Do you use a handgun designed for "lefties"?

Is so, is it a .380 or 9mm?

Even though my only gun interest has involved several milsurp types (and the 40's Savage .22), the apparent severe limitation in types built for lefties might prevent any interest in a handgun, even in a .22 as a beginner type.

I've not noticed any mention of a classic Ruger Mark III .22, built for southpaws, or styles such as the sleek Walther PPK or Bersa .380s etc.
Any exposure to handguns has been very sporadic, and not very often.

I am not lefty but I am ambi, and I shoot my cz sp01 just as accurately lefty as righty (at a slower pace between shots). None of my guns spit brass in my face when I shoot lefty, nor do any of them create issues. When your used to using righty things as a lefty I don't see why adapting to a righty gun would be a big deal. Not to mention most guns can be setup for lefties anyway.

I shoot handguns lefty (meaning I treat my left hand as my strong hand). I do not specifically choose pistols that are designed to be lefty or ambidextrous. I'm unaware of any LH revolvers.

I set up my Gen4 Glock to release the magazine lefty, but that made it operate differently from my other pistols and provided no real advantage, so I switched it back.

I never had any LH scissors so I learned to operate RH ones. I have tried LH ones but can't operate them. Similarly, adapting to "righthanded" safeties, magazine and cylinder releases, etc. has never been an issue.

I dont think there are any +/- for a LH using a "RH' pistol.

asides from certain guns with the RH thumb groove.

In many cases if the gun is spitting brass in your face it could be.

1. Held improperly
2. gun does not like the ammo you are using.
3. something wrong with the ejector/gun it self.

at least this is my experience.

I wouldn't say there is a "severe" limitation for lefties using pistols. I know lots of southpaws who adjust just fine. There are plenty of guns now that have lefty friendly features though, for example the M&P has an ambi slide release and I believe the mag release can be switched to the other side. The Springfield XD has an ambi mag release, although the slide release isn't (so just learn to release the slide with your hand using the overhand method, no big deal).

You may have to alter your technique and train a little harder, but there really isn't anything preventing you from using pretty much any pistol you want to.

I just picked up a 1911 (my EMP) left handed, I was able to lock back the slide, release the mag, release the slide, and engage/disengage the ambidextrous manual safety without any issue. I'm a righty and I HATE doing stuff left handed, with practice you should be fine.

You should be able to adapt to most guns OK.

Revolver: Shoot left handed; transition grip to right hand and hit cylinder release while holding frame in left hand. Stroke ejector with left hand finger and reload with right hand. Swing cylinder close. Transition back to left hand shooting grip and go.

Auto: Use your trigger or middle finger to operate slide stop; middle or ring finger to hit mag release which is on the left side of the frame. Personally, I think we have an advantage there vs. a right-handed thumb. My one difficulty is a non-ambi 1911 safety. It's difficult for me to maintain a good grip and disengage the thumb safety unless I do so while the gun is in the holster and draw the gun with the safeties off (gripping the gun disengages the grip safety). I can disengage the thumb safety from a 2-handed ready or firing position, but then I have a lot of gun movement as I move my thumb around.

In other words, it's not that big an issue. Learn and adapt.
Q

Do you use a handgun designed for "lefties"?
I guess so. My Ruger Blackhawk's loading gate is on the right side, which works best for leftists.

http://www.firearmssite.com/images/Blackhawk-loading.png

Is so, is it a .380 or 9mm?
Sort of; it is a convertible .357/9mm. Does that count?

Use an old school Colt based single action revolver. Colt was left handed and designed his pistols as such. The rest of the world just adapted the same way south paws adapt to a right handed world.

Or as the Marines do, learn to shot right handed.

Southpaw here, my choice is the same as it has been for quite some time.

http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f271/Jeepnik/GUNS/AMTBackup.jpg

But as for a dedicated lefty semi auto 1911, I give you the Randall.

http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f271/Jeepnik/GUNS/HANDGUNS12-31-07-0011.jpg

For lefties there's lots of good options. A lot of the semis now are able to convert to a right side mag release. And those same guns typically either have no safety or have ambi safeties along with often having ambi slide releases. The S&W M&P is one such example. The ONLY thing is that they don't do is huck the brass to the left. But with a handgun it really doesn't matter since it's supposed to be well out away from your face.

I guess so. My Ruger Blackhawk's loading gate is on the right side, which works best for leftists.


There was actually a long thread in the Revolver area about loading SA revolvers. The short version is that if you do the job the way Sam Colt intended by holding the gun cradled in your weak hand such that you can roll the cylinder with your thumb and shuck the empties with your strong hand it works just fine righty or lefty. The only difference one way or the other is which hand cradles the frame and cylinder. I've tried it both ways and both worked quite well. In neither case did the grips get in the way. Or if you first index the cylinder and then work the ejection rod in turn with your free hand then you're having to do the actions in series which is slower than using two hands correctly.

