Fast Draw
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- This article is about the firearms sport of Fast Draw. For information on the 1968 game show, see Fast Draw (game show).
Fast Draw is a sport based on the romanticized art of the gunslingers in the American Old West, using traditional single action revolvers. Unlike Cowboy action shooting, Fast Draw is shot with special blanks or wax bullets. While some competitions are strictly against the clock, with the fastest time winning, many are set up as head to head single or double elimination matches.
In a fast draw competition, shooters must start with the gun holstered, and their hands not touching the gun. A signal, usually both audible and visible, signals the shooter to fire. A timer is started when the signal is given. The shooter fires at either a metal plate (for wax bullets) or a balloon (for blanks). The timer is rigged to stop on the sound of the wax bullet hitting the plate, or the balloon popping. Different types of match can use one or more targets, and the shooter can fire from a standing position, or while walking towards or backing away from the target(s).
Fast draw is one of the fastest sports. A world class competitor can draw and fire a shot in under half a second; the current world record for open style standing blanks is 0.208 seconds--and that includes the time to react to the signal. Given that the average human reaction time is around 0.2 to 0.25 seconds, the round is over before most people can react. The reaction times of the best fast draw shooters is 0.145 seconds, which means that the gun is cocked, drawn, aimed (from the hip), and fired in just over 0.06 seconds. To establish a World Fast Draw Association record, a second shot must be fired in the same competition that is no more than 0.03 seconds slower than the first--this is intended to prevent a shot that anticipates the start signal from setting a record. In competitions where two rounds must be fired, at separate targets, less than 0.10 seconds separate the shots.
