History Main / QuickDraw

* ''Mechwarrior'', ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'''s RPG spinoff game, features the skill Quick draw, which allows the character to perform a simple action before initiative is rolled. This includes but is not limited to drawing one-handed weapons before combat starts. If they have their weapons already out, they are technically allowed to declare a preemptive attack.

* The eponymous ''Quick draw'' Battlemech in ''VideoGame/MechWarrior Online'' is not necessarily quicker to ''ready'' its weapons, but it has a bonus of an aim speed boost to its arm mounted weapons. This means it can get off the first shot or a reaction shot much faster than, say, a lumbering ''Dragon''.

* In the Jesse James Vs. Al Capone episode of ''Series/DeadliestWarrior'', Champion Gunslinger Joey Dillion (who was testing weapons for the Jesse James side) was able to draw and accurately fire his [[GunsAkimbo twin Co]][[RevolversAreJustBetter lt revolvers]] in a quarter of a second in contrast to the Al Capone expert who took half a second to lift and fire his [[CoolGuns Tommy Gun.]] [[spoiler:The Tommy Gun still got the edge due to MoreDakka.]]

* In ''{{Manga/GANTZ}}'', Izumi challenges Kurono to a quick draw duel at [[spoiler:the end of his murderous shooting spree]] with [[spoiler:the life of Kei's girlfriend Tae at stake]]. It's hardly a fair contest for Kurono as Izumi is armed with a pistol while he only has a Gantz gun- which is devastatingly destructive but functionally almost ''useless'' for duelling because of the ''massive time lag'' between the gun being fired and the target suffering the horrific effects. Regardless, he has no choice but to go ahead with it. [[spoiler:They both raise their guns but Izumi shoots and Kurono goes down without his gun lighting up, which would indicate he got a shot off. However, as Izumi exults in his victory and heads over to kill Tae, Kurono pulls the SECOND trigger on his gun, having worked out that pulling one trigger locks the gun onto a target and then pulling the second fires a shot that can't miss. Knowing that if Izumi saw him fire he might turn and kill Tae out of spite before the shot reached him, and that getting hit wouldn't be an InstantDeathBullet unless it hit him in the head, he let Izumi shoot him, then fired from the ground, [[YourHeadASplode blowing Izumi's head off]] once he'd stopped paying attention to Kuruno.]] BatmanGambit at its finest (with a bit of [[spoiler:ThanatosGambit]]).

* ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'' : Homura, the [[MoreDakka walking armory]] of the series, is so fast she can unload a full Beretta in [[spoiler: Kyubey's face]] in less than half a second, thanks to [[spoiler:[[TimeStandsStill time mastery]].]]

-->'''Booster''': Well, there's not much sense in me trying to compete with that.
-->'''Wally''': It'd be damn near impossible, since your gun's empty. I hadda borrow it for them last few bottles.

* In the ''Franchise/BackToTheFuture'' trilogy, Marty [=McFly=], surprisingly, turns out to be a talented quick-draw artist, from time spent in his local 7-Eleven playing ''VideoGame/WildGunman''. He's just shown to be a "crack shot" at the game in ''Film/BackToTheFuturePartII'', but his talent really shows in ''Film/BackToTheFuturePartIII'' when he is challenged to a 19th Century shooting range and manages to shoot every single target - [[IKnowMortalKombat before this point, he'd probably never used a real gun in his life.]] His first shot goes completely wild because he wasn't prepared for the kick and he was being made to use his left hand, but he does absolutely perfect on his second attempt after switching.

-->'''[[OldMaster Aramaki]]''': [[BadassBoast Don't send a rabbit to kill a fox]].

* ''Film/LeProfessionnel'' - though Beaumont has a chance to shoot Rosen in the back during the climax, he calls out and gives him a chance to drawn his gun. Cue a classic staredown followed by a quick draw.

* {{Deconstruct|ion}}ed in ''Film/{{Unforgiven}}''. Sheriff Daggett demonstrates to an author that he is indeed quick on the draw, but explains that accuracy goes out the window and it's all next to useless unless the shooter keeps a cool head. He also recalls a man who tried too hard to draw quickly and ended up shooting himself in the foot. Demonstrated in the finale where Munny [[spoiler: does ''not'' rapidly gun down Daggett's men with a flick of the wrist, but instead draws and kneels down, deliberately aiming and gunning down the terrified mooks who all miss him in their panic]].

