http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFAxCVAO68M

Wayne at the American Firearms School schooled me the other day. I was practicing unholstering the Wilson Combat Bill Wilson Carry. “Why are you switching off the safety when you get into your full stance?” he asked. Which was Wayne’s way of saying “Don’t be an effing idiot. Turn the safety off as soon as the gun comes out of the holster; you may have to shoot from the hip (as unaccustomed as I am to doing so in the editorial sense).” Luckily, he got to me early on in my transition from the Glock 30SF to the 1911. On the positive side, I always practice one-handed shooting (and not shooting) one-handed. Both weak and strong. Is one-handed shooting a standard part of your training routine? How about you self-defense rifle and shotgun guys? If so, does one-handed shooting effect your choice of weapon? [see: today’s post about 1911 safety].

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11 COMMENTS

  1. Hate to admit. Done it, but no real practice one handed. Always knew I should.

    The lack of practice was emphasised as recently I began shooting my 1860 Army. Wanting to do it authentic like and not ever shot one before, I shoot it one handed.

    My next trip to the range with my SD 1911 will be heavy on single handed shooting. It is the recoil thing that bothers me most.

    I don’t know about clearing the safety as soon as I pull the gun from the holster. That will take some serious practice, dry firing first before I try that at the range.

  2. Recoil and control is the very reason to practice one-handed shooting. In fact, I practice shooting my P3AT almost exclusively one-handed, as I figure that’s the most likely way it would be deployed (and the fact you can barely get one hand on the thing, much less two). I usually start shooting one-handed, then move to two-handed slow fire so I can finish on a high note. I also find .22 pistols to be invaluable in getting warmed up. (If anyone more experienced has a routine that’s more time-tested, I’d like to hear it.)

  3. Lately I’ve been practicing RH, LH and two handed every session, but more with the 22 than with the CF pistol.

    Occasionally I take my nephew to the indoor range. We discovered that while he is right handed he is left eye dominant. Once he started sighting with his left eye his accuracy improved immediately.

    It seems to work the other way for me. I’m right eye dominant. However when shooting left handed I do better sighting with my left eye. Aligning the left handed pistol sights with my right eye seems awkward. I haven’t tried LH shotgun or rifle shooting yet.

  4. I practice one-handed shooting all the time – both strong handed and weak handed. I even go through the drills that I’ve learned just using one hand. Nothing makes you feel like a newbie shooter than doing the “4 at 10 in 10” drill with a .45ACP in just your weak hand.

    I don’t know how you’d manage to shoot a rifle or shotgun one handed, perhaps one handed and one forearm for support? Either way, I do shoot lefty and righty. I am (or was) a right-handed rifle and shotgun shooter for many years. However, I’ve recently made the switch to lefty for rifle shooting. Not only am I left eye dominant, my left eye also has 20/10 vision (vs 20/40). I’m making the switch to full-time lefty for clays/shotgun work, but with Quail and Dove season #2 coming up, I won’t officially be making the switch until November. When I’m conscious of it, I can shoot lefty quite well. However, in the field, I still instinctually draw up to my right shoulder… 15 year habits are hard to break in a single season 🙂

  6. My first qualification was with a 1911 shot with a single hand stance. Now everybody knows how old I am.

    I still shoot a magazine single handed when I practice. If anybody is stupid enought to come at me when I am walking the dogs I will have to shoot them one handed.

  8. One-handed shooting is done about half the time I shoot. Weak-handed shooting is done every time I shoot. I don’t get to go back to regular shooting until I hit the bull weak-handed, one-handed.

  9. I was practicing with Wayne last week during our class, and he has a ton of great advice. The man is a great shot with any gun and I’d love to see him on Top Shot. I’ve started training with both the strong and weak hand ever since.

  10. This is a hole in my training. My son and I are going to be going to a range regularly this winter and part of the shooting program we will be doing requires one handed strong and weak as part of its ongoing training.

  11. I do try to include (3) magazines; one each for each hand in one-handed shooting and one for two-handed with my “weak” hand; when I go to the range. I seem to remember at least half of the time.

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