Is there a one handed shooting stance where you cross one arm?

The Exile said:

I thought I saw this in a movie once but when I googled it I was seeing photos of people demonstrating this stance where you shoot a pistol one handed, and with your other hand you kind of keep it close hugged to your chest with you forearm close to your shoulder and your elbow pointing towards your hip. Is there a reason to do this instead of stabilizing with both hands?

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So you can practice shooting one-handed from an isosceles stance without the possibility of shooting your other hand if you start getting sloppy.

Training for combat shooting one handed using the free arm for chest protection.

A fair reference with good info and not too much of a prejudice.
https://outdoorempire.com/pistol-shooting-stances/

I recall Ross Siefred gripping the wrist of his gun hand with the off hand. This caused the heavy recoiling revolver to go across his body rather than straight back.

The Exile said:

Is there a reason to do this instead of stabilizing with both hands?

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Sounds like one of the old European one-hand shooting stances.
Mostly used as a way to "do something" with the free hand while shooting.
In the US, the arm was sometimes put behind the back; sometimes on the hip.
There was an Army style where you put the off hand over your belt buckle.
These are probably all outgrowths of old fencing styles, which were often formalized for style rather than practicality.

I want to remember that in the WWII era there was a "combat" style where one "squared up" to the target while crouched halfway down the and the "off" arm was curved in front of you to "balance" the shooting arm.

We really did not see two-handing handgun shooting become the norm until the 60s, then it was a constant argument over which one was "best" and how any who disagreed with you was an ebil, rotten, nogoodnik whut stole candies frum babbies, and hated all Things Good.

RON in PA said:

Training for combat shooting one handed using the free arm for chest protection.

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That's the story I heard from my pop who was a cop in the 1950s.

CapnMac said:

Sounds like one of the old European one-hand shooting stances.
Mostly used as a way to "do something" with the free hand while shooting.
In the US, the arm was sometimes put behind the back; sometimes on the hip.
There was an Army style where you put the off hand over your belt buckle.
These are probably all outgrowths of old fencing styles, which were often formalized for style rather than practicality.

I want to remember that in the WWII era there was a "combat" style where one "squared up" to the target while crouched halfway down the and the "off" arm was curved in front of you to "balance" the shooting arm.

We really did not see two-handing handgun shooting become the norm until the 60s, then it was a constant argument over which one was "best" and how any who disagreed with you was an ebil, rotten, nogoodnik whut stole candies frum babbies, and hated all Things Good.

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You need one hand for your pistol, one hand for your saber, and teeth to grip the reins

CapnMac said:

In the US, the arm was sometimes put behind the back; sometimes on the hip.
There was an Army style where you put the off hand over your belt buckle.
These are probably all outgrowths of old fencing styles, which were often formalized for style rather than practicality.

Click to expand...

I think you may be conflating target styles with combat styles of shooting. In target shooting, placing the off-hand behind the back - some shooters preferred to loop the belt while others put their hands in parade rest position - helps balance the shooter on both feet for long periods. Not a lot of stick-n-jig in target shooting. Then again, that style harkens back to a day when folks owned guns for something other than urban combat.

I don’t know what it’s called but I shoot from a sitting position. Knees up and leaned back a bit. Gun in right hand with arm crossing my body to be in line with my eyes for sighting. Left elbow bent and left hand gripping my right wrist. It firms up my stance when shooting for distance with the contender or one of my bigger revolvers. If you need me to, I can try to take a picture.

GeoDudeFlorida said:

I think you may be conflating target styles with combat styles of shooting.

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Well, until the 50s, barring a few places like Shanghai PD, formal target shoots was 'combat' shooting.
There was some "cup & saucer" revolver shooting in the ancient days of PPC.
Army WWII training for "combat" shooting with pistols was all one-handed, "reflex" shooting, often eschewing using the sights at all.

OP was asking about photos of shooting, without specifying a particular way of shooting, so, that was what I was trying to address.

Combat shooting is relatively modern (ok, close to four decades old now) in terms of being two-handed deliberately aimed fire using sights. The advantages of supported shooting are just too obvious to ignore.

