Shooting weak handed

[Breakaway500]

Ive recently (1 year plus..) been practicing using my left hand and am pleasantly surprised to find that I can hit as good, if not better, than right handed. Single action or DA.

After injuring my right hand/arm on more than one occasion over the years, I decided to make an honest try at shooing lefty as a backup. It has worked out better than I expected.

Im still using my dominant right eye and I really don't have to make any adjustments....other than I now need some LH holsters

Ive even tried shooting with both hands simultaneosly and it actually is not that hard to do well. You sure can cover a lot of angles in this manner.

Just put another 200 rounds through my Kimber K6XS and it keeps impressing me. Great pointability,lots of hits and no malfunctions. May buy another.
I wonder if any company has offered a "LH" revolver that the cylinder opens to the right? It would make fast reloading less clumsy.Guess I'll just practice more.

Who says an old dog can't learn new tricks. (turned 66 yesterday)

 

[hdfinder47]

I'm not nearly as good off-handed as you are, but my method is to slightly cant the gun to the right in my left hand. Gets me through the left handed stage of the P.O.S.T. course without loosing points (usually). Your post is a reminder for me to practice off handed more often. Thanks.

Ed

 

[BLACKHAWKNJ]

Years ago Dean Grennell wrote that during WWII when he was a USAAF gunnery instruction and Uncle Sam provided all the ammunition he wanted it took him about two weeks to achieve the same proficiency with his left hand and eye as he had with his right.

 

[stansdds]

I'm definitely not as accurate nor as fast with my left hand, but I do practice left hand shooting.

 

[Big Dave in WNC]

When I took Specialized Firearms Instructor class in Salemburg NC in 2002, we were made to fire a full course (50 rounds, from 3, 5, 7, 10,15, and 25 yards) of fire with our non-dominant hand, so we could understand the challenges for those shooters. Even great instructors sometimes have trouble relating to issues that left-handers (mostly) have issues with. One really great instructor I know (also retired-about 10 years older than me) used to JOKINGLY say that "left-handers should be shot at birth!" when issues came up. (Lefties might have more trouble laughing at that admittedly.)

You mentioned maybe being better off-handed-we often see this when making officers shoot entire courses either off-handed...the predominant belief is that someone is concentrating more on the basics of shooting-sight alignment, trigger manipulation, follow through, etc.

There are additional benefits to that also. One is the benefit that IF ever disabled or wounded (an AMAZING amount of rounds fired at people hit hands and arms, likely due to them coming up in defensive reaction, AND if they are holding a gun or knife, the other shooter is likely to focus on that spot, therefore applying their rounds to that area, instead of generic center mass) you are more comfortable firing off handed. I know TWO officers personally in my area that suffered debilitating damage to their dominant hand in the opening shots of gun fights, and one who was armed with a S&W autoloader was nearly killed because the handgun had the magazine safety and the first round the BG fired went through his hand and struck the grip and the impact caused the magazine to drop. He was literally standing there stroking the trigger as fast as he could and it would not even fire the round in the chamber. He did the only thing he could-he ran as the suspect fled in a car. He HAD a backup gun, but it was in his right rear pocket and his hand was bloody and mangled that he couldn't get it out and into action.

Also, if covering someone using cover yourself you may have to shoot or cover from the LEFT hand side of cover. If you shoot right handed you end up showing more of your vitals. We refer to this as "bilateral" shooting. It's more applicable in long guns, but certainly handguns are applicable to it.

Also, and I CAN NOT verify this or post a study...but it seems likely: I have heard from several people that they feel that shooting like this from your off-hand makes you MORE ACCURATE when going back to the dominant hand.

 

[JohnRippert]

I do a lot of left handed dry fire practice along with my right side work. You just never know.

 

[cracker57]

my uncle told me you never miss, you always hit exactly where the gun was pointed. In other words you hit where you are looking, chances are when someone is shooting at you they may be looking at your gun and take out your dominate hand.

 

[SGT ROCK 11B]

my uncle told me you never miss, you always hit exactly where the gun was pointed. In other words you hit where you are looking, chances are when someone is shooting at you they may be looking at your gun and take out your dominate hand.

From my experience as a cop that is true. In a lot of gunfights a firearm will get hit by a bullet. That is a great reason to carry a second.

In one gunfight in particular the bad guy took a round thru the heel of his hand after striking the bottom of the grip of a stolen Model 19 2 1/2 inch. So it did appear the gun was shot out of the bad guy's hand.

 

[cololab]

To the extent practical, being ambidextrous in any number things is just good planning for the unexpected.