* Stark already was the FastestGunInTheWest, but in ''Literature/CloudOfSparrows'', while "visiting" Japan, he faced a really fast ninja and a trained IaijutsuPractitioner, the latter time using a katana, a weapon he had never even touched before. [[spoiler: He won both times]].

* A non-firearm example occurs in ''The Song of Hiawatha'' by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow:

* In the Jesse James Vs. Al Capone episode of ''Series/DeadliestWarrior'', Champion Gunslinger Joey Dillion (who was testing weapons for the Jesse James side) was able to draw and accurately fire his [[GunsAkimbo twin Co]][[RevolversAreJustBetter lt revolvers]] in a quarter of a second in contrast to the Al Capone expert who took half a second to lift and fire his [[CoolGuns Tommy Gun.]] [[spoiler: The Tommy Gun still got the edge due to MoreDakka.]]

** Robbins had a lot of songs in this vein - "Running Gun", "Mr. Shorty" and "The Ballad of Bill Thaxton" are just a few. The last has the titular Thaxton (a retired Texas Ranger) outdraws and kills another gunfighter despite ''being blind''.

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsOfColdSteel'': Whenever Rean uses Autumn Leaf - Cutter, he sheathes his sword then immediately draws it out at fast speeds. It's also how he executes the fourth form in his second S-Craft in ''Cold Steel IV''.

** ''VideoGame/MarioParty2'': The duel minigame for Western Land involves a quick draw with cork guns. The player who presses A first after "Go" will fire first, win and get the coins that both players bet. If you fire too soon, you'll get a warning the first time, and lose the second time. Bowser has a gun duel with the winning player, resulting in both firing their shots at the same time- Bowser misses but the winning player hits.

* In ''VideoGame/MassEffectAndromeda'', [[spoiler: Reyes Vidal]] and [[spoiler: Sloane Kelly]] have one of these [[RecycledInSpace in space]], complete with the potential for BlastingItOutOfTheirHands. Subverted when [[spoiler: Reyes has a sniper on standby ready to take Sloane out]].

* The Nobel-winning physicist Niels Bohr once did an impromptu research project to find out why good guys in movies always win quick draw duels. After many mock gunfights against fellow physicist George Gamow, Bohr concluded that the villain always tries to draw his gun first (and so must consciously move his hands), while the hero always reacts and draws by reflex as soon as he sees the villain moving. Bohr theorized that reflex is always faster than conscious action, therefore, the good guy always wins. [[http://scienceblogs.com/notrocketscience/2010/02/why_does_the_gunslinger_who_draws_first_always_get_shot.php Research shows]] that "reactive advantage" is about 10% faster than conscious initiation, but this only shaves an average 21 milliseconds from a 200-millisecond action - not enough to out-draw an opponent. The researchers conclude that Bohr's anecdotal victories in all his mock duels "suggest that Bohr was a crack shot, in addition to being a brilliant physicist."

* This is the basis of [=McCree=]'s Deadeye [[LimitBreak Ultimate]] in ''Videogame/{{Overwatch}}''. He briefly holsters his revolver and slowly locks on to any enemies in his line of sight. If he gets a full lock-on and fires, it causes a OneHitKill. Enemies with less health take less time to lock on to, as well.

[[folder:Roleplay]]
* Clint Wayne in ''Roleplay/DinoAttackRPG'', which should hardly come as a surprise given he was inspired by [[Film/DollarsTrilogy the Man With No Name]].
[[/folder]]

* In the WeirdWest ''Comicbook/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica'' {{Elseworld}} ''Justice Riders'', [[Comicbook/TheFlash Wally "Kid Flash" West]] is, of course, a quick draw. When Comicbook/BoosterGold asks him to demonstrate, an entire row of bottles seems to explode without Wally apparently moving.

* In the 1980's cop series ''Series/{{Hunter}}'', Hunter kills a Central American diplomat who raped his partner Dee Dee [=McCall=]. A later episode has the man's brother turning up for revenge. He's a fan of Westerns so he kidnaps Hunter and says he will duel him for his life. Hunter shoots the gun out of his hand, then repeatedly shoots the pistol as the man keeps grabbing for it. This was despite a previous episode where Hunter ridiculed the idea of BlastingItOutOfTheirHands.

* Kino from ''LightNovel/KinosJourney'' is extremely talented when it comes to drawing and using guns at a moment's notice. Doesn't have a reputation, so doesn't count as FastestGunInTheWest. She's show practicing this as part of her daily routine.

