For the late crowd Practice Tip Twenty Nine Developing support hand skills, Handgun Confidence with the support hand is one of the hardest skills to develop because people simply don’t invest the time to develop it. Either handgun or rifle, the support hand should have the same level of proficiency as the primary hand for the operation of the weapon. When it comes to building this skill, there are two hurdles that have to be addressed; support hand strength/articulation and eye dominance. I have touched on this topic a few times before when addressing other techniques, but I felt like a dedicated tip would be helpful for those that want to improve or develop support hand skills. Ideally, any serious shooter should work towards being an ambidextrous shooter. This isn’t a skill reserved for those who carry a weapon occupationally or those who serve on a specialized unit, it’s a skill I believe that each and every shooter who carries a weapon for self-defense should develop and maintain. I don’t consider ambidextrous shooting a luxury; rather I see it as a necessity. Once a solid foundation with your primary (favored) hand has been developed, attention should be given each time you practice (especially during dry fire) to eliminate unfamiliarity while using your support hand and build a mirror skill set. Why is this important? Aside from learning to use your support hand to operate the weapon in the event of a primary hand/arm injury, support hand proficiency once it is developed, allows the shooter to transition the weapon from one side to the other to confront situations in which such a transition is highly beneficial. The most common of these situations is in the use of cover/concealment. It is “tactically” correct to transition the weapon to the leading side of the body when using cover/concealment. Which means that if a cover object has a right side exposure, you can maximize the amount of cover between you and your threat while still using your weapon, whereas using your left hand on a right side exposure would force you to expose more of your body during weapon use (and the opposite is true as well for a left side exposure/right hand primary). With free standing objects that have exposures on either side (a mail box, concrete bollard, jersey barrier, furniture, etc.) the ability to shoot proficiently with both hands means that you can more effectively use both sides of your cover object. In the event of a highly violent and extended use of force, this skill allows you to constantly change your point of exposure to keep your threat guessing. These benefits, along with the already mentioned benefit of having support hand proficiency in the event of an injury, should make support hand skills highly appealing. Then, as with many things, you have to ask yourself, what is gained by NOT developing at least a basic proficiency? Nothing. The first thing that should be addressed is a proper grip with the handgun, establish your proper grip, paying special attention to your hand placement and how your support hand meets with your primary hand. Now transition the handgun from your primary to your support hand (the best technique to do this is to release support hand pressure while sliding the primary hand low on the backstrap to open up a gap between your primary hand and the rear frame, you can now slide your support hand over your primary hand and establish a shooting grip as your primary hand becomes the support hand). Now that you have switched primary hands, carefully assume your shooting grip. For most people this is going to feel awkward or even alien to begin, which is common because so many people are one hand dependent and their other hand tends to just be along for the ride with everyday tasks. With careful attention you can assume a proper grip, though it is likely to be lost and take conscious though to require when you remove your support (which used to be your primary) hand from the weapon. Fear not, for there is an easy practice guide for this; a marker and a practice partner. When you have assumed your grip and are confident that you are holding the weapon in a “mirror” of the grip you usually use, have your practice partner draw a thick line just behind the thumbs from your primary to your support hand. Now all you need to do when practicing transitions is line up those two lines and you have the frame of your proper grip. After a few hundred repetitions you wont need the lines anymore and after a few hundred more, you wont even think about it. It may never feel as “natural” as using your “_____handed hand, but you will have grip proficiency. Next comes a real treat or a pain in the ass depending on which hand you are naturally dominant with. As the majority of readers a likely to be right handed, you will be transitioning the weapon to your left hand and depending on your handgun, life just got a little more difficult. The handgun controls are not mirrored (either totally, or partially) on a number of popular makes such as the Glock, Sig or XD (XDM), though they can be had with other makes such as H&K, S&W M&P (optional features) or FN pistols (certain models). Because the controls are not mirrored, there are two vitally important tasks that must now be performed in a different way. Magazine release and slide release. For the Magazine release you have two options; operate with your trigger finger or with the thumb of your support hand. Of the two, I would recommend using your trigger (index) finger as it requires less gross movement of the weapon and frees your support hand sooner to access another magazine. Of course you can always transition the weapon back to your natural hand to perform a reload, though keep in mind that you could find yourself in a situation where there isn’t time for this. Using your index finger, you can either press the release with the digital tip or use the inside of the finger (which tends to require a bit more hand strength). For operating the slide release you again have two options; support hand thumb or slide rack. Using the support hand thumb means coming around and on top of your shooting hand after performing a reload to hit the release, which requires a bit of practice to develop proficiency. The other method is to simply grip the rear of the slide from the top (or you can turn the weapon inwards as you grip it for more solid control), pull fully to the rear and release. All things being equal (and they rarely are) racking the slide is going to be faster in this circumstance. For those who are naturally left handed and have transitioned the handgun to their right, life just got a little easier depending on the model of weapon you are using. As most of the controls are intended for right handed shooters, you can operate the magazine release and the slide release with your thumb is you so choose. Of course there may be a learning curve here as you have learned to work around the existing controls and may now be using them in the manner they are intended for the first time. The physical act of reloading the weapon can be cumbersome depending on where you normally carry your spare magazines