A bunch of friends and I went to a defensive handgun class this weekend. It was a lot of fun and a very good class.

I'm a lefty and I've been to this class several times in the past. I've done it with two different pistols and a revolver before. So, to mix things up, I figured I'd try it differently and shoot with my right hand. Needless to say, it wasn't my best showing, but I still did reasonably well.

OK, that was fun, but I see little value in trying to become super proficient with both hands. Most have enough trouble becoming proficient with just their dominant hand. Even so, there is value in doing at least a little practice with the support hand.

Why? Because your dominant hand might be injured or occupied and you may have to take that shot with the support hand. If you have to save your life, that would be a bad time for it to be the first time you've ever shot a gun with the support hand.

So, I recommend at least shooting a little with the other hand.

Have you ever shot with your support hand?

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Freedom isn't free.

Yes. As a matter of fact when I had my hand and wrist surgery it was on my strong hand so I had to: A. Buy a left hand holster for one of my carry guns, and B practice exclusively with it because that's how I had to carry for a year.

I'm ambidextrous so I shoot equally well left or right hand. I agree that practicing with the support had is a good idea, especially if you shoot a rifle. Being able to shoot around a barricade while minimizing your exposure is good sense and shooting "off hand" can help you do that.

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Improvise, Adapt, Overcome

I'm a lefty , but shoot right handed primarily. My bug is under my left hand and I'm quite proficient with it. I can bring out two guns and shoot both.

I try to do some support hand practice whenever I'm at the range or dry firing.

Wanna know what's really fun? Try drawing a snub revolver from your IWB holster at 3:30-4:00, support hand only. Or reloading a snub revolver support hand only.

Want even more fun? Try drawing a snub revolver from your strong side pocket holster with your support hand.

Good times.

Before I started law enforcement I had two shoulder surgeries on my strong side I started shooting left handed for a few months and carried my revolver in a pocket holster in my sling for left hand draw.

Now I stay proficient. I carry my BUG at work in my left side pocket so I qualify with it shooting left handed because that’s how it will be used.

I started about 25 years ago, and always practice at the range. I also switch eyes when I switch hands.

I was at a match recently when another shooter was completely baffled as to why I would switch hands to shoot around the left or right side of a barracade. He asked, “Why would you do that?” The RO and another shooter laughed, chimed in, and said, “Because he can.”

Much better shooters have said they wish they could do that. All I tell them is line up the sights, squeeze the trigger, and practice, practice, practice.

Bill

Well IIRC it's highly touted at the "Roy Rogers, Lone Ranger..... Pistolero School of Gunfighting."

Just went to my local range yesterday (an all too infrequent event) and did exactly this. Small groups with two and strong hand, pie plate size patterns with the weak hand at 7 yards. May do better with more practice (maybe ).

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Alan
SWCA LM 2023, SWHF 220

Every time out, either two cylinder or one or two mags of what ever I'm shooting. It's a part of my LEOSA qualification so I keep up on it.

Every day.......

I'm encouraged to hear that people do practice with their support hand.

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Freedom isn't free.

I'm a firearms instructor with a federal agency, so our course of fire includes the support hand and we train to shoot and reload with one hand only.

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SV,14,17,21,28,29,39,66,586

Yes, I try to be amphibious by shooting with both my strong and support hands....

Both in and out of water? (Darn auto-correct!)

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Alan
SWCA LM 2023, SWHF 220

I shoot with both hands and either eye. I can't shoot with both eyes open, as they are very different corrections.

It was how I learned in the 60's, and it served me well when I had major shoulder issues in the 80's. Now I have severe AC arthritis problems, so I may alternate hands often.

Never seemed like a big deal, just the way I was taught by a grumpy old WWII vet / Range officer.

You must have gone to NC State

I am right handed and was taught the merits of being able to shoot lefty 40+ years ago. Great for left side barricade. Still practice switching hands and eyes.
Not at all difficult to master with a bit of practice.

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"from my cold dead hands" C.H.

Close alphabetically! You are off by one letter - I went to ND.....

I always use some of my range time shooting with my support hand, both 2-handed and 1-handed.

Why? Some Decades Back, I broke my dominant wrist, it never healed properly and I ended up with an early case of arthritis. Because of this, I sometimes need to carry on my support side.

