My point in this was the hypocrisy that the US shooter wants the largest and heaviest pistol for competition, yet where it matters most, they want the smallest and lightest pistol.
I am not sure that you get why that is.
If you would, you wouldn't call it "hypocrisy".
If you really don't see it: These are two totally different use cases.
but what is not debatable is the skills involved in successful action pistol competition. Keep in mind that when US SOCOM units want pistol instruction, they hire IPSC, USPSA champions such as Ben Stoeger and Robert Vogel to teach them.
Yeah, absolutely amazing skills of those competition shooters, no doubt. In competitions. Games for grownups.
And just because some SOCOM Unit hired one or another competition shooter for some training doesn't mean those guys made those operators warfighters.
It's rather a distinctive hint that SOCOM is able to understand that you can isolate technique and training thereof from real world relevant combat tactics that you learn from somebody else. Those guys don't fight wars because some Ben or Robert showed them how to use a pistol for the first time...
Shooting drills don’t have relevance in real firearms use? Then what should one use to measure the shootability of firearms and/or the progression of their skills? A shot timer does not lie. Drills provide a measurable metric to gauge and track progress, that is not based on “feelings.”
I am really not convinced that it's worth the time to discuss this in detail with somebody that obviously doesn't have expert knowledge about the stuff he talks about.
Yes, a shot timer does not lie. It mercilessly shows that somebody focuses on things that are not of primary importance to survive and win a gunfight.
A shot timer is one tool of many in the toolbox that may be able to make you a winner in a gunfight. But it's absolutely not the most important one and one has to be able to "read" it's information.
Same goes for standardized shooting drills. They, too, are one tool of many. They have their use and place at a certain time in training progression, especially if you train bigger groups/organisations. But they are not as important as some YouTube personalities, trick shooters and trainers want to make them appear. You
do not learn gunfighting via shooting drills.
And while these drills are not “real life” they certainly develop and measure gun handling and marksmanship skills.
They are "a" measure, but they are not "the" measure. And concentrating on them too much will get you killed because they make you concentrate on things that really don't matter that much. Usually they tend to intensify self-deception and do not necessarily measure what you probably think they measure.
But they surely are a nice way to show off and feel good about oneself. So there's that.
