Weak Handed Shooting Problems

[rtr]

I blew a stage at the IDPA match on Sunday, it was a weak handed steel rack. I just can't hit anything. So I need some tips on improving my weak handed shooting, ie grip, how to pull the trigger, mental thoughts that help trigger pull and grip, etc., thanks.

[RHall]

Been there done that. Last month at an IDPA match they had a stage of 6 plates on the left to shoot weak hand, 6 plates on the right to shoot strong hand, then in the middle through a port were I think 3 paper targets to shoot free style. Oh ya the best part it was 15 yards. The plates were 6 inches in diameter I think. So i also would like to hear what are some tips are on weak hand shooting.

[Jake Di Vita]

If your sights are on target when the bullet leaves the barrel it is IMPOSSIBLE to miss.

I recommend next time you go out and practice, shoot groups weak hand only. Also if you haven't tried it, dry firing weak hand only helps immeasurably.

[Jake Di Vita]

Also, if you have a problem with grip neutrality, that could definetely impact your ability to shoot weak hand only...I think at least, no doubt someone will wander by and verify or correct me.

[ErikW]

I often have weak hand problems, too. It helps me a lot to feel the take-up of the trigger, the slack before it actually works the sear. Brian's book has a section on it.

[mcoliver]

For some strange reason (that I also want to transfer to my free style shooting), my weakhand transitions from target to target is better if I hold the trigger to the rear during the transition. Further experimentation is needed but you may also try this and see how it works out for you.

[rhino]

Related to what the Stallion posted, follow through is absolutely essential to get your hits, or the sights won't still be on the target when the bullet leaves the barrel even though they might have been when you first started pressing the trigger.

1. Slow down

2. Front sight

3. press and HOLD THE TRIGGER PRESSED until AFTER YOU SEE THE FRONT SIGHT ON THE TARGET AFTERWARD

4. Front sight (make sure you see the front sight after the shot before you reset the trigger)

Also, one thing that helps me when shooting weak or strong hand is to lock my elbow. It minimizes one of the sources of movement. I learned this from Louis Awerbuck in August and it really helped my accuracy.

[tightloop]

Rhino

I am all for doing what makes you do better, except lock your elbow. That is a quick method for tennis elbow and a trip to the doctor for the first of a few cortisone shots. If you haven't had any of those, trust me, you don't want to start now. I speak from experience...

[SherlockWV]

I put up a thread a few weeks ago about Weak Hand vs Dominant eye. I received numerous constructive suggestions. There was a consistent statement in most of the replies. Use Your dominate Eye.

In your case, one suggestion that I received and have since applied is to cant your gun slightly when in the WH. I have been practicing this and it has helped a lot. I have trouble with barricades and WH but that is mostly a personal physical thing. Hope this helps a little.

Happy and Safe Shooting

[Nemo]

This is the same as: How do I get to Carnegie Hall?

PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE!!

We tend to concentrate our dry fire routines to how fast is our draw and mag changes. Now you have discovered a weakness that need to be addressed. Like TheItalianStallion said, concentrate part of your dry fire sessions on weak hand only.

This is what I do:

- draw

- change the gun to WH

- disengage thumb safety with WH thumb

- index target

- press.

If shooting 1911 or 2011, I'd recommend you disengage the safety with the weak hand and rest your thumb on it as when shooting stron hand. I always use my dominant eye and feel more comfortable with the gun slightly tilted to the right. Also, when watching TV (always with an unloaded pistola) I play with the trigger with my left hand to get the feel of the break and reset. I believe that has helped some.

You'll get to the point where the pistol still shakes a bit on your left (weak) but you'll be able to make your shots. In my case never as fast as with my right.

Hope this helps.

[tightloop]

Morpheus

I believe you mean you only press the trigger when you pratice WH at home. No reset with an empty gun.

Also, when I shoot either SH or FS and then make the transfer to WH, I do so with the safety off; much faster. Just don't get careless as you assume your WH grip with your finger on the trigger.

[Norm Lee]

Here's a little something you can do to improve your WH performance. Results are way out of proportion to effort expended. That doesn't happen often. And it won't cost a dime. Stop cringing. No mlm pitch follows.

Move your mouse over to the other side of your keyboard and drive it with your weak hand. It'll take a few days before it feels right, but when it does, your WH shooting will show an improvement. I promise.

Cheers,

Norm

[Jake Di Vita]

Norm;

That's kinda interesting, I'm going to give that a try.

