Weak-Hand Shooting

Ganderite

Ganderite

CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Rating - 99.7%
355   1   0
Location
Farm south of North Bay
I have had a terrible time trying to shoot accurately with just my weak hand (left hand).

I get a good group with 2 hands, a fair group (off-set to left a bit) with my right hand and with my left hand the group (pattern) is shifted a foot to the right.

I signed up for an IPSIC Black Badge course and told the instructor that my big weakness will be the weak hand shooting. He wrote back:

"You are pushing the gun to the right when squeezing the trigger. You must watch your sights during the entire trigger pull until the shot goes off to ensure they remain aligned. Concentrate on pulling your trigger straight back, and your wrist locked. You don't have your other hand to counteract the lateral forces, so you need to have good technique. It also helps to squeeze the gun as hard as you can without shaking."

That made sense to me because I had noticed a similar group shift when shooting rapid fire, depending on what part of my finger I used. So I set up a target and practised with my S&W MP9 air pistol. I found that if I used the pad of my finger, I could shoot to POA quite well. I tried 2 hands, Right hand and then Left hand.

IMG_2885.jpg


So then I tried the same thing with my Colt 1911 air pistol. 2 hand group was good. Then I tried weak hand. The group was so far to the right, it merged with the first group. The Colt has a better trigger than the MP9, and I was careful to just use the pad of my finger.

I will have to research this a bit. Maybe it makes a difference on which pistol I am using. I have lots of them, so maybe my Black badge pistol will be the one that shoots weak hand best.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_2885.jpg
    IMG_2885.jpg
    91.5 KB · Views: 420
After shooting IDPA the last year and a half I have noticed how many people drop points on stages where you must shoot support hand only. I truly believe this is something that everyone should practice and make it a part of your training ritual. As a life long martial artist I find it very relatable to being able to fight off both sides, something we trained religiously.
Keep working on that support hand shooting, I haven't been shooting for decades,lol, only a couple of years so I still have lots to work on, but I make support hand part of it now, especially since a #####ed rotator cuff on my strong side may someday turn me in to a righty lol
 
I always practice weak hand and if I go at a slow pace, use the paw of my finger, I can actually get some decent groups; its as if because I concentrate more with my left expecting it to be more difficult than my dominant right, the technique is a little more textbook.
 
If you are right eight dominant try closing the right eye and sighting with your left eye . I have a buddy who went through 5 10 round clips on a 5 plate stage years ago . We all had a hard time laughing till I yelled out close your right eye A hole and he cleaned all 5 plates with five shots . We still laugh about it today.
 
It may be that you have a dominant eye that you're fighting. Look up and try some testing to check for eye dominance. There's lots of methods and not all of them work for everyone all the time. So search for and try a few just to be sure.

The other thing is that I think many of us take our skills for granted when using our strong hand and when using two hands for shooting or anything else. We forget that the success we have is based on some basic steps all added together. So for your weak hand shooting breakdown the steps of grip, wrist angle, body angle, trigger pull and proper follow through. Take a weak hand stance starting with your foot placement and working up through the whole list.

Do some dry firing testing to get the feel of it. And if one of your handguns has a flat top rib balance an empty casing on the flat rib and try to dry fire without the casing falling off. On a handgun with a DA feature you should be able to pull the trigger repeatedly and the casing just walks back along the rib from the hammer strikes.

When shooting for real one handed one trick is to angle the gun inwards slightly. Not in the movies like flat position but canted in about 10 to 15 degrees. This works with the bones of the forearm to allow a steadier aim. But it's not by any means a cure for missing any of the other basic building blocks given above.

That and the other "trick" is not to avoid it. Practice strong hand and weak hand in your casual plinking frequently. And if your gun is a DA first pull then get some practice at lowering the hammer and then from a low ready or from the holster draw and shoot two shots. Lower the hammer safely and correctly and repeat. We don't get good at ANYTHING by avoiding it after all.
 
