Funny Coincidence (If You Believe in Them)

On December 1st, the day I wrote about shooting left-handed, my brother Deejo blew out his right biceps tendon.

I'm not the only one in my family who believes we should be competent shooting with both hands, though I'm the one who practices the most (and probably the one who needs the most practice).

Knowing he would be off work for a while - it's hard to drive a 36' truck with a manual transmission once you've ruptured a bicep tendon - he called up and asked if we could go shooting. Only in my family would we find an injury reason to hit the range, but his work injury is the exact reason everyone should practice and become competent with their non-dominant hand.

Trust me, he did not go into work on Friday morning looking to suddenly become left-handed, but shit happens and until he's healed up from surgery and finished with his physical and occupational therapy, left-handed he is.

If you've been putting off your non-dominant hand practice because it's "uncomfortable" or "awkward" stop making excuses, get off your butt, and get to the range. This isn't like PE in junior high, where you get hurt, wave your hand, limp off the field, and get left alone. Outwardly injured folks may look even more enticing to a predator; why would anyone just accept that fate? Refusing to become competent with your non-dominant hand puts you at even more of a defensive disadvantage.

A Leftie in the Making

At the beginning of the year, this meme was incredibly accurate. I have always done some shooting left-handed, but very little. 50 - 100 rounds per year over the last fifteen years doesn't add up to much when compared to the rounds shot with my right hand. My best guess would be 1-2% of my shooting was done left-handed since I began shooting.

I knew, when I wrote up my shooting goals for this year that I wanted to increase my left-handed shooting, but it was pretty vague. I just wanted to do it "more". My vague idea of "more" was somewhere around 25%, I figured that would make me competent enough should anything happen to my dominant arm/hand.

I started the year shooting the Dot Torture, so it was easy to plan to shoot it once right-handed and once left-handed. By the end of February, I realized that I was far exceeding my goal of 25% left-handed shooting. I continued to run drills both right- and left-handed throughout the year, and I have averaged about a 50/50 split between both hands.

Some drills, like the Baseline Evaluation, lend themselves very nicely to switching hands. When I shoot the Baseline Evaluation I do it right-handed, left-handed, right hand only, and left hand only. At 50 rounds each, it's easy to run through 200 rounds in a one-hour period of time, so it can get expensive quickly.

I have found an unexpected benefit to all of this left-handed shooting (besides the obvious increase in confidence, etc.). A couple of months ago at work, I was working on my laptop and eating lunch at the same time. About half-way through my lunch I realized that I'd been eating my salad left-handed. With a fork and everything. And I hadn't even made a mess!

As I sat there, in wonder that this miracle occurred, I realized that I've been using my left-hand far more frequently and without thought since I began shooting left-handed. It's a benefit that I never considered, and, yes, I feel dumb for not ever considering it.