Getting Out of Your Comfort Zone: Practicing Wrong-Handed Shooting

When was the last time you wrote with your non-dominant hand? How about brushing your teeth with it? Maybe take it a step further and try eating Chinese food with wooden chopsticks? If you haven’t been using your non-dominant hand for some fine motor tasks, you might want to consider doing so someday. In fact, research shows that if you use your “non-dominant” hand to do even mundane, everyday tasks, you’re activating your brain and adding new neural connections — and that’s good for overall brain health. Of course, using that less-coordinated limb to interact with a smartphone app or something similar probably won’t make you smarter, but forcing your brain to make a few changes or try something different can be helpful.

If your brain is up to the challenge, it’s time to practice shooting with your off-hand. In the firearms world, many refer to practicing with your off-hand as “weak-hand shooting.” However, let’s not completely ignore or underestimate the limb we don’t typically use for most tasks. Your support hand is very useful. And while your dominant hand may be more skilled at accuracy, your non-dominant hand may be better suited for strength and stability. So for our purposes, we’ll just call it “off-hand shooting,” since it’s definitely going to be a little “off” to your brain.

That being said, you never know when a situation might arise that will require you to use your non-dominant hand. For example, you might be injured, you might be carrying or holding something, you might be covering or protecting someone, or you might be trying to shoot from behind cover. These situations, and many others, can make the typical two-handed dominant grip on your firearm, or even a one-handed dominant grip, less effective or even impossible. For this reason, be sure to practice both supported and one-handed shooting with that lesser-used hand. In other words, if you are right-handed, use your left hand to hold the gun properly, and then add your right hand as a support hand. It may seem very strange, but it is a great way to activate your brain in a new way.

You can also eliminate the support hand entirely and work on one-handed shooting using only your non-dominant hand, of course this applies more to pistol shooting. Just be prepared to make the necessary adjustments to cope with the recoil with only one hand. Without the support hand to help with the grip, the gun will move very differently. So be prepared, especially for the first shot. Make sure you have a firm grip and control of your firearm. You may also need to adjust your stance a little for more stability.

For example, you can move your lead foot forward for better control and balance. Rotating the gun toward your thumb can help provide better control and absorb recoil better. Also, make sure that your unused hand is out of the way. To do this, you can pretend that your hand is injured, you can hold onto something, or you can simply hold your unused hand to your side or chest to make sure it is out of the way while you shoot.

As for targets and distances, challenge yourself according to your abilities and skills. If it’s something new, feel free to start with closer distances and a larger target. If you’ve been doing this “wrong” shooting before, try a smaller target or longer distances. Start with one shot at a time. You can also start with supporting your non-dominant hand, take a few shots, then lower your support hand.

Regardless of what targets or timing methods you use, be sure to analyze your shots. A shooting simulator that uses a laser or recoilless marker is a great way to get started with non-dominant hand shooting. To create a realistic target environment that is on par with a modern shooting range, we recommend using a shooting program like Pro Target Constructor. If you are making hits, you can speed up or incorporate other drills. And be sure to have fun.