Buy a laser and install on your pistol. Video your dry fire and see how the laser moves to see what to improve. Or get MantisX. IPSC course required me to shoot the 8x11 so that was not too horrible. For weak hand only targets I am happy if I do double Charles or Charles Delta ;) As long as it is not FTE and not mike I am cool. Btw, just like long range shooting, breath out while pulling trigger kinda helps too.
 
lavino said:
Buy a laser and install on your pistol. Video your dry fire and see how the laser moves to see what to improve. Or get MantisX. IPSC course required me to shoot the 8x11 so that was not too horrible. For weak hand only targets I am happy if I do double Charles or Charles Delta ;) As long as it is not FTE and not mike I am cool. Btw, just like long range shooting, breath out while pulling trigger kinda helps too.
Click to expand...

I have some pistols with a laser. I will dry fire them and see if I can isolate the problem.

I did some shooting with real pistols and noted that the recoil was up and right. More movement than what I see shooting 2 handed. Is this indicative of anything?
 
BCRider said:
It may be that you have a dominant eye that you're fighting. Look up and try some testing to check for eye dominance. There's lots of methods and not all of them work for everyone all the time. So search for and try a few just to be sure.

The other thing is that I think many of us take our skills for granted when using our strong hand and when using two hands for shooting or anything else. We forget that the success we have is based on some basic steps all added together. So for your weak hand shooting breakdown the steps of grip, wrist angle, body angle, trigger pull and proper follow through. Take a weak hand stance starting with your foot placement and working up through the whole list.

Do some dry firing testing to get the feel of it. And if one of your handguns has a flat top rib balance an empty casing on the flat rib and try to dry fire without the casing falling off. On a handgun with a DA feature you should be able to pull the trigger repeatedly and the casing just walks back along the rib from the hammer strikes.

When shooting for real one handed one trick is to angle the gun inwards slightly. Not in the movies like flat position but canted in about 10 to 15 degrees. This works with the bones of the forearm to allow a steadier aim. But it's not by any means a cure for missing any of the other basic building blocks given above.

That and the other "trick" is not to avoid it. Practice strong hand and weak hand in your casual plinking frequently. And if your gun is a DA first pull then get some practice at lowering the hammer and then from a low ready or from the holster draw and shoot two shots. Lower the hammer safely and correctly and repeat. We don't get good at ANYTHING by avoiding it after all.
Click to expand...

I usually shoot with shooting glasses with a right eye lens focused on my front sight. I close my left eye and there is no "dominance" issue.

I also tried shooting with my computer glasses, which allowed me to use my left eye when shooting lefty. It felt a little more comfortable, but shots still went a foot to the right.

I shoot 2 or 3 times a week.

I shoot weak hand about once a year.

Time to work on it, I guess. "Practice makes perfect" etc.
 
Ganderite said:
I did some shooting with real pistols and noted that the recoil was up and right. More movement than what I see shooting 2 handed. Is this indicative of anything?
Click to expand...

Normal. The gun is going to recoil where there is lower resistance. With one handed shooting, and your elbow joint, the gun is going to move where it can.

Ganderite said:
I shoot 2 or 3 times a week.

I shoot weak hand about once a year.

Time to work on it, I guess. "Practice makes perfect" etc.
Click to expand...

Slight correction: "Perfect practice makes perfect". ;)

You're a fantastic shot with 2 hands. You'll get the hang of one handed shooting. Find that right grip pressure, balanced with trigger finger position. Focus on the FSP through the trigger pull. I use a laser cartridge at home to work on it, but never often enough. lol!
 
Yup, a buddy of mine told me to practice weak hand shooting before my BB course. Started off pretty disnal but eventually groups got better than my strong arm. Go figure! IIRC, the weak hand component is not a timed skill requirement so take your time and get your Alphas. It's only at 8-10yrds.
 
