I shoot one handed maybe 25% of the time. Maybe I should do more as well as the weak hand shooting. Need to start shaping up for my renewal qualification anyway.
When shooting one handed, cant the weapon inward about 15-30 degrees from straight up and down, this is a naturally stronger position for your wrist and will allow better control and faster follow-up shots, especially in higher caliber/recoil pistols or weak handed.
I think one-handed practice is a vital part of any defensive shooting.
I'll admit that I don't do it as often as I should but I have and will do it in the future.
When I used to shoot IDPA up at the range I worked at the guy who ran and set up the courses would ALWAYS stick one-handed shooting scenarios into every single course. Both strong hand and weak.
I always did well but only as a result of significantly slowing down and taking more time per shot, especially when it came to the weak-hand shooting.
Honestly, my thing was always trying to figure out what to do with the other hand. At first I would let it swing by my side but found that uncomfortable and a bit awkward.
It wasn't until after I took a defensive pistol class that I learned to keep that free hand on my chest. It was more comfortable, I felt more stable and I didn't have limbs swinging around.
Your bulls-eye shooters will put the other hand in a pocket or hook it through a belt loop to keep it from swinging around but I believe it's not too great for defensive-type shooting.
With the "spare hand" on your chest you can bring it back out to the gun or the gun back to it faster, and you don't have a lot of moving to get to things like spare ammo, lights, or other tools you might have on your waist or in your pockets.
I also found that when my "spare hand" wasn't flopping in the breeze I had better grouping.
What he's talking about is the natural "cant" of your hand.
If you hold your hands out in front of you at rest they will neither be straight up and down or flat, they will have a slight cant to them like this....
(Evil zombie pregnant woman, coming for you.. AAHHHHH.. anyway...)
So, naturally, if you grip something (in this example I'm griping a leatherman) you will have a stronger, more natural grip if it follows the natural "cant" of your hand. Like so....
Now, just put a gun there instead of a leatherman and that's the "inward cant" he's talking about.
Like he said, we aren't talking about a 90 degree cant like you see in the movies, but a nice, neutral, natural cant that allows you to clearly and comfortably see the sights and for your arm to feel most natural while shooting.
No, the gangstas turn their pistols 90 degrees because they're idiots.
Real shooting does not work like that.
Allowing for your NATURAL cant (as shown) is perfectly fine, if not optimal, but canting the gun too far results in not getting proper sight picture, not managing recoil well, and spent brass coming back and hitting you in the face as well as recoil hurting your hand.
I worked as a range officer at an indoor gun range for about a year. I often saw punks try to shoot with the gangsta 90 cant and, TRUST ME, it only takes about one or two shots before they realize that is just something for the movies and it DOES NOT work in live fire.
Most people, if shooting one-handed and left to their own devices will end up shooting with a natural cant of about 15-30 degrees, as shown (unless, of course, they are bulls-eye shooters, but they have another goal entirely in mind).
I shot a full mag the other day one handed with my strong hand, and the recoil pushed the pistol up to the left side and it felt weird, however, my hand was not canted naturally
How does the recoil work out when you cant your hand naturally for you guys ?
You should also practice one handed with your carry rig and do one handed reloads. You never know when you will lose the use of your other hand/arm. Another instructor I know had shoulder surgery. No left arm/hand for shooting/reloading. If you are going to carry you have to think a bit ahead. Practice all shooting and reloading with your other hand as well. In a perfect world you should practice malfunction clearing with only one hand. That can get a bit more interesting depending on the malfunction.
In general, I don't blade my body so that my shoulder line is perpendicular to the target for action-type shooting. My stance if pretty much the same as my two-handed shooting stance, except I push forward a bit more with my shooting arm at the shoulder.
I imagine the heavily bladed stance some people use, where the shoulder line is nearly perpendicular to the target is fine for bullseye/target shooting, but I don't practice that type of shooting, so I can't speak from experience.
Yep, I practice with one-hand, both hands, each time I go to the range. I prefer the two-hand grip, but, as I said in another post, you never know what might happen during an incident.
Along with Lima- it's formally called the "Cirillo cant", as taught by Jim Cirillo for the advantages described. Equally, the cant will make sight acquisition instinctive and natural, even with the cross-dominant situation(seeing the sights with your right eye-gun in left hand). If you use something with a defined top-edge (Glock, Ruger GP/SP revolvers, Khars, etc.,) the apex of the corner sticking up in your field of view, with that 15* cant, makes an excellent index point as well.:wink:
I too have started practicing one handed but strong side only so far. It felt sort of weird the first few times. Now, I shoot one handed three ways: bullseye stance, one hand extended at eye level and hand at waist level. Not sure I am doing this properly so any coaching would be appreciated.
I would say I shoot one handed 95% of the time. It just feels natural to me and I'm pretty good with either hand, but the right being preferred. Shooting with two hands feels like they are getting in the way of each other and is uncomfortable to me. Am I just weird?
I rarely shoot one handed any more, but when I first learned to shoot a Colt 1911 back in the early 60s, I was taught the old military style with one hand. The first few times, I was rarely even "on the paper, but after several trips to the range and with some more instruction from my rifle club members, I got a lot better at it.
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