Anyone read this months G&A article: A Winning Hand?

[Doug.38PR]

The two-handed grip certainly has it's place, but the single-hand hold is, in the author's opinion, a vital technique that really should be the first thing that the defensive pistol shooters learn because it's what they'll most likely need

The articles is A Winning Hand by Mike Conti.

I have always shot primarily with one hand and drawn with one hand...even in simple target practice. Occasionally will do the weaver or isoceles when shooting a larger and more powerful gun, but mostly stick with one hand.


Anyone else read this article?

[Creature]

Yes...and I agree with the author that the one handed technique is very important.

[Wildalaska]

Gee how retro...thats how us old guys learned to shoot 45 years ago.

WildandstillonehandshisnagantsAlaska

[Hardtarget]

I shoot both ways. It really bugs my sons and their friends when I shoot wtih only one hand. They always use both. Don't get me wrong...I'm not "Mr. perfection" with a pistol. I learned to shoot one handed so I make sure I shoot that way every time I'm at the range. Don't want to completely loose it.

Mark.

[newerguy]

I shoot both one handed and two handed. Shooting one handed may be faster in practice, I'm not sure. But if you have a flashlight or something else in your hand, you may be shooting one handed. (Does anyone still teach the "holding the flashlight at shoulder height away from your body" technique, everything I've seen recently has you using your flashlight hand for support).

I was very suprised recently when I got some experience with the handgun training course at a major police department. They mentioned one handed shooting, but did not have their officers shoot one handed, for practice or for score with their duty weapons. They did have them shoot one handed with their off-duty weapon, and taught (sort of) their officers to make a fist over their heart when shooting one handed. I thought that move went out of syle 50 years ago.

BTW, Bullseye shooter are able to get incredible accuracy shooting one handed.

[hecate]

Respectfully, bullseye shooters aren't doing it in the middle of a fight. In training, I was taught if the groups are too tight you're going too slow. Range shooting and combat shooting are worlds apart. Do some serious force-on-force for a real appreciation.

Good training should include both two-handed and one-handed technique, and not just for shooting. All gun manipulations should be trained and practiced one-handed. A retired Army Ranger instructor got me started putting skateboard tape in front of the rear sight on my carry guns because then you can rack them one-handed just about anywhere.

Immediate and remedial action drills need to be practiced one-handed. If you can't clear a Type 3/double feed with your weak hand only, you need more practice and/or some equipment changes.

In ECQ scenarios, you may be shooting with one hand while fending off the BG or deflecting his weapon with the other. SouthNarc teaches some very good body index shooting techniques for when things are up close and personal.

None of my recent training recommends the FBI flashlight technique any more. Everyone's pretty much training Harries and Rogers/Surefire now.

[Captain38]

When I attended the FBI National Academy many moons ago, the FBI Range Officers there said I'd be too slow shooting two handed to deal with their dueling targets but that proved NOT to be the case. I was shooting two-handed then whenever I was given ANY CHOICE and I STILL DO!

Belly-button to belly-button, it's one handed and the same back to seven yards or so. Beyond that distance, use two hands or even a Ransom Rest if possible.

[newerguy]

Fair enough. I'm not saying that Bullseye shooting is comperable to combat shooting. But there are people that think a pistol shooter shouldn't expect to keep their shots on paper at 25 yards without using two hands or a rest. All I'm saying is that you can be plenty accurate shooting without a support hand.

I've done the whole reload one handed drill. I wouldn't advocate regular people spending much time on it. I don't see many people who are injured enough to have one hand disabled being in the fight enough to reload or clear jams one-handed. There are better things to spend your time on, but I know people feel otherwise.

[revjen45]

The best way to spend your time in the event of a malfunction is pulling your other gun.

[hoser1911]

If you CCW on some kind of regualr basis it might be a good idea to be able to shoot with both hands, individually and or simotaneously. Same goes for long guns.

Cover or concealment doesn't always come from an upright angle of your choice. How many hands are you going to use? That's correct; everyone one that is available.

[hoser1911]

You may not have been keeping-up with our domestic and overseas current affairs. Have you ever heard of the minor social encounter the FBI had in Dade County, FL?

At least one FBI agent who was seriously wounded, (missing dominate hand fingers, punctured thorax, courtesy of high speed lead projectiles direct from the muzzle, ect,) shot and reloaded a revolver with just one wounded hand and stayed in the fight long enough to win. I not sure, but I don't know if he had better ways to spend his time that day. And I don't know if anyone ever told him he shouldn't have practiced fighting back while seriously injured.

If you would like to easily find a few hundred examples of men who continued the fight immediately after being relieved of some very important body parts you can find their names next to some of the medals they earned in places like Normandy, Iwo Jima, Battle of Midway, Pork Chop Hill, Hue, even a few, and counting, in Iraq 1 & 2.

[newerguy]

Hoser1911, for the military, who spends six months at a minimum training their people to fight, and to continue to fight while injured, uncomfortable, or scared, you'll get people who can fight while critically wounded. However, the military spends a lot of effort, time, money, and science indoctrinating and training it's people. That's what basic is about, and that's what PT is about. It's about teaching people that they can continue when their body says it can't. Most civilians don't get that kind of training.

And, again, most civilans aren't going to find themselves in a situation where they are going to need to reload or clear a jam to continue a fight after they are wounded. Combat reloads in civilian life are very rare. So, I stick by my initial statement, for regular people, it's a waste of training time that can be spent learning or practicing something else.

For law enforcement, I can see some value to training to reload or clear a malfunction one handed. Maybe. First off though, don't think the FBI shootout is an example of an everyday event, or even a common police involved shooting. It was so unique, and such a tragedy, that in sent the FBI in on a witchhunt to find something to blame for the outcome. Law enforcement officers may have to reload under fire, because they may go looking for trouble, and may be shooting to not only save their life, but to prevent a criminal from escaping, as happened in the shootout you mentioned. However, and this isn't to put down those FBI agents involved because they did what all FBI Agents would have probably done, but they made numerous mistakes, that probably could have prevented them from essentially falling into a moving ambush, and if they had vests on, rifles or shotguns in hand, and back up closer by, could have let them stack the deck in their favor. If the day they spend learning to reload one handed had been spent learning to wear their vests, or how to follow a vehicle while awaiting backup, they may avoided the whole situation.

[David Armstrong]

So, I stick by my initial statement, for regular people, it's a waste of training time that can be spent learning or practicing something else.

I'd strongly agree with that, with a slight caveat. It is not so much a waste of time as it is a poor use of time. There is nothing wrong with learning some less-common skills, but NOT at the expense of learning the more basic, fundemental skills that are commonly needed. Training time is a resource, and needs to be looked at like any other resource. The more limited the resource, the more you need to think about how to get the most use from it. Most people don't have a solid grasp of the basics of accurate shooting in a stressful situation. Fortunately, most DGU incidents don't require much in the way of marksmanship. Learning to shoot accurately with one hand or two, strong hand or weak, and how to tactically assess and respond to a variety of situations, is going to cover most all of the gunfight survival needs for the non-LE and non-military person. Until that is accomplished, one probably shouldn't be devoting much time and energy to learning other things.

[newerguy]

I gladly accept David's suggestion that is is a poor use of time, rather than a waste of time.