Tips and Tricks for Shooting with One Hand
Two mitts is always best, but it's vitally important to learn to shoot from one paw!
We are two-handed creatures that aren’t afflicted by the curse of the T-Rex. When it comes to shooting, we want to use as much of our body as possible to aim, stabilize, and control the gun. That’s why we shoot with two hands most of the time. In a perfect world, we’d only ever shoot with two hands, but that’s not our reality. Sometimes, you only get one hand, and we have to make that work.
Today, we are going to discuss how to shoot handguns with one hand, specifically a few tips to make it easier. It’s not all that unlikely that you’ll find yourself shooting with a single hand in the real world. The other hand may be occupied by a child, an obstacle, or even an attacker. We should work to prepare for that reality and be ready to engage with one hand when necessary.
One handed shooting can be a real pain
One-handed shooting is not easy—in fact, it’s downright difficult. Many people avoid shooting with a single hand to spare their egos. One universal truth you’ll have to face is that your times will increase, your accuracy will decrease, and your overall performance will take a nose dive.
The only way to turn a nose dive into a dip is to get out there and practice shooting with a single hand. Let’s look at four things you can practice to get a bit better at shooting with…
Using one hand to file a weapon is a critical skill. In the old westerns that you watch on television, you saw the quick draw with one hand. This was a critical skill for just a few because of their profession. Revolvers had a limited amount of rounds. Ammunition wasn’t always plentiful. And a lot of times you were riding a horse firing your weapon. Different times from a historical perspective. The old-timers had a skill out of basic necessity for survival. Your average American in the 1800s wasn’t a gunslinger or a professional gunfighter. The weapon of choice was a rifle. It was accurate more so than the pistol for your average farmer or cowhand. It is a critical skill in today’s society because the circumstances as you so eloquently put may put you in a position of defending yourself with one hand and firing with the other. It is something you must master. When you are being shot at and you are on the move and the other person is firing a single shot weapon at you, you must return fire while on the move to discourage the shooter. This takes a lot of range time and that is just the first step.Shooting while moving is an entirely different skill even if you’re using two hands, it still requires a focus point between your weapon and your eyes and a lot of times the shot must be felt and not seen. To know your weapon intimately to be able to feel the shot without aiming takes practice, but it is critical.