Silly question. Of course you should. It is a useful skill that really doesn’t take all that long to learn. Note: during this article, and any others, honestly, I’ll use “offhand”, “support hand”, “weak hand”, and “left hand” interchangeably. I’m right-handed. Obviously if you’re left-handed then that last would be “right hand.” I’ve heard people say we shouldn’t use the term “weak hand” because reasons or something. I’m not sure about you but my off hand is noticeably weaker than my strong hand, so I’ll use it.
Table of Contents
Why should you learn shooting off hand?
Well, I would hope that if you’re shooting at someone (or something) it’s because you’re in fear of your life. So you’re in a fight. Which means that you could be injured. Or whatever the threat is may be close enough that you have to use one hand to fend it off and if they’re on your strong side then your strong hand may be the one doing the fending.
Besides, it’s a new shooting skill and those are always useful to learn. There is research that it’s good for your brain to keep learning new things so it may have benefits outside the context of self defense.
How good do you need to be?
Good question. That’s for you to figure out. For myself, I’m happy hitting a 6″ circle at 7 yards firing a round a second or so. How did I come up with that? Well, I just decided.
There are a number of factors that go into this.
- How weak is your weak hand? Compared to my right, my left is pretty weak.
- What kind of gun are you using? More on that below, but a high recoil gun will be harder offhand.
- How much time do you have? This is a useful skill but it depends on how good you are with your strong hand and how much practice time you actually have.
How much practice do you need?
Since we all learn at different rates and start at different levels it’s hard to say. Ambidextrous is a thing: people who can use each hand equally. It’s estimated that about 1% of the population fits this bill. If you’re one of them you have my envy. Then there are the people who are naturally left-handed but due to pressure from teachers and others learned to use their right hand as well as (or better than) their left.
Regardless of where you start you’re going to need to do some work on this. If you’re already as good as you decided you need to be then you just need to maintain. If you’re just starting out with weak hand then you’re going to need more. How much time you have to practice could also modify your goal of how good you need to be. Maybe you’ll pick it up so quickly you can get better than you thought. Or you may find it very hard and have to back off a bit on your skill goal.
That last is what happened to me. I plateaued at the one round per second in a 6″ target at 7 yards. My practice time was limited enough I didn’t want to spend more of it on improving my offhand shooting.
When I started down this path I was carrying my M&P Shield in 9mm. I would go to the range and plan on putting about 200 rounds downrange. 40 of those were left hand. I have five magazines for the gun. It came with a 7 round and an 8 round. I purchased three more 8 round mags. I loaded the gun with the 7 round mag I normally carried it with, put one in the chamber, and topped it off. All the other mags were loaded and lined up on the range shelf. I then applied the manual safety, put the gun on the shelf, and let my right hand dangle at my side. Then I took the gun up with my left hand and fired all five magazines. All left-handed. Including mag changes from a locked back slide using the slide release.
This is not realistic fight training. It is training in gun manipulation. I had a nice, clean shelf with my spare mags all lined up neatly. I had all the time in the world. I never had a malfunction and didn’t do anything special to create one for training purposes. That’s something that could be added in if you get serious about this.
Grip and stance
I probably look pretty weird when I practice this. There are no style points here. I’m right eye dominant so even shooting left-handed I had the gun lined up with my right eye. Which worked best when the gun was canted about 45 degrees to the right. I also tried a duelist type stance when I was sideways to the target. It was functional but I didn’t like it as well.
In other words, as long as I was getting rounds on target I didn’t overly concern myself with technique. I suppose if I had more time for this I might have worked on that in the hope that it would improve my abilities at offhand but I never reached that point.
I never practiced using my strong hand as a support hand. This was one handed shooting only. I suppose this could be a failure of imagination on my part but I can’t conceive a scenario where I’m shooting left-handed if I have both hands available.
Gun factors
The M&P Shield is not designed for ambidextrous use. The slide release and manual safety are both on the left side where they’re perfect for right-handed shooting. They work easily enough that they be manipulated with the left hand with minimal practice.
Some guns are better for this. 1911’s can be had with ambidextrous safety. I have a Springfield 911 that came with an ambi safety and there are others. Revolvers are excellent for use with either hand.
Of course, there’s firing and then there’s reloading. The 1911 and Shield both have slide releases I can easily work left-handed. The 911, however, the slide release is pretty stiff; maybe learning to accurately count your rounds is another useful skill to develop so you can reload while there’s still one in the chamber.
Reloading a revolver is different. Smith’s Bodyguard is deliberately designed to be worked with either hand but most have the cylinder release on the left side. Then, of course, you still have to work the ejector rod. The best I’ve been able to come up with is to move my thumb across the gun to work the cylinder release. Then use my knee or some object to push the cylinder open. At that point I basically grab the cylinder with my hand and use my forefinger to work the extractor. Yes, it can be hot. Then set the gun on your leg or a flat surface and load the cylinder. And it’s still hot. I suggest using the clothed portion of your leg. And don’t figure on doing this quickly. If you have a better way, please leave a comment. I’d love to find a new one.
I have an NAA .22 magnum revolver. The fastest reload I was ever able to do with two hands was around 20 seconds in perfect conditions at the range. I’ve never even bothered trying to reload it with one hand.
The draw
I suppose appendix would be easier; I just never carry that way. If you normally carry in your back pocket that’s doable. If you carry in your front pocket it’s not. You’re never going to get your left hand in your right pocket or vice versa. You need another solution.
Mine is to carry two guns. Please check your local laws because this isn’t legal everywhere. No, I don’t know why. And I’m not going down that rabbit hole. The point is that I can legally carry two so there’s always one in my left front pocket. Is it as good as the one on my hip? Nope. Sometimes it’s even that little NAA mentioned above. But it’s better than nothing. See Rule #1.
Conclusion
So, what do you think? Is it worth it to spend some time to improve you off hand shooting? I believe it is, especially since the time commitment to gain basic competence is pretty minimal. While I think the odds are small that you’ll ever need the skill think how embarrassed you’ll be if you catch the short straw and you’re not ready for it.
Comments section below if you agree. Or think I’m full of it. Or have ideas of your own.
