Learning to shoot left-handed
Hey everyone,
This weekend I took FAS-2 left handed -- even though I am ordinarily a right handed shooter. I've taken the class before, but this time I took it with a left handed holster and my mag pouches on the right.
You're probably thinking the same thing I did when the idea was first suggested to me: Why bother?
I bothered because I want to get an instructor's credential, and so I will need to be able to demonstrate the techniques well for both right and left handed shooters. But I really didn't think it would be very worthwhile otherwise.
I was wrong. Taking the class as a lefty turned out to be very instructional and very, very worthwhile.
Because I learned to shoot at a school I never really had a chance to build up several years' worth of bad habits. Nevertheless, a few (ahem...) habits have crept in over the almost four years I've been shooting. Not just bad habits, but habits in general -- ways I do things, shortcuts I habitually take, thought patterns that have become ingrained. Some of those are good, some are bad, some are neither good nor bad but just are.
Taking a basic class as a lefty enabled me to really look at all of the things I've been doing, from the ground up, and gave me a good chance to evaluate what is, and is not, working well for me. After doing things one way for so long, my muscles habitually do things that way. So unless it's a truly radical improvement, I can't easily see whether a change of technique might speed me up or improve my accuracy in the long run. 'Muscle memory' is in the way.
As a lefty, I had to build my shooting techniques over again. I spent the whole weekend asking myself things like (on the drawstroke), 'Where do my hands meet? Am I swooping or bouncing or bowling, or do I just thrust my hands straight out with no lateral motion?' or (on the reload) 'Where's the best spot on my belt to put the mag pouches? What should my hand position be when I pull out a mag?' These questions really helped me get a fresh perspective on things I've been doing for years.
The class showed me a few changes I may need to make in my shooting technique. I'm not talking about major changes. I'm talking about minor tweaks here and there -- a slightly different grip on my handgun, the exact hand motions I make during a slide release, that kind of thing. I'm not being very specific, partly because it is hard to put kinesthetic learning into words. But I'm sure that my right handed shooting is going to be faster and more accurate as a result of learning to shoot as a lefty.
The other important thing the class did for me was help me sort out some of my eye-dominance difficulties. For the first time ever, I'm feeling somewhat happy about the way my eyes work when I am shooting.
The thing is, I don't really have a dominant eye. My eye dominance changes from one day to the next, depending upon a whole bunch of variables that I've never really sorted out. After years of trying, I can tell you with complete assurance that I absolutely can not shoot with both eyes open, and never will be able to do so. For a long time, I've regarded this as a liability, a handicap, something to "overcome."
This weekend, I discovered that I can simply switch eyes at will. From behind left-side barricade, I can shoot left handed and left eyed. From behind right-side barricade, I shoot right handed and right eyed. When I shoot one hand only, right handed, I shoot right eyed. And when I shoot one hand only, left hand, I use my left eye. Rather than thinking of my very mixed dominance as a bad thing, I've come to see it as the gift it really is -- if I can train myself to use it instinctively, that is.
All in all, I learned a bunch of stuff I didn't expect to learn and was encouraged where I never expected to find encouragement.
It was a good weekend.
pax
Nothing is so ignorant as a man's left hand, except a lady's watch. -- Mark Twain
Hey everyone,
This weekend I took FAS-2 left handed -- even though I am ordinarily a right handed shooter. I've taken the class before, but this time I took it with a left handed holster and my mag pouches on the right.
You're probably thinking the same thing I did when the idea was first suggested to me: Why bother?
I bothered because I want to get an instructor's credential, and so I will need to be able to demonstrate the techniques well for both right and left handed shooters. But I really didn't think it would be very worthwhile otherwise.
I was wrong. Taking the class as a lefty turned out to be very instructional and very, very worthwhile.
Because I learned to shoot at a school I never really had a chance to build up several years' worth of bad habits. Nevertheless, a few (ahem...) habits have crept in over the almost four years I've been shooting. Not just bad habits, but habits in general -- ways I do things, shortcuts I habitually take, thought patterns that have become ingrained. Some of those are good, some are bad, some are neither good nor bad but just are.
Taking a basic class as a lefty enabled me to really look at all of the things I've been doing, from the ground up, and gave me a good chance to evaluate what is, and is not, working well for me. After doing things one way for so long, my muscles habitually do things that way. So unless it's a truly radical improvement, I can't easily see whether a change of technique might speed me up or improve my accuracy in the long run. 'Muscle memory' is in the way.
As a lefty, I had to build my shooting techniques over again. I spent the whole weekend asking myself things like (on the drawstroke), 'Where do my hands meet? Am I swooping or bouncing or bowling, or do I just thrust my hands straight out with no lateral motion?' or (on the reload) 'Where's the best spot on my belt to put the mag pouches? What should my hand position be when I pull out a mag?' These questions really helped me get a fresh perspective on things I've been doing for years.
The class showed me a few changes I may need to make in my shooting technique. I'm not talking about major changes. I'm talking about minor tweaks here and there -- a slightly different grip on my handgun, the exact hand motions I make during a slide release, that kind of thing. I'm not being very specific, partly because it is hard to put kinesthetic learning into words. But I'm sure that my right handed shooting is going to be faster and more accurate as a result of learning to shoot as a lefty.
The other important thing the class did for me was help me sort out some of my eye-dominance difficulties. For the first time ever, I'm feeling somewhat happy about the way my eyes work when I am shooting.
The thing is, I don't really have a dominant eye. My eye dominance changes from one day to the next, depending upon a whole bunch of variables that I've never really sorted out. After years of trying, I can tell you with complete assurance that I absolutely can not shoot with both eyes open, and never will be able to do so. For a long time, I've regarded this as a liability, a handicap, something to "overcome."
This weekend, I discovered that I can simply switch eyes at will. From behind left-side barricade, I can shoot left handed and left eyed. From behind right-side barricade, I shoot right handed and right eyed. When I shoot one hand only, right handed, I shoot right eyed. And when I shoot one hand only, left hand, I use my left eye. Rather than thinking of my very mixed dominance as a bad thing, I've come to see it as the gift it really is -- if I can train myself to use it instinctively, that is.
All in all, I learned a bunch of stuff I didn't expect to learn and was encouraged where I never expected to find encouragement.
It was a good weekend.
pax
Nothing is so ignorant as a man's left hand, except a lady's watch. -- Mark Twain
