Sidearms & Scatterguns Shooting a handgun with one hand

[kraigWY]

If one has read many of my post they would know I'm a big fan of one hand shooting of handguns for SD purposes.

This time I'm talking one hand shooting when you only have one hand.

I was contacted by an individual who wanted me to help him load, shoot, and carry a handgun.

He assumed it would have to be a revolver as he can't work the slide on a semi since he has one arm.

I asked WHY, WHO TOLD YOU THAT? I added if you want a pistol for carry then carry one.

I'm a firm believer in there is no hopeless shooters. Since I've been involved in firearms training (since the mid 70s) I've prided myself in the ability to work with handicaps in my firearm instructors.

I'm also a firm believer in revolvers for SD, but there are exceptions to every rule (even mine). I think that if you have only one arm/hand, its easier to load and use a semi then a revolver.

I'm taking him to the range tomorrow to work with him, showing him that one hand is not a handicap.

In case you (fellow firearms instructors) don't know, semis are fairly easy to use with one hand.

Simply keep a empty magazine handy for loading your pistol. Insert the empty mag into the pistol and run it down your leg. The sights will drag on your pant leg pulling the slide back locking it open. Now hit the mag release and drop the mag (only carry pistols/mags that will fall free of the gun when you hit the mag release).

Stick the pistol with the mag out in you waste band, take your loaded magazine, insert it, draw the pistol out and hit the slide release.

Stick the gun in your pocket/holster or how ever you carry it. Now you're ready to go about your daily business while carrying.

When I say semis are better, in my opinion, they are easier to load one handed, plus normally have more ammo, meaning less chance of having to reload if you need the gun. Plus if you do have to load, drop the mag, insert in your belt, replace the mag, hit the slide release.

I also teach loading revolvers with one hand, not easy, the cylinder is flopping around while you're trying to get the speed loader lined up.

I tried to make a video of getting a pistol in action but I really suck making movies.

A bit of practice and you'll see the above method is quite easy.

PRACTICE WITH TWO EMPTY MAGAZINES. Don't close the slide on the pistol while its in your belt. Point at a safe direction and close the slide.

It's a lot easier then it sounds.
__________________

 

[rmfield]

I know a guy with one arm. He's a 1911 fanatic and handles it quite well. Some guy named Jeff in Arizona taught him how to shoot.

 

[sinister]

Károly Takács (Pistol - Hungarian Olympic Team, 1948, 1952, 1956)

Károly Takács (21 January 1910 – 5 January 1976) was the first shooter to win two Olympic gold medals in the 25 meter rapid fire pistol event. He is the third known physically disabled athlete to have competed in the Olympic Games after George Eyser in 1904 and Olivér Halassy in 1928, followed by Liz Hartel in 1952 and Neroli Fairhall in 1984.

Takács was born in Budapest and joined the Hungarian Army. By 1936, he was a world-class pistol shooter, but was denied a place in the Hungarian shooting team for the 1936 Summer Olympics on the grounds that he was a sergeant, and only commissioned officers were allowed to compete. This prohibition was lifted in Hungary after the Berlin Games, and Takács had expectations of success at the 1940 Summer Olympics, scheduled to be held in Tokyo.

During army training in 1938, his right hand was badly injured when a faulty grenade exploded. Takács was determined to continue his shooting career, and switched to shooting with his left hand. He practised in secret, surprising his countrymen when he won the Hungarian national pistol shooting championship in the spring of 1939. He also was a member of the Hungarian team that won the 1939 ISSF World Shooting Championships in the event. The Olympic Games scheduled for 1940 and 1944 were cancelled due to the Second World War, but Takács surprised the world by winning the gold medal at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London, aged 38, beating the favourite, Argentine Carlos Enrique Díaz Sáenz Valiente, who was the reigning world champion, into second place, and setting a new world record.

He won a second gold medal in the same event at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, and also attended the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, but finished eighth and failed to win a third medal. His story has given him a place among the "Olympic heroes" of the International Olympic Committee. Two Olympic gold medals were won by Józef Zapędzki (Mexico - 1968 and Munich - 1972) as well but not until Ralf Schumann's third victory in the 2004 Olympics did a shooter succeed in winning three Olympic gold medals in this event.

Although most associated with rapid fire pistol, Takács also won a bronze medal at the 1958 ISSF World Shooting Championships in 25 metre center-fire pistol. He also won 35 Hungarian national shooting championships.

After his shooting career, Takács became a coach. He trained Hungarian Szilárd Kun, who won the silver medal at the 1952 Summer Olympics. He ended his army career as a lieutenant colonel.

 

[EddieNFL]

Revolvers suck.. At least that's what this guy says (and he is on the internet, so he must be right): http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=_n_jZEazKkQ&feature=endscreen

 

[kraigWY]

LOL I showed this video to my wife...........can post the nasty things she said about this guy's advice.

She said if he would learn to shoot he wouldn't need 15-18 rounds.

