Weak Hand Shooting Practice
John Woods 10.24.18
But, I am right handed and I shoot my pistols with my right hand. Well, of course you do! How silly of us to think otherwise. We would never have considered any practical situations in real life during an assault or just in the midst of trying to survive a SHTF when your primary shooting arm or hand might get injured leaving you handicapped on your strong side. What then? Do you just roll over and die?
Well, hardly, I would think this would not be the time to throw in the towel, but to swap over to the other hand and commence defensive reactionary fire with your weak side shooting hand. Have you ever tried it? There is no better time than right now to start practicing and training on how to shoot well with your other hand, the weak one.
Several years ago when I was taking the shooting class to qualify for a state issued concealed weapons permit, I found myself on the shooting range to fire a 100-round course of fire. Everything was going along quite peachy until the instructor said, “Ok, now class the next round of shooting will be three strings of 10 shots with your opposite or weak side hand.”
As much as I wanted to yell, “WTF”, I knew better. Instead I had myself a little internal panic attack. When I looked around at the faces of the other shooters in the class, I could quickly tell I was not alone in this line of thinking. However, that did not make me feel better.
Shoot a handgun, a pistol with my left hand? You have got to be kidding. In all my years of shooting guns for all the right reasons in the world, it never occurred to me to shoot one left handed on purpose. I am sure I probably flung a few left handed rounds with a .22 or something just for kicks, but nothing serious.
Turns out it was no big deal, and I actually managed to center all my shots left handed well enough to pass the course. I admit I did fumble with the safety on my Beretta 92 a bit, but it was more natural than I thought. Even so, lesson taught well and learned.
It is highly feasible that in the course of a SHTF or other threat attack that your primary shooting arm or hand could be injured among other scenarios. In this case to carry on, you have to shoot with your weak hand. It is a skill I recommend you start practicing until your center hits are good enough to pass the course of survival.