Every other club shoot, I shoot Lefty. Sometimes my Lefty scores are better than my Right Handed scores.

One never knows when the dominant hand/arm may get injured. Practice with the support hand.

Yes, I do. Not every time I shoot...but most of the time I fire a few rounds with my weak hand. We had to shoot with our weak hand during qualification when I was in law enforcement. I think it's a good idea.

Fox

I am right handed and my dominant eye is my left one. I mainly shoot competitions where weak handed shooting is required on at least one stage, and during my last two comps there was a stage set up so that ideally you had to shoot right handed on the right side and left handed on the left.

You should have seen the body contortions of those that insisted on shooting strong/two handed. One was DQ'd and others overstepped the charge line

It has been over 20 years now but i once shot our qualification course left handed while helping out the instructor on the range, and did better than I had the previous week when I qualifified strong hand.

I also carry a couple of mags or speedloaders behind the holster on my strong side for reloading weak handed. Came in handy on the weekend when I had to engage 2 targets around the right side of a barricade, 2 around the left side then open and step through a doorway to engage the remaining targets. The door was hinged on the right and not set up for left hand opening so:

I shot the 2 right side targets, changed gun hands while moving to the other side of the barricade and shot the 2 left side targets while drawing a mag with my right hand from behind the holster. While moving to the door I reloaded (9mm 1911 with 10+1 capacity) weak handed, reached for the door after inserting the mag with my right hand, changed hands as I stepped through the door and continued the stage. Oh, and I placed first in my division on the stage too.

I probably don't practice enough weak hand shooting, but with our nationals coming up in about 6 weeks that'll change.

I do but not as often as I should. After my strong side shoulder separation, I should be more proactive but have not.


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Both USPSA and IDPA occasionally require weak hand only shooting in part of a COF. I do that with no trouble but I'm slower weak-hand only. What I found weird and interesting was shooting 2-handed with weak hand on the trigger. I'm right-handed but left eye dominant.

This isn't necessarily hard to do unless you have poor coordination to start.

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Bob.
SWCA 1821

I also recommend shooting support hand only. It's not uncommon for the shooting hand to be injured. If that happens, you won't have it to use for support.

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Freedom isn't free.

Many, many years ago I was taught to practice reloading a J with either left hand only or right hand only (in addition to shooting with either or both). I wonder how many who carry can. (Especially semi auto carriers, how do you clear a jam or rack if you only have the use of one arm?)

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Certified Curmudgeon

If the gun ran to slide lock, hit the slide release/stop. Otherwise, it depends on the gun and how it's configured, but it's not too difficult with some practice. If it has blocky sights you can hook them on your belt or shoe heel. You can also snag the ejection port. Sometimes you can press the top of the slide against your belt/hip and the friction may be enough to hold it in place while you "rack" the frame (I've seen some people apply grip tape to the top of the slide for this purpose). If you have a 1911 with a standard GI-style recoil spring guide (and I think this works with Hi-Powers, too, but I'm not sure...I'm not a Hi-Power owner and I'm not that familiar with them) you can press the plug/slide area against something (belt, shoe heel, table, etc.) to rack the slide.

It's about knowing your equipment and how to use it, and practicing.

I practice shooting left handed every time I go to the range. My left handed shooting was passable when I started qualifying every year, but I put in a lot of practice and now shoot just as good with my left or right hand. I carry my BUG in my left pocket, so being able to shoot left handed is important. Another skill I practice regularly is drawing my primary (worn about 3:30) with my left hand. There are a lot of ways your dominant hand can be put out of action at an inconvenient time, so maintaining some level of skill with your non dominant hand is important.

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Wheel guns are real guns.

As said above. We practice clearing one handed in duty gear by grabbing sights on holster. If not in duty gear I use the bottom of my boot. You should be behind cover at that point anyways, so kneeling down to clear a malfunction isn’t a big deal.

I have a really weak left (support) hand - when I first started shooting with my support hand, I had a problem controlling the recoil to the point of almost sweeping the shooters on my right. Since I obviously needed the practice, I shoot my 617 with my left hand every time I'm at the range. Once I master 22s, I'll move up to 38s.

