Off Hand/Support Hand Thoughts

[pbharvey]

PSA. If you include shooting with either hand from the start of your handgun endeavors , it is no more awkward with weak hand than stong hand , if you learn both simultaneously .

Luckily , I had already virtually memorized Sixguns by Keith before I started serious handgun shooting . ( Keith emphasized learning both hands from the start . With an eye for eventually learning the esoteric skill of accurately shooting a gun in each hand simultaneously .)

I am about 40 years too late lol

 

[Michigander08]

I'm not ambidextrous. So I have to practice shooting with both left and right hands? How's about right-hand US infantry soldiers? Do they have to practice shooting with left hand? I know there is a need, but I don't recall such training.

 

[hogarth]

I'm not ambidextrous. So I have to practice shooting with both left and right hands? How's about right-hand US infantry soldiers? Do they have to practice shooting with left hand? I know there is a need, but I don't recall such training.

I can't speak to basic infantry training.

But I can tell you that I have seen in several interviews with Kyle Lamb that he said the biggest takeaway he had from The Battle of Mogadishu was to basically become ambidextrous with his carbine. In MOUT environments, minimizing exposure to the enemy while maximizing downrange accuracy was deemed to be very important.

 

[Fox123]

Sticky/remora holster?

 

[hogarth]

Ridiculous.

I'm not sure what aspect of Bigfoots comment you find ridiculous.

One of my many benefits I find of appendix carry is easy access (relatively) for a support hand draw. It comes out upside down, so having a means to get it oriented correctly is necessary (I still use the method Mike Pannone taught me, but others like Kelly McCann have other, also effective ways of doing so). But it'll work well enough if the strong hand/arm is out of commission.

 

[Blaster229]

I'm not sure what aspect of Bigfoots comment you find ridiculous.

One of my many benefits I find of appendix carry is easy access (relatively) for a support hand draw. It comes out upside down, so having a means to get it oriented correctly is necessary (I still use the method Mike Pannone taught me, but others like Kelly McCann have other, also effective ways of doing so). But it'll work well enough if the strong hand/arm is out of commission.

There is not 1 carry position that is optimal and practical for everyday carry use utilizing both hands equally.
I'm not talking about in an emergency. This is what you are talking about.

He was talking about cross draw carry and ankle being optimal for everyday carry for either hand. I implore anyone run any course of fire using an ankle holster, pocket holster or cross draw.

Cross draw is the only thing that relates to my whole topic here is having a temporary carry option should the need arise from a medical issue.

 

[hogarth]

There is not 1 carry position that is optimal and practical for everyday carry use utilizing both hands equally.
I'm not talking about in an emergency. This is what you are talking about.

He was talking about cross draw carry and ankle being optimal. I implore anyone run any course of fire using an ankle holster, pocket holster or cross draw.
People who think that these ways are viable, legit ways to carry (other than special situations) are sadly mistaken thinking they are equivalent.

Oh, I see.

Yeah, I don't have EQUAL access to either hand AIWB.

I do have BETTER access to my weak hand than I would with 3:00 carry, at least for my body type/flexibility level.

Ankle carry is fine if you spend a large portion of your day driving or sitting in a cubicle farm in a less-permissive environment. Otherwise, not much of a fan.

 

[Blaster229]

I swear, on my screen I am typing in english. Is the stuff posting in Esperanto and confusing people? lol

 

[Abuck]

I use strong side pocket carry, and/or 2,3,4 position, depending on my activity, such as walking, hiking, driving. Either are going to be very hard to reach in a strong arm down situation. Honestly, if needed quickly, the trousers will come down to allow me to reach far enough. Then what? Fire with limited mobility due to pants being down a bit? Put the weapon down, pull up my pants, and possibly die trying to do that under extreme stress? It’s sounds comical, but it’s not.

There are situations I’ve shifted a pocket carry to the weak side for this very reason. I’ve done some weak side firing, but not nearly enough.

Edit: The above is for an emergency active situation. Now I see the OP is inquiring about being a bit more prepared to carry weak side. That is one nice thing about a pocket carry piece, easy enough to switch sides. For anything larger, a weak side holster is something I don’t have, but would acquire quickly if needed.

 

[Spaceballs]

Did the doctors and nurses freak out?

I don't care if you posted this 11 hours ago. It had me CRYING laughing hahahahaha

 

[Art3]

I swear, on my screen I am typing in english. Is the stuff posting in Esperanto and confusing people? lol

No hablo Esperanto.

It is not at all relevant to the topic (like that should stop anything on MDS), but your comment reminded me of this video I just saw:

 

[Threeband]

For a support side holster, try the DeSantis Slim Tuk. At around $40, it's a pretty good holster for the money, and it's ambidextrous.

The two sides, inside and outside, are mirror images. By merely switching the clip from one side to the other, it can switch back and forth from left hand to right hand.

