{"id":6610,"date":"2017-11-22T19:23:49","date_gmt":"2017-11-23T00:23:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/?p=6610"},"modified":"2021-07-30T10:41:03","modified_gmt":"2021-07-30T14:41:03","slug":"shot-timers-dont-lie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/shot-timers-dont-lie\/","title":{"rendered":"Shot Timers Don&#8217;t Lie"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Today we&#8217;re continuing our mini-series on my favorite range gear. Last time, I talked about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/use-good-eye-protection\/\">eye protection<\/a> and today the topic is shot timers. It turns out I had a lot more to say about the benefits of shot timers in general than about the specifics of the shot timer hardware I use at the range. There&#8217;s really not a ton of difference between the various models on the market and they all cost roughly the same. Even the most basic model offers 99% of the benefit of any of the other timers. The video below has the details of why I think it&#8217;s important to incorporate a timer into your self-defense training, or you can scroll down and read the transcript.<\/p> <div class=\"entry-content-asset\"><script src=\"https:\/\/fast.wistia.com\/assets\/external\/E-v1.js\" async><\/script><\/p> <noscript class=\"idle-load\"><div class=\"wistia_responsive_padding\" style=\"padding:56.25% 0 28px 0;position:relative;\"> <div class=\"wistia_responsive_wrapper\" style=\"height:100%;left:0;position:absolute;top:0;width:100%;\"> <div class=\"wistia_embed wistia_async_4ssvf4h3zi dnt=1 videoFoam=true\" style=\"height:100%;position:relative;width:100%\"> <div class=\"wistia_swatch\" style=\"height:100%;left:0;opacity:0;overflow:hidden;position:absolute;top:0;transition:opacity 200ms;width:100%;\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/fast.wistia.com\/embed\/medias\/4ssvf4h3zi\/swatch\" style=\"filter:blur(5px);height:100%;object-fit:contain;width:100%;\" alt=\"\" aria-hidden=\"true\" onload=\"this.parentNode.style.opacity=1;\" \/><\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div><\/noscript> <\/div> <hr \/> <p>If you really want to get better at shooting, the best piece of gear you can buy is not a new gun. It\u2019s not an aftermarket trigger or new sights. It\u2019s a shot timer. Today I want to talk about why I train with a shot timer and then at the end, I\u2019ll go over the specific models I use.<\/p> <p>If you\u2019re not familiar with electronic shot timers, they are pretty simple devices. It\u2019s basically a stopwatch with a microphone. There\u2019s button that triggers a beep for your start signal and then the microphone picks up the gunshots and displays the elapsed time on a little LED screen. It will show you the total time from the start signal to your last shot, and you can also see your split times, which is how much time elapsed in between each shot.<\/p> <p>Training to use your gun for self-defense without a way to measure your speed is the same as firing all of your rounds straight into the backstop without using a target. You need a target to give you feedback about whether you can put the holes where they need to go, and you need a timer to tell you if can do that within a realistic time frame.<\/p> <p>You might have heard the clich\u00e9 \u201cI\u2019ve never seen a timer in a gunfight.\u201d Honestly, that strikes me as a willfully obtuse perspective. Of course there is no physical timer in a violent encounter, but there is absolutely a time limit. Or, my favorite response to that objection is that there might not be a timer in a gunfight, but there\u2019s another dude with a gun trying to kill you and he\u2019s probably in a hurry. If you go take a look at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCsE_m2z1NrvF2ImeNWh84mw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Active Self Protection YouTube channel<\/a>, you will get to see hundreds of gunfights captured on surveillance cameras with some good commentary and you\u2019ll notice that nearly all of those encounters are decided in a matter of seconds. There is no denying that speed is a critical component of effective armed resistance and shot timers are the best tool we have to measure our speed.<\/p><p><\/p> <p>Shot timers are also really useful for introducing an element of stress into our training. It\u2019s nothing like being in an actual fight, or even the pressure of a shooting match, but trying to beat the clock gives you some form of pressure to work under when you\u2019re developing your skills. Something we have learned from people who have prevailed in gunfights and the instructors who have trained them is that being able to shoot under pressure at the range is a valuable skill to take with you into a real violent encounter. Now I\u2019ve never personally been in a gunfight, but every shooting instructor and \u201cbeen there, done that\u201d guy I have trained with has used shot timers to induce pressure and to objectively measure students\u2019 performance.