Shooting With The Weak Hand Supported - Be Careful When Making The Transition

Throughout the training I have received in handgun shooting, I have been taught, time and time again, to shoot with both hands and not necessarily at the same time. This training has included shooting strong handed with a two hand hold, weak handed with a two hand hold, and one handed with either hand. I think it is a good idea to train in all those ways.

Before I go any further, allow me to say something about the terms strong hand and weak hand and why I use them. When I write or speak about your strong hand, I mean the hand that you use most frequently to get things done, the hand on which side you are 'handed'. Thus, if you are right handed, your right hand is the strong hand or strong side and the left is the weak hand or side. If you are left handed then your left hand is the strong hand or strong side and the right side is the weak hand or side. Over the years, that I have received firearms training, instructors have gotten away from using the terms strong and weak to describe your shooting hands. It became the politically and psychology incorrect thing to continue using those terms. Why? They said it was because the term weak hand implied a weakness of your off shooting hand and that could make you unconsciously believe that it could not get the job done as well as the strong hand could do it. So, they began to call it your "non-shooting" hand or your "off" hand. It was at that time that you started to hear range commands like: "On the command, draw with your non-shooting hand and fire 6 rounds center of mass on the target". Talk about being ridiculous was all I could think when that became a popular range command. If a hand was a non-shooting hand or even an off-hand, how is it that I would suddenly be shooting with it. I see absolutely nothing wrong with calling your weak hand exactly what it is and that is weak when compared to your dominant or strong hand. There are very few people I know who have the same amount of strength in both hands or who can use their weak hand as adeptly as they can their strong hand. Yet, you can learn to shoot with it proficiently, enough so as to be able to save your life if need be, so you should learn to shoot with both hands and with either hand being the shooting hand (essentially the hand which firmly grips he pistol and a finger of which operates the trigger).

The reasoning behind shooting with either hand should be obvious but if not, I will spell it out for you. You should learn to shoot one handed using both the strong and weak hands so in the event your hand one of your hands or arms is ever incapacitated you can reliable depend upon the other to get the job done. The incapacitation I am talking about can be because of a wound, and in most events would likely be due to injury, but there are other things that can incapacitate a hand such as you being caught up in a awkward position and not being able to bring hat hand into play.

The reasoning behind learning how to shoot strong handed, using a two hand hold, should be just as obvious if not more so than why you would train to shoot one handed with either hand. You shoot strong handed because that is the hand that you use to accomplish most things you do with your hands. it is your dominant, go to hand and that is a natural thing. You use the weak hand to support the strong hand, thus using two hands to shoot because the weak hand lends steadying support to the strong hand and support is a good thing when you can do it relative to shooting. When using two hands to shoot, things like accuracy, and shooting speed usually increase markedly. When I say shooting speed increases, I do not mean getting off the first sot gets faster but do mean that getting off subsequent shots is usually faster.

You may wonder though, why on earth you would ever want to train to shoot with your weak hand supported by your strong hand. After all, didn't I just write that it is more natural to shoot strong handed supported by the weak hand? In answer, let me just say, there can be some positions in which you find yourself when it would be best to utilize your weak hand as the shooting hand and your strong hand for support. These situations usually arise due to the surroundings in which you find yourself at a time when you must shoot to defend yourself. For example, the only cover you can find may be the corner of a building that you have to shoot around and it may be that you have to shoot around it from your weak side because of how it is situated. Yes, you can shoot around it from your weak side while firing the pistol with your strong hand and supporting it with your weak hand but chances are you will be exposing more of yourself that way than if you switched the gun to your weak hand to fire it while supporting it with your strong hand. Another reason you may decide to shoot with your weak hand supported by your strong hand is that your strong hand may have been injured to the point where you can no longer reliable use it to fire the gun but it still can be used for support.For instance you have had a couple of fingers shot off. Think that is far fetched, just wait until you are in a life or death struggle and it happens but you have not trained to shoot with your weak hand. You will wish you had.

If you do decide to train while shooting with your weak hand supported by your strong hand, there is something you have to be very aware about. It is only relevant when shooting semi-automatic pistols as opposed to revolvers. That is, you should not cross your thumbs over the backstrap of the pistol. If you are a long experienced shooter, there is a good chance you have done this once before, while shooting strong hand supported by weak hand, and then never did it again because of the pain that resulted. For those of you who have never enjoyed this pleasure been raked by a slide across your thumb, allow me to explain what I mean.

If you grip the pistol in a two hand hold and cross your thumbs over the backstrap then one thumb, the one on top, becomes more elevated than the other and thus closer to the bottom of the slide. When the gun fires and recoils, the slide travels backward and the upper of your crossed thumbs may then be raked by the slide. In other words the slide comes into contact with your thumb during the slide's reward movement and then maybe again during its forward movement as the gun goes into battery. Not only is this painful, it can cause a serious laceration that can require stitches and I have seen shooters stop shooting when it has happened and even have seen two or three actually drop their pistols when it happened. That is not something you need to do if you are fighting for your life and dependent upon your hands to be fully functional and your pistol to be in your hands. As I said though, you may have done this once before and then made sure to never do it again, that is if shooting with strong hand supported by weak hand.

Chances are though, if you draw strong handed and then transition to the weak hand for a two handed hold, weak hand supported by strong hand, your thumbs may be found to be crossed, one over the top of the other across the backstrap. If you don't believe it, then next time you are at the range try it. Don't try it on yourself because you will be thinking about it and will know what to avoid. Try it on someone who has not ever transitioned like that before. Have the shooter draw with the strong hand, then safely transition from strong hand to weak hand as if to fire from around cover (cover can be simulated if need be). Do this with an unloaded gun since you do not want the shooter harming him or herself. Try it with more than one shooter. Sure enough, if you have 4 or 5 shooters in front of you, at least one, maybe two of them, will have the thumbs in the crossed and potentially unsafe position.

Why does this happen? I do not know but my guess is because a crossed thumb grip is a more natural manner of gripping something like a pistol. We are taught not to do it, or should have been taught so when shooting with our strong hand supported. Thus, we learn to avoid it and it becomes second nature when we shoot with our strong hands. When we transition to the weak hand for a two hand hold, if we are not used to doing so, we often revert to what seems natural as opposed to what has become second nature and we cross our thumbs. I have been caught doing it myself as recently as within the past several months when I was at a training class, and I attribute my having done so to the fact that I did not train and practice enough in that strong hand supported to weak hand supported transition for it to become second nature when shooting with my weak hand as it did when shooting with my srong hand. If you want to avoid it, you need to train and practice your training on a regular basis in order to avoid the problem.

By the way, with a revolver there is no such concern. In fact, many old time revolver shooters prefer a crossed thumbs on the backstrap grip. Since there is no slide to bite you, going with that grip on a revolver is okay for many. Me, I prefer to avoid he grip altogether because I believe that under stress, I might revert to it when shooting a semi-auto if allowed myself to shoot a revolver that way. It is best for me to avoid it altogether. That way my thumbs may develop that so called muscle memory that will help keep them out of the way of the slide. if you shoot both revolvers and pistols you may also want to adapt a pistol grip for use when gripping a revolver but that is something you have to decide for yourself. 

All the best,
Glenn B