Now if you insist on maintaining your hold on the grips and try to do all the rest with your free hand then yes, it'll seems clumsy. But it'll seem clumsy either with either hand in that case because of the strained ergometrics of the actions required.

My Schofield Top-break replica is a great gun for lefties... or folks with only one free hand on either side.

I am a lefty and recently decided i was going to try to transition to shooting right handed. Suprisingly it has not been as difficult as i thought. You just have to realize its going to take some time and work at it.

It is a neat myth, but I never have been able to find any actual proof that Colt was left handed. The percussion revolvers were designed to put the capping cutout on the right because capping takes more dexterity (look up the word!) and most folks are right handed. When the change was made to the cartridge revolver, the capping cutout was the logical place to put the loading gate again because loading cartridges was easier with the right hand.

If Colt had really been left handed and wanted to make guns for himself, he would have put the capping cutout on the left and switched the gun to the right hand for loading.

Jim

Check out the Walthers. I've got a P99 (mine in .40S&W, but available in 9mm) and it's completely ambidangerous. I handled a P22 (.22LR) just once (when the operator couldn't figure out how to drop the magazine) and it seemed to be set up just the same.

edit: I always use the term "ambidangerous" in lieu of "ambidextrous". It humors me. The word play intended no comment on Walthers or guns in general.

As a left handed shooter I actually don't understand why anyone would want to move the mag release on a pistol. I use my trigger finger or my index and never have to change the grip on my gun which I have to do to use it right handed. As someone else said, and Ambi safety works good but other than that everything is pretty easy.

As for a left handed revolver, yes Charter Arms makes/made one. I wanted to get one but never had the funds to. Not sure if they still make it or not but it like the Randell is a mirror of a standard revolver. Cylinder swings to the right and and the release is on that side also.

My understanding on Colt revolvers was that at the time he was designing them with the military in mind and since most all people then were right handed and the sword /saber was still a main weapon the he built the pistol to be used left handed while the right hand could be used with the sword.

Kinda makes sense when you think about it in those terms but again. just what I've heard.

Charter Arms makes a left handed revolver. All the controls are reversed and the cylinder opens on the right side. I am left handed and own both revolvers and semi-automatics. You just learn to adjust. Having said that I do prefer dao semis without a safety to deal with. A previous poster described the way a lefty operates the mag release and it works well for me too.

My understanding on Colt revolvers was that at the time he was designing them with the military in mind and since most all people then were right handed and the sword /saber was still a main weapon the he built the pistol to be used left handed while the right hand could be used with the sword.


That came up in the other thread as well. But the concensus was that if a guy could reload one handed with the gun in the left and saber in the right hand then he could likely deal with almost anything.. :D

Actually the sword was on the left to be drawn with the right hand. And the revolver holster was on the right to be used INSTEAD of the sword, not WITH the sword. After all one hand was still needed to hold the reins of the horse.

Regardless of which hand it is shot with the fastest way to reload it is still two handed with one cradling the cylinder and frame to allow the thumb to index the cylinder and the other operating the ejection rod. Try it a couple of times using the right then left hand to hold the gun and you'll soon find that it works fine either way. When holding with the right hand one just needs to adjust the bend of the wrist to avoid the grips getting in the way. Either way the gate faces up and back to the shooter for loading.

HK P7M8 would be wonderful for southpaws.

If I can shoot it in a right handed configuration I will because LH guns tend to have lower resale value. But bolt actions, left handed please.

I dont think thats so 12gaugeTim. My local gun shop has at least 12 LH guns. And several LH buyers looking for certian LH guns. The LH guns he has are 100-300 more than their identical RH gun on the self behind them.

I do as I've done my whole life ...adapt.

I still think a SA revolver is built for lefties. Lately I bought my first DA revolver. I am shooting more right handed now than I ever have and I enjoy that my strong hand is available for reloading.

Lefty here. I shoot hand guns with either hand, but don't seek out left hand friendly firearms.

I've noted that several southpaws don't think left handed guns are needed. Well, possibly not. But why should a left handed person be forced to use a right handed gun? If using ones trigger finger to punch a magazine release were such a great idea, all right handed 1911's would have the mag release on the right side.

Sadly, of the few left handed guns that have come out, most are gone. The Randall 1911's were great. But, so many lefty 1911 users were brainwashed into using right handed 1911's that sales were poor. Heck, my Service Model is one of fewer than 500 made. I'm pretty sure there were more than 500 left handed 1911 shooter at the time.

I've had folks tell me that my Charter Arms Southpaw isn't necessary. Yet, they are all right handed folks. I've handed it to them and invited them to load and fire it. Most fumble around trying to open the cylinder and load it. Still none get the idea of what a southpaw had to go thru with a right handed small frame .38.

I realize that southpaws are a small minority. But, with today's manufacturing process, it's simple to produce both right and left handed models. Stag for instance sells the heck out of their left handed AR's.