<\/p> <p>Okay, so hopefully I\u2019ve convinced you that shot timers are a good thing to have. Let\u2019s take a quick look at some of the actual hardware. There are really only a handful of models on the market, and they all range in price between about 100 and 140 dollars. I\u2019ve had this one for several years now. It\u2019s the Competition Electronics Pocket Pro. This is the most basic model on the market. It has a belt clip, and a start button which you can set to go off instantly or with a randomized delay. And then these buttons let you scroll through the split times in a string of fire. You can also set a par time, so it will give you a second beep at a time you choose. It\u2019s worked pretty well for me for the most part. For a few bucks more, you can get the Pocket Pro II, which is very similar, but it\u2019s got a nicer display with more information on it.<\/p> <p>This one is now my backup timer and the one I\u2019ve been using for the last year is the CED 7000. It\u2019s a much smaller timer, so unlike the Pocket Pro it actually does fit in my pocket. It\u2019s got a few more bells and whistles than the other timers, but the main feature I use is the ability to store up to 10 strings of fire in the timer\u2019s memory. So for instance, if I\u2019m doing several repetitions of a drill and I want to record my times in my training notebook, I don\u2019t have to stop after every rep to write it down. The timer saves them for me, and I can write them all down when I\u2019m done.<\/p> <p>The other popular timer out there is the PACT Club Timer 3. I haven\u2019t used it much, but a lot of people seem to like them. There\u2019s also a timer wristwatch thing called the ShotMaxx, but I\u2019ve never even seen one of those in person, and I have no idea if they\u2019re any good.<\/p> <p>A lot of people have asked me about using shot timer smartphone apps instead of a dedicated shot timer. I personally don\u2019t have a lot of experience with those, but from what I\u2019ve heard, they are very hit or miss. With indoor ranges, I\u2019m getting the impression that they mostly don\u2019t work at all. The microphone in your smart phone just can\u2019t tell the difference between your shots and the guy shooting three lanes over. And really, the dedicated shot timers can even be tricky to use indoors, so it\u2019s really not surprising that the smartphones don\u2019t work. But if you don\u2019t want to buy a shot timer yet, one thing you can probably use the smartphone for is setting up par times. So you might not be able to see your split times, but you can set up a par time and you should be able to tell if you got off your last shot before the second beep. There\u2019s a lot of stuff you can train that way and it\u2019s definitely better than nothing.<\/p> <p>If you\u2019re looking for some stuff to try at the range with your shot timer, you might want to take a look at our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/category\/start-shooting-better\/\">Start Shooting Better series<\/a> where we\u2019ve been demonstrating a new shooting drill every couple of weeks. Or just start with the basic drawstroke. 7 yards on an 8-inch target from the holster in under 2 seconds is a great baseline skill for concealed carry. So grab a shot timer or put one on your Christmas list, get some ammo from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\">Lucky Gunner<\/a> and get to work.<\/p> <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Today we&#8217;re continuing our mini-series on my favorite range gear. Last time, I talked about eye protection and today the &#8230; <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/shot-timers-dont-lie\/\">Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":6611,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[279,47,21,17,339,58],"class_list":["post-6610","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-toolbox","tag-competition","tag-concealed-carry","tag-handguns","tag-self-defense","tag-shot-timers","tag-training"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Shot Timers Don&#039;t Lie - Lucky Gunner Lounge<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A guide to shot timers, how to use them to get better and why they are an important tool in making you a better shooter.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.luckygunner.com\/lounge\/shot-timers-dont-lie\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Shot Timers Don&#039;t Lie - 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