Any way, I say pick a gun that's comfortable AND YOU CAN SHOOT, be it a revolver or semi............personally I do better with a revolver. But one size doesn't fit all.

 

[IdahoMike]

Never though about running the slide down my pants, I always practiced using the rear sight on the heel of my boot.

 

[VJJPunisher]

A good quality belt works well to cycle a slide as well if one finds oneself missing a hand or arm after a lightsaber duel

 

[EddieNFL]

LOL I showed this video to my wife...........can post the nasty things she said about this guy's advice.

She said if he would learn to shoot he wouldn't need 15-18 rounds.

Any way, I say pick a gun that's comfortable AND YOU CAN SHOOT, be it a revolver or semi............personally I do better with a revolver. But one size doesn't fit all.

My wife said he was compensating for lack of something.

 

[seanh]

Revolvers suck.. At least that's what this guy says (and he is on the internet, so he must be right): http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=_n_jZEazKkQ&feature=endscreen

Got a kick out of this...the guy is a moron. I hope he doesn't breed.


Good post Kraig...

Running down the leg, hip, other armpit/side of body (this may not help a disabled person in your case), was all what I've used. Nice to see someone bringing this up. Even with both arms, you never know when you'd be injured...always practice these types of reloads.

Wheel gun and one hand? Yea, it's a pain...make your first shots count then get the hell out of there.

 

[josh1982]

It seems doing the one handed weapon manipulation with both strong and reaction side is becoming more and more prevalant, especially with sight manufactures jumping on board with rear sights with sharp, square edges to ease one handed slide release. It's a great skill to be proficient in.

 

[Genin]

It seems doing the one handed weapon manipulation with both strong and reaction side is becoming more and more prevalant, especially with sight manufactures jumping on board with rear sights with sharp, square edges to ease one handed slide release. It's a great skill to be proficient in.

I'm noticing this as well. It really has been on the rise. I heard Ameriglo was releasing a new style of rear sight that's front is concave, like a claw, to further aid in using the sight for these purposes. I practice weapon manipulation both strong and weak side, to include draw, reloads, etc.

 

[Gildoom]

My father in law was a really good shooter, he was in the Army and was taught this goofy one hand shooting stance. Looked like something straight out of WW2, funny thing is, he would bullseye varmints on the fields of his farm. Long range too, I tried it but was not nearly as good as he was. Arm around the back, side ways, like he was in a duel with Alexander Hamilton.

He could shoot like that with his off hand too, was impressive.

Shooting this summer with a BP agent a few days (he was a state trooper for a number of years as well) he was showing me his weak hand, main hand wounded shots. It was very good practice, and in stress that would really suck.

 

[josh1982]

[MENTION=2536]Genin[/MENTION]: The sight you are talking about is the Claw Emergency Manipulation Sight. From their catalog:

Rob Pincus, with cooperation by AmeriGlo, presents the Claw EMS rear sight. A Black Nitride coated rear sight, featuring a .180" squared notch and an aggressive concave leading edge. This rear sight can be used with factory-height front sights for a custom set. Offered as a stand-alone item or paired with an AmeriGlo high-visibility front sight, the Claw design is ideal for the skilled shooter, especially during emergency manipulations.

 

[softcock]

There is a kid in Memphis who shoots & instructs . He only has 100% in one arm & in wheelchair . He has a custom hook mounted on the wheelchair for Slide racking on his Semi pistol & he shoots real well .

(imho) . if a shooter with only One Arm wanted to get serious on the Defensive Pistol .
It would pay to contact & learn from some already with same or worse disability . Who has already taken 2-Hand defensive Pistol and worked & refined it into an art of the, Single-Hand .
He could cut a lot corners & get competent pretty quick by doing this .
.

 

[3-0-hate]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlMz2sCDCA4

Anyone can do anything if they try hard enough.

I should probably tell myself that more often sometimes..

 

[Tevis]

That is amazing!!

 

[808H200321]

Almost anything will cycle the weapon (i.e pants, belt, holster, shoe, etc.), it doesn't take much pressure/strenght to charge it. However, I don't advocate going to the shoes unless you're already down on a knee or on the deck. In addition to reloading one-handed, I like to cover malfunctions and drawing strong and support side one-handed. Also, don't forget about subgun, carbine and shotgun. IMHO, one-handed "weapon handling skills," like limited visibility shooting, is largely ignored because of safety issues (i.e. instrucors and/or managers overly concerned that their people aren't proficient enough to do that type of training) inconvenience (i.e. scheduling for night time training), laziness (i.e. don't want to wait until it is dark to conduct training) and those that believe it's not necessary. Heck, I've heard and seen even instructors react negatively when one-handed shooting/weapon handling is discussed thinking it's a waste of time and that situatiions like that are unlikely. Well, I disagree, because if you've done enough training with Simunitions or train with "shoot" targets, I'm positive that you will find a large amount of hits on hands and arms. Anyhow, very good topic!