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Practice what you're not good at!

Posted: Wed Apr 05, 2017 5:48 pm
by Brian D.
Today for me at the indoor range that was strong/weak hand only, from less than ideal positions. After each short string (3-5 rounds) I brought in the target and taped up everything outside the 9 ring. Towards the session's end I wasn't using any pasters.

It's easy/fun/satisfying to practice what you're comfortable with, but not really useful. For what it's worth my weak hand only is usually better than strong hand only. Guess my left trigger finger hasn't developed bad habits.

Re: Practice what you're not good at!

Posted: Wed Apr 05, 2017 8:32 pm
by TSiWRX
I've made a recent commitment to getting better with single-handed marksmanship.

The right (my dominant hand) is coming along nicely, but the other side is still embarrassingly weak. :oops:

My Dot Torture was looking really, really good, until number 8. :P

Re: Practice what you're not good at!

Posted: Wed Apr 05, 2017 10:15 pm
by schmieg
TSiWRX wrote:I've made a recent commitment to getting better with single-handed marksmanship.

The right (my dominant hand) is coming along nicely, but the other side is still embarrassingly weak. :oops:

My Dot Torture was looking really, really good, until number 8. :P
I'm pretty good one handed with a .45 or below, but that's how I learned to shoot back in the '50's.

Re: Practice what you're not good at!

Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2017 7:54 am
by TSiWRX
^ Any tips or tricks, I'm all ears (and eyes)! :)

Re: Practice what you're not good at!

Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2017 1:28 pm
by schmieg
TSiWRX wrote:^ Any tips or tricks, I'm all ears (and eyes)! :)
Not really; it's just a matter of locking he wrist. I was taught the old stance where you stand with your body about 45 degrees to the side of the target, legs spread to a solid stance, head turned toward the target and shooting arm extended. Heck, they were even teaching that in the Army in the 60's, though the two handed grip was becoming more popular. My father used that stance both in 1970 and 1972 when he won the senior division at National Match.

Re: Practice what you're not good at!

Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2017 4:37 pm
by TSiWRX
^ Locking the wrist - will do. :) Thank you!

The traditional "bullseye" stance, right?

Re: Practice what you're not good at!

Posted: Sat Apr 08, 2017 7:15 pm
by Aesinsp
The last training that I attended(low light handgun), we were told that we have the strong hand - and the other strong hand... There are no weak hands! :lol:

Re: Practice what you're not good at!

Posted: Sat Apr 08, 2017 7:39 pm
by schmieg
TSiWRX wrote:^ Locking the wrist - will do. :) Thank you!

The traditional "bullseye" stance, right?
Yes. If you have difficulty with the wrist, one thing I was taught was to hold the gun sideways (gangsta sytle) and then rotate your hand to the correct orientation. That seemed to help some people.

Re: Practice what you're not good at!

Posted: Sat Apr 08, 2017 9:12 pm
by TSiWRX
schmieg wrote:If you have difficulty with the wrist, one thing I was taught was to hold the gun sideways (gangsta sytle) and then rotate your hand to the correct orientation. That seemed to help some people.
Oh, now that's most interesting [from just trying this here at the keyboard].

I will have to focus more on this on my next live-fire session.

Thank you!!!!

Re: Practice what you're not good at!

Posted: Sat Apr 08, 2017 9:31 pm
by Brian D.
Canting the gun "inboard" a bit for one handed shooting is indeed an old trick. A new IPSC shooter showed me that maybe twenty years ago as if he'd invented it. By then I'd seen it done by some longtime Bullseye competitors who may have learned it from genuine, from-the-Old-West, cowboys.

Re: Practice what you're not good at!

Posted: Sun Apr 09, 2017 11:48 am
by TSiWRX
^ I may have mistaken what schmieg was trying to relay, but I think it's more than that slight inboard cant that he's talking about, Brian D..

I also prefer that slight inboard cant (particularly as it overlaps both with my cross-dominance as well as with my use of handheld flashlight), but I think that what schmieg wrote is specifically to address the lock-out of the wrist, which is more easily achieved "naturally" when the gun is held in that "gangsta" manner, fully 90-degrees from typical, rather than to be about any specific cant (or not) to the gun.

I think it's separate from the (ongoing debate) of the cant of the gun, when shooting single-handed.

Re: Practice what you're not good at!

Posted: Sun Apr 09, 2017 5:57 pm
by schmieg
TSiWRX wrote:^ I may have mistaken what schmieg was trying to relay, but I think it's more than that slight inboard cant that he's talking about, Brian D..

I also prefer that slight inboard cant (particularly as it overlaps both with my cross-dominance as well as with my use of handheld flashlight), but I think that what schmieg wrote is specifically to address the lock-out of the wrist, which is more easily achieved "naturally" when the gun is held in that "gangsta" manner, fully 90-degrees from typical, rather than to be about any specific cant (or not) to the gun.

I think it's separate from the (ongoing debate) of the cant of the gun, when shooting single-handed.
That is correct.

Re: Practice what you're not good at!

Posted: Sun Apr 09, 2017 7:49 pm
by Brian D.
Did some more strong/weak only drills with friends today, at speed on the clock, starting from the holster. One exercise is done from an awkward position to boot, but it's sort of complicated to explain. Suffice to say it's something you could have to do for real. It's not easy, which is why I set it up.