ProGunGuy Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 So I was at a match recently and saw something i have never seen before. A shooter in my squad, that was right handed, shot left side shots freestyle with his left hand as dominate and right hand as support. He actually scored quite well doing it. would this make sense from a speed and scoring stand point to do it this way? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Round_Gun_Shooter Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 Probably used to be a PPC shooter. Some habits never die. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimmyZip Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 I was taught to shoot this way around barricades from my father as a kid as a way to present less of a profile as you shot around them. He even taught me to use my left eye when doing this also. I can fire a long gun this way also, but my manual of arms gets all messed up at that point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnhhuber Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 I think I am on the same page as Jimmy. My background is primarily defense and I am just getting started with competition. I believe I present much less profile switching sides but two problems occur. First is that I have to transfer the firearm which takes time and opens one more possible opportunity to loose control of the firearm. Second and most important is that my manual of arms on my weak side is very less effective than my strong side. I do however feel it is a great skill to work on and believe that shooting this way in a fun match would be good experience. I just dont know if I will ever invest the time in training to be competition ready. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
56hawk Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 I was taught to shoot this way around barricades from my father as a kid as a way to present less of a profile as you shot around them. He even taught me to use my left eye when doing this also. I can fire a long gun this way also, but my manual of arms gets all messed up at that point. I took a bunch of law enforcement firearms classes back in the 90's and that is how they taught barricade shooting. Right side is right hand and right eye, left side is left hand and left eye regardless of any dominance. Don't think I would do it in any competition though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
COF Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 Shot a local match one time shooting both ends of the barricade. Shot the left side, reloded and shot the right side without realizing I had switched hands after the reload. A lot of defense classes stress this skill and it certainly wouldn't be a bad one to have - especially if you have to shoot around a tight corner on the weak side. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
astephenson Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 I've seen a couple guys around here do it...probably for reasons already addressed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norther Posted December 29, 2012 Share Posted December 29, 2012 (edited) One of our local single stack shooters in a match recently ran out of reload mags. He carries his barney in a pouch behind his holster. He switched his gun to weak hand, and did a weak hand reload. Smooth, too. That's what happens when you forget to replenish your belt between stages. ETA: just noticed I'm in the IDPA area. This was USPSA. Edited December 29, 2012 by six-gun shooter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RePete Posted December 30, 2012 Share Posted December 30, 2012 So I was at a match recently and saw something i have never seen before. A shooter in my squad, that was right handed, shot left side shots freestyle with his left hand as dominate and right hand as support. He actually scored quite well doing it. would this make sense from a speed and scoring stand point to do it this way? Probably used to be a PPC shooter. Some habits never die. I do it all of the time and don't even know that I'm doing most of the time. And yes, I am/was a PPC shooter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Travtastik Posted December 30, 2012 Share Posted December 30, 2012 I do it sometime and never notice. It a old habit for paintball that I can not break. There are 4 or 5 us at our club that played paintball against each other for years and we are the only ones that do it. I do it with rifles too. My dad taught me to shoot rifles both ways for hunting out of climbers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cd662 Posted December 31, 2012 Share Posted December 31, 2012 Travtastik, interesting that you bring that up. I've done competitive paintball for 8 years and I hardly shoot and rifle, but when I do, my first "gut instinct" is to switch hands. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edison Posted December 31, 2012 Share Posted December 31, 2012 Yup, my brother does it because of paintball habits. Since no one is dumping pods of paintballs at me, I don't do it in ipsc/IDPA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MHicks Posted January 5, 2013 Share Posted January 5, 2013 If a person can shoot this way pretty close to equally well from both sides it could work great as far as exposing less of yourself in a real life situation. But a lot of us haven't tried it or practiced it enough to be effective. I have tried it, in practice, and found it took me too long to get comfortable with my grip, also I really wasn't noticing how much of myself was exposed during that time and I would be exposed for a longer time. Plus, I didn't shoot as accurately or fast. I would be better off shooting with my usual strong hand grip and canting your body to expose as little as possible beyond the barricade, unless I practiced it a lot more. Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RePete Posted January 5, 2013 Share Posted January 5, 2013 If a person can shoot this way pretty close to equally well from both sides it could work great as far as exposing less of yourself in a real life situation. But a lot of us haven't tried it or practiced it enough to be effective. I have tried it, in practice, and found it took me too long to get comfortable with my grip, also I really wasn't noticing how much of myself was exposed during that time and I would be exposed for a longer time. Plus, I didn't shoot as accurately or fast. I would be better off shooting with my usual strong hand grip and canting your body to expose as little as possible beyond the barricade, unless I practiced it a lot more. Mark This is a learned skill set that would have to be perfected over a period of years. I've been shooting PPC for 27 years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Koski Posted January 8, 2013 Share Posted January 8, 2013 I've seen it once, and it didn' turn out that great for the shooter. I suppose you'd have to REALLY practice it before it helped you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ted Murphy Posted January 8, 2013 Share Posted January 8, 2013 (edited) I did it sunday at a match. Tough shot from the LH side of cover. I threw the gun into my weak (left) hand and shot them. I wasn't thinking much about it, and could not tell you why I did it, though it would have been a tougher strong hand shot for me to contort that far over given my size and foot position. After the match was over I reshot the stage and did it a second time. Go figure. Ted Edited January 8, 2013 by Ted Murphy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blacklab2011 Posted January 8, 2013 Share Posted January 8, 2013 I've seen several guys do this. It was obvious they ha practiced,looked pretty smooth . Not sure which way is faster, anyone try both on a timer? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lumpygravy Posted January 8, 2013 Share Posted January 8, 2013 I tried this once when faced with a fairly extreme angle around a barricade. I felt more stable but I doubt that it was significantly better/faster because I was unaccustomed to it. With enough practice one could determine if it was worth it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
claycrusher Posted January 14, 2013 Share Posted January 14, 2013 I've gone left hand only for barricades and just as a drill, but never using my strong hand to support. Many LEO's train weak hand only shooting... but both hands reversed roles would take lots of practice! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
COF Posted January 14, 2013 Share Posted January 14, 2013 Practice? What the heck is that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Koski Posted January 14, 2013 Share Posted January 14, 2013 I've gone left hand only for barricades and just as a drill, but never using my strong hand to support. Many LEO's train weak hand only shooting... but both hands reversed roles would take lots of practice! I saw a very experienced shooter slice his hand wide open shooting weak hand "freestyle" by crossing his thumb over the top. He could shoot WHO just fine, but let him use his strong hand for support and he got stupid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcarpenter82 Posted January 15, 2013 Share Posted January 15, 2013 Never tried this method so I'm sure it'd be slower tjan grass growing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmorris Posted January 16, 2013 Share Posted January 16, 2013 I have seen it more than a few times but the only time I personally have ever done it was if I were shooting a match weak hand but then I didn't switch back to strong hand during thoes matches either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thermobollocks Posted February 7, 2013 Share Posted February 7, 2013 I've done it before on the rifle portion of a stage. There was an elevated shooting box (touching the ground was a procedural...) behind a barricade that was too small for me to use the left side with a right handed stance. If you practice that, I think it helps make you more versatile, but it's not really in my "top 5 things to practice." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GForceLizard Posted February 7, 2013 Share Posted February 7, 2013 I've gone left hand only for barricades and just as a drill, but never using my strong hand to support. Many LEO's train weak hand only shooting... but both hands reversed roles would take lots of practice! I saw a very experienced shooter slice his hand wide open shooting weak hand "freestyle" by crossing his thumb over the top. He could shoot WHO just fine, but let him use his strong hand for support and he got stupid. Yup. Learned weak hand dominate grip in a defensive class. I would want to keep my normal strong hand position crossed and behind. Corrected the grip before I took any shots. I'd never try this in a match without a lot of practice first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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