SLIM-TUK

Desantis Holster is an online store for inside the waistband holsters, pistol holsters, Taurus, pistol, pancake holsters, holsters for springfield XD, walther, handgun, GLOCK IWB, GLOCK 22 and leather holsters for 1911.

www.desantisholster.com

 

[Art3]

I haven't tried to draw with my support hand (yet), but I've shot a few competitions that required some support hand shooting. It's pretty humbling to have a bunch of people watching you try to figure out where your hands go when mounting a shotgun to the wrong side...for the very first time in your life...on the clock . Pistols were easier to figure out how to hold (it's only one hand...and one place to put it).

The biggest challenge I've found so far is remembering which eye to use. Long guns seem to HAVE to use whichever eye is on the same side as the gun...so it didn't really take long to get into the habit of paying attention to whichever eye could see the sights.

Pistols, since I could move them to either eye...or use either eye, definitely causes some brain fuzz. Sometimes shooting around a barrier from the support side forced use of the support eye, and that wasn't too hard to figure out. Holding a pistol directly in front of me in my support hand will still spaz my eyes for the first time or two.

I guess the answer is practice and point shooting...but ain't nobody got time for that!

 

[Crosseye Dominant]

No hablo Esperanto.

It is not at all relevant to the topic (like that should stop anything on MDS), but your comment reminded me of this video I just saw:

Lol, we gave up on asking the president question the last couple years. Too much blood pressure elevation.

 

[smokey]

For a support side holster, try the DeSantis Slim Tuk. At around $40, it's a pretty good holster for the money, and it's ambidextrous.

The two sides, inside and outside, are mirror images. By merely switching the clip from one side to the other, it can switch back and forth from left hand to right hand.

SLIM-TUK

Desantis Holster is an online store for inside the waistband holsters, pistol holsters, Taurus, pistol, pancake holsters, holsters for springfield XD, walther, handgun, GLOCK IWB, GLOCK 22 and leather holsters for 1911.

www.desantisholster.com

Yup. It's a pretty solid holster. It needs a wedge or claw to pull the handle in though. It conceals for me better if I wear it on my right side with the clip outside of my front belt loop. If it's more centered, the handle sticks out at the baseplate. It also has some side to side teeter tottering to it, as that one clip is pretty narrow. You can get it to ride pretty low though, which I like, and it plays well with optics.

It's fast on and fast off, while still staying secure. Unlike the mission first minimalist holster, I've never yanked up on the gun and had the holster come with it. With that other one, you've got to be very careful putting it on to get the clip to engage with your belt.

I've moved on to the bravo concealment torsion. It's more comfortable, stable, and conceals better. It's also about 35-40 bucks. They make wrong-handed torsion, but only for g19s.

 

[smokey]

I haven't tried to draw with my support hand (yet), but I've shot a few competitions that required some support hand shooting. It's pretty humbling to have a bunch of people watching you try to figure out where your hands go when mounting a shotgun to the wrong side...for the very first time in your life...on the clock . Pistols were easier to figure out how to hold (it's only one hand...and one place to put it).

The biggest challenge I've found so far is remembering which eye to use. Long guns seem to HAVE to use whichever eye is on the same side as the gun...so it didn't really take long to get into the habit of paying attention to whichever eye could see the sights.

Pistols, since I could move them to either eye...or use either eye, definitely causes some brain fuzz. Sometimes shooting around a barrier from the support side forced use of the support eye, and that wasn't too hard to figure out. Holding a pistol directly in front of me in my support hand will still spaz my eyes for the first time or two.

I guess the answer is practice and point shooting...but ain't nobody got time for that!

You still use your dominant eye. For pistols, a trick that helps me is canting the top of the pistol over to the right about 45 degrees. Doing that aligns the sights/red dot with my dominant eye quickly and naturally.

 

[Blaster229]

View attachment 393338
Yup. It's a pretty solid holster. It needs a wedge or claw to pull the handle in though. It conceals for me better if I wear it on my right side with the clip outside of my front belt loop. If it's more centered, the handle sticks out at the baseplate. It also has some side to side teeter tottering to it, as that one clip is pretty narrow. You can get it to ride pretty low though, which I like, and it plays well with optics.

It's fast on and fast off, while still staying secure. Unlike the mission first minimalist holster, I've never yanked up on the gun and had the holster come with it. With that other one, you've got to be very careful putting it on to get the clip to engage with your belt.

I've moved on to the bravo concealment torsion. It's more comfortable, stable, and conceals better. It's also about 35-40 bucks. They make wrong-handed torsion, but only for g19s.

You might want to upgrade that plastic clip with a large Ulticlip. Those things are amazing.
I love how thin these are. Damn near perfect. My issue was the plastic disks with the teeth were stripping.
I really didn't care because the pistol kept it's cant for the most part.

 

[outrider58]

You still use your dominant eye. For pistols, a trick that helps me is canting the top of the pistol over to the right about 45 degrees. Doing that aligns the sights/red dot with my dominant eye quickly and naturally.

This^^^

 

[Bountied]

There aren't many places

This^^^

I prefer the Bmore 90 degree tilt. Break yoself fool!

 

[joppaj]

For amusement value I tried this last evening, drawing left handed. It went poorly. Appendix carry cross draw was smoother but damn that's an uncomfortable way to carry.