Worlds Collide: Toss the Timer

The two Robs, PDN’s Rob Pincus and Team Springfield™’s Rob Leatham, are back on the range and timing their shooting drills. Who do you think wants to toss the timer: defensive shooter Pincus or competition shooter Leatham?

Competition Drill

In competition shooting, where accuracy and speed are the keys to success, timing is indeed critical. In defensive shooting, stopping the threat is the goal, and doing so in the most efficient manner is desirable. The first drill, similar to a competition drill, has each Rob firing two shots each on three targets. Rob Leatham’s time is faster by 4/10ths of a second. In a competition, he would be the winner.

Defensive Drill

How are things different in the defensive training environment? The focus is on collecting and processing information, so although the basics of the drill remain the same — three threats need to be stopped — the defensive drill presents the targets in a more realistic way.

Enter the Jedburgh Target System. The company’s founder, Scott Watson, is on the range with the Robs and sets up his targets as they are designed to work: Six targets lie flat on the ground, and during the drill, three targets come up randomly at different times and must be engaged. The number of hits required to put each target back down is also random and unknown to the shooter beforehand.

This type of handgun training more closely mimics an actual defensive encounter.

Results

Leatham needed 13 shots to put down three targets in 9.86 seconds. Pincus took 11 shots in 9.25 seconds. But the timing is irrelevant. The key point is that the randomization of the targets forces the shooter to process information, as must be done in a real-life defensive shooting. That’s why Rob Pincus says, “Toss the timer!”