Pocket Timers: A Must-Have for Quality Practice Sessions

Feedback is valuable. At the range, we check targets and inspect our firearms, optics and ammunition. The goal is to always improve, and to accomplish that every shooter needs to make a shot timer part of their range bag.

Shot timers detect gun shots, and good timers will tell us the time from the first beep to each subsequent shot to a degree of accuracy within 1/100th of a second.

Besides the time recorded between start and finish, timers will also offer information such as splits. Split times, i.e., the time between shots, are helpful in determining consistency. Improving consistency will help eliminate many errors.

Shot timers also help to improve the skills we already have. Using a timer allows us to compete against ourselves. If you haven't already, you'll see timers used by range masters conducting official competitions.

The two most popular makes of shot timer are Competition Electronics and PACT. You can find both brands offered at brownells.com. G&A's editors recommend the Competition Electronics' Pocket Pro II and PACT's Club Timer III. Both have easy-­to-­read displays and are intuitive to operate.

Each pocket timer serves the same purpose in different ways offering different advantages. Either way, you win.