One-Handed Shooting

ONE-HANDED SHOOTING: A CRITICAL SKILL EVERY DEFENSIVE SHOOTER MUST TRAIN

When people imagine defensive shooting, they often picture a perfect two-handed stance, full visibility, and plenty of space. Reality is rarely that generous. In a real fight, you may need to open a door, shield a loved one, fend off a physical attack, or move an innocent person out of danger—all while fighting with your pistol one-handed.

At Cajun Arms, we prepare students for realistic encounters—not range-fantasy scenarios. One-handed shooting and one-handed weapon presentations are core components of our Defensive Carry II curriculum. These skills aren’t advanced—they’re essential.

Why One-Handed Shooting Matters

In a defensive encounter, having both hands on your gun is a luxury. More often, your support hand will be occupied:

• Opening or holding doors

• Pulling children or loved ones behind you

• Managing a flashlight

• Fighting off an attacker attempting to grab your gun

• Keeping balance while moving behind cover

Your shooting technique must stand on a solid foundation—one that functions even when you have only one hand available.

This is why we push students to build confidence, consistency, and efficiency with single-handed shooting. Under stress, your body will default to whatever you have trained. If you’ve never put in the reps, the moment you need this skill will be too late to learn it.

Managing Distance and Retention

Before we even start shooting one-handed, we emphasize the priority of distance. If you give up too much space, you risk losing control of your firearm.

We train students to:

• Avoid stepping in with the strong-side foot (a common mistake that hands your gun to the threat)

• Keep elbows in—not “chicken-winged” where your gun can be easily grabbed

• Stay upright and mobile (going to the ground is almost always catastrophic)

• Maintain retention positions that protect the gun close to your body

Solid mechanics = weapon control = survival.

How We Teach One-Handed Shooting

We teach one-handed shooting to mirror your two-handed fundamentals as closely as possible—keeping the skill transferable, natural, and reliable.

1. Begin With Your Usual Stance

Start square to the threat in a strong, athletic stance. Then simply drop the support hand.
The sight picture, head position, and grip angle should stay consistent.

2. Indexing From Position Two

If the threat is extremely close, we teach drawing back to Position Two—gun close to the ribs, above the holster. This allows:

• Maximum retention

• Minimal exposure

• Fast, accurate point shooting

To prevent the slide from catching clothing, slightly rotate the pistol outward (or flag your thumb).

3. Employing a Cant for Speed and Control

At intermediate distances, canting the gun inward can help with recoil management and faster sight acquisition.
Just remember: align your head with the cant so you can actually see the front sight.

4. Extreme Close Quarters = Point Shooting

If someone is within arm’s reach, you won't have time to aim in the traditional sense.
Point shooting—while retaining the gun—is the correct method here.

Movement Matters: When and How to Retreat

This is one of the few defensive shooting contexts where we teach a controlled side-shuffle backward during the presentation.

It allows you to:

• Create space

• Stay online with the threat

• Avoid stepping directly back and tripping

• Maintain a smaller, bladed target profile

Moving backward while shooting is not ideal in most scenarios—but when drawing one-handed from the strong side at close distance, it’s the safest, most tactical option.

Train Both Hands—Not Just the Strong One

A defensive shooter must be capable with both hands. Injury, physical entanglement, or environmental constraints could force you to shoot with your non-dominant hand.

We strongly recommend incorporating weak-hand drills into your practice, and we cover these extensively in our classes.

To safely build these skills, consider joining:

• Defensive Carry I (fundamentals & confidence)

• Defensive Carry II (one-handed shooting, movement, advanced concepts)

• Private Instruction for personalized technique refinement

Prepare for the Fight You Don’t See Coming

Target shooting is great—but it won’t prepare you for a fight that comes at full speed, full chaos, and full consequence.

One-handed shooting skills are not optional. They are survival skills.

If you carry a firearm for self-defense, you owe it to yourself and the people you protect to train realistically, consistently, and with purpose.

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💥 Ready to Learn These Skills?

Join us on the range and build the confidence and capability every responsible concealed carrier deserves.
➡️ View Upcoming Cajun Arms Courses
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