About practice, pardon while I crow a little.

[ZeSpectre]

Not too long ago I got to thinking about "disabled" practice and what I'd do if I absolutely couldn't use one hand. With that in mind I started practicing two distinct types of drill.

(Note, all of this is done under very controled safety conditions and with bright orange snap caps). Gun used has been either an XD-40 or a MilPro PT-140.

I start with an empty magazine in gun, slide locked back (simulating a shot-empty gun) and my "dead" hand shoved in my pocket so I can't cheat.

Drill One - I kneel down, legs together, heels pointed up and release the mag. I wedge the gun between my legs (upside down and pointed away) and insert new magazine. I then use the rear sight against my upturned shoe heel to rack the slide and I'm back in action.

Drill Two - I kneel down, legs together, heels pointed up and release the mag into my lap. I wedge the gun between my legs (upside down and pointed away). I reload the empty magazine (single handed) and when done re insert magazine into gun. I then use the rear sight against my upturned shoe heel to rack the slide and I'm back in action.

Drill Three - I kneel down, legs together, heels pointed up and release the mag into my lap. I wedge the gun between my legs (upside down and pointed away). I load one round into the empty magazine, insert it into the gun, rack the slide to chamber that round, then drop the magazine again and wedge the gun safely in my legs again. I then load the rest of the rounds into the magazine and insert that magazine back into the gun.

Drill One presupposed I have another loaded magazine handy. Drill Two assumes I have no immediate threat but need to reload a magazine. Drill Three puts one live round in the gun in case I need that shot while I'm busy re-loading a magazine.

The "crowing" part comes from the fact that I can do Drill 2 in about 31 seconds for loading 5 rounds (I only have 5 snap caps) and Drill 3 in about 39 seconds and I can do it with EITHER hand! Yeah in a bad situation that is FOREVER, but loading an XD magazine single handed is a hell of a trick

 

[psyopspec]

Yeah in a bad situation that is FOREVER, but loading an XD magazine single handed is a hell of a trick

No doubt. Did you have a particular scenario in mind when you started practicing this drill?

I guess it never occurred to me since I keep as many loaded mags as I can for each handgun, and for one handed reloading I practice standing. Gun is clasped between the knees with the mag well pointing up, new mag in, use thumb to manipulate slide release and start blasting away again.

If I'm out of mags, but have loose rounds on me to reload them, I've either underprepared, overprepared, or as you say, it's a bad day.

 

[ZeSpectre]

Can't find the link again but I was reading about a soldier who pulled out a spare mag to reload, fumbled it, and when it hit the ground it pretty much ejected all of the rounds. He then had to stress-reload his unbroken magazine from the rounds on the ground. It just got me thinking of some fun variations to try.

I don't actually think that part 2 and 3 have any practical real-world application but you become intimately familiar with your magazines when you try to reload them single handed

 

[ArfinGreebly]

XD 40

The XD 40 mag is hard enough to load two-handed. Even with a "super thumb" I can't get round #12 in yet (very tight spring).

I'm sitting here trying to imagine doing a weak-handed load.

Man.

I am reminded of a (fictional) story describing a mortally wounded man reloading to hold off bad guys while his companion escapes.

That account made a point of how tough it is to manipulate magazines and weapon with hands made sticky and slippery by blood.

It is well within bounds to imagine that, if you are having to do everything one-handed, your scenario also involves blood.

It would be well to keep that hand out of the blood if at all possible.

One-handed is hard enough when the hand is clean and dry.​

 

[gezzer]

Why do you have to RACK the slide if it is locked back? Releasing the slide lock seems to be easier than racking to me. Why would you be carrying extra ammo NOT in Magazines? Your scenarios make no sense what ever to me.

Seems you need to check how you carry. No extra magazine is suicide as malfunction drills require a new magazine. When you carry a semi-auto you had better carry a spare magazine.

