Written by: Greg Ellifritz
I got this drill from the excellent but now defunct Police Marksman magazine. Most of us don’t shoot very well one-handed. This is an easy 50-round one-handed shooting course that will improve your skills.
The drill goes as follows (from Police Marksman Magazine):
– Load 10 rounds in each magazine, chamber a live round, and holster.
– Begin the course 5 yards from the two silhouette targets. Draw and fire two rounds at each target’s center mass for a total of four rounds. All shots will be fired with the dominant hand only.
– Draw, swap the handgun to the non-dominant hand, and then fire two rounds at each target’s center mass for a total of four rounds. Pistol is then safely swapped back to the dominant hand and re-holstered.
– Draw and fire one round at each target’s center mass for a total of two rounds with only the dominant hand.
– Immediately reload with a fresh magazine and holster.
– Repeat the course from the 7-yard line (10 rounds, cumulative of 20 rounds total); however, the last two rounds are fired after swapping to the non-dominant shooting hand.
– Repeat the course from the 10-yard line twice, (cumulative of 40 rounds total).
– The last 10 rounds are fired from the 15-yard line. On command, draw and fire five rounds center mass with the dominant hand, then swap the pistol to the non-dominant hand, and fire the last five rounds (cumulative of 50 rounds total).
Since the drill isn’t timed, I use two pieces of 8.5″ x 11″ paper for the targets rather than using the entire silhouette. I also perform each of the reloads one handed (both left hand only and right hand only) to get a little extra work on that seldom-practiced skill.
Give it a try. Use the copy paper as a target and try to get 100% of your hits on the paper. When you can do that, use a half sheet of paper. Once you are able to accomplish that goal, you won’t have any problem with your single hand shooting anymore!
