In life-or-death situations, fractions of a second can make the difference between surviving an attack or having police give the dreaded late-night knock on the door to your loved ones. Just as you practice your firing accuracy, you should also practice your drawing technique. Below we give some quick, simple pointers to make your draw as fast as possible.
- Holster – If you have difficulty removing your firearm from your holster, get a new one immediately. You should be able to draw your firearm from your holster smoothly, but at the same time, it should hold your firearm securely and keep its profile from showing through your pants or shirt.
- Practice – You should practice drawing your firearm at a minimum each time you go shooting. A better schedule is to practice drawing weekly, and better yet is to practice daily. Make sure your firearm is completely empty. For the first few draws, make the movement slowly, and pay attention to how your hand, arm, and firearm move through the entire motion of drawing to aiming.
- Record yourself – Video recordings are the best way to improve your drawing technique. Be sure to record from the front, back, and side to get different angles to critique yourself. Draw at least five times from each angle, then go back and watch the videos to see how you may improve.
- Timer – With the help of another, time how long it takes to draw your firearm and aim it. Try to get your time down to two seconds or less. If you have a fake gun, have your helper stand a few yards away and rush towards you to mimic real life situations.
Your goal is to have your drawing motion feel as natural as possible. In threatening situations, your heart will pump faster, adrenaline will rush through your body, and you will not have the time to fumble for your firearm to protect yourself. Put in the time now to perfect your drawing technique to protect yourself from would-be attackers.
As always, be sure to refresh yourself on gun safety by purchasing our online training video, which you can watch in the privacy of your own home until you feel comfortable. We also have other options available, including our Handgun Safety Training Book, a Handgun Safety Training DVD, and our Shot Training Correcting Target posters to help you diagnose your aim and pull problems.