[rtr]

Thanks for the tips folks, trigger control as always is important I'll work on that, as well as dryfire and canting the gun a bit. The mouse tip is a great secret I had never heard, been doing it for a couple hours now and it seems to make me better with my left hand.

[Mikul]

The problem with weak handed shooting is that it is your weak hand. Further exacerbating this is that you are overextending your arm so that you can align the sights with your, usually opposite, dominant eye. This puts your already weak arm in an even weaker position.

There are two solutions: strengthen your weak hand and arm a great deal, or strenghten your weak hand and arm and learn to use your non-dominant eye.

People who are naturally good at weak-handed shooting seem to have one of the following characteristics: they are reasonably young and in good shape which means their weak-side muscles aren't so weak or they're at least partially ambidextrous so their used to using their weak hand for tasks involving fine motor skills.

You can strengthen everything by just shooting weak hand a lot, or you can lift weights to strengthen that all-important shoulder. Lifting weights will not help your trigger finger. You need to learn to do fine motions with your weak hand's trigger finger. Dry firing a double-action gun, the heavier the better, is a good excersize. I have not tried the mouse suggestion, but it's sound in theory.

[Dowter]

So I need some tips on improving my weak handed shooting

Stop thinking that you have a "weak" hand.

You have a hand on the opposite side of your holster.

That's all.

[eric nielsen]

Dowter is right. Spend a lot of time (TV, computer time) getting your weak hand in condition to shoot as well as the strong hand.

I just recently found that ''blading" my stance away from the targets (shooting WHO) is still more natural for my arm but less natural for keeping my eye behind the sights, in line with the target.

Found out that I had to turn or tilt my head a lot to get my (right) eye in line with the target and sight picture. It's difficult for my body to memorize this head turn, resulting in very slow & inconsistent 1st shot from the holster or a mag change.

It was so bad that I found if I lined up on a dry-fire target, closed my eyes, and squeezed the trigger, many times I'd open my eyes and find the iron sights were out of my line-of-sight. I'd have no idea if a live round would have hit the target, much less the A zone. Explains a lot of "Huh???" experiences at the range.

I looked in a mirror & saw it right away. Blading away took my eye out of line. Moving back the the normal freestyle foot position brought it right back. That's how I shoot WHO now.

For strong hand only shooting, I just reverse the position so that my right foot is a little ahead of my left foot, right hip-point a little ahead of my left hip-point.

To shoot freestyle-reload-SHO, I start right foot forward, left foot parallel to it. I just do a minor pivot of my back foot between the freestyle and stronghand parts. Turns the hips so that I get a good NPA on both the freestyle and SHO. Easy.

[Nemo]

Tightloop,

When dryfiring weak hand:

- press the trigger

- holding it back rack the slide with the strong hand

- then feel the reset

- repeat as needed

This also provides training in case I have to solve a malf while shooting WHO.

I'm left handed (write and eat with my left) but my right hand is my strong hand and my right eye my dominant. I don't know any other shooter with this dexterity condition (and would like to hear from them if out there) but I believe that makes my WH shooting a little easier than to the right-hand-only people.

Cheers,

[Navy Joe]

I think it all comes down to practice. I am trying to make weak hand something I look forward to so I gain strength from everyone else whining and crying when they hear the stage description.

It's true, we want to practice what we're good at. I've forced myself into several majority weakhand practice sessions and dryfire.

Worse yet, I got bored and decided to shoot an IDPA match from a right handed holster. Wow, lemme tell ya, that sucked, will do again soon. Not so much weakhand practice as weakhand coordination training since drawing and shooting freestyle, doing reloads, etc. is so much different from what we do for USPSA weakhand. I learned a lot.

First, I learned how to double my score, shot the match in 90 sumptin' as compared to a 46 shooting with the correct hand. I did not ever grab for my gun with my left hand, but I did find it mysteriously there after a reload, if only I could do weak-strong transitions so effortlessly in a classifier. I learned something about ingrained repetitive tasks(muscle mem.) my left hand kept ending up in a cup and saucer because it was so habituated to being the first one on the gun. Everytime I racked the slide I did some goofy pinch rack grabbing it overhand forward of the ejection port, never seen anything like it...hey wait a minute, I'll call it Israeli and get rich!

Slide lock reloads were a small bright point I think because they involved the same thing, making the two hands meet at the gun. Tac load was a nightmare, could get a Barnum & Bailey gig with that.