Are you ready for a hand injury?

[Superhouse 15]

My wife got a neat sprain in her strong hand while (attempting to) chop some firewood last night. Her strong hand is out for a few days wrapped up in some sort of velcro contraption that mostly prevents it from moving. There is no way she can shoot with it, painful levels of recoil and lack of dexterity prevent its use.

Now for the good news. She carries a Glock 26 right handed so she can easily move up to my 19 in one of my left handed (my dominant side) holsters. She has enough practice to be confident in it's one handed use. Her BUG is set up in a left handed pocket holster already so that's good to go. We are going to do some more .22 training tomorrow to get her back up to speed and that should be fine. No strong meds means shes in her right mind (as much as usual...) so no concerns there.

I originally bought that Glock 19 when I had a hand injury and needed more capacity and less recoil than my 1911 or Kahr MK40, and holsters were easy to find. After I healed I kept it in my EDC rotation. It serves its purpose again today for her.

Lessons to learn: Nobody plans for an injury, practice now while you can so you're confident or can get up to speed with a little practice. Having a common gun makes finding a holster easy, especially if you need a lefty version at short notice. The more exotic the gun you carry, the harder it is. High capacity 9mms with big magazines make great carry guns for many reasons, but low recoil and a long time between fumbled one hand reloads are good. And the final lesson, just like the limping gazelle, you might look more like prey with an injury. Carry as much as you can with the most effective gun you can manage. I'm glad she's not limited to her Seecamp in .25acp right now.

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[Eaglebeak]

I'm one of those fortunate few who is ambidextrous and don't really have a "weak" or "strong" hand, and shoot rifle, pistol, or shottie equally well with either one. It's come in very handy (no pun intended) in combat many years ago when one or the other got a boo-boo.

Hope your wife's sprain isn't too severe and heals quickly; but my crystal ball sees your wallet suffering even more pain than your wife's sprain from that upcoming hydraulic log-splitter she'll be wanting for Christmas

[helderberg]

I have to say I never put myself in this position but it sure has made me think. I have been kicking around possibly picking up a S&W Airweight. Reading about your wife's accident and putting my guns in the equation I see that I would have a real problem with all my auto's. This is a very good post for me as it made me think, what if?
Thanks, Frank.

[BugDude]

You make an excellent point. I've kept my Bersa Thunder 9 uc with a UBG leather IWB left handed holster just for that purpose, and I've practiced with it and my 442 left handed quite a bit (I typically carry the 442 on my left side for secondary access with my xd40sc primary). My wife asked me once why I felt the need to carry 2 guns. Say someone grabs your right arm, pins it against the ground or a car, or otherwise injurs it somehow, you can't get to your weapon at the 3 o'clock position. By carrying a secondary access weapon available by my other hand, I'm not limited from access. One shouldn't overlook practicing with both hands independent of the other.

[bubbinator]

This is an excellent opportunity to discover what you have to do with what you have/must do at the time. Your post shows you are well set for "every day apple pie scenarios". Now that someone is hurt-use the opportunity to drive thru the handicap. Learn to shoot what you are famimiliar with using both hands and from varied positions-lay on the ground/sit at a table/shoot from a car/under a car/around a corner "cutting the pie"/flash light use and technique. My retirement from along LEO career w/ FA Instructor creds since 1995 made us rethink a lot of home defense issues.

[RoadRunner71]

Whatever else you do, don't forget the one-handed malfunction drills. Weak side, single hand drills are tough to learn, but would be even tougher to learn with someone shooting back. I try to spend 25% of my training time on weak side drills. It is a real pain and I have to force myself sometime, but I wouldn't want to do without it.

I hope your wife gets better soon.

Good luck!

[noway2]

I have to say I never put myself in this position but it sure has made me think. I have been kicking around possibly picking up a S&W Airweight. Reading about your wife's accident and putting my guns in the equation I see that I would have a real problem with all my auto's. This is a very good post for me as it made me think, what if?

This comment reminded me of the currently active revolver thread. One thing to consider is that you may be firing weak handed, and or one handed. In these situations, a FTE or other malfunction could be a death sentence. In this situation, you may be more prone to limp writing which could cause these types of problems with an auto. A revolver, which doesn't have this problem, might make a good choice for a weak side BUG for this reason. An Airweight 642, which tends to be unpleasant to shoot as it is, might not be my first choice, though. Definitely would need to try it single handed in the weak hand first.

[archer51]

While I don't practice weak side shooting near as much as I should, I do shoot that way on occasion. Accuracy and speed is greatly reduced, but I can function.

[Rotorblade]

My wife got a neat sprain in her strong hand while (attempting to) chop some firewood last night. Her strong hand is out for a few days wrapped up in some sort of velcro contraption that mostly prevents it from moving.

There is a lesson right here for all men.........make sure your wife gets all the firewood chopped in the summer so you can avoid unfortunate events such as this.................

[BugDude]

Whatever else you do, don't forget the one-handed malfunction drills. Weak side, single hand drills are tough to learn, but would be even tougher to learn with someone shooting back. I try to spend 25% of my training time on weak side drills. It is a real pain and I have to force myself sometime, but I wouldn't want to do without it.

I hope your wife gets better soon.

Good luck!

I need to do this. I've practiced shooting left handed with a snub and semi, but I need to practice malf and reload drills. Thanks for the reminder!!!!!

[357and40]

I am a righty. I am nowhere near as proficient shooting using my left hand as my right, but lefty gets some range time every visit. You never know when you will be incapacitated. I train to keep the rounds center mass with the left, I sure do not expect tight groups or 10 ring shots consistently, but when it happens it is a bonus.

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Being right eye dominant I tend to angle the weapon in 45 degrees and it resolves shot displacement based on odd sight picture.

[Orion]

When I go to the range I always practice one-hand and off-hand shooting drills so that I will be ready to switch if the need arises. But I never stopped to consider the situation your wife is in where I would need to carry for weak side shooting purposes. I normally carry a .XDm 40 strongside or in a crossdraw. My 9mm goes in a shoulder holster. I'm going to get a IWB left-handed draw holster for my 9mm this week and start practicing. Great post.

[Guest1]

I took a Dave"Super Dave" Harrington Class several years ago,and he fefuses to say "weak hand or strong hand" he refers to them as Trained and less trained hands,you can become profecient with enough practice with either hand.

[BkCo1]

Superhouse, how did you get your wife to chop firewood? Mine won't clean the snow off the driveway! I am at 8600 ft.
I learned to shoot right and left in the Corps.
Semper Fi

[RoadRunner71]

I am a righty. I am nowhere near as proficient shooting using my left hand as my right, but lefty gets some range time every visit. You never know when you will be incapacitated. I train to keep the rounds center mass with the left, I sure do not expect tight groups or 10 ring shots consistently, but when it happens it is a bonus.

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Being right eye dominant I tend to angle the weapon in 45 degrees and it resolves shot displacement based on odd sight picture.

Training for anything less than perfection is a good way to ensure failure. With my right hand (I'm a lefty) I shoot just as accurately as with my left. My trouble is speed and that is just a coordination issue. I DEMAND of myself this level of competence. I don't always reach it, but I never try for anything less.

I took a Dave"Super Dave" Harrington Class several years ago,and he fefuses to say "weak hand or strong hand" he refers to them as Trained and less trained hands,you can become profecient with enough practice with either hand.

Everyone has their own terminology. It is the same thing either way. And, I beleive Harrington is absolutely right.