“I’ve never seen a stopwatch in a gunfight.” is a quote attributed to Clint Smith. Similarly, “I’ve never seen scoring rings on a bad guy.” While there is some truth in both of these, they are too often used as excuses for low skill levels to justify an inability to put up a respectable score on a measured course.
From a trainer’s perspective, I appreciate Clint Smith’s rationale. Consider the skill levels of most of his students, to say nothing of the vast majority of military, police and typical gun owners. Working with deploying soldiers for many years, it was struggle enough to teach a basic grasp of marksmanship and gun handling. Forget the timer, I was happy to see a student perform a gun handling task the same way more than twice in a row without doing something potentially dangerous such as sweeping themselves or others.
Once a trainee gets past the Kindergarten stage, scores and elapsed times become useful benchmarks. Because so many gun people have not progressed beyond this, trainers like Smith are trying to get clients skilled enough to perform a task the same way more than a few times in a row and produce a semblance of accuracy while no longer being a danger to themselves.
I like this quote better:
There is no timer in a gun fight, though there is another guy trying to shoot you and he is probably in a hurry.
Even better still:
Speed without hits is a waste of ammo. Hits without speed is a waste of time.
Never Seen A Timer In A Gunfight | The Gun Feed
May 26, 2014 @ 13:47:50
Colorado Pete
May 29, 2014 @ 11:48:37
Yep. Learn to do it right first, slow and smooth, then when you get it down, stay smooth and right, as quickly as you can, more and more quickly without screwing up. Time matters, and you will not always know just how much you have to do what you need to do.
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John M. Buol Jr.
May 29, 2014 @ 12:13:20
Well said!
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John Tate
Jun 19, 2014 @ 09:42:08
The challenge of today’s firearms training is vastly different from when I started (’70s). Most boys had a BB gun when they were strong enough to cock it. If nothing else boys were brought up with cap guns! Daily they played “coyboys and indians” or “cops and robbers.” Back to BB guns, their use in backyard skirmishes was not uncommon.
My point here: in my youth (50s – 60s), every 12 year-old country boy was an accomplished marksman with at least a .22 and/or 12 ga.. Even city slicker boys (and a few girls) knew how to handle a handgun, rifle or shotgun.
The 21st century is a new world. This nation is doing itself a great disservice by punishing children who eat their toast into the vague shape of a pistol.
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