How Important Is Weak-Side Shooting?

[tb-av]

I have never tried weak side shooting and it really seems awkward.

the "shooting" is not bad at all. It's all that other stuff that your brain and body has to deal with. If you can get the weapon in your hand/s and in front of your eyes, the shooting part is actually pretty easy. Manipulating controls is the issue. You have to practice, practice, practice.

I met a guy at the range. He was burning a ragged hole in a target. He worked for years in the weapons department of I think maybe the Marines... I forget. Just before he was to leave he had an accident and lost his thumb. I really didn't even notice it just casually watching him. I was trying to pick up some pointers by watching. When he packed up he told me the story. He had to teach himself to shoot lefty. He was drawing from concealed that whole day. Two holes in the target. One big one in the head and one big one in the torso. He was clean and smooth. The point being he knew how to shoot just as I suppose you do. But you still have to learn the altered mechanics. I actually like shooting rifle lefty due to my eyesight. But I don't feel as confident with the controls. I don't like too much of anything shooting a pistol lefty but if I get it to the "shooting" part safely, I can do ok. So likewise you will be a better weak side learner due to knowing how to shoot and your brain already understanding that part. Not like you will revert to a non-shooter.

[Dr. Bullseye]

Here is a way to transition shoulders:

TRANSITIONING FROM STRONG SIDE TO SUPPORT SIDE WITH THE QUICK ADJUST TWO-POINT SLING (SLING ROUTED OVER STRONG SHOULDER UNDER SUPPORT ARM)

1. Ensure safety engaged.

2. Release support hand grip from the weapon. Try to keep weapon as level as possible and your observation down range. It is okay if the muzzle is slightly depressed.

3. Move the support arm so the sling is on the outside of the support arm. As shown below, one technique is to bend the elbow 90 degrees and place the elbow between the sling and weapon.

Attachment 53818

4. Support hand grasps front of mag well.

5. Shove weapon forward and move stock across body to weak shoulder. Make sure the weapon is shoved far enough forward to clear equipment.

6. Pull stock into support side shoulder. At this point the strong hand is still grasping the pistol grip.

7. Strong hand moves forward to grasp handguards/tube.

8. Support moves from mag well to pistol grip.

9. Disengage safety.

Here is a video by Kyle Lamb (3:17 and 4:57 show the movements in the video) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoGh-tZtKKA

This one is better, but it's production values are not as good: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhojNCdksYw

Nice vids. Thanks. I can learn from Kyle Lamb but I'm never going to be Kyle Lamb so I have to take what is applicable to me at my level. That was my point on another thread involving slings and his adjustable sling. I don't see myself doing all that under stress. What I do see is using the neck as a transition or just using the neck period. So this video and comments about the neck on this thread have been very valuable. In times without stress I will be more than able to adjust the sling for carrying.

[Ron3]

Good advice here.

Shooting "Support side" is very important.

[Dr. Bullseye]

I went out today and did it. It was really awkward. I would forget the safety for instance. I hit a paper target and a couple balloons so aiming is not the issue. It is just going to take a lot of work.

[markm]

I don't shoot much pistol these days, but when I do, I run a mag or two on the support side, one handed. It's nice to see that people here take it seriously.

[Alex V]

I took Costa's Handgun 2 class a couple weeks ago and it was heavy on the single handed operation. We did a lot of support side shooting including single handed malfunction clearing and reloading with both strong and weak side. Everything was done standing, kneeling, prone, supine and urban prone. Let me tell you, clearing a double feed with your weak side hand while in urban prone on your weak side shoulder is a bitch and a half. Having an RMR helps ALOT wth that.

I would absolutly stress learning to shoot both rifle and pistol from your support side. Learn to run the pistol and clear malfunctions with your support and strong side, single handed. If shit really goes south and you take a hit in your strong side hand/arm/shoulder this could mean life or death. With those being your choices, it's silly not to learn how to do it.

[SeriousStudent]

Four years ago I broke my right wrist, and two more bones in my right hand. So for almost 9 months, I shot "Other Weak Hand". Honestly, it was one of the best things that has happened to my pistol shooting.

Now when I do something like Dot Torture, or run a drill in a class that makes me shoot WHO, it's no big deal at all.

The other thing I did that helped a great deal was spend a year shooting nothing but double-action revolvers. I ran a S&W 686 in five pistol classes that year, along with another 5K or so practice rounds.

I'm prepping for Tom Given's Advanced Instructor course next month. You'd better believe I'm doing a lot of WHO.

So to answer your question: Yes, I'd practice it. But I'd practice shooting with both hands, using a good grip and trigger press a lot more. And all of that is useless if you have a piss-poor drawstroke.

Putting an accurate shot into Buford T BadGuy before he shoots you is rather nice, however you have to do it.

[markm]

I took Costa's Handgun 2 class a couple weeks ago and it was heavy on the single handed operation.

The Ludus is strong with this one.

[26 Inf]

The Ludus is strong with this one.

Wow! M4 is like a mini Reader's Digest - Increase your Word Power:

In ancient Roman culture, the Latin word ludus (plural ludi) has several meanings within the semantic field of "play, game, sport, training" (see also ludic).[1]

An elementary or primary school or the school of the “litterator" attended by boys and girls up to the age of 11 was a ludus. Ludi were to be found throughout the city, and were run by a ludi magister (schoolmaster) who was often an educated slave or freedman. School started around six o'clock each morning and finished just after midday. Students were taught math, reading, writing, poetry, geometry and sometimes rhetoric.

The word ludus also referred to a training school for gladiators; see Gladiator: Schools and training. Examples include the Ludus Magnus and Ludus Dacicus.

Ludus was also the word for a board game, examples of which include ludus latrunculorum and ludus duodecim scriptorum, or a game played with knucklebones (astragali).

Latin poetry often explores the concept of ludus as playfulness, both in the writing of poetry as a kind of play and as a field for erotic role-playing.[2] "Poetic play (ludus, ludere, iocum, etc.)," Michèle Lowrie observes, "denotes two related things: stylistic elegance of the Alexandrian variety and erotic poetry."

So, in which context was the word used?

[markm]

So, in which context was the word used?

Costa Ludus. I think that's the name of Costa's company. I hadn't seen his name pop up in a while.