Weak Hand Pistol Training?

Did a search, but nothing came up. I want to start practice shooting pistol weak hand, and just wondering if any of you might have any tips. Pistol will be .45 1911. Do I still continue the sight picture with dominant eye?

Yes and No. Do it both ways. If you have to shoot from cover, you don't want to expose the left side of your head trying to shoot w/ dominant eye.
Also, shoot weak hand supported, and unsupported.
Supported from behind a barricade, and unsupported standing weaver style.

Just my 2 cents.

All good advice; thanks.

I don't see a whole lot of functionality in shooting two handed on your support side unless you plan to carry a second weapon & NY reload when your first runs dry. With a little practice you can minimize you exposure around cover from your support side enough that the potential for fumbling the gun under stress swapping from firing to support outweighs any benefit.

IMO your pistol (shooting) training should be about split in thirds between 2 hand, firing hand only & support hand only. Manipulations I'm not sold on the 1/3 splits- reloading & clearing malfunctions when you're down to one hand introduces a whole new level of complexity. IF you have a duty to act that would sway my opinion more toward practicing those skills.

Do you think that shooting strong hand from behind cover on your weak side exposes too much of your head?

I do this in one of two ways.

1. Place the rear sight on my belt, and actuate the slide by pressing down.

2. Place the rear sight on the heel of my strong leg in a kneeling position, and pressing down.

You can, and IMO, should, practice this with both supporting and strong hand only. I practice this with the idea that either of my hands/arms could be shot, or disabled somehow.

I think the benefit you get in reduced exposure is pretty minimal compared to the risk of fumbling the gun during the transition. Add on that you have to give up training time & resources to practice that instead of skills that'll have a bigger payoff.

Same goes for the one hand manipulations. I agree with you that everyone should practice one hand manipulatiolns but we have to realize that not everyone is going to dedicate the time required to get anything useful out of the practice. In the grand scheme of things most people would be better served by getting their draw to first shot times down & working some ECQC evolutions.

There's a big difference between practicing what you're not good at so you get better & practicing something you're not good at when you're not actually good at anything. We all have to prioritize our training- even people with"unlimited" time & funding.

I know some people that take a basic defensive pistol class and run the whole class as a lefty. Sounds like a good idea if you have the ability/funds.

Can you defend yourself with your um weak hand.,..........................

Then dont call it your weak hand.

Support hand.

I can defend myself with my weak hand.

I suggest spending 25% of time shooting support side.

I started shooting weak hand with a .22 Ruger. I try to do 1-200 rounds. This is standard square range stuff. I try to get my sight picture correct. I saw a video from shooting USa Pro tips where the instructor said to cant the gun slightly to the dominant side/eye. This worked for me. Todd Jarret Had a lesson based on shooting weak hand and he said stay level.

The best weak hand practice I have had is dry fire with a revolver. This strengthened my arm and hand. It also allowed me to follow moving targets on the tv.

IPSC has weak hand stages sometimes.

I always hear moaning and groaning about it.

I used to, but then I went out and practiced weak hand only until I worked it out.

It's the same fundamentals.

I love the one-handed stuff (weak or strong) in competition and training. I even practice reloads, malfunctions, and all that good stuff. One thing I've learned is that your pants will provide enough friction to rack the slide without having to catch the sights on something. Or, you can pinch it between your knees...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gBN6v7Qm3M

On a side note: I call it my "weak" hand because that's what I've always heard it called. Just because I refer to it as my "weak hand" doesn't mean I think of it as being weak.

What's a weak hand?

Start shooting IPSC and you'll soon find out.

example:

http://www.uspsa.org/classifiers/03-11.pdf

Of course I was being sarcastic.

I have been noticing the common terms "strong hand" and "weak hand" disappearing from the vocabulary of trainers (including myself), and they are being replaced with the terminology "dominant" and "non-dominant."

If the gun is in your right hand or your left hand single-handed hold, that hand is the “shooting, firing, or dominant hand” and the opposite hand is the “non-firing/non-dominant hand.” If the gun is in your right hand or your left hand utilizing a two-handed hold, the other hand becomes the “support” hand.

Using and thinking the term “weak hand” throughout your training disciplines subconsciously programs your brain to believe that one side of your body is weak. In all of my LE Instructor training it was drummed into our heads that there is nothing weak in a gunfight.

I figured it was sarcasm.


The term "weak hand" has been around a long long time, since the Col. Jeff Cooper days, maybe longer.

It has been around a long time, hasn't it?

I guess if enough trainers and writers get on the same page with terminology, eventually certain words, terms, and phrases will be standard throughout the shooting community.

I still hear "clip" and "bullet" more often than I'd like to... but that is slowly changing too.

Birddog1911

The fact that you asked for advice means that you are going to train some one handed shooting.

Good for you. I know that most people are guilty of practicing what they are good at and avoiding what is difficult, or what doesn't easily give positive results. (I know that I am guilty of it too)

You have gotten some good suggestions already. Definitely work on one handed shooting with either hand, one handed reloads and malfunctions clearances too. If you ever needed it, you won't think of a new way to do it under stress.

I do have these tips on your one handed shooting (sorry if this has been covered):
lean in slightly more than you normally do
lock or nearly lock your shooting hand
cant the pistol in slightly (not full on gangster sideways)

Regarding cover,
Yammymonkey made some good points, one handed or two is not as important as your exposure. Both at the range and when I teach building search/tactics I show a body language move that emphasizes trying to only expose your eye, avoiding exposing elbow, shoulder foot etc. Everything you don't see with - If it breaks cover, the threat sees you (can shoot you) before you see the threat.

good training....

Try it with both eyes, see what's best for you. Go slow.

Same experience here. Competition was my first exposure to support hand shooting. It was humbling, to say the least.

IME, if you're an isosceles shooter, eye dominance doesn't play a big role. Weaver shooters sometimes have to move their head a bit.

As Derek said, it's all the same fundamentals. It can be awkward at first, so get the fundamentals down, not just for accuracy, but for safety.

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