Off hand shooting and carry

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So I broke my wrist... My right wrist, and I'm right handed.

I am completely caught off guard. I can't shoot with my dominant hand at all. Not to mention the fact that I have a brace on preventing me from holding a gun.

The point of this post is that I wish I had practiced more left hand shooting, and bought a left handed holster before this happened.

I suppose I could carry off body, but I have been going unarmed since this happened.

Don't let this happen to you!

Do you guys have off hand holsters? Are you confident enough to carry that way?
 
Order a weak-side OWB holster for your carry gun. Today.

While you wait for it, practice weak handed shooting dry. From the low ready. Transition to doing the full drawstroke dry when your holster arrives.

Also, practice weak-handed reloading and malfunction clearances.

When you get a chance, shoot some live rounds. Weak handed.



 
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Sounds like you have a bit of a project to work on while your dominant hand/arm heals up. It’s good to learn off handed shooting, I’m sure you will pick it up just fine.

I had a similar issue back around 2003, and had to learn how to live off-handed for quite a while. Necessity is a very good motivator. :thumbup:

Stay safe.
 
Very good reminder @American_Fusilier . Thank you. Sorry to hear about your hand. Been there done that.

Regardless of your dominant hand the loss of the use of either hand dramatically changes how you can shoot a handgun.

For practice try loading your gun one handed.
Ever load a magazine one handed? I tried, but didn’t succeed. Any suggestions?

Ever load a DA revolver one handed? The process changes dramatically one handed. It’s hard to practice shooting off hand without reloads.
You definitely need a bench top to hold the gun so you can fumble through loading and ejecting spent cases.
The easiest gun I found for shooting and reloading one handed is the single action revolver. Unloading can be interesting. Not endorsing a SA for SD. This was just a shooting practice process.
- To load and unload I laid the revolver on a cloth on the bench then literally rolled the cylinder by sliding the gun along the top of the bench to each chamber then inserted a round. For unloading I followed the same procedure but had to use my belly to stop the butt of the gun at the edge of the bench to eject the round.

Note: The concept of a reload under a dress situation sure is eye opening when you have a busted wing.

Of course having someone help you load and unload during practice is nice.
 
Not to nit-pick but off hand shooting is shooting with out a rest or support, what your asking about is weak hand shooting and weak side carry.

I don't practice weak hand enough but I do shoot a few rounds weak hand when at the range.
 
It's a good opportunity to improve the overall usefulness of your off hand, not just for shooting.

My dominant hand was out of action for a few months four or five years ago. Turns out that the occasional off-hand practice at the range for all of those years can come in "handy". :)

I can shoot my LCR and good k-frames reasonably well off-handed.

Civilian reloads during a shooting incident are mythical. Doing it with one hand while someone is actively trying to hurt you is just not going to happen.

Good luck. Let us know how it goes! :)
 
Some kydex IWB holsters are ambidextrous. The Blackhawk Stache and LAG Tactical Liberator are examples. You can move the belt clip from one side to the other. You may already have one, depending on the gun you want to carry.

I broke the wrist on my dominant hand many years ago. I learned to write, shoot and even hunt using my support hand.

Best wishes for a speedy, complete recovery!
 
So I broke my wrist... My right wrist, and I'm right handed.

I am completely caught off guard. I can't shoot with my dominant hand at all. Not to mention the fact that I have a brace on preventing me from holding a gun.

The point of this post is that I wish I had practiced more left hand shooting, and bought a left handed holster before this happened.

I suppose I could carry off body, but I have been going unarmed since this happened.

Don't let this happen to you!

Do you guys have off hand holsters? Are you confident enough to carry that way?
Teach your weak side to get stronger: throw a rock strong side, throw a rock weak side ( concentrate on how you throw that rock); keep that up until both processes are the same; do the same with dry practice with your handgun.

luck,

murf

ps you have to mimic the whole side from head to toe. "weak hand" is a bit of a misnomer.
 
We inherently don't like to practice things we are not good at. As a result, weak-hand shooting suffers.

I ran some drills on Saturday with both, strong and then weak hands. Consistently 30-40% slower with weak hand. I clearly have some work to do.

I think many of us only think of weak hand shooting in the context of injured in the fight. This is a good reminder that lots of circumstances that will result in us needing weak-hand skill.
 
Best wishes. Been there and done that. You can learn to do it! I took two gun classes one handed and did just fine. If shooting a semi left handed, learn to use forefinger for mag and slide release. Reload using holster to hold gun. Put a mag on the same side as the gun. Put empty gun in holster. Get mag, insert, release. You can rack on holster edge. Do it fast! Practice.
Good luck!
 
forgot about exercising to get the wrist stronger: do push-outs (feet two feet out from the wall, touch nose to wall, straighten arms, repeat a bunch).

luck,

murf
 
I switched to revolvers for CCW after a fall shattered my left forearm (as in two surgeries and a metal plate) 10 years ago.

LeftArmSurgery.jpg

I'm right handed, but I found that I couldn't manage the malf drills to my satisfaction one-handed during the two months my left hand was useless.

