Reaction Time

[STEVE M]

What type of drills or practice do you do to cut down on your reaction times?

[bullseyekp]

Steve M,

I do all of my reaction training during dry fire practice in my home. If you have a timer, I suppose it would help but I find that using odd sounds or commands makes the situation more realistic. For weapon presentation, I usually have someone give me a signal to draw and then engage a target. Moving around and not standing in a ready position helps. Start from different positions such as kneeling, lying down, punching, backing up, rolling, etc. Also, use music in the background, act like you're washing your car or visiting the ATM, etc. Don't just stand ready and waiting for the command.

Repeat over and over.

[Ron Ankeny]

Steve:

You really don't say what your goal is. I have tried two drills for shooting steel and I suppose they might help some folks for IPSC and/or IDPA.

The first drill is to point your loaded pistol downrange with the slack removed. Set the timer on random, then touch the shot at the buzzer, don't jerk. The goal is to quickly react to the buzz without panic. We are talking about improvements of fractions of a second, but what the heck, if you are quicker reacting you have more time for the other shooting tasks.

The second drill is also very common. Set the timer on random, at the buzzer draw and fire one round. I use an 8 inch steel plate at 15 yards.

Buying a good timer is as good an investment as your Dillon. Obviously, these drills are for use at the range and have little to do with real life scenarios on the street.