access to the pistol, draw and drysnap it before the coin hit the ground. Add in the .20 second reaction time to the "beep" of the electronic shooting timer, and the total is .75 second, to react, make a draw from REALISTIC ccw, and hit the chest at arm's length. Adding in live ammo, however, BETTER slow you down at least a little bit, so say .80 second. I have many times shown guys that I can react to the starting beep, with hands hanging naturally at sides, draw a Commander from iwb, under a shirt tail, and hit the chest at 10 ft, after going to the Weaver firing stance. Can you?
Ernie Linde used to demo his "quick sling roll' method of carrying/shooting a Winchester .351 self-loading rifle. He was right handed, but carried the rifle slung upside down, (mag forward) on his left shoulder. He could hold his left hand outstretched at shoulder height (3/4 second for a coin to fall that far) with a coin on the back of that hand. He'd let the coin fall, grab the forend of the rifle with his left hand, get a "hasty sling" wrap around his left forearm, get the butt to his right shoulder and fire before the coin hit the ground.
Ernie could also point a .22 pumpgun at the ground a bit in front of himself, with the ejection port up,butt of the gun by his hip,. He'd work the action, ejecting the empty casing straight up, you see. He'd then close the bolt, shoulder the rifle and shoot that first empty out of the air. Repeat. :-) Hitting a spinning .22 casing at such distances is equivalent to hitting you in the brain at 20 yds, or in the chest at 50 yds. The time frame is a hair over one second, without the .20 second reaction time seen when you react to the start-beep of a shooting timer. That's some fast and accurate rifle work. If you dont think so, try it sometime. Cheat a bit, having the butt of the rifle on your shoulder, but use an autoloader