 

[LanEvo`]

I've done quite a bit of weak hand shooting over the years: I used to take part in PPC competitions, and weak hand shooting was part of the course of fire. It got me thinking of how important weak hand shooting might be in an actual self-defense scenario. Your dominant hand/arm could easily have been injured or trapped by an opponent.

As for reloading, I'm not sure I would rely 100% on dropping to my knees to manipulate my handgun. Seems to me like you'd be pretty vulnerable to attack. And you'd certainly be sacrificing mobility.

I know it violates the rules of safe gun handling, but stuffing the muzzle of the gun into your waistband or front pocket (especially with jeans) might be preferable.

As for dropping the slide, I find it very easy to use the tip of my left-hand index finger on the slide-stop. Nothing to it, really.

 

[ZeSpectre]

Why do you have to RACK the slide if it is locked back? Releasing the slide lock seems to be easier than racking to me. Why would you be carrying extra ammo NOT in Magazines? Your scenarios make no sense what ever to me.

Seems you need to check how you carry. No extra magazine is suicide as malfunction drills require a new magazine. When you carry a semi-auto you had better carry a spare magazine.

Gezzer,
As I said before, there is probably no practical real-world application for my drills, they were mostly an attempt to find something different to do (prevent boredom) while still practicing handling. And as I said, you become intimately familiar with a magazine if you try loading it single handed

As for why I rack the slide vs just releasing the lock... Because when you are left handed (or just using your left hand) the slide release lever on some guns is a royal PITA and I'd hate to be fumbling with that in a stress situation. Also I have some guns that don't have a release (CZ-52) and at least one that doesn't lock (P-3AT) so just training to slingshot covers everything.

Since I'm a lefty I almost never use the slide release and since I want my trained in responses to have some sort of consistency I have figured out a number of ways to rack (or slingshot) a slide single handed. I use the same methods for both my left and right single handed practice.
-On the heel of my shoe
-On the edge of a table or doorway
-On the back pocket of pants (this really only works with bluejeans, dress pants tend to tear...oops)

Tap-Rack-Bang is an INTERESTING drill when you do it with a "dead" hand!

 

[Pilgrim]

It is good that you are thinking about what to do when you find yourself with only one good hand/arm.

My department had been 'transitioned' to Smith & Wesson 5906s for two years when I became a firearms instructor. I announced via memo that the next range session would concentrate on shooting, reloading, and clearing malfunctions with one hand only. The resulting 'uproar' told me I had picked a good subject to address in training.

As I said before, there is probably no practical real-world application for my drills, they were mostly an attempt to find something different to do (prevent boredom) while still practicing handling.

Not really. In the 1986 Miami FBI gunfight which resulted in two FBI agents killed and several wounded, Special Agent Mireles was wounded early in the fight having taken a .223 round to his left forearm, disabling it. He ended the fight firing the Remington 870 shotgun five times. He fired the shotgun with one hand, cycling the action as he had learned on the firing range during training. Mireles then discarded his empty shotgun and continued the fight with his revolver. http://www.firearmstactical.com/briefs7.htm

Pilgrim

 

[whitetiger7654]

If you're in a gun fight and all your rounds hit the dirt. Depending on the situation. You don't grab the mag and reload 5 shots. You grab it and load 1 round and get at least one shot in the bad guy. That's a whole lot better than getting 4 rounds in the mag then shot to death.

You could even say forget the mag. Put the round in the chamber and drop the slide on it. You risk breaking an extractor but if your mag is in 3 pieces you don't have much of an option.

 

[Rattlesnake]

a family friend of mine is an instructor for the fed flight deck officer program, and has more LE and military shooting experience than I probably have time on this earth. anyway he took an advance instructor course under Clint Smith. On the first day of the course, Clint had a bunch of large empty soup cans with 550 cord loops in the bottom. He old everyone to put the fingers of their strong hand through the loops, "For the rest of the week you will do everything with these cans on your strong hand."

During our Officer Survival week, we did a session similar to what you did. Learned to draw wiht our weak hand, reload, shoot our rifles and shotguns one handed. Did Class 1,2,3 malfunctions while weak-handed.