It sometimes isn’t as fun to train with our non dominant hand or one handed. I’ve had many people say practicing one handed manipulation is a waste of time. But hey, you really never know…
Friday I visited an ortho and was diagnosed with acute carpel tunnel and had surgery on my dominant hand yesterday. By the way, practice your one handed typing also .
Now I’ll be carrying left handed for a little while as the right hand heals. Glad I put the time in, had the equipment and can execute and most importantly, I’m glad I had people teaching me from a young age the importance of learning to be a well rounded shooter!
I’m glad you had prepared yourself before the situation forced you to switch the hand!
Eh… I guess, being a Training Counselor, you are prepared for everything…
I recommend training offhand with a .22 if you have one. That’s how I worked it, and it sure feels better to miss at 8 cents/round than 30-50 cents/round.
Had a similar situation and used it as an opportunity to become fully ambidextrous. Got holsters for the few pistol models that are actually ambidextrous. It was actually kind of fun. 'Cept for the wiping part…
My Dad started having me shoot off handed when I was young and so glad he did, I even took it to the level of learning to wright that way.
I got hurt sometime back and before surgery, I took my son’s 20 ga out for a teal hunt, well I did get 2 and used less then a box of shells. My surgery was the 2nd of Nov and Thanksgiving day shot a nice 8 pt buck with a .308 left handed.
It would take me a year of therapy before I could get back to myself.
The hardest part of shooting with non-dominent hand for me is the draw, special thanks to @Enzo_T for pointing out we should train drawing from our normal carry position with the non-dominent hand. Try it, it is a lot harder than I expected.
I carry @ 4 o’clock with holster adjusted canted as far forward as it will go. I have tried reaching around the back as well as the front, and neither is particularly quick nor smooth. Any tips would be greatly appreciated
Try a holster with no cant. It won’t slow your regular draw at all and it will put the gun in a neutral position more suitable for drawling with either hand. One big reason I changed to carrying AIWB or around 2:30 OWB is the better access to my primary with my non dominant hand. Another complex but good skill to acquire in one handed reloads with non dominant hand.
Jesse I agree,
I was over there starting about the same time and spent 8 years overall. I’ve been in some harry situations where we were about overrun and no more rifle ammo, and I had a handgun in each hand! I am sure glad that my father made sure to train me to be able to shoot just as accurately with either hand and both hands at two different targets at the same time. It probably saved my life and my brothers!! So I don’t “think it’s a waste of time” Train, Train, Train, you can’t go wrong!
Thanks for the reminder. I have had some ailments in the past, including injuries to my hand, fingers, and shoulder. I notice how more recently, I’m hyper-aware not injure or accidentally cut my hand or fingers. Makes me appreciate having a smaller caliber back up, or a secondary smaller caliber at home. As such an injury or ailment will eventually arise, from our active and busy lives.
Hope you heal soon. I’m left handed and my dad was right handed so I was taught to shoot right handed. I didn’t know I was left eyed till I took my Conceal and carry course so I don’t have any trouble shooting with either hand. You learn to adapt with practice.
I think off-hand access is just one minor benefit of front carry in a vertical holster — say 10 o’clock to 2 o’clock. The draw from a wrong-handed holster may never be quick or smooth, but in an emergency I think a little slow and clumsy (if safe and confident) will usually be better than doing nothing. Reloading, clearing malfunctions, and clearing concealment are all slower than just pumping the trigger, but we have to work from the circumstance in which we find ourselves.
The key to making a wrong-handed draw safe and effective is the same as any other skill — lots of practice. Starting slow and dry, figure out the method, add speed after you iron out the clumsiness, start slow again once live ammo is in the mix. If I expected to be without my strong hand for a while — medical/whatever — I would get a wrong-handed holster and become proficient with it.
For me, the emergency wrong-hand draw is most secure from AIWB if I grab and pull the gun upside down, roll the pistol against my body to a proper orientation, establish a proper grip, clear the safety during presentation. There is plenty of room for fumbles and muzzling non-targets with this juggling act — get a careful observer to watch for trouble before a hazardous move becomes habitual.
I think it is a good idea to practice shooting “off hand” for the instance your dominate arm is injured during a fire fight you can still be effective.
I was born right-handed but left eye dominate. As I grew up I easily compensated shooting rifles and shotguns from my left side because I was more accurate that way. As I grew older and began shooting more handguns I knew that I would have to make the same adjustment. It took some time and a lot of practice but I taught myself to shoot left-handed both eyes open quite accurately. This was especially critical when I got my Concealed Carry permit. Now it is so normal it’s natural. Plus the benefit of shooting right-handed with a single eye. It was well worth the effort.
I tried drawing with my offhand the other day AIWB, 3 o’clock and 4 o’clock. I’m skinny enough and my arms are long enough that I can comfortably reach behind my back and draw from 3 or 4. I haven’t been able to figure out how to get offhand AIWB draw working
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