when did you oldsters start using 2 hands?

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Gordon

Gordon

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When did you old timers out there(like me) first think of shooting with two hands? How did you do it? I was TRAINED to shoot one handed by bulleye shooters, then in service. I started using 2 hands in first PPC type shoots at barricade I think in 1970, and then got into Cooper's technique (Jack Weaver's) soon after. I remember using 2 hands on XP-100 when it first came out.
 
In Bullseye shooting as you say it is one hand. I always shot defensively with two hands. In Bullseye I shoot the rimfire season and the centerfire with a .32. You really don't need two hands with either of those rounds.

When you move up in caliber it makes sense to use two hands. You have better control of the gun! Important consideration when shooting defensively.
 
I guess mid 50's makes me an ole timer.!!

My first competitive shooting was 22 rifle and then 22 pistol .. all precision stuff so one hand. In about 1980 joined a center fire club and got quickly into the 2 handed, Weaver etc .. and shot competition for many years. It has left me with a very pleasant ''natural'' feel when I pick up a handgun .... never any fumbling ... the grip just ''comes'' ..... and then when needed, because of compo's with ''strong hand'', ''weak hand'' ...... still find single handed no great struggle. Never as easy of course ... but sure am glad for all those years of very active shooting that have ''imprinted'' so much.

Still practice plenty when I can but ....... the instincts are there.
 
You know, when I watch the old WWII training films on how to to shot the M1911A1, they all do it one handed. When did two hand shooting come around?
 
Now come on guys, besides Fairbairn OSS training in WW2, I don't think anybody shot 2 handed. It was cheating , ungentlemanly and your gun wouldn't group worth a damn with 2 hands. Only a woman might assist her self on a new service ect, then it was thought to help pull trigger. Jack Weaver started using technique at South West pistol League around 1960. I would like documentation of wide spread use or even one notable example before that. In 1963 military taught one handed shooting of 1911, I know. What I am getting at (Custer aside?) for almost three hundred years nobody thought of using 2 hands.
 
I still use one hand when shooting. Many things can happen that will make using two hands impossible. Knowing how to shoot with only one hand should be known before that.
 
There is a picture in one of Fitz's books called

" SHOOTING " that shows as fine a weaver stance as you ever saw. Published in 1927 if memory serves.
We have seen far older pictures going back to the Civil War with C+B sixguns showing the same thing.
Keith was taught to shoot by old Civil War veterans and was taught to use two hands; IT'S IN HIS BOOKS, GUYS.
 
etc........

Weaver started it. Best advice learn strong hand, weak hand, both hands, standing, crouching, on your back, stomach, rolling around, handstands....... what ever get used to shooting from all angles. As said earlier, you never know what your condition will be but statistically it is within 3 feet, so you don't have to be a sharpshooter.
 
When I learned the right way ......

Took my first personal defense course.... The instructor could make a 1911 dance and sing. He taught me what I was doing wrong (even when I tried two hands.) Now I assist him a couple of times a year. It was a remarkable breakthrough for me. Took me from a fair shot to a good one (until I can match Greg Williams, I'll never say I'm an excelent shot) I also doubt that I ever will.
 
Wil Terry; thank you. I'll have to go back and read Keith's books, I haven't in 15 years. I don't have a book by Fitz , I quess it's out of print I DO have a "Fitz Special " New Service. I think the cut away trigger guard is hokey and dangerous, it ruins a wonderful gun IMHO. I personally and my father and his father were pistol target shooters and never heard of two handed use, in or out of Wars ect. but live and learn;thats why I started thread.:)
 
My father served in WWII and was a VA State Trooper. I was born in 1950 and when he taught me to shoot in the 50s it was with 2 hands.

Didn't know it was unusual.

When I started playing organized baseball in the mid-50s the outfield coaches always said "TWO HANDS FOR BEGINNERS!"

One of them always said "GOD GAVE YOU TWO HANDS. USE THEM!"

Made sense then. Makes sense now.

John
 
My first firearm in '62 (born in'55). Attended NG drill with dad and Gunny used two hands. I had to being a kid and using a Gov't 45. But I recall him teaching a 2 handed hold--being a brat I wanted to do what the guys were doing.
I vaguely recall him talking about the military changing, don't know year.
 
I still do a little of both. Something like 80% 2 handed. I guess you do what you were taught until you find out what works best for you. More than 30 years ago when first introduced to handguns, my teachers shot mostly 2 handed and it has always worked better for me. I of course shoot all of my magnum hunting rifles, one handed from the hip! ;) Saves on shooting sticks, getting dirty in a prone position and the like. I don't know why, but it seems less and less friends like to hunt with me.:D Or, is it that I have less and less hunting friends left??
 
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