As a rule: an individual’s skill level with a pistol is measured based on speed and accuracy, normally with a standardized course of fire. While this certainly applies in the competitive shooting world, it can become a problem in the real world.

Timed draw, cadence and transitions drills are a great way to record and measure an individuals performance, and everyone agrees that regardless of your skill level, you should always be training and practicing to improve, not just your measurable skill level but your overall performance and tactics, etc.

A very good competitive shooter can draw and deliver a well placed first shot using the sights in under 1.5 seconds. That same shooter can control the trigger and deliver follow up sighted shots with a shot-to-shot cadence of about .20 seconds. He/she can also transition the pistol from one target to another during recoil, re-acquire the sights and deliver accurate shots in about the same .20 seconds. A professional competitive shooter will post times that are even much faster.

A real world defensive use-of-force encounter is a fluid evolving situation, even if it lasts only a matter of seconds, it is a dynamic event with all parties involved in motion.

So how we do apply this to the defensive world?

Using Boyd’s OODA loop studies: It takes time for the human brain to process a given stimulus and deliver the appropriate response. (Observe) your brain receives outside information on unfolding circumstances. (Orient) your brain makes an informed analysis of the event based on previous experiences, i.e personal history and training. (Decide) your brain moves forward toward an action using only the information that you have at hand, that may or may not be perfect, and (Action) the physical response that you deliver is essentially an unconscious reflexive action derived from the ever changing stimulus.

There have been several studies conducted by reputable entities that suggest each step of the OODA loop process takes approximately .25 seconds for the average person. The average person in a use-of-force context can be described as someone with a very basic level of training and awareness. This person’s response to a given stimulus may require some level of conscious thought, thus further delaying the response.

We can expect that someone with a higher level of training, i.e. advanced tactical and firearms training to include scenario based force-on-force training, and an acute hyper awareness of his/her surroundings will have a significant reduction in OODA loop times because there has been a much greater level of information input into the brain via education, training and personal experiences for the brain to draw on when needed, thus reducing response times.

Law Enforcement officers are increasingly being scrutinized for their reflexive actions in life or death encounters with determined violent criminal offenders. Recently a veteran officer in Sacramento, CA was found partially liable for shooting a violent criminal, just one too many times. The deceased had just stabbed the officer in the arm in an attempt to kill him and the resulting shots were no doubt a reflexive action to the massive amount of stimulus being received. 

While not an exact science, what is commonly agreed on is that the aware, trained and experienced individual, in a dynamic environment, has the ability to process the OODA loop in approximately .35-.50 seconds. That being said the skilled competitive shooter who is reacting to a stimulus (usually an audible signal from a timer) and then delivering accurate shots in .20 second intervals on static known targets that do not move and must be engaged in order to be scored (or be penalized), just might be ahead of the event in a defensive situation.

By developing an instinctual .35-.50 defensive cadence, you are in effect allowing your own OODA loop to keep pace with the ever-changing dynamic environment and produce appropriate reflexive responses. At Executive Options we work developing an instinctive .35-.50 second “defensive” cadence by increasing the distance, and/or by reducing the size of the training targets.

If during the skill development phase of training the very good shooter can deliver an accurate .20 second shot cadence at 10 yards; we have found that he/she will on average have to maintain a .50 second cadence at 20-25 yards to achieve the same result downrange. Some people will have to extend it out a little farther and/or further reduce the target size based on their individual skill levels.

All of our training programs incorporate about 30% training at defensive cadence distances. One of the drills that we do to develop multiple defensive cadences is called “Changing Gears”: we start with contact distance targets, then transition to 10 yard targets and then 25 yard targets. This gives the brain three different stimuli to process and then deliver the appropriate physical time / distance responses all in one drill. Going a step further is moving targets: you can only shoot as fast as you can see the sights and process the changing environment. Lateral running steel is a good motor skill drill as is the Texas star.

Donald P. Redl, Jr. – Managing Member Executive Options LLC

Don is a board certified investigator with over 25 years of experience, a member of ASIS and a published author: “Get Off The X” (2017) & “Fighting Handgun” (2019). He has personally led and/or conducted investigative, executive security and/or training operations from coast-to-coast and internationally, and has been deposed and/or testified, including subject matter expert testimony in both Florida and New York State courts.

As an instructor, Don is a member of IALEFI, The International Association of Law Enforcement Firearms Instructors and hold state instructor certifications as a firearms instructor and use-of-force/general topics instructor. He is an active shooter response instructor and scenario based force-on-force instructor. His experience and expertise includes 25+ years of continued study, training and teaching security and armed guard practices, judicious use-of-force, tactical firearms and scenario/reality based force-on-force training. The American Tactical Shooters Association has recognized Don as a Tactician and a past winner of the prestigious National Tactical Invitational.