Practicing Weak Hand

[discoqueen]

Long Haired Redneck's post got me to thinking about this, so I thought I would ask you all.

I'm a pretty new shooter, and am not too comfortable with the idea of trying to shoot with my weak hand, but I know it's something I need to get over and train for.

How do you practice weak hand drills? Do you mostly dry fire until you're comfortable, then go sling some lead down range to practice for real?

[smoothoperator]

Long Haired Redneck's post got me to thinking about this, so I thought I would ask you all.

I'm a pretty new shooter, and am not too comfortable with the idea of trying to shoot with my weak hand, but I know it's something I need to get over and train for.

How do you practice weak hand drills? Do you mostly dry fire until you're comfortable, then go sling some lead down range to practice for real?

That's not a bad idea. Take it slow. Take it safe.

[Divided Attention]

We recently had the opportunity to take a class on this. It gave me a lot to think about after 2 hours of drilling not only firing, but drawing, reloading and clearing malfunctions one handed Much was done with double checked cleared no magazine, but great exposure. Learned to use the holster to hold the weapon for reloads, etc. This is a great class if you can find one in your area. One thing that made the most sense was "squaring up" instead of "blading" your stance regardless of the hand. This way if you are having to swap hands on the fly, not so much is foreign.

I try to put a couple mags down range off hand each time I go. The hardest thing for me is shooting "off hand" around cover with a long arm... I am VERY one eyed dominant, this is not so hard with a pistol, but ridiculous with a long arm. I am practicing closing my dominant eye only more often

Keep on training in body and mind!

[A-R]

definitely a worthwhile training exercise ... take it slow at first, and try to learn as many tips and trick as you can to see what works for you.

for the shooting itself if you're same side hand/eye dominant (i.e. right handed and right eye dominant) then when shooting with your off hand and sighting with opposite (strong side) eye, it's often helpful to cant the firearm slightly toward strong side at about a 45-degree angle .... not full gangsta style sideways hold, just a slight lean toward your dominant eye - helps you pick up the sights better

[discoqueen]

Great points. Thanks for the responses.

@Divided Attention - Can you provide more info about the class you took? I'm not exactly sure what I would search for to find a class like that.

[Divided Attention]

A local Range - Thunder Gun Range has a "shooting club" designed to provide affordable training for folks wanting to learn some practical skills outside the stand and shoot at a paper target. http://www.thundergunrange.com/ We have a defensive pistol class monthly, offerings such as defensive carbine, defensive shotgun, low light, strong hand/off hand, and IDPA type activities. They are now offering more advanced offerings of these.

We had a zombie/pumpkin shoot for Halloween, and a rimfire fun shoot for Black Friday. We had a ball, the whole family goes (14 and up) and we learn together. Teens seem to do better when it is not a parent telling them how.

Recently they launched a "Ladies" group and the first thing up (since todays defensive pistol class had to cancel with the rain) is a gun selection class for ladies that I mentioned in another post.

[discoqueen]

Just checked out the website and those classes look great! Wish I was closer!

The zombie/pumpkin shoot sounds like fun!

I'll have to do some more research to see what's available in my neck of the woods.

Thanks!

[papajohn1964]

I always shoot at least 1 mag left handed when I go to the range and am actually better with my left than the right when shooting one handed. I do need to get a left handed holster and start practicIng carrying and drawing that way.

[stroo]

I include weakhand in my dry fire practice. I also try to shoot at least 2-3 mags weak handed everytime at the range. My weak hand is worse that two hand or strong hand but I do get my shots on the static targets at the range.

[Divided Attention]

My "weak hand" is my dominant eye side. This is a plus with pistol for sighting. However since I am so right handed and I can't even wear a sock good on my left foot, I do lots of trigger finger practice to learn not to push. Gettin' better

[discoqueen]

My "weak hand" is my dominant eye side. This is a plus with pistol for sighting. However since I am so right handed and I can't even wear a sock good on my left foot, I do lots of trigger finger practice to learn not to push. Gettin' better

[jmorris]

In addition to normal, I usually do one (15 round) mag single hand strong, one mag single hand weak, one mag each hand cross body, split a mag from the hip each side. I want to be able to hit from whatever position I might need to fire from.

And if there's nobody else on the line.....