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Welcome to Fast Draw 101, I'm Howard Darby and today we're learning how to practice without timers
"Shooters on the line"
"Shooters set"
For new shooters getting into the sport of fast draw
the best method is to have a full timer and target set-up, but I know that's unrealistic
for a lot of new shooters, so today I'm a going to try and show you a few methods that you can use to
get good at fast draw without actually having all that equipment
now of course without a full timing system you can't get your times
but there are two main skills you can learn without a timer
that's the skill to react to a random signal and be able to draw your gun
and fire a shot, and secondly to make that shot go where you want it to go
the first of those skills is the ability to react to a random signal, in fast draw we use a
2 to 5 second random delay after the set command is given
I can shoot 10 shots with that random signal and hit the target every time
and then if I try and shoot all by myself on my own time
I'll usually go 2 or 3 feet above the target everybody is different but you should
make sure that you can
drawn and fire on a random signal and hit your target because that's what you're
going to be doing in competition
and if you can't do that you're not going to do to well, and you don't want to learn about that
the first shot at a contest and find out it's totally different than
what you've be doing at home on your own time. The first thing you can try for reacting to a random
signal is the TV
if you watch a movie the scenes change generally every three to five seconds
and what you can do is wait for a scene to change and use that as your
"Set" command, then when the scene changes again
drawn and fire it, that wi'll get you used to
drawing and firing on somebody else's time on a random signal
and it's a good way to get into the method of
waiting for some command and then going. Another method you can use is to take an
extension cord like this
and either get an in-line switched like this one here
and build it into the cable, or this one came with an
in-line switch that was already in it you can have the
light in front of you, and have somebody behind you
give you the command "Shooter on the line, shooter set"
after 2 to 5 seconds they'll press the button
turning on the light, and you can draw on that the other thing you can do is take your light
and add a flasher to it, these ones I bought about thirty years ago and they don't make
these ones, but
this one here is made by Cooper and there's two styles, there's a button
one that goes
at the bottom of the socket you screw the light bulb on top of it
and it will do a random start I found that I needed
two of these because the random start was about
two to three seconds, and if it had two in a row
it bumped it up to about five to six seconds and that would give me time to
turn on the switch
put my hand on the gun be ready for light to come on and then draw fire after about
two to five seconds
when I use this sort of setup myself I usually have the switch just off to the right
of the gunhand I'll hit the switch
give myself the command "Shooter on the line, shooter set" wait for that light to come on
when it does, draw and fire, then turn off that switch
and leave it off about 15 seconds that allows time
for the mechanism to cool down and next time you turn it on
you'll give yourself the right amount of delay, the two to five second delay, if you don't
if you leave it on
and it warms up too much, the flashing goes within about a half a second to one second
so turning it off to cool down for a a little bit before the next shot
is the best way to use these sort of flashers
one thing to be aware of with these flashers the only ones I've been able to find available
are the Cooper outlet flashers, and they are
not rated all that well, the reviews I've read
shown them to be a little unreliable, and
about 20 percent of them that you receive just don't work
and sometimes they don't last all that long so just go into it knowing that if
you use this sort of thing
they might not be that reliable with the ones that are currently available on the market
if you do buy them you might need to use a couple like I said
so that the delay will be long enough to give you a
two to five second delay. The second thing you can do is practice your aim
and that's using lasers. I know this works because my 13-year-old son who had never shot
fast draw before
decided to give it a try a few months before we went to the world championships
for the World Fast Draw Association a couple of years ago, he hadn't gone to the club and didn't shoot
many wax bullets, but he didn't practice in our basement
using a laser system, and he went to the competition
and he won the B divisional world title shooting against
adults who had be doing it for many years so laser practice can be a real useful
way of learning fast draw and getting your aim
where you want it to be now there are two main types of lasers
there's the in-barrel laser and there's the
cartridge one that goes in the cylinder the in-barrel one
is not the best one to get this one is one of the older models
and it works well, the new models they redesigned them
so that there's a cycle problem
it will take about a half second for it to recycle after it
goes off, and it goes off from sensing
a hit to the gun, and that's usually from the
hammer falling and causing a jar to the gun, but also when you
*** gun as you're coming ouf out of the holster than you fire
that cocking motion will make it blip
and fire a laser blast down the barrel and it cannot recover enough for most people
with the speeds we shoot in fast draw, and when you pull the
trigger and the hammer falls it hasn't recovered enough and it won't
give a blip at that point so unfortunately the new design
of these don't work too well for fast draw so don't go buying one of these
unless you know it's one of the older stock that
does recover fast enough and does work, this one is old, I use it in practice and it
works fine
the best laser these days
is the in-chamber one, this is made by SureStrike
its a nine-millimeter
laser with a .45 Colt adapter
the laser goes for about a hundred dollars
the adapter is fifteen dollars, 115 dollars for each
one of these, it loads like a regular shell
and every time
the firing pin strikes the end to the laser
you get your blip of light of course if you want to
have it go every time you'll want to have six of these but most people
fire there shot, cycle, keep firing
sometimes I'll do my one shot with a laser
do five dry fires, then another
shot with the laser, you can practice that way, it's just whatever you want to do
I'm going to have a couple because I want to shoot doubles and be able see where each shot is going
record it so I can see where my shots are going. The great thing with the laser is
they'll even work with your TV if you're using that as random start sigal
try it and you'll see usually you can tell where the blip
went on the TV screen, all you have to do is tell if it was
in line with your belt and about the same level as where you're drawing and firing
your gun and you know you're shooting pretty much level. Of course a full fast draw set-up
with a timer and
targets is the best way to go, but if you don't have that, or if you want to practice
at home
in between practices with your club, a TV
or a flasher to give you your random start, and a laser to figure out
whether you're level and where your shots are going is the best way to do it
without going to all that expense. I hope to see you at a shoot someday
good shooting