Shooting offhand due to injury/surgery/whatever

I didnt think of this until now, but I'm waiting to get surgery on my right hand and thought "how am I going to carry with a bummed hand?" I can shoot offhand, albeit not very well one handed, but I can do it. I'll need to buy a lefty holster thats for sure, but has anyone else run into this problem or do you just forego carrying while recovering?

Always have a mirror holster available so you can carry on your weak side if necessary.

Next, if you find that you have eye dominance problems or need a two-handed survival shooting technique I have one that's simple.

Grip your pistol in a two-handed fashion in your weak hand. Rather than weaver or pull the firearm to your opposite eye, simply rotate at the wrists. You only need to rotate the pistol far enough to bring the sights in-line with your strong eye. Sight alignment fundamentals still apply, even if it's completely upside down. The slight rotation is enough to align the pistol with your eye, but not enough to give it the "what up dog" sideways look.

I've used this to help people with eye injuries and cross dominance issues at the same time to overcome their limitations and successfully shoot. It's now a technique that I suggest people learn. It's faster than trying to focus with the weak eye while having the brain say, "hey dummy, that's the wrong eye!"

cabledawg said:

... I'm waiting to get surgery on my right hand ...

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Without knowing what kind of surgery, I couldn't guess.

What does your doctor say? Some of them are actually good at answering gun-shooting questions.

Fortunately for me, I'm ambidextrous with a right hand preference. So this really wouldn't be too much of an issue. I often switch hands without even thinking about when out shooting.

I also carry on my left side. Why? Because I carry my wallet and keys on the right, so it lowers the chance of an accidental exposure while I'm grabbing my wallet out of my pocket or my keys off my belt loop. If I could open carry, I'd still carry on my left side. Why? Because it wont draw unwanted attention to the weapon when grabbing my keys or wallet. As in, I don't want someone thinking I am reaching for my gun when really I'm just reaching for my keys or wallet.

I've got a tumor (or at least I'm guessing that's what it is, doc wont tell me yet until testing is done) on my right ring finger. It already makes drawing a little awkward due to the bandages I have on that finger, but nothing I cant overcome. Since i dont know how extensive the surgery will be, I wont know if I'll even be able to use that hand much. Asking about offhand was a "just in case" question.

I'm right handed but left eye dominant. I can shoot ambidextrous with a rifle, but havent tried lately with a pistol. I like the idea of carrying left handed as I too keep my wallet/keys/ID on the right side. I'll have to look around town and see if anyone has a lefty holster as the only one I have is on my tac vest for work. Once I find a lefty I'll try out the new shooting technique and hopefully be somewhat comfortable prior to the surgery.

Thanks guys for the info. If anyone else has anything they'd like to add, by all means speak up. I dont think this is deserving of a sticky, but its good info as I'm sure I'm not the only one to have this problem

No matter who you are, or what your physical condition is, if you have two working hands and arms, you could practice weak side shooting every time you shoot. As needed you can twist the gun in part way towards the stereotypical gangster shooting position to give you the advantage of further arm strength to keep the gun as steady as possible.

As my former martial arts teacher told me, if your left punch is weaker than your right, practice twice as much with the left until you're caught up. Perhaps twice as much non dominant shooting as anything else per range session would be absurd, but there is much to be said for making sure you're proficient at it.

Found a lefty SERPA CQC holster, been carrying it the last two days and practicing offhand draw. Surprisingly, it doesnt feel awkward. I think I might go shoot tomorrow and spend the day practicing offhand. Cant practice draw and fire, range doesnt like that stuff, but I can work on my sight alignment and sight picture.

Thanks for all the help guys, I'll try a few of your techniques tomorrow and see how I do

cabledawg said:

Found a lefty SERPA CQC holster, been carrying it the last two days and practicing offhand draw. Surprisingly, it doesnt feel awkward. I think I might go shoot tomorrow and spend the day practicing offhand. Cant practice draw and fire, range doesnt like that stuff, but I can work on my sight alignment and sight picture.

Thanks for all the help guys, I'll try a few of your techniques tomorrow and see how I do

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Well you solved your holster issue, everybody that carries should learn to shoot with both hands in case of injury of the primary. As far as practice, you do not need a range. Just buy a gas airsoft that matches your carry gun, you can practice cheaply and often until you learn to master your left hand shooting.

I have an airsoft gun but it doesnt fit my holster. Instead I use snapcaps for stuff like this. I've gotten used to drawing from the left and I practice left draw/right sight pretty well, but the range wil ltell me if I'm actually hitting my mark aiming like that.

I have practiced off hand shooting because they always seem to throw in a stage that you have to shoot that way in practical pistol competitions. I have found it easiest with a slight inward cant to get the correct sight picture (I'm right handed and right eye dominant). My biggest issue with off hand is follow up shots, since recoil is not straight back as with my dominant hand.