Strong Hand Only

Course Description:

Strong Hand Only is a one-day, 500-round intermediate pistol course focused on developing the ability to operate a handgun effectively when normal two-handed shooting is unavailable. The course prepares students to continue solving problems when one hand is injured, occupied, restricted, or required for another task.

Students will work with both the strong hand and weak hand while developing the essential skills required to control, fire, reload, and maintain the pistol. Training emphasizes one-handed grip development, recoil management, visual processing, trigger control, weapon presentation, ammunition management, malfunction clearance, movement, and precision at varying distances.

The course progresses beyond isolated one-handed marksmanship drills. Students will learn to solve increasingly complex shooting and manipulation problems while maintaining safe gun handling, acceptable accuracy, and accountable speed. Training includes strong-hand-only and weak-hand-only shooting, pistol transfers, one-handed reloads, one-handed malfunction clearances, positional shooting, movement, multiple threats, and unconventional weapon manipulation.

Every block of instruction follows the Trident Concepts ATPT methodology—Assess, Train, Perform, Test. Students first assess their current capability, train to correct specific performance deficiencies, perform the skill under progressively more demanding conditions, and ultimately test their ability against objective standards.

Upon completion, students will leave with measurable performance gains, a better understanding of their one-handed capabilities, and practical training methods they can use to continue developing these skills.

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Students will train and be evaluated on:

• Establishing an effective one-handed grip with either the strong hand or weak hand.
• Managing recoil, visual processing, and trigger control at varying distances.
• Presenting the pistol safely and efficiently with the strong hand.
• Transferring the pistol safely between the strong hand and weak hand.
• Firing accurately with either hand from ready, positional, and unconventional positions.
• Performing strong-hand-only and weak-hand-only reloads.
• Clearing malfunctions with one hand using available equipment, body position, and environmental surfaces.
• Engaging anatomical target zones with accountable speed and acceptable precision.
• Shooting while moving and managing multiple threats without sacrificing control or accuracy.
• Demonstrating one-handed pistol proficiency during graded exercises.

Throughout the course, instructors employ the Trident Concepts ATPT methodology—Assess, Train, Perform, Test—using a deliberate practice model. Each block begins with an assessment of current performance followed by focused instruction addressing the most significant technical deficiency.

Drills are conducted in short, focused iterations with immediate coaching. Students apply one primary correction, repeat the task, and determine whether the correction improved performance. Each block concludes with an objective evaluation and performance review identifying what improved, what still requires refinement, and how the skill transfers to more demanding shooting problems.

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Who This Course Is For

Strong Hand Only is designed for trained pistol shooters who want to develop the ability to operate their handgun effectively when only one hand is available.

This course is a strong fit for:

• Law-enforcement and military personnel who carry a pistol in a duty or operational role.
• Armed professionals who may need to continue operating after sustaining an injury.
• Serious concealed carriers who want greater capability beyond normal two-handed shooting.
• Shooters with prior formal handgun training who want specialized one-handed instruction.
• Students who want to improve weak-hand shooting and manipulation skills.
• Shooters who want objective standards, direct diagnostics, and measurable improvement.
• Students who want practical solutions for one-handed reloads and malfunction clearances.
• Anyone who wants to identify and deliberately train weaknesses in their one-handed pistol performance.

This is not a beginner handgun course. Students will be expected to safely draw from the holster, maintain muzzle and trigger-finger discipline, perform basic reloads and malfunction clearances, and follow range commands in a dynamic training environment.

The course is physically and mentally demanding. Students must be prepared to work extensively with both hands and perform weapon manipulations from standing, kneeling, grounded, and unconventional positions.

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Gear List

• Serviceable duty-size or compact pistol in 9mm (red dot sight optional*)
• 500 rounds of reliable training ammunition
• 5 x pistol magazines
• Range attire: long pants, comfortable shirt, athletic shoes and ball cap
• Basic loadout: rigid belt, on the waistband (OWB) holster or duty approved holster, magazine pouches and dump pouch (optional)
• Wrap around ballistic eye protection
• Hearing protection
• Water, snacks, sunscreen and appropriate inclement weather clothing
• Firearms cleaning kit and quality lubrication
• Notebook and pencil
• An open mind and willingness to receive direct coaching

*Students are welcome to use RDS equipped pistols, but must ensure they are properly zeroed.  Recommended zero distance is 25 yards for optimal performance, but regardless students must know their impacts at ranges from 0-25 yards. 

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Course Prerequisite:

Strong Hand Only is intended for intermediate pistol shooters and is not an introductory handgun course.

Students should possess the ability to:

• Safely draw from a quality belt-mounted holster.
• Consistently present the pistol from the holster.
• Maintain safe muzzle direction and trigger-finger discipline.
• Demonstrate safe two-handed reloads and malfunction clearances.
• Maintain acceptable accuracy at typical defensive handgun distances.
• Follow range commands while working in a dynamic training environment.
• Safely move with a loaded handgun.
• Receive and apply direct performance coaching.

Successful completion of a reputable intermediate-level pistol course is strongly recommended. Students should expect a physically and mentally demanding training experience. The following drills represent the minimum performance standard expected for entry into Strong Hand Only. Students are strongly encouraged to become familiar with these drills and consistently meet the listed standards prior to attending the course. All drills are shot from the holster. The recommended target is the TRICON TCT-MK4 available from Action Target or TRICON B8 target.

• Pistol Standard Sierra 5; at 5 yards, fire 6 rounds strong hand only, 1 round to the head, transfer to the weak hand, and fire 3 rounds. Score is total time plus 2 seconds per miss; 8/10 hits and 10.00 seconds or less are required to pass.
• Pistol Standard Alpha 2; at 7 yards, fire 10 rounds strong hand only (9 reload 1) in 15 seconds. Must be below par and score 80/100 or higher.
• Pistol Standard Bravo 2; at 15 yards, fire 10 rounds strong hand only in 20 seconds. Must be below par and score 80/100 points or higher.

Registration fee does not include any associated range fees.

Want to see other classes coming up this year? Check out the Class Schedule.