I am not sure about weak hand only but using either hand for support i can shoot almost equally well using both hands, Haven't shot a long gun in years but i was always a right handed rifle and shotgun shooter, left handed with a bow. at 10 to 15 yards i am mostly equal with handguns. Can run the gun with either hand.

I do! I'm a righty, so that would obliviously be my left. I run a few cylinders of my carry j frames through using just my support hand. I also run a few cylinders firing with just my strong hand. I'm getting pretty good with either I think.

To be honest I never really thought much about it, and as I've only been shooting for 5-ish years just have kept all practice to my right (strong) hand.

But... as I notice more and more my right hand can really ache as the day goes on and i get older (early arthritis, maybe carpal tunnel, who knows) i wouldn't want that to be an excuse Not to hit the range.

So next time out, i'll give it a try. As many have posted already, sounds like good practice to include it in the range work.

I've found this gives the RO's a headache when scoring. One once said while trying to score my target, "Well he did open the door with his strong hand, (right hand, as required,) but he drew, switched the pistol to his left hand and shot the stage." So, which is his weak/strong hand? I tell them to judge it by which side my holster is on for that match.

Bill

Some terminology....

Shooting side vs Support side
As in the title, I don't use strong/weak to describe which hand is used. You're left hand might be strongest, but you shoot with your right. I like shooting and support hand. The shooting hand is the one you normally hold the gun with and the support hand is the other one. Draw a line down the middle of your body and this term can be used for anything. For example, shooting side foot or support side foot. This way we can discuss without confusing which hand or body part we're talking about.

Jam or Malfunction

• A jam is a serious failure of the gun. This is something that will take time, tools or maybe even a gun smith to fix. In a defensive situation, a jam will take your gun out of the fight (except as a club). A squib load is an example of a jam.
• A malfunction is a stoppage that can be cleared without tools and relatively quickly. In a defensive situation, a malfunction can be quickly cleared and the gun made ready to fire again. A failure to eject is an example of a malfunction.

Types of malfunctions

• Type I - Click, no bang. The trigger is pressed and you hear only a click. This could be an empty chamber or a dud round.
• Type II - Dead or funny trigger, brass high. The trigger is pressed and either nothing happens or it feels weird, but no click. Look at the ejection port and see brass high. This is a failure to eject. A casing is stuck in the ejection port.
• Type III - Dead or funny trigger, brass low. The trigger is pressed and either nothing happens or it feels weird, but no click. Look in the ejection port and see brass low. This is a failure to extract. The spent casing was not extracted from the chamber and the next round tried to feed behind it.

To clear the different malfunction types:

• Type I - Tap the mag, rack the slide and assess the situation.
• Type II - Tap the mag, rack the slide and assess the situation.
• Type III - Check for a new mag. If you have one, lock the slide to the rear and strip the magazine. Rack the slide at least three times. Insert the new mag and rack a round in. Assess the situation. If you don't have a new mag when you check, retain the mag, rack three times, re-insert mag and rack a new round in.

All of this can be done with one hand, albeit not easily. At the very least, we should practice shooting with the support hand. It wouldn't hurt to practice racking the slide one handed. First with shooting hand and then with support hand.

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Freedom isn't free.

I wonder how many revolver carriers practice malfunction clearing techniques for revolvers.

I can shoot with either hand or both at the same time........


.

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"IN GOD WE TRUST"

I would say revolvers don't have malfunctions, only jams.

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Freedom isn't free.

My training and current LEOSA certification requires weak hand shooting, but not much. I’m a south paw too and practice w/my right hand just enough to remain profecient.

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Old Cop
LEO (Ret.)

Not entirely true. There are some revolver malfunctions that can be corrected, though a couple of techniques can result in an immediately operational gun that may otherwise be damaged. Here are 4 that I know of...

1. Failure to fire: Pull trigger.

2. Empty case caught under extractor star: A little tricky to do, but hold the cylinder open with one hand like you would with a reload. With the other hand, pull on the extractor star (you can pull on the extractor star further than the length of the extractor rod would suggest) with the other hand, leaving a finger free to flick the case free (when I practice this I use my thumb, ring finger, and middle finger to pull, using my index finger to flick...this requires rotating the cylinder to get the case in the right position).

