POLL: Support hand use:

[mettle]

Do you train with your reaction/support hand; with your sidearm, primary weapon?

I've learned how much lately that I NEED to...







NOTE: Please disregard the misspelled title of the poll, I was not able to edit/fix it.

 

[shooter521]

Does one need to? Absolutely. Do I? Yes, but not as much as I should.

I have friends who own mirror-image sets of their everyday carry gear, and make a point of going to the range and doing a "support side day" once a month. I've always admired their dedication; that kind of training would come in real handy if you ever injured your dominant hand/arm.

 

[ATF Consumer]

Question is...if your primary hand is disabled and your handgun is in it's holster, can you easily access it with your other hand? I can, as I carry between 4 & 5 o'clock and it is quite easy to reach behind my back to gain access to my Glock, which makes it already positioned correctly in my hand...ready to fire.

 

[shooter521]

Question is...if your primary hand is disabled and your handgun is in it's holster, can you easily access it with your other hand?

Maybe, but I can get to my BUG faster.

 

[yogiboobooranger]

I am like GunHand, I carry the same way and can reach behind me to get the gun with my left hand if needed. On many occassions though, I carry a pocket gun (BUG) and can get to that as well (Carried non dominant side!).

 

[mightymauser]

i recently just started shooting with my non-dominant hand, its a lot harder than you would think. just lining up the sights when your dominant eye and hand are opposite takes a lot of getting used to.

 

[GPD177]

Definately train with the support hand, your life may depend on it. +1 on drawing form the support hand hand out of your holster. I cant do it (because of the retention devices on my duty holster) So you have two options 1) carry a BUG or 2) grap your belt buckle with the weak hand and then forcefully yank the buckle around your waist so that the holster moves closer to the center (front) of the body. Much easier to get the weapon then.

 

[shooter521]

i recently just started shooting with my non-dominant hand, its a lot harder than you would think. just lining up the sights when your dominant eye and hand are opposite takes a lot of getting used to.

Practice, practice, practice. Before you know it, you'll be shooting on the move, on multiple targets, support-side hand only. Though I had done quite a bit of support-side shooting over the years, I had never "put it all together" prior to Thursday's class. It was quite challenging, but I did well. BIG confidence booster.

 

[mettle]

Practice, practice, practice. Before you know it, you'll be shooting on the move, on multiple targets, support-side hand only. Though I had done quite a bit of support-side shooting over the years, I had never "put it all together" prior to Thursday's class. It was quite challenging, but I did well. BIG confidence booster.

How do you convince the wife and kids that you need to go to some much training?? I need your 'spin' on it!! I am approaching from the wrong angle I guess.

 

[shooter521]

How do you convince the wife and kids that you need to go to so much training?? I need your 'spin' on it!!

No "spin" - the wife and I each have our own hobbies/addictions and we both work second jobs to support them, so it's never a case of "I can either go train, or we can buy groceries". We also keep a family calendar, and whoever reserves a date first gets it - this course had been paid for and on the books since January; no way I was going to miss it. The Boone County courses make life easier due to their proximity (the range is about 20 minutes from the house) - I can still be home every night to take care of chores and parental duties and give Lori a break.

Finally, it also helps that I married a "keeper" to begin with.








Failing all that, have you tried bribing her with money or gifts?

 

[dburkhead]

I see the poll is closed (haven't been around much lately). When I train with my handguns, I go all four ways: two handed with right on the trigger and left for support, two handed with left on the trigger and right for support, one handed right, and one handed left. Also practice drawing with either hand from both of the holsters I use.

You never know what you might be faced with in a crisis.

 

[MontereyC6]

Interesting enough, my now support hand is the hand I use to shoot with in my teens and early 20's. I'm a lefty, but right eye dominant. Luckily, I'm pretty ambidextrous so it didn't take a whole to learn to shoot right handed as my primary. Now, some 15+ years later shooting right handed feels very natural. When doing weak side I just have to make sure I pull the gun enough to the right that my right eye is dead on.

 

[obijohn]

support side training is a very good thing. you'll find that when you begin to get your support side in the mix, you'll spend a lot of time doing so. that's good, you need that side to catch up. once there, however, spending much more than 10% of your training time on the support hand is too much.