Fixes for Shooting Low and to the Weak Side

When practicing shooting drills, people may shoot low and to their weak side. In the majority of the population, that means low and to the left. There are two primary reasons this happens. Rob Pincus has observed thousands of shooters over his decades as a defensive firearms instructor, and shows how to fix these low left shots.

Two-Handed Rapid Shooting

The first reason Rob sees is with people shooting rapidly and two-handed. If you now use a squared-off Isosceles or natural and neutral stance, where the gun is driven out equally with both arms, but you initially learned to shoot using a bladed or Weaver stance, that means you learned to apply back pressure with your weak hand on the gun. So even if you intellectually know you are supposed to be extending both arms when you’re in your squared-off shooting stance, your weak arm may not be fully engaged.

This is the number one reason Rob sees shooters hitting low and to the weak side during rapid strings of fire in shooting drills. Be sure to fully extend the arm and engage the shoulder.

One-Handed and Precise Shooting

Overgripping the gun is the main culprit in these types of shooting. During handgun training classes, if the shooter’s stance and trigger pull look good, Rob asks the shooter to take his weak hand away so Rob can see if the fingers of the strong hand are gripping the gun too tightly. This overgripping while pressing the trigger causes the gun to twist to the side and throw the shot.

The fix for this is to loosen the fingertips that are gripping the gun. Rob instructs students who are overgripping to actually point the fingertips off to the weak side when they are first trying to break the habit of overgripping the gun.