Issue shooting weak hand

[polymerfeelsweirdman]

I'm not quite sure what the problem is but when shooting weak hand I consistently group to the right and it is a significant shift from two hand or strong hand. I had this issue to a lesser extent with strong hand but after trying a technique I saw in a Saul Kirsch video from youtube about getting the elbow towards the midline, it helped a lot. Unfortunately, it seems this doesn't work for me with weak hand or I can't get my elbow in as much as I want.

I've tried closing my dominant eye or using my dominant eye with weak hand thinking the problem might be partially cause by trying to get my weak hand elbow all the way inline with my dominant eye but I didn't really notice much of a change.

Any suggestions on this? I'm not sure if other people commonly have this problem but it is something I have tried to figure out a solution for (other than just aiming left of the target) for some time now.

[Less]

Are you flinching/pulling the trigger consistently?

If you put a random snap cap in a 5 round group, would you yank the gun?

[polymerfeelsweirdman]

I don't think so but I could be wrong

Whatever is going on is consistent because if I do it slowly it looks like I just took a normal group and moved it over on the target

[mwinter501]

This is a common problem. It stems from not being able to move the trigger finger independently of the other fingers when firing. It becomes much more difficult without using both hands, and even harder with your weak hand only. You will typically see the shots on target opposite of the hand being used. Basically, when you move your trigger finger to press the shot, your other fingers begin to grip the gun more tightly which pushes the gun to the right (if shooting left hand) or left (if shooting right hand). This will typically be more pronounced when shooting pistols with longer/heavier trigger travel. The main way I've been able to combat this is working on weak hand grip strength with a grip strengthener combined with training weak hand only shooting.

[PatJones]

Shoot slowfire groups with your weak hand, paying attention to the trigger pull.

It's easy to snatch the trigger when we see the sight alignment we like. Squeeze the trigger. Trigger pull is more important than sight alignment.

1911-style gun? Try a shorter trigger.

[g.willikers]

Try using the old fashioned Bullsye one handed shooting technique.

You know, gun hand arm straight with a slightly bladed stance and centering the sights on the target.

It works for our games, too.

By the time the gun is handed off to the weak hand, there's plenty of time to do this in one smooth movement.

[Less]

I don't think so but I could be wrong

You that is easy to check, right?

[Jake Di Vita]

Are you flinching/pulling the trigger consistently?

If you put a random snap cap in a 5 round group, would you yank the gun?

I yank the gun on a snap cap every single time, I can also shoot very accurately because the movement of the gun doesn't happen until the bullet has left the barrel. The difference between compensation for recoil and flinching can be hundredths of a second. That test by itself doesn't mean very much.

I would suggest that OP focuses more on his weak hand practice. I've also found it very helpful to use my weak hand for as many tasks in everyday life as I can.

I don't know what division he shoots, but getting his hands on a dot gun to play around with weakhand will also show him exactly what the gun is doing as he is pulling the trigger. Dots are fantastic training tools.

Edited April 26, 2016 by Jake Di Vita

[Ultimo-Hombre]

I would agree that the best way to improve your weak hand shooting is simply doing it a lot in live fire. Ergonomic changes and dry fire won't pay much dividend.

I have this opinion from direct experience.

I injured my strong arm and it was casted up following surgery, was worthless. Didn't want to stop shooting as its my therapy for life's stresses so I just kept shooting weak hand only for everything. Training, matches, dry fire. Weak hand only for quite a while.

Shooting a match exclusively weak hand only is not fun! It's a kick in the nuts for sure!

I'm back to normal shooting now but with a totally different weak hand only skill level.

Thus I say, if you want it bad enough, set a significant time aside to not even pulling the trigger with your strong hand.

[Yibomb]

some people use more of their trigger finger when shooting with strong hand or weak hand. Trigger finger all the way in till the first knuckle.

[perttime]

My weak and strong hand hits seem to be better when I let the pistol be slightly angled. 20 or 30 degrees?

Some body mechanics, perhaps. When I extend an arm naturally, my hand does not end up in vertical position.