"Everyone's been looking forward to this, the new world record," the host shouted.
The crowd cheered, as such record-breaking competitions were rare, and many years could pass without seeing a breakthrough in the records.
Jimmy saw the new world record and no longer cared about the final championship; he roughly understood these competitors' techniques.
Leaning backward, bending the right leg forward—this was to facilitate drawing the revolver from the holster and firing immediately. During shooting, the shooter thrusts their hips forward, lifting the body with it, stepping forward with the legs while drawing the revolver with the right hand backward. Meanwhile, the wrist lifts the muzzle slightly, firing the moment the barrel clears the holster, hitting the target.
Moreover, the shooters' revolvers were already cocked in advance, meaning only the final stage of the trigger pull was needed.
With additional practice, this set of movements could probably become as second nature to him as it was for them. The real test, however, was the reaction time it took after seeing the target light up.
This shooting style didn't quite suit Jimmy since he primarily carried out missions with a normal draw. This specific posture for quick draw fire was clearly only suitable for competitions.
Another key point was that Jimmy usually didn't hold his revolver cocked in advance as it was too dangerous. The reason double-action revolvers lacked a separate safety was that the force required to pull the trigger ensured the gun would not fire accidentally.
What he needed to practice was his reaction speed and the velocity of drawing and firing the gun in a regular stance—hitting the target was another critical point because speed was useless if you couldn't hit your mark.
This type of hip shooting, unless one was extremely proficient, often lacked accuracy in normal circumstances.
Jimmy quietly watched them finish the competition, then walked up to consult with the host about trying out their equipment to test his own reaction speed.
This request was somewhat excessive and, of course, was unsurprisingly denied.
This was not a big problem for Jimmy; he directly called Torsten to help inquire if the DEA range had this kind of testing equipment.
Fortunately, Torsten called back after a while, having confirmed that the range did have the equipment, but it had always been unused and collecting dust.
That was to be expected; for DEA personnel, agents mostly practiced precision, with special agents undergoing additional tactical training. For pure speed shooting timing equipment, they generally had no need. Special agents usually timed unified CQB exercises or other actions, or measured time for specific steps.
It was unclear why the range initially acquired this setup, but now it was to Jimmy's advantage.
Jimmy didn't rent a car; he directly took a taxi back to the hotel next to the DEA to rest. Earlier, when communicating with Torsten, he learned he'd need to wait for arrangements at the range. Once set, Jimmy could go by himself.
Jimmy understood that Torsten couldn't possibly accompany him for three days—it was already good that he could arrange transportation and accommodation. Going to the range this time required him to go alone, and Jimmy had no idea if Torsten's contact would manage it.
Since he was to test later, Jimmy stayed in the hotel and rested without causing any trouble. After waking up in the morning, he grabbed breakfast and headed to the DEA range.
Turns out, Torsten was reliable. Jimmy thought he'd send a training officer, but instead, it was a range administrator. The admin took Jimmy to an indoor range with 10m and 15m targets.
Jimmy brought only 12 bullets, six in the cylinder and six in his belt, without bringing a speedloader to ensure he'd still be armed after leaving. So, he had to ask the administrator to supply the ammunition.
First, Jimmy practiced aimed shooting and hip firing to get used to the feel, and only then did he proceed to the tests. The testing equipment was consistent with the speed shooting competition targets, with a terminal placed on the shooting bench showing the time from the light-up to the bullet hitting the target.
Jimmy first tested his aimed shooting reaction speed, raising the revolver, aiming at the target, and, upon the light-up, firing.
Next, he tested the speed of drawing the gun from the holster and firing, and lastly, the speed of hip shooting.
"Pop, pop, pop," after three rounds of testing, the administrator applauded from the side.
"My results?" "Very good, come take a look." The administrator handed over a folder, with a white paper clipped on top. The results of Jimmy's three tests were recorded there.
Jimmy fired three times for each test, recording the results of nine shots in total, also noting the averages below.
Aimed shooting 0.2 seconds, drawing and aiming 0.6 seconds, hip shooting 0.5 seconds.
Compared to the contestants from yesterday, Jimmy was already at a level where he could participate in quick draw selections.
This must have been a result of the Revolver Talent buff. Those quick draw competitors spent years practicing to achieve their speed, but Jimmy only needed a bit of adaptive practice to reach the speed necessary for competition.
This body must have undergone very long-term training, with muscle memory so ingrained that it enabled Jimmy, who initially was an outsider, to have such precision and speed.
"Did you practice this specifically before?"
"No, my usual practice at the range was always with standard shooting techniques. I'm a police officer; we don't use this way of shooting in our day-to-day work."
"Then you really have talent. If you practiced this more, you could go compete in the future. Winning competitions, those girls would go crazy for you."
"Hahaha, I'm not thinking about competing. It was only after seeing the speed shooting competition yesterday that I wanted to test myself. My main weapon is this revolver—it's always good to learn more. Time me again, please."
Jimmy loaded up with bullets and a speedloader, moved to the nearby lane with the standard 10m target, began firing at the beep, and continued after reloading, shooting all 12 rounds. After ejecting the spent casings, he joined the administrator.
"That's very good, 5.2 seconds. Your time for one round of shooting should be under 2 seconds, which is fantastic, and it's very close to the record."
"Wow, what's the record here?"
"Not many people here use revolvers. I remember the latest world record was last year by Jerry Mikulek—12 shots in 2 rounds, 2.99 seconds, and 1.06 seconds for 6+2, hitting 8 shots."
Jimmy was speechless, the gap seemed astronomically wide. It might seem like there's not much difference between 5.2 seconds and 2.99 seconds, but the truth is most people are stuck within this sub-3-second gap.
"Do you know him? Can you contact him? I'd like to ask for some advice."
"How would I know him? I'm just a range administrator."
"Oh, thanks anyway, I didn't know about these records before."
Jimmy helped the administrator clean up the casings and bullets and then left the DEA training facility.