After shooting the F.A.S.T. drill yesterday, I emailed Karl Rehn for some help.
A few things came out of it.
There’s no question I can be faster, but the question is, just how fast can one get? It seems technique and equipment dependent.
One thing that helps you go fast(er)? After the reload, you drop the slide using the slide lock instead of any technique involving grasping the slide. My habit is to reach over the top of the slide and grab the top (rear) of the slide in a “horseshoe” manner, pull back, release. That takes time, and certainly more time than just thumbing the slide lock. Karl says you lose about a second.
Another is on the reload, I need to be “proactive” instead of “reactive”. My training and practice is primarily defensive, so I’m waiting for a signal to say “time to reload” which I then react to and reload. Here, the moment you press off the second shot your hand needs to be leaving the gun to retrieve the reload from your belt; you need to be proactive about getting the reload.
Concealment garment matters too, but to a lesser extent. Most of the videos I see of fast F.A.S.T. runs, they’re drawing open carry or from some sort of cover garment that’s sweepable, like a coat or vest. Having to pull up on my shirt to get the gun and the mag out? That’s going to be slower. But, that’s how I carry. I have seen one video of a guy breaking 5 seconds from under the shirt, but I’m sure using an AIWB holster helps a bit on speed (tho, no question the guy’s still fast… he’s got a great press-out too).
Bottom line: what do I care about? gaming it to get the fastest time possible? Or using it as a good test and barometer of skill, and working to be the best I can within the parameters I set for myself? I’m not really a gamer, I’m a defensive pistol shooter. So if that means I choose to shoot the drill exactly like I carry, if that means I use the same habits like how I drop the slide… if that means the best I could ever shoot it in would be 6 seconds, then so be it. The best I shot yesterday was a 7.5, so obviously I’ve got some room to improve. And I’m going to be watching that one press-out video a bunch more times to analyze a few things to see what I can learn and put into practice myself.
Stuff From Hsoi 
Yeah, I was going to point out that most of the fast FAST times you see are not done using street gear appropriate for the Texas summer.
Throw on a “shoot me first” vest and an OWB holster and mag pouch and you could easily knock a whole second off right there.
I’ve never shot it myself, but I would probably be not too far away from your scores with my EDC stuff.
Well, if you watch that one video, that guy is getting just under 5 seconds with a setup close to my EDC. So it certainly is possible to go fast without equipment gaming. Granted, appendix draw is very fast, and he’s still thumbing the slide lock to release the slide, so there’s some “speed technique” involved here. I would say AIWB is certainly legit for EDC (i.e. it’s not some pure gaming thing, like using an open division race holster), but thumbing… well, it’d not what I’d do for defensive pistol work, it’s not the habit I’d want to ingrain, but it’s certainly fast.
So point is, you can still get fast without wholly gaming it — and frankly I find that more impressive. It may not be as fast as gaming it out, but certainly there’s stuff I can improve upon.
Did you shoot the new steel FAST setup Karl has? I got to shoot that last week and it worked well IMO.
I saw it. Very cool. No, haven’t shot it tho. All too often when I go out for classes I don’t have time to do my own shooting… early morning is taken up by setup, then by the end of the day I’m pooped and just want to clean up and go home.
IMHO, gaming is for games. You say, “There’s no question I can be faster”, but maybe that’s not the question at all. Maybe the question is, how fast can you run the drill under the worst possible conditions… from your normal carry rig, under your normal clothes, just after you’ve finished your workout, in the rain (assuming it ever rains again; maybe dust storm would be more appropriate). Because if you ever NEED the skill, conditions will not be favorable for doing it at your fastest.
Also IMHO, the only person you need to compete against is yourself. It doesn’t matter how fast (insert name here) can do it, unless they’re going to be right next to you when TSHTF.
True enough and yes, change the conditions, change the outcome.
But I CAN be faster. I know how I was drawing and presenting and how things were going, and I know I have room for improvement. Because well… what’s the thing Karl says? From the former APD SWAT guy… that in a gunfight you’re going to do something like 70% of your worst day at the range? So that means if you want to do really good in a gunfight, you better be pretty freakin’ awesome on your worst range days, y’know? So when I’m not under all that pressure, let me strive to be awesome, so when the fur flies, the skill degredation is still within an acceptable level, y’know?
But your point is well-taken.
And don’t worry… I’m not out to compete with anyone but myself (at least, in this context… I still want to get out and shoot Steel Challenge matches one of these days when I have more time), but it is useful to watch others to see what CAN be done, where you CAN go with things.
Pingback: Scaling targets « Stuff From Hsoi