3. Cylinder won't open: This is only if you absolutely need to reload NOW but the cylinder is stuck, which could be caused by a backed-out extractor rod or dirt under the extractor rod (preventative maintenance is important!). Grip the gun in your right hand palm down and use your thumb to activate the cylinder release (I'm actually not sure how this would work on a Dan Wesson revolver with the release on the crane/yoke). While activating the cylinder release, bring down your left hand sharply on top of the cylinder, which should free it (while possibly damaging the gun). Reload.

4. Cylinder won't close: Related to #3. Grip the gun in the right hand tilted to the right with the cylinder closed as much as possible. Hit it sharply with your left hand to close. At this point, hopefully the gun is still operational, though likely damaged.

Notes on #3 and #4: DO NOT practice this technique with full force, or you could risk damaging your gun. I practice it going through the motions with just enough force to open and close the cylinder.

I don't practice these techniques often, but I think it's good to maintain at least some familiarity with them. With the exception of #1, these are difficult to do one-handed with either hand, with #2 probably the most difficult in my experience, but can be done with a different approach: Secure gun muzzle down with cylinder open and use whatever hand is free to pick out the stuck case. #3 and #4 can be done one-handed by holding the gun and using something else (thigh, table, ground, etc.) to hit the cylinder. Again, DO NOT practice this with full force.

So yes, revolvers can fail. Personally, I think if you use a quality gun and maintain it properly, there's not much difference between semi-autos and revolvers in terms of reliability, but with either type of gun you can have some freak occurrence that renders the gun inoperable (the hammer stud on my 642 broke a couple of years ago...S&W replaced the gun under warranty).

Whether you carry a revolver or semi-auto, it's always a good idea to have some kind of contingency plan in case your gun ends up being completely non-functional in a crisis.







Disclaimer: I assume no liability for any damage resulting from the use or misuse of techniques described above. This post is for information purposes only.

i practice, equally, with either hand.....this has been my routine for many years.....

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There's nowt so queer as folk

During each range session 25% of my time is spent shooting with support hand. It's combat shooting effective, but not competition accurate like the strong side.

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Stay protected my friends.

I shoot Rifle left hand and pistol right hand, really confused a little boy watching me at the range last year. I tried shooting with support hand today and really felt strange , need more practice.

I'm right-handed/left-eye dominant. I shoot pistols right-handed. If I ever get around to shooting rifles (or any long gun, for that matter), I'll likely do the same.

Good call. You are indeed correct. I don't know why I didn't think of #1 myself because it is exactly the same as a Type 1 with a pistol. The fix is far easier.

#2 is something I've never experienced or seen, but I can see how it could happen. I will add it to my routine.

#3 and #4 I would call a jam. They require more time and effort than a quick fix and, as you say, will likely damage the gun. I'm not convinced that practicing this technique will enhance the defender's ability with respect to the likelihood of it actually happening.

That said, revolvers are far more reliable than pistols. That's just the nature of things.

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Freedom isn't free.

It's never happened to me, either, but as you said it's a skill worth having in the toolbox.

I would tend to agree. Depending on the circumstances, one would be better served transitioning to a BUG if available or using some alternate method/technique (empty hand skills, improvised weapons, running away, etc.). I think #3 and #4 are techniques to be familiar with, and know how to do, but I wouldn't rank them as a critical skill. They're low priority when it comes to the skills I practice. At most, I probably practice them for maybe a few minutes every couple of months just to maintain familiarity.

As I said, I don't think there's a whole lot of difference between semi-autos and revolvers in terms of reliability, so long as we're discussing good quality guns that have been properly maintained. However, I do think it's worth noting that most of the malfunctions that are easily cleared, and tend to be the most common, in semi-autos occur within the feed/extract/eject cycle. With the possible exception of the case-under-the-extractor-star malfunction, those don't happen with revolvers.

Proper maintenance goes a long way towards preventing malfunctions with either type of gun.

Also, apologies for derailing the thread. I didn't mean to launch off onto a tangent.

I can use either hand, revolver or pistol. I use my "weak" side at every range session including draw from weak side. Ya just never know when....

I shot an IDPA match yesterday with my S&W 686 SSR which included stages using strong hand and weak hand only. Did well.

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Bob.
SWCA 1821

I do it just for grins to see if I can hit stuff. Maybe one day if I get good enough I will be more serious about it like you guys.

Stick with it, you'll get it.