Perhaps luck is on your side that you spotted the threat and can move to a position of advantage.
Just because youre the good guy doesnt mean you get to go first.
No Matter What, Fight Back!
In a life-threatening encounter, you may face a seemingly insurmountable challenge. That doesn’t mean you are out of the fight. The author offers some training ideas on handling such an event.
But, that is about as far as my thoughts went on this topic.
The first bridge to cross when discussing fighting while injured is mindset.
If you have a functional hand and arm, you could still fight.
If one of your hands or arms is wounded, you may need to shoot using one hand only. Have you trained to do so? Even a small amount of quality training can make a huge difference.
[Be sure to readWhy Is Mental Strength Important in Survival.]
Will he flee or venture to finish the job?
Dont neglect shooting with the support hand.
Springfield Armory makes a variety of high quality self defense pistols suitable for one- and two-handed use.
So why is this important?
Something like 88% of the population is right-hand dominant.
[Dont miss Massad Ayoobs article onweak arm drawing.]
Shooting with one hand is part of the skillset. Drawing one-handed can be even harder to learn how to do. Get competent training and start building those skills today.
Depending on where they are worn, outside-the-waistband (OWB) holsters can be problematic.
Not so much anymore!
But, it can be done.
A mounted red dot sight can provide a solid surface to use for clearing malfunctions and reloading when one hand or arm is injured.
At this point in time, we have a few different options in how we get into action.
The pistol can now be lifted free and clear and brought to bear on the threat.
Once the gun is stabilized, turn your hand around and take a normal shooting grip.
When one arm or hand is injured, you have to run all gun functions with a single hand. Learn how to reload and clear malfunctions with just one hand.
The downside is that your mobility is restricted which can be a huge liability depending on the situation.
Needless to say, training in this area will take you far out of your comfort zone.
Muzzles drifting in an unsafe direction and fingers coming in contact at an inopportune time are recipes for disaster.
Many Springfield Armory sights are designed to enhance your ability to run a gun with only one hand. This includes the Hellcat, Echelon, SA-35, XD and many of the 1911 pistols.
Practice should always be with an empty gun.
Reloading
For the armed citizen, most incidents are resolved with just a few rounds fired.
With that said, I always recommend carrying at least one reload no matter the capacity of your handgun.
Rapid fire is easier when using both hands. However, accurate hits are still possible when shooting with only one hand. Practice is the key.
And yes, you could top off a pistol after suffering an injury to the hand or arm.
Should the strong hand be injured, return the pistol backwards with the empty magazine well facing forward.
Insert a magazine, lift the gun and send the slide forward to chamber a round.
When reloading one handed, consider using your holster to “hold” the pistol while you slide a new magazine home.
Instead, kneel and place the inverted pistol sans magazine between your thighs.
Insert the magazine, send the slide forward and you are back in business.
If the threat is still out there, your pistol should be READY to fire.
You can use your knees and legs to hold the pistol while the uninjured hand inserts a fresh magazine.
Getting familiar with solo-hand skills outlined above would be time well spent.
The likelihood of malfunctions can increase when an unskilled person shoots a pistol with a single hand. This makes one-handed malfunction clearance an important skill to learn.
