eddiejoe333
New member
I've read these terms here several times, but I'm not sure what 'off hand' means. Weak hand means righties using their left hands to shoot, and lefties using their right hands, but what does 'off hand' mean?
Ed
Ed
Off hand v. weak hand
- Thread starter eddiejoe333
- Start date
offhand
To add to the offhand/confusion idea. People sometimes refer to standing two handed shooting as "offhand" because they are not using a bench; it is not truly offhand.... standing is part of offhand shooting but the "unsupported" part is also. In any two handed shooting, the second hand on the gun "supports" the first. You will see lots of pictures of targets annotated "shot offhand at fifteen yards (or 25 or...). Not. More often than not, they had two hands on the gun.
Pete
To add to the offhand/confusion idea. People sometimes refer to standing two handed shooting as "offhand" because they are not using a bench; it is not truly offhand.... standing is part of offhand shooting but the "unsupported" part is also. In any two handed shooting, the second hand on the gun "supports" the first. You will see lots of pictures of targets annotated "shot offhand at fifteen yards (or 25 or...). Not. More often than not, they had two hands on the gun.
Pete
Lost Sheep
New member
Offhand vs Off hand
I always thought offhand was with one hand. Either left or right, strong or weak. Like an offhand remark. Not quite snap shooting, but not bullseye slow fire from a bench, either.
On the other hand, when I see off hand as two words, it means from the other side, or non-dominant or "weak" side. The concept of "off" as an adjective has implied association with the naval term "to stand off", or away from, meaning the side not close to your point of reference. Also kind of related to the football term, "offsides".
Semantics. If you think "being close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades", you haven't studied the Englsh language much. The language is maddeningly vague with misinterpretations abunch. Why do you think lawyers are so highly paid? As wordsmiths, they spend a LOT of time defining terms.
So, in competitive shooting, "offhand" will mean what the rulebook says for whatever type of competition and governing body says. And that may be totally different in one venue or another.
This is the long way of saying, there is no definition until any given conversation agrees on a definition. I have seen (and been in) a lot of arguments wherein both sides are actually in agreement, except they don't agree on the terms and therein lies the rub. They don't even know what is is they are arguing about.
Lost Sheep.
I always thought offhand was with one hand. Either left or right, strong or weak. Like an offhand remark. Not quite snap shooting, but not bullseye slow fire from a bench, either.
On the other hand, when I see off hand as two words, it means from the other side, or non-dominant or "weak" side. The concept of "off" as an adjective has implied association with the naval term "to stand off", or away from, meaning the side not close to your point of reference. Also kind of related to the football term, "offsides".
Semantics. If you think "being close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades", you haven't studied the Englsh language much. The language is maddeningly vague with misinterpretations abunch. Why do you think lawyers are so highly paid? As wordsmiths, they spend a LOT of time defining terms.
So, in competitive shooting, "offhand" will mean what the rulebook says for whatever type of competition and governing body says. And that may be totally different in one venue or another.
This is the long way of saying, there is no definition until any given conversation agrees on a definition. I have seen (and been in) a lot of arguments wherein both sides are actually in agreement, except they don't agree on the terms and therein lies the rub. They don't even know what is is they are arguing about.
Lost Sheep.
bamaranger
New member
strong side/off side
I have heard LE Trainers use off hand as a reference to a shooters, hand that is opposite their primary or "strong" hand. Same for strong side/off side.
A right hander's off hand is their left,and vice-versa. I have also heard the term opposite hand used in the same manner.
The concept was that you did not want to instill a mental attitude in a shooter/trainee that they had a "weak" side. If they believed they were using a weak hand, or operating from their weak side, they were mentally preparing to blow the shot.
It is also much simpler to use strong and off/opposite, as opposed to left and right, in verbal a written material, if you have a mix of left and right hand students in the class.
I have heard LE Trainers use off hand as a reference to a shooters, hand that is opposite their primary or "strong" hand. Same for strong side/off side.
A right hander's off hand is their left,and vice-versa. I have also heard the term opposite hand used in the same manner.
The concept was that you did not want to instill a mental attitude in a shooter/trainee that they had a "weak" side. If they believed they were using a weak hand, or operating from their weak side, they were mentally preparing to blow the shot.
It is also much simpler to use strong and off/opposite, as opposed to left and right, in verbal a written material, if you have a mix of left and right hand students in the class.
eddiejoe333
New member
Thanks everybody!
Whew, now I am confused. Most of the gun mag articles refer to off hand shooting as any shooting that is unsupported by an inanimate rest like a sandbag or a Ransom rest. Thus, shooting with two hands, one on the trigger the other for support, without resting the gun on an inanimate object, is "off hand." That's the way I learned to use the term.
That is the way it is commonly used.
The term came from rifle position shooting and meant shooting standing from an unsupported position--i.e. no rest used--the shooter provides all the support. Supposedly the origin of the term was "shooting off the hands"; in other words the hands provided the only support. Since both hands are always used in rifle shooting it obviously didn't originally mean one-handed. I have not seen any formal definition of "offhand" relating to pistol shooting that excludes the use of the term when two hands are used.
The term came from rifle position shooting and meant shooting standing from an unsupported position--i.e. no rest used--the shooter provides all the support. Supposedly the origin of the term was "shooting off the hands"; in other words the hands provided the only support. Since both hands are always used in rifle shooting it obviously didn't originally mean one-handed. I have not seen any formal definition of "offhand" relating to pistol shooting that excludes the use of the term when two hands are used.
eddiejoe333
New member
So I shouldn't be shooting my Barrett .50cal one-handed? That would answer a whole lot of questions....
GlockJockey
New member
I've always used the phrase "support hand" myself. Just a thought.
deputy tom
New member
If you're right handed that is strong hand,the left would be weak or off hand.Just the opposite if you're left handed.Long ago they did this differently, as follows.tom.
heraldry (in heraldry: The elements and grammar of heraldic design)
The terms dexter and sinister mean merely “right” and “left.” A shield is understood to be as if held by a user whom the beholder is facing. Thus the side of the shield facing the beholder’s left is the dexter, or right-hand side, and that opposite it is the sinister, or left-hand side.
heraldry (in heraldry: The elements and grammar of heraldic design)
The terms dexter and sinister mean merely “right” and “left.” A shield is understood to be as if held by a user whom the beholder is facing. Thus the side of the shield facing the beholder’s left is the dexter, or right-hand side, and that opposite it is the sinister, or left-hand side.