A rightie shooting southpaw . . . .

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Prof Young

New member
Shooters:
My CC renewal class instructor suggest to us all that we'd do well, in terms of SD, to learn to shoot with our non-dominant hand. He even had us practice a drill where we switched hands to make better use of cover. So, since then I've been spending time shooting with my left hand each time I go to the range. It still feels very strange, but . . .

Beyond practice, practice, practice . . . if you have any tips . . . I'm listening.

Life is good.
Prof Young
 
Beyond practice, practice, practice . . . if you have any tips . . . I'm listening
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Just adhere to the basics. Sight picture - trigger squeeze.
Strictly adhere to the basics. Cross all the "Ts" and dot all the "Is" - basics.
Fixate on the basics - until they become second nature.
Practice the basics - even when you don't have a gun in your hand - just imagine you have one - and go over the basics.

You WILL find - that once you get into that habit - you WILL shoot far more accurately weak hand than you do strong hand.

Possibly the best thing about shooting weak hand is - you can put everything else about shooting out of your mind and concentrate on hitting the target.

I can't recall the writer that offered up that tip years ago in one of the shooting rags - but - kudos to who ever it was since I've been doing that for decades.
 
I've been shooting practical competition for twenty years, and a lot of matches include some weak-hand shooting, so I get practice with it, whether I want to, or not.

Agree on canting the gun inward slightly; helps align the gun with the dominant eye, and apparently also helps with support structure.

I've found that my strong-hand finger position on the trigger is not really "natural", and if I try to squeeze the trigger using the same part of my off-hand finger, about half-way between the tip and the joint, I throw the shots off; going deeper into the trigger, to the joint, helps *me* pull the trigger straight back when shooting weak-hand.
 
If you find yourself hitting at a different point of impact, when shooting opposite hand, it's probably not grip, and not sight picture, it's usually trigger control. Go back to aimed slow fire, and concentrate on getting a clean break on the trigger. I got this advice from Bill Wilson, at a IDPA match conversation, one time. He was dead right, at least in my case.
 
Normally, not always, a right hand shooter is right eye dominate and the opposite is usually the case for left handed shooters. It is always best to shoot with both eyes open to see field of view and for transitions, but when trying left hand for a right hand shooter try closing your right eye and use your left eye to align the sights, assuming that your grip and trigger control is good, I think that you will be more accurate trying this. Then the practice, practice practice comes in to play.
 
Normally, not always, a right hand shooter is right eye dominate and the opposite is usually the case for left handed shooters
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Okie dokie - I had to look this up because I thought the figures were much closer.

65% have the same dominant eye as hand.
18% are cross dominant.
17% show no preference.
 
Dean Grennell wrote that he took advantage of the access he had to guns and ammunition as a WWII gunnery instructor to practice weak hand shooting, said took him two weeks to become as proficient as with his dominant hand.
 
I started pistol shooting with bullseye rules - 1 handed. Later I started PPC which requires using both dominant and nondominant hand. I practice both hands regularly and always one handed.

I've found that one-handed shooting means less exposure when shooting from cover, and also that I don't have to hesitate as to whether to drop the bag with eggs (always carry bags in left hand, prefer shopping cart anyway) when drawing and getting ready to fire if needed. Left hand one handed means that I don't have to cross the hall in my home if I'm covering the stairs from my bedroom door.
 
mchapman said:
Normally, not always, a right hand shooter is right eye dominate and the opposite is usually the case for left handed shooters.
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I just did an NRA Basic Pistol class for three people. The class includes an exercise to allow students to determine their dominant eye.

Three students. All right-handed. All three were left eye dominant.

Never generalize.
 
I do not know if my methods are correct but I simply just practice with a 22lr. I'll go to the range shoot a couple of hundred rounds of 22 lr with my weak hand for every range trip than I'll shoot half a box of my conceal carry gun caliber so that muscle memory is set.

You practice the same basic fundamentals with your weak hand that you do with your dominant and eventually things become second nature. Start close and use a silhouette target so that you can see the bullet holes all over the place that way it is an indication of what you did. After years of doing this I got pretty good.

My brother wanted me to shoot his new Kimber 1911 one day and only place available was at the 50 meter not yards range so I shot and hit the target 5 out of 7 times and they started harassing me about being ex-ranger , green beret, navy seal commando and I should not be missing. My brothers took turns shooting and one only hit once and my other brother hit three. Of course they made excuse that they are not military train and so on. What they failed to realize was I had out shot them using my weak hand at 50 meters. So for me using 22lr is how I keep cost down and maintain my proficiency with my weak hand.
 
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As a matter of routine I practice and qualify with my carry guns both handed. When I attend range dates for qualification at least once a year I attend with left handed kit and shoot lefty because you never know when Lady Luck will screw you over. Boy Scouts taught me to “be prepared”. That is as important in my golden years now as it was way back when.
 
im right handed, and actually shoot better with my left.

i have a tendency to bring the revolver close to center of my chest and squeeze my head to the left to bring my right eye in line with the sites.
 
Good idea ms6852!

Hey. Good idea. Practice non-dominant hand pistol shooting with my 22 lr guns. I love it. Now if I just hadn't sold off my Beretta M9 22LR . . . Ah well . .. I have plenty of others.

Life is good.
Prof Young
 
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