Many years ago, I had someone at the range tell me “You can’t miss fast enough to win.” The context, in this case, was at a practical-pistol match, but the same holds true for defensive encounters. Shooting quickly is only effective if you get your hits: Spraying pellets in the general direction of the bad guy is a great way to learn about the American legal system from the inside out.
Every gun owner is familiar with setting up targets on the range to test accuracy. However, the idea that we can measure how quickly we send rounds down range is a relatively new concept. This is where the shot timer enters the picture.
The modern shot timer is a relatively new concept, having first appeared on the scene in the late ’70s. The electronics inside every shot timer is much the same: There is a buzzer to send out a loud tone as an audible start signal, a microphone to record the sound of each shot, and a small processor to measure and display the time that passes in between the buzzer and each shot fired.
For years, that was how shot timers worked. The data recorded stayed in the timer itself, and if you wanted to use it to measure your improvement (or lack thereof…), you needed to record it by hand.
This was the paradigm for over forty years. However, with the introduction of Bluetooth technology and the modern smartphone, the instantaneous transfer of data becomes possible, as does computing power far beyond that of a microprocessor from the ’70s.
This is the world of the Go shot timer from Shooters Global. The Go timer is small and simple to use by itself, but once you connect it to your smartphone via a dedicated app, a new world of training opportunities opens up to you.
The Timer
There are many shot-timer apps for your smartphone which claim to record the sound of your shots and track your speed. However, in my experience, pretty much all of them have issues determining what is a shot and what is not, leading to missed shots and inaccurate times, rendering them useless for improving your shooting ability.
The Go shot timer gets around this with dedicated hardware that teams up with your smartphone to record each shot and even record video as you track your shooting. The timer has a large, easy-to-read display and two buttons: One to start each session and another to review your times and other functions. The timer is powered by an internal battery and charged up via a USB-C port. The battery life is absolutely phenomenal: I’ve been using the timer for months now, on a weekly basis, and I have yet to reach the halfway point on remaining power left. Shot registration is good: The echoes of shooters in bays next to me never register as shots on my timer, nor do the casual bumps and jitters associated with walking around with a timer on your belt.
The Drills app lets you record both your performance and your times, and the FAST drill is a good way to measure your skill development.
The LCD display on the timer shows the interval between each shot after you press the start button, which you can review with the function button. However, when you connect the timer to the Shooters Global Drills app on your phone, everything is taken to another level.
The Drills App
The Drills app has so many features, it’s hard to know where to begin. However, let’s start with the obvious: It’s a free app. That’s right, in a world where watching network television now costs me a monthly fee, the Shooters Global app is free, and that is a big deal.
Once connected via Bluetooth to the Go Timer, the Drills app records your times for each session so you can see at a glance how fast you were out of the holster or in between each shot. The app also lets you adjust your timer in a variety of different ways, such as changing the delay between hitting the start button and when the starting beep goes off, volume of the beep and other settings. You can record video of each string for playback and analysis later, and your times will show up on the video as you practice.
The Extras
There is so much more to the combination of the Go shot timer and Drills app. You can set up a competition stage and run through it multiple times. The start signal can be sent through the timer, your smartphone or Bluetooth headphones, a nifty feature if you’re working near others. You can post videos of your drills to share with others. All this, and we haven’t begun to talk about the competition stage builder program or any number of other ways the Go shot timer and app can help improve your shooting.
There is a belief among some firearms trainers that there is “no timer in a gunfight.” I maintain that there is, and that timer is the other person’s ability to make their shot on demand. It’s our job, as armed citizens, to have a stored-up supply of speed and accuracy that we can rely on when literally everything is on the line, and a full-featured shot timer like the Go timer (MSRP $148.49) helps you build up that surplus of speed before it is needed.
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