One Hand Gun Manipulation

[Paul Gomez]

I've been a proponent of learning to work the pistol with one hand for a long time. Why? Of course, the obvious answer is Injury to one hand. Another, less obvious, but more common occurrence is situations where one hand is being used to perform a task such as opening a door or controlling/guiding someone.
Another aspect is confidence. Simply put, if you are confident manipulating the gun with your offhand, everything else is easy.

The basic gun skills are the same regardless of how many hands you get to use. They are Drawing, Shooting, Reloading and Addressing Stoppages.

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[ISR MATRIX]

Excellent work as always, Paul. Thanks.

On the team, we have done that transition between the knees as the "range safe" method of transition and off hand reloading. Reloading, I don't mind. But as you mentioned in the first video, you have no mobility with your gun pinched and "knock-kneed". For off hand draw, the ISR simply keeps the weapon inverted and flush coming across the torso and when centered (more or less) we keep it braced and rotate it from inverted to right side up. Range safety may require that you start with your gun side angled downrange as the weapon will be pointed "East-West" during the rotation.

[Harryball]

Good stuff..Thanks for sharing Paul....

[ctrcs]

I have practiced with both hands and in many different positions. The biggest problem (other than accuracy) was drawing the gun offhand. It mad me rethink my carry position. Thanks for the discussion.

[claude clay]

good skill to practice and to have. and yet another reason to have a secondary gun--
for those times when you are holding or helping with one hand or it is injured.

cross draw with a Serpa style holster would be quite a challenge.

[First Sgt]

Excellent post and videos. Everyone that carries a semiauto should watch and absorb these techniques and practice practice practice. JMO

[Paul Gomez]

Thanks for the comments, folks. I've been on the range for the last few days with very little 'net access.

In my Robust Pistol Manipulation classes, we do a lot of one hand work. That's where this stuff comes from. I fully recognize that the need for 1 hand gun skill is statistically unlikely but the odds of being in a gunfight are pretty unlikely. If you find yourself in that situation, the odds are already skewed and if you have the need for one handed skills and do not possess them, you are truly screwed!

I look at drawing the gun, shooting, reloading and dealing with stoppages as skills that must be addressed with both hands and with either hand.