In the previous installment of this series, I emphasized the importance of integrating critical thinking and decision-making into firearms drills. While this may seem out of order from the original discussion of speed and accuracy, it’s not. Accuracy is far more than the ability to hit a target. It’s the ability to hit the right target. It’s no secret, though, that precision requires greater pause than rapid fire.
Proficiency in self-defense requires being more than a one-trick pony. Speed is excellent. Accuracy is also excellent. A proficient shooter will recognize there is a balance between the two. Speed can come with accuracy through quality repetition. However, the dynamic factors involved in defensive shooting dictate there are more elements to consider than who is faster to get rounds on target.
Breaking OODA
Every day we engage in a constant game of action versus reaction. While driving your car, you evaluate how you will react if a car suddenly changes lanes, if that light turns red, etc. In turn, other people are doing the same to your actions. It’s a constant cat-and-mouse game of reaction to others’ actions who, in turn, react to yours. This dynamic, recognized by Colonel Boyd decades ago, is commonly referred to as the OODA Loop.
For the sake of brevity, I won’t document Boyd’s discovery of the OODA Loop in detail except it originated with fighter pilots of the early 20th century. OODA is an acronym for Observe, Orient, Decide, Act. This is a more detailed description of the aforementioned action-reaction formula I described above. The loop is a simple process we all undergo – it’s a core part of the human condition.
The OODA Loop begins with a person observing a stimulus. In response to that stimulus, that individual must orient themselves to it, decide how to address it, and then act upon that decision. This process is quick but takes around 200-300 milliseconds at a minimum to initiate action. This delay has potentially tragic ramifications in the real world. If we are responding to a recognized threat, we will not be able to outpace that threat except through movement, distance, and/or cover. I’ll elaborate.
Movement: As a friend who previously served in the Army once told me, “Movement is life”. A stationary target is easier to strike. Furthermore, if you are engaged by a threat and engage back with lethal force while moving, the likelihood of success on your part is greater. A moving target that is shooting back helps to disrupt the attacker’s OODA Loop.
Distance: If the attacker is closer to you, they are more likely to engage with effective gunfire, strike with a club, or slash with a knife. Distance is your friend and increases your ability to assess, and potentially address, the threat before you by giving you time.
Cover: The walls of a prison serve a specific purpose by acting as a barrier between society and those incarcerated. There is a lesson, however simple, derived from something so obvious. Barriers (e.g. tables, chairs, display cases, vehicles) and cover (e.g. masonry wall, concrete lane barrier, vehicles) serve to increase your time to engage the threat while also creating an obstacle for them.
Movement, distance, and cover are critical to expanding that action-reaction gap by forcing the threat to address the new sensory input. Besides the bad guy’s intended target drawing a firearm, they must also process a moving target, a concealed target, or the input of obstacles between them and their intended victim. Movement, distance, and cover buy you, the armed citizen, time to reset the assailant’s OODA Loop while you maneuver into a position of action over reaction.
Discretion in Speed
Speed is a skill built through repetition. Over the years, I don’t attempt to build new skills by doing the first repetition as fast as humanly possible. Over time, speed comes with mastery of the fundamentals. Nevertheless, speed is relative depending upon the conditions in which a shooter must take the shot.
In Figure 2, I set up targets in different positions at 7, 15, 20, and 25 yards. To demonstrate how speed is relative, I engaged each target with two rounds. I engaged from closest to farthest first, then conducted the drill again from farthest to closest. When reviewing the times, the farthest to closest was slightly faster. From knowing how I shoot, I attribute this to being “warmed up” from the previous drill — even if the order was different. Nevertheless, the point of this demonstration is to show how speed is dependent upon a number of factors, most notably, distance. As I made shots further away, my speed had to slow down for how quickly I engaged the target as well as how quickly my follow-up shot was conducted.
Speed is relative to your distance. I don’t expect myself to make hits as quickly on the target at greater distances versus if the target was in close proximity. The draw time should be the same regardless. As a matter of note, speed and efficiency of draw should never change. There is never a time to slow down our best draw. The time to fire the shot once on target and subsequent follow-up shots does change with distance. In the video below, a modified Bill Drill (five rounds instead of six) was conducted at seven yards and then 25 yards on a reduced-size IPSC steel plate.
At 25 yards and seven yards, the draw speed is approximately the same (around or just under one second). However, the seven-yard time is nearly three seconds faster than the 25-yard time. This is because I know my failure point for these distances to produce accurate shot placement. This knowledge was built with extended periods of practice accompanied by testing through measurable means of scoring and time.
Many drills have a minimum score and par time. For shooters looking to take their skills to the next level, practice for the score first. Forget the prescribed par time. Once the score has been met, push yourself to conduct the drill a little faster each time until barely failing the drill. Congratulations, your par time is the time that you failed the drill at. Continue to train for that time until you meet your par, then push to failure again. Rinse. Repeat. This technique has worked for me and several shooters I’ve taught over the years. It’s not necessarily about training to other’s standards as much as it is about exceeding your own personal best.
The Intelligent Shooter Wins
In returning to the debate of speed versus accuracy, there is no debate that a shot on target will win over a missed shot any day of the week. Accuracy and shot placement are the most important skill. Beyond that, speed is merely a benefit when combined with accuracy. Like a skilled race car driver, the mark of a competent shooter is founded upon their ability to know when they need to speed up or slow down to have perfect execution of their craft. The competent defensive shooter has sought mastery in accuracy and speed. Furthermore, they have trained the ability to think dynamically under stress and surprise. Those masters of their craft have the confidence to make the shot — or show restraint — appropriately.
