Over the past couple of years, there has been a minor interest from more forward thinking trainers and voices in the gun training community, in the concept of the surreptitious/clandestine/hidden draw. 

I am all for that. As a matter of fact, I am a full blown believer in the concept. A number of us fifteen + years ago spent some time talking about this very idea in the old Total Protection Interactive discussion forum. It is extremely useful for almost anyone to have in their arsenal of techniques. Let us practice it, and build a credible and functional way of employing this principle. 

However, there is one issue that arises that I don’t believe a single person has addressed. 

What is our metric? 

In other words, how do we know that we have a good surreptitious draw? 

For example, we know to check our normal concealed carry draw, we need to be on a timer. It is ridiculous to say “I feel like I have a 1.5 second draw. I have not timed it, but it feels that fast to me.” Anyone would understand the above statement makes zero sense, and has no bearing on reality. 

As well, to make sure we can make precise shots on a given target, we have to check that by scoring the target and seeing exactly where my rounds hit. No one would accept “Well, I know I can make that hostage rescue shot at 25 yards. I have never tried it, but I know how to shoot and hit.” Again, that is a horrible approach. 

If I need to check my H2H skills, I have to spar against resisting opponents with oppositional will and freedom of action to make sure my techniques will work when I need them to. Just doing forms in the air, or doing a move on a completely compliant partner cannot tell me anything about the functionality of any move. 

So if we understand that we need to have a metric to measure ourselves against, how do we do it with the clandestine draw? How do we know in our heart of hearts that we stand a reasonable chance of pulling it off on demand against a violent assault? 

I don’t have the answer. I wish I did. But at least I am raising the question and throwing it out there in order that some of the very clever folks in the community start thinking about it and maybe one day soon we will have a good solution to this issue. 

 Keep working on this skill, but also think about how we can ensure it is at a good level of practicality.