Fla. deputy shoots himself in leg during training

AP via St. Petersburg Times ^ | July 29, 2010

[wizzardude]

I routinely practice with my non-dominant hand because you never know what the setting will be if you need the piece.

[knarf]

I’m learning from all these comments ... thanx.

[absalom01]

This is something that I’ve worked on myself over the years, and while one certainly wants to practice the techniques with dummy rounds, at some point the maxim “train like you play” comes in.

You really have to do live fire at some point, as the last thing you want to be doing during a gunfight is trying a new basic weapon manipulation for the first time. That said, there are very, very few tactical situations (at least here at home) where you need to re-holster your weapon with your weak hand, after you’ve exchanged gunfire, been shot in the strong hand. You have to balance that against the probablitity, though, that you’re going to need to go apply handcuffs to the guy you just shot with your weak hand, against the changes of an AD on the range re-holstering.

[absalom01]

Bollocks.

My Glock 21 has been used and abused for many years, and has never ND’d. The striker has never fallen without the trigger first being pulled, and that’s through some pretty rough use.

Any time one is within reach of a functioning firearm there’s the potential of an ND, and training evolutions like this are particularly dangerous from that perspective. One would look to the design of the “weak hand” technique being taught, the way the range was run, the instruction given to the trainee, and the individual’s own mindset, coordination, physical and mental skills and focus etc...but the Glock platform is sound. If I can’t have a 1911, the Glock is the next best thing in the pistol world, IMHO.

[smokingfrog]

Hopefully, something you would practice over and over with an unloaded gun, until you are confident enough to do it in the dark with your eyes closed. Then and only then you might want to try it with a loaded weapon.