Left handed shooter here, although I can shoot equally well with my Right hand I still prefer to shoot left..... I've never had a use for either left handed revolver or pistol, I adapted to the right hand version long ago so that now a lefty feels awkard. All my long guns are righties too. However I do prefer a left handed bolt rifle.

I use my trigger finger for the mag release and slide release, because it works better for me. I don't have to shift my grip to do it. If I use LH mag and slide releases and use my thumb to actuate them, I have to shift my grip to do so.
The only reason I don't have a LH Charter revolver, is because they don't seem to make it in .44 special.
LH bolt action is definitely better for me than than RH, but unfortunately, the #4 Enfield and M38 Swedish Mauser were never made in LH versions.

If more LH guns were available, and if I didn't get financially raped when buying one, I'd own a lot more.

The good thing about being a Southpaw is that we are at an advantage over right handed folks when it comes to shooting.
We're used to shooting wrong handed guns. Many of us are also proficient ambidextrous shooters. We're more accepting of the possibility of having to shoot with our weak hand due to injury, disability, etc.
Most righties see no reason whatsoever to have an ambi safety on their guns. They seem to think that, because most guns are made for them, they'll never be forced to shoot Southpaw.
Silly righties.
I've learned to bat ambi, and shoot ambi.
I don't know a single righty who is proficient with both hands. All the righties I know are pretty damned useless with their left hand.
That, is the handicap of growing up right handed in a right handed world.
They've never had any reason to use their weak hand for anything more than scratching their butts, because the world caters to right handed people.
Lefties, being only about 1 of every 9 people, have grown up in a world where we have to use our weak hand just about as much as our strong hand.
Try using scissors or can openers left handed. Or a chainsaw.
Doesn't work.
So, we are at an advantage, BECAUSE of our disadvantage.

I've had folks tell me that my Charter Arms Southpaw isn't necessary. Yet, they are all right handed folks. I've handed it to them and invited them to load and fire it. Most fumble around trying to open the cylinder and load it. Still none get the idea of what a southpaw had to go thru with a right handed small frame .38.

I actually want a Charter Southpaw, I only wish it came in .357 magnum. I have yet to actually get my hands on one, and Charter doesn't have the greatest reliability, or so the interwebs tell me. One reason I like single action revolvers is the right side loading gate is a lot more lefty friendly.

And when it comes to bolt guns, I too prefer a lefty handed action. I love my Mosin, but they are not easy to cycle as a lefty, especially when the bolt decides to jam.

So far I've been shooting left handed for almost sixty years. In that time I've owned a lot of guns but only two left handed ones, both rifles. A Savage 110L in 30-06 that got a lot of moose and caribow in my years in Alaska and recently a Stag Arms AR model 4L. It's nice to have left handed rifles but with pistols and revolvers it never made much difference to me that they were designed for right handers. All my pistols manage to eject shells clear of me so that's no problem, my revolvers work as well for me as for a right hander. I switch the revolver to my right hand for reloading and then back to my left for shooting but it really doesn't take much more time than a right hander reloading.

Very few handguns are specifically made for left-handers, excluding oddities like the Randall "Portsider." A very few are completely ambidextrous, e.g., the H&K P7s. Many do have at least some ambidextrous controls, e.g., thumb safeties and slide stops. I think the new S&W "Bodyguard" revolvers have ambi cylinder releases, but the cylinder can still only swing out to the left.

fnx for handguns. learn the left handed reload technique for revolvers, very fast.

I'm a lefty and been shooting everything that goes bang for over 60yrs and I would have a problem with anything dedicated to a left handed shooter. I've adjusted to the fact most things in the world are made for right handed people. After all these years I have never worried about a firearm. You need to learn to shoot with either handgun or long arms with either.

I'm right handed but use a gun that certainly had lefties in mind. The M&P9 pistol has a ambidextrous slide release and reversible mag release.

I appreciate the ambi slide release, it makes my left handed reloads easier.

Adding leftward ejection would be nice too.

For the most part, when we're talking left hand friendly or ambi handguns, it's the location of the safety, mag release, and slide stop. Most of us know very few manufacturers are going to make a left handed slide stop, but we "slingshot" a new mag anyway, so that point is moot. Some guns don't even have a safety lever anymore, but the mag release can still be a sticking point. Some guns that I have found to be lefty freindly:

Beretta 92/96 series. If you can't operate it with your first finger, you can flip the mag release to the other side, plus the open slide design ejects the brass up more than straight across. Safety/Decocker is on both sides.

HK USP - if ordered from the factory, you can get one of the variants that puts the control lever on the "correct" side.

HK P2000 series - ambi mag release

Most polymer framed guns can be operated ambidextrously by and large without much disadvantage.

CZ 82/83 series - ambi mag release.

CZ 52 - strangely enough, it does not have a thumb release on the slide stop and the mag release is on the bottom. Safety/decocker is "righty", but trusting that mechanism is another ball of wax, discussed ad nauseum elsewhere.

Charter arms southpaw - as discussed above

1911's with ambidextrous controls.