The one-on-one gunfight is a derivation of the more ancient practice of duelling. Thus, a key characteristic of many [[TheGunslinger gunfighters]] is their ability to field their weapon of choice with lightning speed. This is critical to their ability to deliver the InstantDeathBullet rather than receive it, although they may choose [[BlastingItOutOfTheirHands to blast the gun out of their adversary's hand]].

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

* ''Manga/{{Golgo 13}}'' has a notoriously quick draw speed. In one episode, a hitman measured it at 0.17 seconds.
** In the anime series, Golgo is up against a Mafia bodyguard who can draw faster than him. So he makes an appearance just as he's hauling a woman out of a car -- the fraction of a second it takes for the mafiosi to let go of her is enough.

* ''Franchise/LupinIII'': Jigen is said to possess a 0.3 second quick-draw. He's also shown to take out three or more people who have already aimed their guns at him before he's drawn his Magnum. Usually by BlastingItOutOfTheirHands.

* ''Anime/{{Trigun}}'' has an episode called "Quick Draw", in which Vash and Nicholas enter a quick draw competition to give the reward to a family in need. Vash being [[ThouShaltNotKill Vash]] and Nicholas being a priest, both are opposed to killing, but [[TechnicalPacifist they can manage]] [[JustAFleshWound nonlethal shots]]. One gunman uses a particularly novel trick; he wears his clothes backwards and uses a LatexPerfection mask to pretend he's walking backwards before the draw when he actually never faces away from his opponent, so he doesn't have to turn around to shoot.

* In the ''Franchise/BackToTheFuture'' trilogy: Marty [=McFly=], surprisingly, turns out to be a talented quick-draw artist, from time spent in his local 7-Eleven playing ''VideoGame/WildGunman''. He's just shown to be a "crack shot" at the game in ''Film/BackToTheFuturePartII'', but his talent really shows in ''Film/BackToTheFuturePartIII'' when he is challenged to a 19th Century shooting range and manages to shoot every single target - [[IKnowMortalKombat before this point, he'd probably never used a real gun in his life.]] His first shot goes completely wild because he wasn't prepared for the kick and he was being made to use his left hand, but he does absolutely perfect on his second attempt after switching.

* Jimmy Ringo in ''Film/TheGunfighter''.

* ''Film/{{Robocop 2014}}''. Murphy walks into the police station and confronts a fellow officer with evidence of him being a DirtyCop. Despite the evidence playing on the computer screens for the entire department to see ([[TakingYouWithMe or perhaps because of this]]) he decides to draw his weapon to kill Robocop, who is sitting right in front of him with his armoured visor up, suffering visible gunshot damage from an earlier battle. Unfortunately Murphy's enhanced cyborg reflexes are working just fine, and his software accurately predicts that the soon-to-be victim is about to shoot him.

* In ''Film/{{Serenity}}'' Mal finds himself up against The Operative who is a more skilled opponent, but Mal has a faster draw as seen in their final confrontation. The Operative's StaticStunGun ''is already drawn'' and Mal still draws and fires before the Operative can get a shot off, sending him diving for cover. This is pointed out in the film's commentary.
* As could be expected, spoofed in ''Film/SupportYourLocalSheriff'' and ''Support Your Local Gunfighter''.
** And in ''Film/RustlersRhapsody''.

[[folder:Literature ]]

* Roland from ''Franchise/TheDarkTower'' novels. According to his teammate, Eddie Dean, he is so fast, that "he could almost have eaten a hamburger and drunk a milkshake before beginning his draw".
* ''Literature/{{Deathworld}}''. The junkmen use [[HandCannon powerful handguns]] kept in a holster on the upper arm with a microchip inserted in the gun hand that senses when certain muscles tense. The gun then jumps out into the hand and immediately fires (the gun has no trigger guard), then returns to the holster. All this can take less than a second. The protagonist has this demonstrated to him when he tries to quickly pull out his own gun and point it at Kerk Pyrrus, only to see a very large barrel pointed between his eyes before his gun is halfway up.

