A friend of mine from work, who is 62 years old, got me interested in fast draw competition shooting. He has been doing it for almost 40 years now and is quite fast! He can do a bunch of interesting tricks with multiple shots that sound like one shot also.
Anyway, I went to his house tonight to try it out. We are shooting at a metal human B-27 type target with a light in the center covered by thick plexiglass. When the light turns on you draw and shoot. The light is controlled by a computer and turns on at random time intervals. The bullet impact stops the clock. We shoot wax bullets from standard brass cases that have been modified to accept 209 shotgun primers. No powder.
I was using his highly modified Ruger Blackhawk. It is an old model, 3 screw, flat top. It strated life as a .357 but is now a .45 Long Colt. The action has been slicked up like glass, it has no front sight, and has an aluminum barrel with a 1/8" or so steel liner which is rifled. The hammer has had a large spur welded on also. The rear sight was removed and the topstrap milled down to resemble a Colt Peacemaker The gun has been nickle plated and engraved too. He said he has about $1800 in it, and $350 in the fast draw holster and belt.
We take a stance about 8 feet from the target, and have both hands positioned ready to draw, but not touching the weapon.
My best time was 36 hundreths of a second!!
He said I was a natural to be able to shoot consistantly in the 30s and 40s. My best reaction time between seeing the light come on and pulling the trigger was 14 hundreths of a second. This was measured by me standing right in front of the target with a cocked, empty gun touching the metal and pulling the trigger when I saw the light go on
This is the first time I have ever tried any type of shooting competition. I have been gunsmithing for about 15 years now (it's my job), a handloader for about 12, and a collector for about 20. Most all of my shooting thus far in life has been at a range punching paper, or at various machinegun shoots blowing shit up.
This is fun!
I found a new, expensive hobby/obsession.
Balming