Which did not stop various gunwriters from trashing each other in flames wares using barrels of ink in the 70s & 80s for publishing their heresies.

CapnMac said:

Well, until the 50s, barring a few places like Shanghai PD, formal target shoots was 'combat' shooting.
There was some "cup & saucer" revolver shooting in the ancient days of PPC.
Army WWII training for "combat" shooting with pistols was all one-handed, "reflex" shooting, often eschewing using the sights at all.

OP was asking about photos of shooting, without specifying a particular way of shooting, so, that was what I was trying to address.

Combat shooting is relatively modern (ok, close to four decades old now) in terms of being two-handed deliberately aimed fire using sights. The advantages of supported shooting are just too obvious to ignore.

Which did not stop various gunwriters from trashing each other in flames wares using barrels of ink in the 70s & 80s for publishing their heresies.

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The 70's was FIVE decades ago.

I know, time crept on me, too.

I remember in the late 60's seeing police training with a version of the Weaver stance. Deputy Jack came out with that style around 1959. As a kid in a formal NRA shooting club, around 1970-something, I was taught the formal "blade" stance - off-hand down and slightly out, or at parade rest; shooting foot forward, squared; off-hand foot back, turned slightly; shooting arm extended, etc. etc. - and a modified version of Weaver that was more attuned to a kid's physical limitations "for small-game hunting."

I think the OP was asking specifically about that "Power Point Stance" as seen in the movies and on TV. Here and I thought Power Point was an application published by Micro$oft... Anyways, that article I posted explains all about it.

Your post made me think of this old comic book I had...

The first LE training I got in the late 60’s, early 70’s was facing target, step to the left and go into a crouch, weak hand fist over heart.

Later, bladed towards target, two handed Weaver stance.

Still later, facing target, two hand supported.

I remember seeing a photo of an FBI instructor demonstrating a combat shooting stance with the weak hand across the heart. I’m sure that predated Kevlar and Jeff Cooper.

I was shooting IPSC matches when I became a LEO in the early 80s. Department training and qualification was years behind. Low power ammo and timed fire.

My one-handed shooting stance is a bladed stance with my offside hand tucked into my back pocket. That keeps it out of the way and also helps to balance weight distribution.

GeoDudeFlorida said:

A fair reference with good info and not too much of a prejudice.
https://outdoorempire.com/pistol-shooting-stances/

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Thanks for that link. Interesting reading. Think I will give Power Isosceles a try.

[QUOTE="Speedo66, post: 12009249, member: 70131"

]The first LE training I got in the late 60’s, early 70’s was facing target, step to the left and go into a crouch, weak hand fist over heart………
……..
……..….[/QUOTE]


^^^
This right here is the answer to the OP’s question.

As Speedo66 said, it was the combat teaching of the day.

It sounds to me that you saw a video demonstrating the Canter Axis Relock gunfighting system commonly referred to as CAR. I employ it for self defense. It is mostly aimed at use in CQB. The arms are never fully extended. Instead they use the arm-against-torso for stability in two of the shooting positions. The third is for a longer range shot but it still does not extend the arms fully. It us. Much more than a stance. It is a gunfighting system. I trained in it a decade ago because I have both shoulders with inoperable rotator cuff injuries that muskrat holding my arms outstretched with any stability a nightmare.

An inaccurate glimpse of it is a John Wick movie. The star, K. Reeves, took some of that training preparing d=for the film. The movie really departs from the pure system to create the spectacular.

Another reason I like CAR is that I am right hand and left eye dominant and the CAR. System calls fit cross dominant aiming. So after many hours of I now think of myself as a trained gunfighter. Not a stance target shooter.

https://www.shootingillustrated.com/articles/2016/4/5/top-five-shooting-stances/



While we don’t train this “power point” stance as referenced in this article, we will occasionally train to grab at our vest with the free hand if there is a chance we may shoot it under duress. This is most often in a wounded arm/hand drill where the weak hand is now doing the work one handed, simulating an incapacitated strong hand/arm.

Stay safe.