* In the "Franchise/{{Resident Evil}}" novelizations by S.D Perry, namely the first one entitled The Umbrella Conspiracy, we learn more about the S.T.A.R.S backstories and skills. For instance, Chris Redfield is known as the marksman of the S.T.A.R.S Alpha Team, edging out his friendly rival in the Bravo Team, Forest Speyer. However, Barry Burton reflects that, while Chris is the better "take aim and make your shot" marksman, Barry excels at the Quick draw, hitting his target unerringly from the hip. Given Barry's established role as the S.T.A.R.S weapons specialist, gun connoisseur, his membership with the N.R.A and his particular love for Revolvers (namely, his beloved Colt Python .357 Magnum), this is understandable.

* In the Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse, Han Solo is shown to be a very fast draw. All three of Brian Daley's [[Literature/TheHanSoloAdventures Solo novels]] feature Han in quick draw situations. In ''Literature/HanSoloAtStarsEnd'' and ''Literature/HanSolosRevenge'', [[spoiler:Han uses trickery and avoids a true fight against, respectively, Uul Rha Shan and Gallandro]]. In ''Literature/HanSoloAndTheLostLegacy'', [[spoiler:Han actually does draw against Gallandro, and loses, getting wounded. Shortly thereafter, Gallandro is outdrawn...by automated [[SlowLaser Slow Lasers]]]].

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

* ''Series/{{Lawman}}''. Marshall Dan Troop ([[FastestGunInTheWest to his surprise]]) finds himself outdrawn by a professional gunfighter. While recovering from his wounds, he notices that the gunfighter always incites his target to step closer to him. Realising the gunfighter is trading accuracy for speed, Marshall Troop confronts the gunman again and this time keeps his distance, winning the fatal shootout.

* A higher Agility stat in ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' means you pull out and reload weapons faster. There is also a perk called "Quick Draw" that cuts whatever your reload speed is by 1/3. Both are more important for ''switching'' weapons, because you'll usually be able to see a fight coming and having your weapon out only gives a penalty to movement speed if it's two-handed.
** In his old vaquero days, Raul Tejada was a talented quick draw who had fast hands. By settling his personal quest and encouraging him to be a gunfighter once again, he gains a perk that gets him a fire rate bonus to revolvers and lever-action rifles.

* The aptly named Sheriff [[ShapedLikeItSelf Quickdraw]] in ''[[Creator/{{Rare}} Gunfright]]'' cleans Black Rock town of outlaws by shooting the rapidly moving bandits in a duel. In early stages, the player can outdraw the enemy even if the foe reaches for the gun first, but later on they are too fast and Quick draw needs to take the initiative, which makes the bandit call him a cheater for it.

* The NES game ''VideoGame/WildGunman'' is based on this concept.

* The WesternAnimation/BugsBunny cartoon "Hare Trigger" (Yosemite Sam's debut film) turns this into a joke. Sam gives Bugs one second to draw a gun, and Bugs does--on a sketchpad.
* A WesternAnimation/HuckleberryHound cartoon had Huck as the fastest gun alive, which is why the townsfolk are afraid to come near him, no matter how cordial he is. When a gunslinger challenges Huck for the title and loses, Huck offers to give up being the fastest gun alive so the gunslinger can take the title.
* As noted by his name, WesternAnimation/QuickDrawMcGraw is quick on drawing a gun. But once drawn, he can't implement it without shooting himself in the face.
* ''WesternAnimation/WackyRaces'': In "The Dopey Dakota Derby," Dick Dastardly impersonates outlaw Deadeye Dick in an effort to chase off the other racers. At gunpoint, he challenges them to draw, and Penelope Pitstop does just that. She draws a portrait of Dick which flatters him long enough for the racers to get away.

* Just like his comic book counterpart, Jon Bernthal's ''Series/ThePunisher2017'' is quite the ice-cold gunslinger. His most memorable quick draw moment is being confronted, empty-handed, by six armed men. The leader points out he's outnumbered... and less than three seconds later, all ''but'' the leader are dead. [[OhCrap And Frank still has questions.]]
** Made all the more impressive by the fact Frank is using his signature 1911 pistol, which only holds eight rounds... and he didn't use them all. Six shots. Three seconds. Five fatalities, one disarmed, wounded prisoner.

* ''The Survivalist'' an AfterTheEnd series by Jerry Ahern

* In ''The Survivalist'', an AfterTheEnd series of adventure novels by Jerry Ahern, the hero John Rourke tries to get an [[AllBikersAreHellsAngels outlaw biker gang]] to stop killing a group of civilians; the leader says they'll do so [[GangInitiationFight if Rourke duels their quick-draw artist]]. His companions think it's suicide, but Rourke points out there's a difference between drawing down on a timer and dueling someone who's shooting back at you. Sure enough, Rourke wins.