and in which way you carry them in their pouch. For most shooters, the magazines will be on the same side as the handgun when transitioned to the support hand. Reloading will require reaching across the body and indexing the magazine in a manner as close as possible to the way you normally grip during a reload. Practice is required. For this and other reloading practice, I have taken one magazine and removed the spring and follower so the weapon can be operated from slide lock on an empty magazine as it would operate when loading live ammunition. This is a serious time saver over using dummy rounds for strict reload practice. Eye Dominance. Eye dominance is an issue that cannot truly be overcome without considerable practice for many shooters and there are not many tricks that can be used to allow binocular dominance (both eyes able to function as the dominant eye depending on which side of the body the weapon is on). If you do not shoot with both eyes open, you need to start now. Not only does this aid in reducing eye dominance issues, it also provides depth perception, a wider field of vision and will make it much easier to track and transition to additional threats/targets. Keep in mind that eye dominance is natural and can’t be corrected, but it can be adapted to shooting and the best way to do that is to develop the habit of shooting with both eyes open and front sight focus. If you are using a bladed-body stance, I would recommended getting away from it (as its highly unlikely you will use said stance in an actual use of force) and focus on a natural, squared stance that will put the weapon close to centerline of the body which aids in sight focus with eye dominance issues. Again, practice is needed and it the only method to develop proficiency. Practice As always when we want to develop a new skill or hone an existing one, dry fire is the best (and most inexpensive) place to start. To combine a few different techniques, I would recommend working from the holster at a deliberate speed and then practice making the handoff from primary to support with the proper grip until you can perform the switch without difficulty. Once you have reached this point (which can take some time), you can begin to focus on trigger control and sight alignment/sight picture. Trigger control for the most part should not be a significant issue with dry fire and your actual finger placement on the trigger is likely going to be a mirror of your normal finger placement with your dominant hand. One aspect of trigger control that will take time to develop is proper trigger reset and developing speed, but that will come in time. Sight alignment and sight picture can be difficult if you have a severe eye dominance issue. Common problems include being slow to pick up the sights, slow to make an alignment or seeing double vision. No matter the complication, avoid the urge to close one eye. Instead, isolate the sights for practice by moving the weapon in and out of full extension, picking the sights up each time you press out. Your point of aim should start large and work towards a smaller and smaller point of aim as you become more comfortable with SA/SP using your support hand. I am an ambidextrous shooter and have been for perhaps 10 years, though even with 10 years of experience, I am still somewhat slower on my support side with the handgun than I am with my dominant hand. This does not mean you will have this problem, but it does provide a frame of reference in the event that you do, that you might not be able to truly work the weapon as fast with your support side in relation to SA/SP or even trigger press. When you are “comfortable” with your ability to consistently pick up the sights and perform correct trigger press/reset, it’s time to move on to reloading and then malfunction drills. Reloading has already been addressed so I won’t write to much more on it, though I think it’s worth mentioning that proper reloading practice includes the physical act of dropping an empty magazine and inserting a fresh one, or “tactically” reloading a partially expended magazine with the intention of retaining it for possible future use. Basically you want to practice reloads here as you would normally. For malfunction drills we have immediate and remedial action. Immediate action in the event of a failure to fire is tap the magazine up into the weapon to ensure it is seated, rack the slide to chamber a round and then press back out to reassess your threat. As you practice this (on a target) alternate between firing after the tap-rack and not firing to keep you from developing a habit that favors either. Using your imagination a bit for shoot/don’t shoot drills here is wise. Next we have remedial action, which is the technique we use to clear a double feed. Lock the slide to the rear, strip the magazine, rack the slide, reload, rack the slide again and reassess our threat. This is a subjectively slow process no matter what, and is likely to be slower still with your support hand but it may save your life someday so I would advise taking it seriously. Work through the malfunction drills with precision in mind and build speed as it comes naturally. Our last dry fire practice for the isolation of this skill is the primary reason we want the skill, and that is use of cover/concealment. Using as many objects/doorways/corners as you can, especially inside your own home, practice hand transitions in conjunction with proper use of cover, working from standing and kneeling positions. Speed and efficiency of movement is the goal. When you are confident with your abilities, take it to the range. My advice is to use a range where you can place two targets side-by-side to begin with and work through 50 rounds of slow fire at 5-7 yards. A few rounds with your dominant hand, transition and a few rounds with your support hand on the other target. Focus on your fundamentals and not your shot groups, they will still be there when you have finished. When you do finish, you now have a clear picture of your accuracy from both sides of your body. Two more targets, 10-15 yards and run the drill again. With sufficient practice and proper fundamentals, there should be little difference between a slow fire group at 5 yards and one at 15. Introduce speed when you are ready, using one target. Your goal is mirrored accuracy and then speed, which should be kept in mind at all times because you cannot miss fast enough to catch up. When you are comfortable with the transition and have developed the unconsciously competent ability to perform it, work with cover and begin confronting multiple threats as your range will allow. The more realistic, the better. You now have developed a new tool to solve problems faced in other drills and other practice routines that you may have not considered before and I think you will find that you will be more efficient in confronting threats in realistic settings than you were before. You have two hands, you need to be proficient with both. Train accordingly. A. Cowan
Posted on: Thu, 26 Sep 2013 22:00:00 +0000
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