K98, sorry to pull that one on you. I did it up as a joke on the Jouster board some time ago. Even if there were a couple produced for trials or such it's almost certain none would have made it to combat. Think about it for a second, major components would have to be unique which would be mind blowingly nightmarish for armorers. Even the furniture would be screwed up. To be actually produced and issued there would have had to have been enough of them to be practical, and certainly even spare parts would have shown up somewhere by now, and you could guarantee that Skennerton would have known about them if that were the case. Your "left hand...left shoulder..." description too is pretty indicative of film reversal if you think about it. Sorry man, but I'll believe in alien abduction first.
WWII Lee Enfield left hand action!
- Thread starter K98ACTION
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- Manitoulin Island
Enjoyed watching the left handed sniper work the Springfield bolt in "Saving Private Ryan". Had to wonder about that, whether they wanted a Leftie for that, or it was just how it worked out.
Yep me too.. That's exactly how I would have handled my springfield too... The classic reach over... NOTE I DID NOT SAY REACH AROUND...
But anyhow, If you did not see the show then I don't think you can comment, but if you did,, holy #### bat man.. You cannot change the physics of the human body by flipping the film. Same with the German pic of the soldier with the left hand mauser.I will have to watch it again,, not getting anywhere here.. Gary D.. you let me down.. LOL
In saving private Ryan the sniper shoots right handed through most of the movie. I
When the squad storms tv my nest under the radar tower he's wounded in his right arm ( tom hanks character points out that he is hit). After that he shoots left.
When the squad storms tv my nest under the radar tower he's wounded in his right arm ( tom hanks character points out that he is hit). After that he shoots left.
Pretty sure they are telling her they can rape her before, or after, they kill her.....her choice. Very reasonable people those NAZI's.....
The one guy looks like he's in the middle of a ##### slap.
Awww bull ####, she's just on the rag. Even the Nazi's had to deal with PMS...
The British Army had a saying, you were either "Right handed, or right out!" Soldiers that were left handed were forced to learn to shoot from the right shoulder. The Canadian training manual from 1955 says that sometimes a soldier may have to be permitted to shoot from the left shoulder, but the practice was to be discouraged. Remember, the History channel uses stock footage, and the film they showed was most likely several short clips strung together. Flipped film strips were very common. Does it make any sense at all that resources would be wasted making left handed rifles in wartime? Think of what it would do to drill! Uniform appearance out the window. A whole extra set of left handed bolts, boltheads, buttstocks, forearms, safeties..... The Lee action would be a nightmare to make in a left handed version! Think about it. With the solid rib on the bolt, it can only turn the way it was designed to, and could never be modified like the Mausers and Springfields were in the old days. A left handed Lee would need a new action body, bolt, and safety. The butt would be different because of the safety cut out, and the forend too, basically only the handguards and sights would be unchanged, oh, and the mag and triggerguard.
You ARE kidding ..... right?
Screen still from "The Ghost and the Darkness" of Val Kilmer with his lovely Lee-Speed sporting rifle ....
Simply flip the image, and miraculously he is holding a left-handed Lee-Speed .....
..... AND doing so with his "LEFT ARM AND LEFT HAND ATTACHED TO THE LEFT ARM..."
while holding "the rifle up to his LEFT Shoulder" .......
Didn't see the show, but whatever he had, it wouldn't have been an Inglis High Power, which wasn't even officially adopted by the Canadian Army Overseas until 3 September 1944 (and even later by the Canadian Army in North America) whereas the events depicted in the film took place in August 1944.
The records of the Canadian Munitions Allocation Committee document that only 22 Inglis pistols in total had been allocated to the Canadian Army by the end of August 1944, for testing and evaluation ....
I have actually seen a left handed Lee Enfield. A friend of mine took a bubba'd No 4 and cut off the bolt handle. He reattached it to the top of the bolt body and made a couple of minor alterations to the left side of the receiver. The finished rifle had the bolt handle sticking straight up in the air with a slight cant to the left (tucked in nicely around the scope!) To operate the action, he grabbed the bolt handle with his left hand, pulled it down and back, then forward and back up to lock. It has been several years since I talked to this fellow, and unfortunately I don't have photos. Other than that, I would agree there were no "issued" left hand Lee Enfields.
My Grandad was a combat engineer in WWII, he was a lefty as well and was forced to do the reach over in order to operate the bold on his No.4.
He was in France, Germany, and Holland, and held onto a captured K98k for most of his active service once overseas, because it was easier for him to operate using the reach over technique.
I guess the #### on open was easier to manipulate than trying to push against the closing spring tension of a No.4.
As for the Hi-Power, I've seen the same footage, and it definitely was a Hi-Power, although I would suspect (since, as Grant pointed out we weren't issued those that early) either a "liberated" Britisher officers pistol, or one from the FN factory that the Germans were still having made. Afterall the Canadians were all over Belgium, so it wouldn't be illogical to see a captured FN sidearm in their hands.
He was in France, Germany, and Holland, and held onto a captured K98k for most of his active service once overseas, because it was easier for him to operate using the reach over technique.
I guess the #### on open was easier to manipulate than trying to push against the closing spring tension of a No.4.
As for the Hi-Power, I've seen the same footage, and it definitely was a Hi-Power, although I would suspect (since, as Grant pointed out we weren't issued those that early) either a "liberated" Britisher officers pistol, or one from the FN factory that the Germans were still having made. Afterall the Canadians were all over Belgium, so it wouldn't be illogical to see a captured FN sidearm in their hands.
Okay inverted film, and we know about Wittman.
But what ever happen to Barkman? 14 American Shermans he destroyed in 5 minutes! Must be a record.
I STAND DOWN.. SORRY FOR THE HOOPLA, BUT I NEVER EXPERIENCE SEENING A FLIPPED FILM BEFORE, IT LOOKED SO REAL, AND JUST ASSUMED I HAD MY PROOF THAT MAYBE JUST MAYBE SOMEHOW A FEW WERE MADE.. AH WELL THERE IS NO CRIME IN THINKING OF THE POSSIBILITY. AND SKIPPY I AS A LEFT HANDER WOULD HAVE TO AGREE WITH YOUR GRANDFATHER'S STATEMENT OF HOW A K98 IS EASIER TO OPERATE AS A LH WITH THE REACH OVER METHOD, THAN THE No4. And bang on, the #### on open is what makes it easier to use. I wonder what the rest of his comrades thought of him using a Mauser...
You ARE kidding ..... right?
Screen still from "The Ghost and the Darkness" of Val Kilmer with his lovely Lee-Speed sporting rifle ....
Simply flip the image, and miraculously he is holding a left-handed Lee-Speed .....
..... AND doing so with his "LEFT ARM AND LEFT HAND ATTACHED TO THE LEFT ARM..."
while holding "the rifle up to his LEFT Shoulder" .......
I do not see how the Mauser would be easier to use. On mine, that retarded sling buckle punches me in the lip unless I pull it through and wrap it over the wrist. The longer bolt in the Mauser makes it hard for me to work the bolt from the shoulder. I can rip off five rounds from my Mk.III from the left shoulder faster than most guys can shoot five from a K98 right handed. I do have trouble with the No.4 when the rear sight is raised, but that situation would rarely arise in combat. The #### on closing feature is actually better for me, as the extra pressure required to open the Mauser bolt is annoying. If you're working the bolt fast, you don't even notice #### on closing.