** The most famous and probably the first was when Wild Bill Hickock and Davis Tutt got into an argument over gambling issues. When they met in the street, Hickock warned Tutt not to approach him. Both made threatening gestures towards their guns, until both drew and fired. Tutt missed, Hickock did not. Note that they were dueling with pistols from 75 yards away.
*** Note that contrary to what video games will tell you, handguns are generally designed to be able to fire at least 100 yards accurately, and sometimes 200 yards or more.
*** ''Modern'' pistols. Hickock was using an 1851 Colt Navy, a cap-and-ball revolver that was generally only accurate to around 30-40 yards. Not only did he hit his opponent at roughly twice the gun's recommended distance, he hit Tutt while he was in a "standard" dueling position (meaning he was facing to the side, with his arm outstretched to present the smallest possible target).
*** Modern pistols at the range when used by individuals who are ''calm'' and sober. As soon as adrenaline hits, fine motor control is diminished. Modern armies try to simulate this with stress shoots, where soldiers are put through intense exercise and/or subjected to simulated fire, pyrotechnics, and other loud distractions to get their blood pressure up. On occasion, live ammunition is fired over their heads or used in tight corners where there is a real, non-zero chance of being shot to death during training by your buddies. Accuracy craters under these conditions. The machine is more precise than the user - a general truism of firearms in general.

* In ''VideoGame/DiscoElysium'', the PlayerCharacter can pull this off against [[spoiler:[[PsychoForHire Major Kortenaer]]]], provided that their Hand-Eye Coordination skill is up to snuff and/or they are able to distract him long enough [[BreakThemByTalking by besting him psychologically]] through a combination of reading his body language and using any accumliated knowledge about his past against him. Do so succesfully, and you will effectively taking him out of action and throw his goons into disarray.

* In ''VideoGame/DiscoElysium'', the PlayerCharacter can pull this off against [[spoiler:[[PsychoForHire Major Kortenaer]]]], provided that their Hand-Eye Coordination skill is up to snuff and/or they are able to distract him long enough [[BreakThemByTalking by besting him psychologically]] through a combination of reading his body language and using any accumliated knowledge about his past against him. Do so succesfully, and you will effectively taking him out of action and throw his goons into disarray

* Both VideoGame/JakAndDaxter are walking examples of this, being able to grab the {{BFG}} and fire off a shot in the same second.

** ''VideoGame/MarioParty2'': The duel minigame for Western Land involves a quick draw with cork guns. The player who presses A first after "Go" will fire first, win and get the coins that both players bet. If you fire too soon, you'll get a warning the first time, and lose the second time. Bowser has a gun duel with thewinning player, resulting in both firing their shots at the same time- Bowser misses but the winning player hits.

** Chapter 7 sees Bane facing off against Boba Fett this way. Once again, Bane draws faster but Boba's beskar armour tanks the blow. When Bane walks closer to check if Boba's down it puts him in range for Boba to kill him with a melee blow from his gaderffi stick.

* ''Fanfic/RocketshipVoyager''. The holster used by Spacefleet officers to hold their service pistol unlocks on sensing the owner's palmprint and pushes the butt into their hand for this trope. Captain Janeway puts this to good effect (albeit for a MercyKill rather than a gunfight) by drawing and firing her .51 recoilless before a roomful of trigger-happy bodyguards have a chance to react. It doesn't hurt that [[CharacterTics she has a habit]] of [[DynamicAkimbo standing with her hands on her hips]], putting her hands conveniently close to her holster.

[[caption-width-right:350:[[BondOneLiner Class dismissed.]]]]
[-[[caption-width-right:350:Image by [[http://www.wanderingbert.com David Creighton-Pester]] and [[http://www.madewithawesome.com/artists/evan-ferstenfeld/ Evan Ferstenfeld]] ]]-]

* Parodied in ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory'', with Woody telling an Etch to draw, followed by him drawing a picture of a gun.

* ''VideoGame/{{Killer7}}'': The BossBattle between Dan Smith and Curtis Blackburn is fought like this in the fourth chapter (Encounter). The signal to shoot is when the pigeon next to Curtis flies; if you shoot too early or too late (or when the pigeon is only flapping the wings momentarily), Curtis will shot you. Whoever receives four shots loses the duel.