Since then I've practiced drawing with either hand -- I'm slow either way but I can do it now without fumbling.

YMMV
 
maybe you should ask @entropy how he learned.

luck,

murf

Well, "weak" hand in that I'm mostly left handed, except in writing, and initially in shooting. I grew up in an era where they didn't check for eye dominance, and left handedness was generally beaten out of those who were. Ironically, hockey was a sport that didn't seem to discriminate against left handedness, and I played both goalie and defenseman left handed.

When time came to learn to shoot a long gun, my Dad insisted I shoot right handed, so that's what I learned. It didn't matter as much for pistol, I could aim with either eye shooting from either hand, though the left eye was better shooting with either hand.

I eventually learned to shoot long guns off the left shoulder, though not as well wing shooting as off the right, simply because I don’t practice it as much.

I practice with my BUG, a Taurus TCP738, almost exclusively left handed, as I usually carry it on the left side.
 
The point of this post is that I wish I had practiced more left hand shooting, and bought a left handed holster before this happened.

It's never too late. A friend of mine lost most of his arm in a logging accident and he over came it well.


3 gun, dove hunting, uspsa/idpa, he even drove a truck with a manual transmission. Me and another friend of ours both competed using left hand gear over the years, from time to time. Even with a lot of practice it still took me down a notch.
 
Fusilier, how long will your strong side be out of commission? If more than a month ... well there's an "opportunity." As noted, dry fire, dry fire, oh, and dry fire. Quite often it's easier with a revolver because there's no slide to rack (with 1 off-hand?). After a the strong hand heals, you may find it is now slightly atrophied and having the same issue in reverse. Certainly hope not!

As to weak side holster ... if you were carrying IWB right side, move it over to left sided owb, maybe?

As you mention, after the fact is not the time to think about weak hand shooting, but it is what it is (hate that saying, sorry). I often like to finish a handgun range day with a few rounds of weak hand without a draw. But as you point out, if we're forced to shoot weak hand we ought to be forced to draw weak handed as well.

-jb, heal soon, learn ambidextrous sooner 😟
 
I am strongly "handed" to the point that the weak hand portion of Bianchi Cup competition essentially prevented my rise to high master.

Or, put another way, if my dominant hand is ever disabled in a gunfight I probably am going to die.

The rest of you should keep training, though.
 
I stroked out a few years ago, and was paralyzed on my strong side, and then still weakened on that side even after some recovery time.

I'm much better now, but soon after the event I ordered a left hand holster for my Ruger SP 101 with a 3" barrel. Just in case, I'll have at least a 5 shot revolver in play.
 
I have a right handed holster for my Glock 20. This is for carrying while carrying a rifle in my left hand (I'm a lefty). Plus many ambidextrous pocket holsters.

I don't think many of us practice as much as we would like to with our week hand. The bigger chore is one hand reloading....

A little 5 shot j frame is a good choice for a backup or when you need to change to weak hand.
 
Close to twenty years ago, when I had to sleep with splints on BOTH wrists, I did some experimenting, and found that I could successfully manipulate a single-action revolver, which was a very high-quality replica of the Colt Single Action Army, while wearing both of those splints. (Carpal Tunnel issues.) Something to think about, depending upon what your splint allows your right hand to do, and if you are able to experiment with a relevant revolver. I am not “recommending” a single-action revolver, for self-defense, but, depending upon the totality of the circumstances, one may do what seems to be the less-bad choice.

I did not start carrying until I became a police officer, at which time being able to shoot with either hand being the “primary” hand was simply being survival-minded. (At the time, private citizens could not generally carry, in Texas.) So, I worked on shooting right-handed AND left-handed, starting 40+ years ago. I mostly worked on shooting duty-sized handguns right-handed, and compact handguns left-handed. In 1983/984/1985, that meant medium- and large-frame revolvers right-handed, and J-Frame revolvers lefty. My ankle hosters, for S&W J-Frame revolvers, have always been more-or-less ambidextrous, reachable with eighter hand. It is difficult to remember exactly when I bought my first true left-hand everyday-carry-type concealable-carry belt holster, but it was certainly more than thirty years ago.

Notably, I chose to carry on my right side, because I throw with my right arm, but, I write left-handed. I am not truly ambidextrous, but, pulling a double-action trigger seemed to be something that was more-or-less equally achievable. So, in a way, I opted to carry with my “less-smart” hand, more than four decades ago, because drawing a hefty duty sixgun, from the then-mandated low-slung duty holster, was not unlike grabbing a three-pound hunk of metal, and tossing it under-handed.

In 2025, I typically start the day with a smll-frame revolver in my left front pocket. My right hand has multiple problems, and my right shoulder is not nearly what it once was. At age 22, when I started carrying, my left hand was my “smarter” hand, while my right arm was my “stronger” arm. Well, my right hand and arm are now gimpy, so my left upper appendage is both smarter and stronger. (This does not mean that I do not carry anything on my right side, but, I do not want to type a book, or distract from the main topic.)
 
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