To responsibly carry a firearm, you must practice efficiently holstering, drawing, firing, and reloading. But in a real-life scenario, you may not have the ability to use your dominant hand for self-defense. If your dominant hand becomes injured or pinned down in an altercation, you’ll need to use your support hand. Follow these tips for practicing weak-hand shooting skills.
Start With Dry Fire Practice
Avoid wasting ammo by starting with dry fire practice. With dry fire practice, you go through all the motions of shooting your gun without the ammunition. Dry fire practice gives you the opportunity to brainstorm solutions to issues you face when shooting with your non-dominant hand. And through dry fire training, you’ll help your mind and body grow accustomed to using your weak hand.
One of the key things to consider when practicing dry firing is that you should practice with all your holsters. When it comes to concealed carry, many people wear their firearms at different positions around their waistline. Appendix carry makes it relatively easy to draw your firearm with your non-dominant hand.
Alternatively, one of the top reasons people consider off-body carry options is accessibility. Fortunately, drawing your firearm with your weak hand from an off-body holster is convenient—but don’t neglect to practice drawing your firearm from your off-body holster.
Experiment With Arm Positions
The next tip for practicing weak-hand shooting skills is to experiment with arm positions. Find out if you prefer a straight-arm or canted-arm position.
With the straight-arm technique, you pull your hand up straight in front of you and let your elbow lock. The weapon is held straight rather than angled. Many people like this position because of their familiarity with the straight-arm, two-handed shooting stance.
With the canted-arm position, you still hold the firearm straight in front of you with your elbow locked, but you cant, or tilt, the weapon anywhere from 10 to 45 degrees. You might prefer how this position feels. And if your dominant eye is on the opposite side of your weak hand, canting the weapon can help you make the best use of your dominant sight line.
Avoid Using Your Dominant Hand
Avoid using your dominant hand while performing these weak-hand drills. One of the best things to practice is keeping your dominant hand against your chest. This keeps the hand out of the way, and it would keep an injured hand from hitting other objects and sustaining more injuries.
Practicing reloading, drawing, and firing with one hand is very challenging. Stay calm and move slowly to strengthen your skills.
