Left Handed Shooter

O

Ozzi

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SW Ontario
Hi All,

I'm new to the sport, I'm still awaiting for my PAL, and RPAL to get through the approval process. Anyways i'm just starting to look into my first purchase. I'm left handed, and left eye dominant.

Does anyone have any suggestions for left handed/friendly rifles? I'm looking into shooting mostly target, but I do have some friends that hunt, and i'll be doing the Ontario Hunter Education course next month in order to hopefully join them in the fall for a trip.

I'm just looking for suggestions from other lefties. What do you all use? Do you find you have issues with other firearms vs. others? (hot brass shooting out, mag release, safety etc.)
 
Welcome to the forums, as a fellow lefty I have never had a problem shooting a traditional " right handed" firearm, and have never went out of my way to look specifically for a lefty. They are out there, from shotguns to rifles, hell you can even get left handed uppers for an AR if you so chose. I do have one lefty, a Savage 110 in .270, my hunting rifle, but that was a gift from a good friend that belonged to his father, so I use it out of respect lol.
The one thing I will mention is as far as shotguns go, I do prefer a " tang" safety as opposed to a cross bolt,, cross bolts just don't seem to work that well,, for me at least, so I tend to stick to Browning BPS, or Mossberg shotguns because of that.
To be honest, when it comes to a bolt action, I actually prefer a righty because I don't have to take my left hand away to cycle the bolt.
 
Stick with right hand guns.

They are cheaper, available everywhere and parts are available. I am also a lefty, I have never hand a issue with "normal" guns, including my 20 years in the CF

Shawn
 
As a lefty myself I've found a few friendly firearms

For shotguns Mossberg 500s are great

For handguns a Ruger SR series

For rifels I prefer semi autos because you only reach over once every 5 rounds and arent spending extra on left bolt actions
 
no big different for rifle, but if you are looking for pistol, make sure you pick one capable to swap mag release to the right side.
 
Ozzi said:
Hi All, I'm new to the sport, I'm still awaiting for my PAL, and RPAL to get through the approval process. Anyways i'm just starting to look into my first purchase. I'm left handed, and left eye dominant. Does anyone have any suggestions for left handed/friendly rifles? I'm looking into shooting mostly target, but I do have some friends that hunt, and i'll be doing the Ontario Hunter Education course next month in order to hopefully join them in the fall for a trip. I'm just looking for suggestions from other lefties. What do you all use? Do you find you have issues with other firearms vs. others? (hot brass shooting out, mag release, safety etc.)
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I am right handed, left eye dominant. I will usually shoot handguns left handed (though I am just as capable of shooting them right handed). I have many rifles in both flavours (right and left hand), but I prefer the lefties by far and if a firearm can be obtained in left hand configuration, that's the one I will get. (Tikka/Sako and CZ are my favourites in this respect.) The difference is more pronounced in some semi-automatic firearms, usually because of brass ejection/propellant gas issues. My best advice is to try a few firearms in both configurations, and see what feels more natural.
 
So far most of the talk has been about handguns and rifles. Shotguns are another story because of the stock casting. Cast off for righties and cast on for lefties. Its a problem trying to shoot a shotgun with a lot of cast off from the left shoulder. Left handed or cast on guns are hard to find in a used one so unless you want to spend big bucks buying a new left handed one [especially over/ under style] then look for one that is fairly straight or neutral, and certainly best to handle and shoulder any shotgun for fit before buying.
 
I'm a lefty. If a firearm I am interested in comes in a left hand model or offers ambi capabilities, that would be my pick.
 
The only type you might have a problem with is some bullpups that eject into your face. Otherwise I haven't had any problems. I find the CZ/VZ family very lefty friendly. ARs are good too. Ambi mag release would be a good upgrade. The bolt release is perfect. I don't shoot bolt guns very often. I could see a left specific one being preferable
 
For bolt actions I prefer a lefty if I'm going to scope it. I run a right hand bolt with the reach over method and a scope makes that tougher. Luckily Savage makes a few 110 options in left hand.
Otherwise the only thing that bothers me about right hand guns is a cross bolt safety. They can be annoying, but if you use it enough you will learn to deal. Tang safety is much nicer though.

Never had issues with lever actions, pump actions, or semi's in right hand configuration (except some inconvenient safety types). Bullpups are the only thing that I just can't work properly.
 
As a lefty I’ve always shot right handed guns, it’s only scoped bolt actions that are a pain so to speak. You always have to break your cheek weld and reach over the scope to operate the bolt, if you need a quick follow up shot it can be a pain in the ass.

I have always found right handed semi autos and pump action shotguns to be easier to shoot as a lefty, the charging handle and loading port is on your support hand side and racking the bolt on a semi or quickly loading a shell into the chamber of a shotgun is easy. As is verifying the chamber is empty, easy to look into the mouth of the barrel when the bolt is back. The position of the safety can be a pain to operate as a lefty but that’s not a deal breaker for me and some guns have a tang or left side placed safety, I have yet to get hit with ejecting brass with semi autos.

I’m at a point where I’m going to buy a couple left handed bolt actions, a hunting rifle and a target rifle. When I first shouldered a left handed bolt and was able to operate the bolt and keep my cheek on the stock it felt so natural, like it should be.
 
My personal opinion, if your a lefty and left eye dominant a left hand bolt action is the only way. I can bet at least 50% of the guys that said they can use a right hand bolt is because they grew up using dads or brothers right hand rifle and had no choice. The cost difference to go to a left hand option is very minor. If you want a nice entry level bolt action in left hand look at Tikka. They are exceptional value.
 
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