Trinimon said:
Yup, a buddy of mine told me to practice weak hand shooting before my BB course. Started off pretty disnal but eventually groups got better than my strong arm. Go figure! IIRC, the weak hand component is not a timed skill requirement so take your time and get your Alphas. It's only at 8-10yrds.
Click to expand...

Were you able to isolate a specific issue that needed fixing?
 
Ganderite said:
Were you able to isolate a specific issue that needed fixing?
Click to expand...

For me, I was slapping the trigger versus squeezing it off. An odd feeling on the trigger finger that you seldom used. Then I had too little finger on the trigger, making me push my shots. I had to be conscious of my actions for the first couple range sessions until muscle memory kicked in.
 
Balance something on the gun(40gr flat base 223). Watch which way it falls off all the time during dry fire. Counter the movement. Practice.
 
Did a lot of 7 yard shooting today. I could easily see where each shot went. If I squeezed until it broke, I got a good hit. If I pulled the trigger when the sight picture looked good - the shot went a foot right.

Now I know how to practice.
 
Double check your hold on the gun to make sure you are centering it into the web of your hand in the same angle as you do with your right. Also be sure you poke your trigger finger through onto the trigger the same way with your left as your right. I've seen a couple of folks with "weak hand issues" that didn't realize that they were holding the gun differently for strong and weak hand shooting.

From your slow and deliberate results though it reads like you CAN do it but that you need to slow down a little and focus on the basics. And then speed up the focus until you're up to a comfortable speed. Being fast and being good at the same time is often a case of a consistent focus on the basics and just doing all those basics really fast..... I know, I know, easier than it sounds... :D
 
Ganderite said:
I have some pistols with a laser. I will dry fire them and see if I can isolate the problem.

I did some shooting with real pistols and noted that the recoil was up and right. More movement than what I see shooting 2 handed. Is this indicative of anything?
Click to expand...

During my BB course I was told to compensate the movement with weak hand so if you see your going right then aim a bit to the left because you know most likely your hit will hit a bit on the right hand side.

Personally I kinda found that if shooting one hand I get better aim if I stick my thumb up a bit (might not work for everyone). To me that balanced out a bit of my trigger finger's pushing on the opposite side. Might not work for everyone. But yes for sure one hand will cause more movement. Your goal is too reduce that movement so you need to practice a lot.
 
lavino said:
During my BB course I was told to compensate the movement with weak hand so if you see your going right then aim a bit to the left because you know most likely your hit will hit a bit on the right hand side.

Personally I kinda found that if shooting one hand I get better aim if I stick my thumb up a bit (might not work for everyone). To me that balanced out a bit of my trigger finger's pushing on the opposite side. Might not work for everyone. But yes for sure one hand will cause more movement. Your goal is too reduce that movement so you need to practice a lot.
Click to expand...

That sounds tempting... but you're really covering one problem with another in the hope they will cancel. It would be far better to get to the root of the matter and correct the root of the issue.

It's not always an easy thing to fully mirror a body position. For an example of that just TRY shooting a rifle left handed when you've always shot it right handed. It feels like nothing is right and for all we can tell we're holding the rifle upside down and pointed back uprange to boot. But if we start with really looking at our feet from the strong side then match that and work up through every detail it'll still feel totally odd at first but becomes sort of OK after only a few times. And if we stick with it pretty soon it's fairly comfy.

Case in point. Try shifting and using the computer mouse with the other hand. Stick with it for at least an hour. By the end of a couple of hours you'll be totally ambidextrous with the mouse....
 
BCRider said:
When shooting for real one handed one trick is to angle the gun inwards slightly. Not in the movies like flat position but canted in about 10 to 15 degrees. This works with the bones of the forearm to allow a steadier aim. But it's not by any means a cure for missing any of the other basic building blocks given above.
Click to expand...

I find this works well to counter-balance the tendency of the gun to torque in the direction of reduced support (i.e. your unsupported palm).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom