I’ve been shooting 3/12 years. I have never tried weak side shooting and it really seems awkward. How important is this to learn for home defense or maybe a SHTF situation? Have any of you vets. done this in combat? What is your experience and comment?
For SD and SHTF absolutely a skill that should be learned and practiced. Learn to shoot weak handed, do one handed reloads, etc… I always make it a point when practicing with a pistol to shoot a couple of mags weak handed. Find a competent trainer and take a course with weak handed shooting being part of the training.
For gunfighting, there should be no weak side.
No dominant eye.
A truly ambi rifle must have perfectly mirrored controls.
Please check out my video demonstrating why being an ambidextral rifleman/gunfighter is so crucial.
Seeking feedback.
Depends on how important your life is.
A mandatory skill that should be practiced regularly.
Of course it seems awkward-it’s your weak/non dominant hand/side. It does improve with use and practice.
I sure hope so.
It is great to ask a question and get a response from a specialist in that field. I am right handed, right eye dominant. But I bat in baseball lefthanded and split wood with a maul equally well over either shoulder so I can believe what you are saying. My body is having trouble though. Just a few minutes ago dry firing I felt completely awkward. I guess it is just practice.
Your video makes the point that shooting from behind cover the wrong way exposes much too much which is why I am interested.
OK, something else to work on.
We always advocated transitioning to the left hand for corners where you are turning right and when shooting around the left side of cover.
I’m a firm believer in this. That being said, unless you are willing to put in the dry time to smooth your transition out and then devote sufficient reps to ensure it is second nature, you may be better off focusing on rolling the pistol to the left in your strong hand grip.
The reason I say this is because in viewing officers under stress in force on force training it became clear to me that our program did not give officer enough reps to make transitioning second nature.
If you want to learn to transition:
Hold your pistol in your normal shooting grip on target. Take a moment and actually think about where the web of your hand hits the back strap, how the grip feels/touches your trigger finger, where your strong hand fingers wrap around the grip, where your thumb goes, etc. Do the same thing with your support hand, where is the heel of your support hand contacting the grip and the heel of the strong hand, how are your fingers interlaced onto your strong fingers, where is your support side thumb, etc.
This sounds rudimentary, but you’d be surprised how many shooters have never taken the time to look and then take a moment with their eyes closed and focus on what their grip FEELS and LOOKS like. This is important because our goal is to create a mirror/negative image of that grip when we transition.
Now, transitioning quick and dirty - go slow, accentuating each step:
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Take your support hand completely away from the weapon - wave to the crowd with your support hand (this is important in learning a sure, fluid, transition - the support hand completely releases from the weapon);
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Relax your strong grip on the weapon enough to let the muzzle depress - this creates a gap between the beavertail of the backstrap and your strong hand;
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Slide your support hand over your strong hand and release the strong hand’s grip on the weapon, establish the master grip with your support hand as you wave to the crowd with the strong hand (once again, this is important in learning a sure, fluid, transition - the strong hand completely releases from the weapon;
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Quite waving with the strong hand and grip the pistol - the strong hand is now the support hand;
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Take a moment and check your grip - does it look and feel like a mirror image of your strong side grip - it should.
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Slowly take the same steps as you transition back.
The wave to the crowd thing is designed to get chuckles and in doing so reinforce that the hands have to come completely away from the grip during the transition. Play along with the silliness until you are familiar with the technique, then begin keeping your hands closer to the pistol as you do this.
As you gain proficiency it will seem that you are tossing the pistol from one hand to the other, but you aren’t - if you practice, as I’ve instructed, you will find that both hands, in sequence, completely release from the pistol, and at no point is the pistol not gripped with at least one hand.
I think and even more critical skill is being able to use your support hand only. This includes practicing picking the pistol up and achieving a shooting grip from the ground. In our imagined scenarios we always somehow end up with the pistol in our support hand. If you take a round through your wrist or up your forearm (Edwin Mirales - FBI Shootout in Miami) you will likely drop the gun.
Rogers Shooting School tests are about 50% one hand, a good percentage of those tests are support hand only.
Check PM’s
Very good explanation! May I use excerpts of it in the 2nd edition of The Ambidextral Rifleman/Gunfighter? I focus on rifles/carbines, but do make mention of handguns.
My inclination is to combine Rex Applegate’s generally singled handed, convulsive grip, adrenaline crouch, natural point of aim/point shooting turret technique with ambi skills. I am of the opinion that there should be no weak hand. But if possessing a “weak” hand, my suspicion is that the “weak” hand should manage the handgun, while the “strong” hand is used to punch, push, and stabilize…given that most handgun fights are practically toe-to-toe.
Back in my Dogs of Worr paintball days, I came up with my training method watching a bunch of teenagers go from strong/weak hand to full ambi in just a couple weeks of practice. It seems akward at first, but you reach a point where your brain realizes that you want to mirror left and right to the point that a speedball paintballer is totally oblivious to the idea of left vs right handed.
I am retired and traveling. PM me if anyone is interested in becoming ambi. If my travels take me to your state, perhaps we could get together and see if my coaching can get you on your way to being ambidextrous. I just need a spot to park my RV and we would probably need a private shooting spot or a range where we can have fairly free reign to setup barricades.
Actually, I think I shot a pistol left handed when I was 11 years old. But I have not shot a pistol since. I was really writing about my AR 15 but I get your point about dry firing and practice and muscle memory. There are some large granite boulders near me almost a man’s height. You can shoot from either side and there is about 50-75 yards of clearing behind them. This looks like a good live fire place to practice. After doing drys for a couple weeks and live fire once, perhaps there will be light at the end of the tunnel.
Here is a way to transition shoulders:
TRANSITIONING FROM STRONG SIDE TO SUPPORT SIDE WITH THE QUICK ADJUST TWO-POINT SLING (SLING ROUTED OVER STRONG SHOULDER UNDER SUPPORT ARM)
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Ensure safety engaged.
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Release support hand grip from the weapon. Try to keep weapon as level as possible and your observation down range. It is okay if the muzzle is slightly depressed.
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Move the support arm so the sling is on the outside of the support arm. As shown below, one technique is to bend the elbow 90 degrees and place the elbow between the sling and weapon.
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Support hand grasps front of mag well.
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Shove weapon forward and move stock across body to weak shoulder. Make sure the weapon is shoved far enough forward to clear equipment.
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Pull stock into support side shoulder. At this point the strong hand is still grasping the pistol grip.
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Strong hand moves forward to grasp handguards/tube.
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Support moves from mag well to pistol grip.
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Disengage safety.
Here is a video by Kyle Lamb (3:17 and 4:57 show the movements in the video) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoGh-tZtKKA
This one is better, but it’s production values are not as good: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhojNCdksYw
the “shooting” is not bad at all. It’s all that other stuff that your brain and body has to deal with. If you can get the weapon in your hand/s and in front of your eyes, the shooting part is actually pretty easy. Manipulating controls is the issue. You have to practice, practice, practice.
I met a guy at the range. He was burning a ragged hole in a target. He worked for years in the weapons department of I think maybe the Marines… I forget. Just before he was to leave he had an accident and lost his thumb. I really didn’t even notice it just casually watching him. I was trying to pick up some pointers by watching. When he packed up he told me the story. He had to teach himself to shoot lefty. He was drawing from concealed that whole day. Two holes in the target. One big one in the head and one big one in the torso. He was clean and smooth. The point being he knew how to shoot just as I suppose you do. But you still have to learn the altered mechanics. I actually like shooting rifle lefty due to my eyesight. But I don’t feel as confident with the controls. I don’t like too much of anything shooting a pistol lefty but if I get it to the “shooting” part safely, I can do ok. So likewise you will be a better weak side learner due to knowing how to shoot and your brain already understanding that part. Not like you will revert to a non-shooter.
Nice vids. Thanks. I can learn from Kyle Lamb but I’m never going to be Kyle Lamb so I have to take what is applicable to me at my level. That was my point on another thread involving slings and his adjustable sling. I don’t see myself doing all that under stress. What I do see is using the neck as a transition or just using the neck period. So this video and comments about the neck on this thread have been very valuable. In times without stress I will be more than able to adjust the sling for carrying.
Good advice here.
Shooting “Support side” is very important.
I went out today and did it. It was really awkward. I would forget the safety for instance. I hit a paper target and a couple balloons so aiming is not the issue. It is just going to take a lot of work.
I don’t shoot much pistol these days, but when I do, I run a mag or two on the support side, one handed. It’s nice to see that people here take it seriously.
I took Costa’s Handgun 2 class a couple weeks ago and it was heavy on the single handed operation. We did a lot of support side shooting including single handed malfunction clearing and reloading with both strong and weak side. Everything was done standing, kneeling, prone, supine and urban prone. Let me tell you, clearing a double feed with your weak side hand while in urban prone on your weak side shoulder is a bitch and a half. Having an RMR helps ALOT wth that.
I would absolutly stress learning to shoot both rifle and pistol from your support side. Learn to run the pistol and clear malfunctions with your support and strong side, single handed. If shit really goes south and you take a hit in your strong side hand/arm/shoulder this could mean life or death. With those being your choices, it’s silly not to learn how to do it.
Four years ago I broke my right wrist, and two more bones in my right hand. So for almost 9 months, I shot “Other Weak Hand”. 
Honestly, it was one of the best things that has happened to my pistol shooting.
Now when I do something like Dot Torture, or run a drill in a class that makes me shoot WHO, it’s no big deal at all.
The other thing I did that helped a great deal was spend a year shooting nothing but double-action revolvers. I ran a S&W 686 in five pistol classes that year, along with another 5K or so practice rounds.
I’m prepping for Tom Given’s Advanced Instructor course next month. You’d better believe I’m doing a lot of WHO.
So to answer your question: Yes, I’d practice it. But I’d practice shooting with both hands, using a good grip and trigger press a lot more. And all of that is useless if you have a piss-poor drawstroke.
Putting an accurate shot into Buford T BadGuy before he shoots you is rather nice, however you have to do it.
The Ludus is strong with this one.