 

[hdfinder47]

my uncle told me you never miss, you always hit exactly where the gun was pointed. In other words you hit where you are looking, chances are when someone is shooting at you they may be looking at your gun and take out your dominate hand.

I found this to be true when active shooter training with sim guns. I've been hit in the gun hand and have seen several other instances of same.

 

[UncleEd]

Being a left hander, I do believe left handers have an easier time at adapting because they have learned to compensate in a right handed world.

 

[Golddollar]

I went halfway with shooting with the other hand. Three years ago I had a serious retinal hemorrhage in my right eye. It seems to have cleared up but in the interim I had to teach myself to shoot handguns cross dominantly. Even after cataract surgery in both eyes I am still sighting handguns with my left eye.

 

[SGT ROCK 11B]

From the infamous FBI Miami Shootout in 1986.

(Agent) McNeill was then shot in the hand and, due to his wound and blood in his revolver's chambers, could not reload.

As I recall he lost his right index finger. 1986 FBI Miami shootout - Wikipedia

 

[VaTom]

Back in basic LEO training 1976 and annual qualification you had to shoot 6 rounds weak hand double action kneeling from beside a barricade at 25 yards. (Model 10). That is where I usually threw out some rounds.

 

[Big Dave in WNC]

We had a trooper here shot in 1984 when he stopped a speeding car early one morning and the car (unknown to him) had two escapees from Tennessee in it. I know him personally. The passenger exited and fired at him several times with a .22 semi-auto rifle (I believe) and quickly jumped back in the car and they took off. The trooper fired 6 rounds quickly, but was bleeding badly and could not reload his revolver (I'm SURE also not helped by loss of fine motor skills in that moment). At that time, the SHP ran cartridge loops and did not allow speeedloaders in the name of uniformity and because the loops "looked better on the belt". I SWEAR to you this is not made up-I've had troopers and trooper family members tell me that was the reason.

One bullet from the BG was going toward his heart but struck one of the metal Cross pens in his pocket and tracked away from his heart. While he almost died he is a very devout man and would later be known for saying "TWO 'Crosses' saved my life that day."

Noteworthy also (since this is a GUN forum) that trooper was a vocal OPPONENT of the SHP adopting a semiautomatic handgun, which was in the "rumor" and "talking about" stage at that time. After this incident and NOT being able to reload his wheelgun, he became one of the most vocal PROPONENTS of going to a semiautomatic! And with his being a decorated wounded (and nearly killed in the line of duty) trooper this carried a lot of weight State-wide. SHP did eventually adopt the Beretta 92 in 1986 or 1987 (?) but their leather fetish and propensity for "looking good" led them to adopt a weird spare single magazine holder, mounted on an off-side handcuff holder HORIZONTALLY , and UNDER the handcuffs in a deep pouch inserted BACKWARDS. I shot against some of these guys in a match that required duty gear and even the better shooters in the SHP bunch were handicapped by this silly arrangement-but it "looked good", so there you are.

Firing one particularly fast drill (modified El Presidente) I seen one reach for his spare mag using that underhanded bent wrist elbow out movement they had to master and quickly draw his magazine and bring it out, but lost control of it and it flew (rotating as it went) into the air. TO HIS CREDIT (now retired Trp/Lt. Vic Misenheimer) he tracked it in flight with his eyes, caught it in mid air as it fell and completed the reload smoothly and finished the drill!

 

[Tom K]

....

Just put another 200 rounds through my Kimber K6XS and it keeps impressing me. Great pointability,lots of hits and no malfunctions. May buy another.
I wonder if any company has offered a "LH" revolver that the cylinder opens to the right? It would make fast reloading less clumsy.Guess I'll just practice more.

Who says an old dog can't learn new tricks. (turned 66 yesterday)

Charter Arms catalogs a left-handed revolver called the Southpaw. I've only seen a very few in real life at gun shows, and none for several years.

Southpaw | Charter Arms

 

[AJ]

We trained one hand weak hand shooting with M1911's and .12 ga pumps when I was in the Marine Corps Security Force Battalion. Even to the point of drawing a Condition 3 M1911 from the holster on your strong side, then chambering a round and then shooting. The .12 ga pump was also racked and fired one hand weak hand.

 

[RGPM1A]

I remember the first time (a long, long time ago) I tried to shoot my 686 weak handed in a run and gun match. The darn gun would lock up! The gun always worked fine strong handed. Turned out it needed some trigger shims.

Anyone else have this happen?

 

[ISCS Yoda]

Back in my cowboy action shooting days I was sometimes required to shoot my weak side Vaquero with my weak side hand. I got it done but, presently, I don't practice that way. Next time I go to the range I'll give it a try.